What Does it Mean to Trust
by at8c
Summary: What does it mean to Trust? Will Stephanie understands what it means to trust when something happens that makes her question every man in her life including the merry men. NOT CUPCAKE FRIENDLY, NOT MORELLI or HELEN PLUM FRIENDLY.
1. Chapter 1: Introductions

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**This is my first attempt at fanfiction so I hope you all enjoy this story.**

Chapter 1: Introductions

SPOV

I guess I should start this story by introducing myself. My name is Stephanie Plum, however you may know me as one of my many other names. I am Trenton's own Bombshell Bounty hunter but my friends call me Steph, Skinny Ass White Girl, Bombshell, Bomber, Little Girl, and Beautiful. My other names come from the two men in my life Cupcake which I despise, but maybe that is more because of who calls me that than the actual name because after all I do love cupcakes. Sorry but I got off track blame it on the sugar, Joe Morelli calls me Cupcake he is my on again and off again boyfriend. We are currently in an off stage and this time it is final. Finally there is Babe now that one word makes me shiver with excitement and delight. Is it possible to have an orgasm just hearing a word? If so, Babe does it for me! Again I am sure it isn't the word, it is the person who calls me that, Ranger, also known as Ricardo Carlos Manoso but everyone just calls him Ranger but to me he is known as Batman, and he is a Cuban sex god. Yep just hearing him call me babe makes my breath catch, my pulse spike, and sends shivers of heat to my core. I am also in love with him, but he doesn't know that yet. So please keep my secret!

Currently I am in my new to me SUV, a bright red 2006 Ford Explorer heading to my recently new full time job at Rangeman where I currently run searches, watch monitors, train so I can do more field work, distraction work, and on occasions pull surveillance duty. I still do a little bounty hunting with Lula as her partner when she needs backup. I have been working for Rangeman about 2 weeks now and I can say that it is still difficult getting up at 7:00 a.m. so I can be in the office on time. I mean really who the hell wakes up this time in the morning? Anyway I do love my job, so I make the effort to be on time, and do the best job I can do. I don't want to embarrass Ranger, my merry men friends, or negatively impact Rangeman by my working there. I am still a little nervous working here. At first I was terrified of working here I was so certain that I would screw something up, or damage Ranger's men but slowly but surely those fears are subsiding and I am starting to really feel good about myself, my job, and the friends that I now have. Working here has allowed me to get to know the guys better. Not that I expect to know everything about them like I know about my best friend Mary Lou because they aren't real open but I have gotten to know them better and I love them all. They watch over me, they protect me, they spend time with me outside of work, and they are even training me.

Of all the guys Lester Santos is my closest friend, I would say that we are like best friends he is sort of like the brother that I never had. He is the town jester of Rangeman. If a prank was pulled on one of the guys, or if there is laughter around you can bet that Santos is in the middle of it. He is also the most forward with me even if it means that he gets called to the mats by Ranger. Sometimes I think he just enjoys pulling that tiger's tail other times I think he is half crazy, so I haven't really made up my mind on that one. Tank and Bobby are the next on the list of closest friends at Rangeman they truly are big brothers to me. Tank is well built like a Tank big, broad, balled head make you pee your pants with just one look, never want to meet in a dark alley, and never want them pissed at you kind of guy. Not that all the men at Rangeman aren't a force to reckon with because they are all big, strong, and extremely lethal guys but Tank is just bigger than the rest of them. To me he is just a big ole softie but if you repeat that I will deny it and lie my ass off. Bobby on the other hand is the healer of the group he is the medic of Rangeman and he is here to patch us up. Well he seems to patch me up more than any of the other guys but he is gentler than many of the other guys he just has hands that heal I really don't know what else to say. Ranger, Tank, Lester, and Bobby make up the core team at Rangeman. These are the guys that Ranger trusts the most so I too trust them the most.

There are other guys that I am close with at Rangeman that I enjoy spending time with and talking with when I can get them to talk. Mostly they just listen to me talk and every now and then a get a grunt or a nod out of them. On occasions I get them to talk. Cal he is one of my favorite merry men, that's what I call the guys of Rangeman, Merry men. Probably if anyone else called them that they would be shipped to a third world country with only the clothes on their back and a toothpick but they allow me to call them that.

Cal he is huge and he is intimidating with a flaming skull tattooed in the middle of his forehead. He calls me Angel I guess I should add that to my list of names friends call me. One of these days I am going to ask him why he calls me that because by my definition of Angel I am so not an Angel. Maybe I should tell him one day if I am an angel then my halo is definitely sitting crooked because of my horns. Even though the tattoo makes him look fearsome I love it! Whenever we are assigned together or are about to go on a takedown, distraction, or even surveillance jobs I don't go before I rub his tattoo and give it a good luck kiss. So far this strategy has worked for us and neither of us is looking to change that. I just need to test this theory when we play a game of pool with the guys and then it will be Atlantic City here we come!

Ram is another one of the guys that I am close with. Ram is trying to teach me to love my gun. Well I don't know if he will ever actually get me to love my gun but he has made me a much better shot even in the short time that I have been working with him. At least now I can keep my eyes open and fire my weapon. He says I am a natural I am not exactly sure what that means but he seems to really get excited when it comes times for my lessons. One of these days I am going to ask him those questions and only hope I get an answer out of him other than a grunt or a nod which is his usual response.

With all the training I am doing you would think that I would be put in ESP course but I have yet to see that course offered by anyone but I figure it must be offered somewhere because all of the guys of Rangeman know it. I am the only one that doesn't seem to understand ESP. Speaking of training Hector is the go to guy for electronics, and B&E I may now be able to break in my own apartment when I lock myself out, Yeah ME! Ranger was really reluctant to let me work with Hector at first. I must admit I was a little reluctant myself as Hector scared the shit out of me. He wasn't the biggest of the Rangeman crew actually he is the smallest, but in some instances I think he is the most feared even by Ranger if it is possible for Ranger to fear anything or anyone. Hector has gang tattoos over most of his body and if that wasn't enough to scare the shit out of most men his three tear drop tattoos on his cheek would. Hector calls me angelito (Little Angel) and has dub himself guarda de los 'angelito (guardian of the little angel) one of these days I am going to find out what that means. My understanding of Spanish ends with the Taco Bell menu. I really need to learn Spanish. But since his declaration Ranger has been more open to us working together and in working with him I have discovered what a wonderful man Hector really is and it is my honor to consider him a close friend. Hector even allowed me in on one of his biggest secrets but I am not sure I should share it here as I am not certain what would happen to me if I told it. I think that being sent to a third world country would be a blessing compared to what Hector may do to me if I spill the beans on one of his biggest secrets that even most of the guys don't know. So needless to say his secret is safe with me!

Hal and I have had a rocky relationship ever since I asked him to see his stun gun and then proceeded to stun him. While that happened in the past and he says he has forgiven me sometimes I think he is still really nervous around me. I really feel bad, I know the guys still give him a hard time about that and I know that Ranger made him go thru additional weapon training to learn never had your weapons over to the enemy. Personally I think that was a little much I wasn't his enemy Hal is a Halosaurus he could pick me up and snap me like a toothpick but according to Ranger Hal should have never under estimated his opponent so he had to learn a lesson the hard way and the hard was additional training. Hal says he harbors no hard feelings and I believe him but I am not certain he is totally comfortable around me as he usually has one of the other guys for backup whenever I am around. But regardless I really like Hal and I do feel bad about stunning him, but it was either me or him and I really had to get out to go to Valerie's shower or there would have been hell to pay with mom.

That brings me to the subject of my family. What is there to say really…well I guess lots considering my grandmother Mazur is one for the books. She is a little eccentric seen as she is in her 70's visits funeral homes to see dead bodies, and is probably getting more action these days than I am. However, she is one of my biggest supporters and has always tried to allow me to fly. Without her I would have caved to my mother's demands years ago. My dad is silent for the most part. I know he loves me in his own way but he has never once stood up to my mom for me. I am not certain why and truthfully I really don't want to think about it too long. I just accept that he loves me.

Uggg…speaking of my mom what is there to tell? I have been a constant disappointment to her I believe since the day I was born. Ever since I was 6 and went into that garage with Joe under the ruse of playing choo choo I have heard "why me, Carol Lumpski's daughter doesn't go in garage's with boys and play games". Then I jumped off of the roof of my parent's garage trying to fly and for a few seconds I did fly that is until gravity took over and I landed on the pavement breaking my arm which only earned me another "why me" from my mother. It also earned me dance lessons, home EC lessons, and burg etiquette course taught by mother, yeah me! Well the dance lessons ended once I had managed to break all of my partners In one way or the other. The instructor finally refused to allow me in class, earning me another "why me". Home EC class ended when I set the oven on fire and managed to mess up boiling water again another "Why Me" from my mom. Mom finally gave up on the etiquette lessons stating that there was no way she could make a silk purse out of a sows ear I am not exactly sure what that meant at the time but looking back I just think that she meant that I am a classic fuck up. I managed to make her happy one time in my life and that was when I married the Dick. She was so happy that I was marrying a lawyer she didn't care about anything else, including my happiness. She just wanted me married and I believe out of her hair. I think she thought I would settle down and stay at home tending to my husband's "needs". Well he had other ideas and before the ink was dry on our marriage certificate I came home one day to find him fucking Joyce Barnhardt, my arch nemesis since the 1st grade. Needless to say my mom managed to make it all my fault by stating that had I stayed at home and took care of his needs he wouldn't have felt the need to cheat again another "why me". She even went as far to say that I disgraced the family name by divorcing him that as a woman from the burg I should just stand by my man and work harder to give him what he needed and just overlook certain indiscretions on his part. Now just harps me whenever I go over for dinner that I am not getting any younger and that I need to get married and have children before it is too late, and before Morelli decides to stop waiting for me as he is my last chance, my only chance for happiness. I have been avoiding her the past month since I broke it off with Joe because I don't want to hear how I have thrown away my last chance at happiness. If he is my last chance at happiness well I will just have to roam the world as a disgruntled, wronged woman on the edge because I don't believe I could forgive him and I would never forget what he did. That day is burned into my brain with images that are just as lasting as if I had taken pictures.


	2. Chapter 2: Another Car Pt1

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**This chapter is broken into two parts because of length. I hope to post PT2 to this chapter later today.**

Chapter 2: Another Car PT1

A Month Ago

JPOV

Things have been going good with Cupcake. We have been seeing each other she has been keeping the boys relatively satisfied since we got back together a couple of months ago. Her mother's and my plan was working, after our last break up her mother had been working on her hard and when I showed up with pizza and beer and told her the "Boys" missed her she allowed me back in her bed.

Of course I still need a little side action as Cupcake doesn't really do everything I need. She tends to be a little frigid in some areas but once we are married I will break her in to what I like and need. After all burg girls are suppose to take care of their men however they need taken care of. Cupcake also insists that I wear a condom even though I know she is on the pill not only does she insists she brings her own and make sure she puts it on me so no poking holes in it or not putting it on to trap her.

Trust me I thought about that even tried to have condoms here that were already prepared for our romps under the sheet but she flat out refused to use them another thing that my cupcake will not be doing when we are married. She will not refuse me anything and we will not be using condoms, I hate condoms. I want to take her from behind so bad and be the first to christen that virgin ass of hers but she won't budge on the subject so again another thing that will have to wait until we are married.

Like I said for now I will have to get my rocks off with someone else until Cupcake is married to me and I can break her in right, hell even then I may still need a little action on the side after all I am the Italian Stallion Steph can be the lady on my arm and one of my side pieces can be my freak in the bed . Besides my side ladies may get upset if I am not giving them their normal action not to mention the boys will miss all of action and we just can't have that since Cupcake can't satisfy all of my needs.

Right now I am so pissed off. I am so steaming mad in fact I am seeing red. I was called away from a little side action where I was really sewing my oats in a fine ass for another one of Cupcakes fiascos. Why doesn't she just marry me already and become a stay at home wife and the mother of my children and then I wouldn't be interrupted when I am clearly busy.

After all it's difficult finding time and locations to get a little side action without everyone finding out so when I manage to do it I don't enjoy being interrupted especially because of one of Cupcakes escapades. I pull up to the scene and sure enough there is fire shooting out of cupcake's car and for a fraction of a second a part of me wishes she was in it just to bring an end to this stupid shit of hers. Of course I don't really want the wife of my children to be in the car so I shake my head to clear that thought process.

She just makes me so mad at times I can't help it. I get of my POS cop car and walk around her flaming car to find her sitting on the side walk. Knees pulled to her chest, her head lying on her knees trying to control her breathing. Her hair is all a mess slightly singed and I can see burns on her arms and legs from the debris that rained down from her exploding car. I quickly thought good maybe this time she was close enough to see how she sucks at her job and she needs to quit being a bounty hunter and marry me.

Once I step up close enough that my shoes come into her field of vision she looks up to at me. At that moment all my rage comes back and all I can do is yell at her. "Cupcake what the fuck have you done this time? Why can't you just give up your job obviously you suck at it, you lose a car a week it seems" she just looked at me and at first I thought she was just going to stand up and agree with me. But then she has to open her mouth "Joe please let's not get into this now, let's talk later when it's just you and I" I sucked in a deep breath thru my nose flaring my nostrils I know she noticed because her eyes slightly widen at the sight of me in a low voice that meant I mean business "I am tired of being the laughing stock of the police department and you need to make a choice." I didn't tell her that she had to make her choice now because if she left the scene with me then I couldn't go back to that nice fine ass I was banging before I got interrupted.

I saw Ranger and his thugs pull up and I knew they would take her get her all patched up and ready for me and my boys later on tonight, looks like I found a use for them after all. I couldn't just let Ranger walk up and take her I had to put on a show for the guys in the department after all I don't want to look too anxious to get rid of Cupcake and get back to my piece of side action. So I do what I do best I let my Italian temper loose. "Cupcake you need to come with me _now_" I put emphasis on now demanding she listen to me and do what I say.

Ranger is standing beside her with his arm around her whispering in her ear. I can't hear what he is saying but I see her nod in response. I also watch as her head gravitates toward his chest as she takes a deep breath in and then I watch as she relaxes in his arms. The image of them manages to enrage me even more maybe I would be willing to forgo my afternoon delight to get her out of his arms. She is just looking to comfortable for my taste after all my future wife should be seeking comfort in my arms not the arms of a thug. Like normal I can't see any emotions on Ranger's face it is just blank and looking at me. I look over his shoulder and see his band thugs Tank, Lester, and Bobby.

I grab hold of cupcakes arm and attempt to pull her out of his arms she screams in pain. As soon as she screamed Bobby, Lester, and Tank run forward getting between me and Cupcake. Ranger had grabbed my hand forcing me to release her. I had gotten exactly what I wanted, the show for the crowd and their intrusion, now for the finale "Fine Cupcake, do what you want I have to get back to work, we will talk about this later, as you wish".

I turned on my heels and headed towards my car. The first thing I was going to do was call Mama Plum and inform her of how bad her daughter just treated her future son-in-law, then I was going to go back to that fine ass of a side piece and finished what I had started. As I pulled out of the lot I saw Ranger still holding her to his side while Bobby was inspecting her for injuries and I just smiled thinking that's right fix her up so she will be ready for some action tonight the boys will be waiting for that.

RPOV

I am sitting at my desk going over a customer's contract when Zero comes busting thru the door like he is about to break it off. The door bangs into the wall behind it leaving an indent in the sheetrock. I jump up and yell "What the Fuck?" Then I see the expression on his face and I know that expression can only mean one thing Stephanie is in trouble. Before I have a chance to even bark out report Zero is telling me how her car just went offline and they are unable to get a read on any of her trackers or reach her on her cell phone.

My heart leaps into my throat and my stomach turns as I jump into action. I immediately call for Brown and Tank, Santos jumps up obviously he isn't going to be left behind. They all know by my reaction that Stephanie is involved and they know that it has the potential to be really bad. I barked out to Zero to text me the last location of her car before it went offline as the three of us ran to the stairwell heading toward the garage.

We jumped into the Cayenne and sped out of the garage. I ran stop signs and lights, and drove as fast as possible given the traffic on the streets. By the time we reached the site Stephanie's car was burning with flames shooting towards the sky. My heart sank further and my stomach turned even more but I knew no one knew what I was feeling. My schooled face was blank even though on the inside I was a mess. She was the love of my life but before I allow myself to jump to any conclusions I jumped out of the car running toward the scene of her burning car.

So many times I would find her sitting on the curb but today I couldn't see her and I started to panic a little when I rounded one of the rescue vehicles my panic turned to pure rage. I even heard a growl from Santos as we all witnessed Joe yelling at Stephanie. He was standing in front of her she was sitting on the curb with her legs bent up with her head resting on her knees she looked so lost that it made me want to run to her grab her and just take her away from everything and put a bright smile that I love on her face.

But she had chosen the cop of course I know her choosing him was all my fault as I sent her back to him, which was completely stupid on my part. I mean really "my life doesn't lend itself to relationships" what kind of bull shit is that. Just my way of protecting my heart, I was too big of sissy to get my heart hurt instead I pushed her to him. I shake my head to clear my thoughts and school my face again before walking up to them. When I walked around Joe he yells "Cupcake you need to come with me now" placing emphasis on the now.

This only enrages me even more but I can't let by Babe feel me enraged as she may think it is directed at her and I would never be mad at her for something like this. I don't care how many cars she blows up as long as she isn't in them when they blow up. I put my arm around her shoulder and pull her closer to me I lower my head to ear "Babe, are you alright?" She gives me a little node just her being in my arms calms me and I am able to take a breath for what feels like the first time since Zero busted into my office.

I take a quick moment to take note of her cataloging any injuries I see. Her hair is slightly singed, she has burns over her arms and legs as well as some scratches from the debris that fell around her but all in all she is fine. I finally let out a breath that I didn't realize I was still holding. Steph's head slowly lowered until it was resting on my chest I pulled her closer to me giving her strength and support. Her head tilted up and heard her inhale I know the scent of my shower gel calms her that is why I told Ella to make sure there was always extra. I even know that when she thinks I am not looking she will swipe a bottle. Personally I love that she smells like me, it is such a turn on that it has my pants tightening just thinking about it.

Just as she starts to relax into me Joe steps forward grabs Steph's arm and attempts to pull her from my arms, like that would ever happen. Steph screams in pain my rage is just below the surface as I grab his hand at the proper pressure points to force him to let go of her arm. Tank, Brown, and Santos jump between us completely blocking any more attempts he may try to get Steph out of my arms. Looking at Joe I quickly saw he was almost glad my guys had blocked him. I wondered what that was about if I didn't know how to read people so well it would have been missed.

I made a note to ask Tank and guys if they saw it too. Joe then relented saying "Fine Cupcake, do what you want I have to get back to work, we will talk about this later, as you wish". I watched as Joe turned on his and headed back to his POS cop car. I could almost see the wheels turning in his pathetic mind. I also made a mental note to talk to my guys about watching out for Steph a little more until we could figure out what he was up to. He was definitely up to something.

Once Joe left Bobby turned around and started looking over Steph's injuries. We decided to take her back to Rangeman where Bobby could take care of the burns and take a closer look at her injuries. Steph had not said anything since we got there, which I know had us all worried it wasn't like her to be quiet so quiet. We got to the cayenne and she got in the back between Santos and Brown stating that it would be more comfortable ride for everyone.

That was all she said the entire ride back to Haywood. I looked in the rearview mirror and she had her head lying on Santos' shoulder and tears were slowly rolling down her face. I know she hates to cry in front of us and she will do anything to keep from crying so for her to have tears on her face she was hurting either from the burns, or from something else and I was determined to find out what.


	3. Chapter 2: Another Car Pt2

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**Chapter 2 was broken into two parts because of length, this is the second half. I know there is fluff but for this story you need to know their thoughts and feelings for each other. **

Chapter 2: Another Car PT2

A Month Ago

LPOV

I was furious all I wanted to do was smash that cops face in sideways. When he grabbed her and she screamed I couldn't get between them fast enough. I was cursing myself for waiting and not getting between them from the beginning. I am Steph's best friend, and Steph is my best friend. Tell you the truth I am a little bit in love with her but her heart belongs to Ranger and I would never step between the two of them. They were meant for each other.

So I just settle for what piece of Steph I can have and that is friendship and I cherish it. She is the little sister that I always wanted to have not the little sister that I had. Don't get me wrong I love my sister with all that I am but she was the girlie girlie type sister. Always worried about her hair, her makeup, everything had to be perfect and just so. Whereas Steph isn't like that she is just fun to hang around and she is beautiful.

Heart, mind, and physically beautiful and those things are hard traits to find in a woman especially a woman that accepts you completely as you are and trust me when I say we are a tough bunch of guys to just accept and trust on just blind faith. Truth be told we all are little bit in love with her. We love it when she is around, we love to hear her laugh, and we love to be a part of her day as she brings light into our dark world and never ask for anything in return.

She even apologizes when we are partnered with her in advanced even though we literally fight each other over those shifts. To say we support her is an understatement she is loved, wanted, and looked after by all of us. Again another truth to be told she is the heart of us all. Not that I believe anyone has ever told her this.

Today I didn't know what to think or feel riding to where her car went offline. My mind was reeling at all the possibilities. I know Ranger thought that his blank face was in place but I know him well enough to know that he was feeling worse than I was. I knew it was taking all he could do just to get us there in one piece and then walk up to the scene. When I saw the flames shooting up in the air my heart literally stopped in my chest.

Then walking up seeing that fucking cop yelling at her made me growl with rage. I wanted to rip his head off. Most people think that I am happy go lucky Santos. The kidder and jokester of the office and I have been since Steph came into our lives. However when I get pissed well I am a force to be reckoned with, like Ranger, I am lethal extremely lethal. My time in the Rangers death became my specialty and I enjoyed dishing it out. That is why Steph is so important to me why I gravitate towards her and want her attention is because her light is a calming balm for my dark soul. I am certain that Ranger feels the same way when it comes to her light I know what I have done for my country and I know that Ranger has done even more.

When we got in the car Steph decided to ride between Brown and me we no more had the car in gear before she leaned her head over on my shoulder seeking comfort. I could tell she was crying as my sleeve was getting wet and knowing her the way I did it made me even more furious. I knew her well enough to know that she wasn't crying because of her injuries. While yes she hurt from them she was strong enough to not cry because of them.

She was crying because of that fucking cop and for that it made me want to beat him to within an inch of his life and then ship his ass to a third world country with the bloody clothes on his back and a fucking toothpick. I would be sure to pick a third world country that I knew he wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting out. I knew several countries that the devil himself wouldn't make it out unscathed let alone a snowball.

When we got to Haywood she barely had her eyes open and I could tell that she was experiencing an adrenaline crash. She already appeared so broken when we walked up on her that I wasn't sure how she would handle the crash. So when I got out I just put my arms around her and lifted her out with me. Ranger was waiting to take her from me so I gave her a kiss on her forehead and handed her over.

We no more turned around toward the elevator that the doors opened and what seemed like half of Rangeman poured out to check on her. Cal came running over along with Hector, Ram, and Hal to get a look at her in Ranger's arm. I just nodded my head to the guys letting them know that she would be okay. It was a close call but she will be fine. Zero, Zip, Junior, Binkie, Vince, and Woody came out of the stairwell guess they couldn't fit in the elevator with the other guys. It seemed like you could feel the whole building breathe a sigh of relief. I know Ranger felt it just as I did. He looked at me with a little shake of his head and a look that said man that was close and what would we do without her? It was a question I didn't want to ever know the answer to.

TPOV

Steph, my little girl as I call her had a close call today. You can tell by the burns on her arms and legs that she was a lot closer to that bomb than she should have been. Luckily for her it wasn't a large bomb or it would not have turned out as lucky as it did. I knew something was wrong with Steph the moment I heard Ranger's door being slammed open and I was on my feet heading to the door when I heard him bark out my name.

I should have demanded to drive because he nearly killed us getting there I knew his mind was in no place to fuck with him so I didn't even try protest when he went to the driver's door. I just held on to the Oh Shit handle and prayed for Steph's sake that we made it there in one piece and our sake that she would be in one piece when we got there. If something happens to her I am not certain I can control both Ranger and Santos.

They both love her and she albeit differently loves them. I don't think any of them want to bet without the other. For Ranger she is his lifeline he needs her like he needs air, sometimes I think he actually became more human when she entered his life. For Santos she is the balm for his tainted soul and somehow thru her he finds peace, forgiveness, and love.

For me I couldn't believe when Ranger brought her with us on our first redecorating job. I couldn't understand what he saw in her. She was white bread from the burg and we were a bunch of x military bad ass guys that had seen more, done more than most people would ever be able to comprehend and on most days we trudged around in the slime and grime of the lowlifes of this city. Places where a white bread girl from the burg wouldn't even want to acknowledge let alone trudge along with us in after all they may mess up their hair or break a nail.

Boy did she prove me wrong. Not only was she willing to go there with us she wasn't afraid of getting her shoes muddy, her hair messed up, or her nails broken. All though any of the three happening would piss her off and lord help whoever it was that pissed her off. I thought after the redecorating job that she would tuck her tail and run for the hills but no. Instead she ended up going after the guy with a bomb strapped to his chest that had shot me.

She got him in his apartment where a neighbor managed to activate the bomb with Steph standing there. Talk about having my ass handed to me by the boss because I failed to protect her. It will be a cold day in hell before I forget that lesson on the mats. The lesson from the boss was titled protect Stephanie with your life because if you don't I will personally end yours. That was when I knew there was a whole lot more to this little white bread girl from the burg and that the boss definitely had an interest in her that went well beyond teaching her the ropes to bounty hunting.

Of course now that she has spent time with all of the guys most of the guys would protect Steph with their life with our without the mandate from the boss. Most of the guys fought over who got to spend time with Stephanie of course I don't think anyone of us bothered to tell her that. Maybe one of these days we should tell her truly what she means to us.

Today stepping out of that car watching my little girl's car burning with vengeance I paused for a second as fear crept through me. I am a big bad ass, bigger and meaner than most men you would know. Most of the time just one look at me makes most men quake in their boots and even piss their pants a time or two. If they are dumb enough to call me on it then they learn firsthand that I am every bit as dangerous as I look.

I don't normally know what is to fear anything or anyone but in this instance I was afraid that this time we were too late, that my Little Girl's nine lives had run out. I shook my head because I knew Ranger and Santos were doing the same I saw them shake off the thoughts of doom. I knew if something happened to her then I would need to control both Ranger and Santos to keep them from doing something that they would later come to regret in their fit of grief.

I said a silent thank you that Bobby was here so that he would be able to help if the shit really did hit the fan because it would be all I could do to keep Ranger in line let alone add Santos into the mix. Probably the two most lethal men of Rangeman both grieving their lost would not be good if unleashed on the streets of Trenton.

As we got closer to the scene I saw Morelli yelling at Steph and I wanted to pound his face into the ground. One word from Ranger and he would be minced meat but I held myself back and watched the scene unfold. But when that stupid son of bitch grabbed her burned arm and she screamed in pain it was I could do to just get in between them without dishing a little of my own pain.

I loved dishing out pain just ask anyone that served in the Rangers with me. My specialty was bringing the pain to those mother fuckers to make them talk and make them talk I did. I could make anyone sing like a canary. Ten minutes in a room with me and I knew everything there was to know about the piece of shit from the name of his mother all the way up to where they were planning the next terrorists attack , drug delivery, or hideout.

I knew Morrelli was soft I could make him scream and I wanted him screaming for his mama to save his lowlife ass for making my Little Girl scream in pain. He backed away but I noticed a slight smile when he went to leave and I wondered what the hell that was about. It wasn't normal for him to just allow us to keep Stephanie with us. He always wanted to be the one to take her from the scene something was definitely off with him. I was going to make note of that to Ranger and see if he noticed the same behavior.

My little girl hadn't said as much as one word from the time we got there only a node when Ranger asked if she was okay. When we got to the car I started to get in the back with Santos and Brown only for her to stop me and tell me to ride up front that she would ride in the back with them and it would be more comfortable for everyone.

That is just like my little girl. Her car gets blown up, she get yelled at by someone who is suppose to care about her love her even, she get injured and she cares more about me being comfortable. I tell you she has the heart the size Texas in that little body of hers. A heart I would gladly give my life to protect.

We get back to Rangeman and get out I can see that Steph is just about at her wits end for the day. There is no way she could even stand on her own two feet the adrenaline rush had now worn off and it left her completely listless. Her body hasn't been trained to handle adrenaline rushes and how to cope with the after affects like our bodies have been trained. For her it would be an exhausting experience.

Santos carried her out of the vehicle and handed her over to Ranger's waiting arms. We no more turned toward the elevator doors when Cal, Ram, Hector, and Hal poured out the door to get a look at Steph to make sure she was okay. It wasn't two seconds later that the stairwell door swung open and Zero, Zip, Binkie, Woody, Vince and Junior poured out of the stairwell to check on my little girl. Once they had checked her over while she rested in Ranger's arm you could almost hear the whole building take a sigh of relief that she is going to be okay.

Ranger entered the elevator and went straight to the seventh floor while Bobby got off on the fourth floor to gather his supplies. I got off of on the fifth floor just to check to make sure there hadn't been any other emergencies we needed to know about while we were out of the office. Once I got the report that all was clear I got back on the elevator meeting Brown and we proceeded to the seventh floor to check on my little girl and talk to Ranger about Morelli's odd behavior today.

BPOV

I couldn't believe it when Morelli reached out and grabbed Steph's burnt arm. He had to know it would hurt her. She screamed in pain. Thankfully, Ranger quickly forced him to release his hold on her with little effort on Ranger's part. I am sure like myself he wanted to break every bone in his worthless hand but much to my surprise he controlled himself and simply just let go. By the time he let go Tank, Lester, and I were standing between Morelli and Steph and Ranger daring him to try to touch her again.

For the most part I am a healer. I fix up the guys and Bomber when they get into a scuffle. But something about Morelli makes me want to rip his heart out. Being a medic I took an oath much like that of a doctor to do no harm. But my training in the Rangers definitely taught me how to do harm. My in-depth knowledge of the human body makes me more lethal than most men with formal combat training. I know where to apply pressure to make you feel good just as much as to make you feel pain and when Bomber screamed in pain I definitely wanted to make Morelli feel pain.

Steph is like the sister that I never had. I have fixed her up more times than I really want to remember. Thankfully Stephanie has luck on her side she has been shot several times, sliced a few times, and been way too close to too many bombs but she manages to come thru them with minimal damage. Which I am grateful I am just scared that one day her luck will run out and we will lose something that is precious and special to us all.

You could hear and feel the whole building take a sigh of relief today when we brought her back here. Every one of the guys wanted to personally check her over to make sure for themselves that she was going to be okay. They would never take my word for it even though I am the company medic. They have to see for themselves.

Ranger finally got her away from everyone and took her up to the seventh floor, his personal apartment. He knows how much she loves lying on his ultra soft sheets. The adrenaline rush had long past leaving her body completely exhausted. By the time I got my supplies and got up to his apartment she was sound asleep. Ranger had changed her from her burnt and partially bloody clothing into a pair a of gym shorts and a sports bra.

That way I would have the most access to her injuries without seeing anything too private. It isn't that I haven't seen her naked before but only when it was absolutely necessary for her care. I went about the tasks of cleaning her scratches and gashes it looked like two of them may need a few stitches and tending to her burns. Luckily she only received first degree burns so a little cleaning and ointment should do the trick. There were a few of the burns I wanted to bandaged because I felt like they would be a little more comfortable for Bomber.

I took advantage of the fact that she was sleeping and gave her a local so I could stitch up the couple of gashes that she had on her legs. The scratches on her arms would heal without any problems. Looking at her arms no wonder she screamed when Morrelli grabbed her you can see the bruise forming around the burn on her arm. Looking at the proof of what he did made my blood boil again. I silently wished for the day that I could personally teach Morrelli a lesson for daring to hurt our heart.

While I am tending to her wounds Lester my partner walks in the room I knew he was upset with the events of the day. Lester nods towards Bomber "Hey man how is she, has she woke up and said anything to you since you got here." I just shook my head no. I know it has me worried that she has been so quiet since coming up on the scene the only words she spoke were when she told tank to ride up front in the car. Besides that it had been a head nod when Ranger asked if she is okay.

I can tell that Lester is a little worried about her as well. He sits on the bed beside her and rubs her cheek, gives her kiss on the forehead and then took her hand in his. Sometimes I wonder if he is aware of how he acts around her. He gravitates toward her as if he can't help himself. He worries over her and he is furiously protective of her.

I know he feels like she is the little sister that he always wanted. I also know that he loves her but would never come between Ranger and her. Of all of us merry men Lester is Bomber's favorite we all know this, they have a close bond that Tank, I, and the other guys don't share with Bomber.

While he is sitting there with her I started telling him about her injuries I show him the stitches that I just completed on her legs and a few of the more severe burns as I am showing and telling him I can see him getting more upset "hey man don't get too upset, she was very lucky today. That whole thing could have gone a lot worse than what it did. She will be good as new in no time."

He just nodded his head and took a calming breath before telling me "man I tell you I wanted to rip Morrelli to pieces today. If it wasn't for her and how she would look at us if we touched him I don't know that I would have been able to control myself. I wanted his blood for yelling at her and then when he grabbed her and she scream it was all I could do not to tear his head off of his shoulders."

I wanted to do the same but instead of telling Lester I just told him "man you know if you did that you would be under the jail and Stephanie would be so pissed off at you for leaving her." Time to change the subject "where's Ranger" never taking his eyes off of Steph "Ranger is in the living room talking with Tank". Before I could say anything more Stephanie started to stir.


	4. Chapter 3: Always Being a Disappointment

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

Chapter 3: Always Being a Disappointment

SPOV

"Ugggg" I started to turn and I could feel my body screaming at me. I ached, my body ached my head ached I just felt like shit and I smelled worse. They say you can't smell yourself but trust me today I could smell me! I had that burned smell you know the smell of hair getting caught in a hair dryer, burned skin, and dried sweat yuck.

As I started to come around I could feel those million count sheet of Ranger's and my first thought was oh my god Ella will never get this smell out of these sheets. Not wanting to further ruin Ranger's sheets I tried to get up only to be gently eased back down by Bobby and Lester. "Easy there Beautiful, you don't want to move too fast. Besides when do I get to lay and just hold you, especially on the boss's bed?" looking at Lester wag his eyebrows up and down made me smile. Bobby just laughed "Lester you never know when to keep your thoughts to yourself, you let boss man hear you say that and you will be meeting him on the mats every morning for a week".

Lester then took on a serious look "Beautiful are you okay? You haven't said much today, is everything okay?" I need to get out of here before their ESP starts to pick up. I need to escape and live in denial land a little longer and Lester doesn't allow me to live in denial land. He has gotten to know me too well and he will call me on my bullshit answers. I tried to just nod my head that I was fine.

When I could see they clearly weren't buying it "Yes Lester everything is fine, other than I lost another car". That did it just the mention of losing another car caused my eyes to fill with water. I tried my best to swallow the tears back down and I cursed my traitorous eyes for giving away my true feelings. I am such a colossal fuck up. How can these guys even still consider me one of their friends let alone want to care for me when I can't even do the simplest of tasks as a bounty hunter.

I no more completed that thought before Lester had me crushed against him and in a no nonsense low I am not joking voice "I never want to hear you ever refer to yourself as a fuck up and as far as considering you a friend well you aren't just a friend you are our family and we love you do you hear me? " Looking straight into my eyes he then stressed it again "WE LOVE YOU"

Damn when am I ever going to learn to filter what comes out of my mouth. Even though Lester had me crushed against him I managed to speak "Lester, I love you guys too and I feel like you're my family as well but isn't it obvious that my mom and Joe are right? I mean I do fuck up the simplest of bounty hunting tasks." I sighed.

"Take today for example. A simple task of picking up Earnest Stiller to return him to the system so he could reschedule his court date. How hard should it have been? I mean the man was 65 years old. Could I just apprehend him? NO, he ran and I took off after him. I chased him all over the neighborhood for what felt like an hour. Just as I was rounding the curb toward his home giving up because I had lost him I saw him light the rag that he had stuffed in my gas tank. I tried to run to grab the rag but before I got there my car exploded" Lester's body tensed and his arms squeezed me tighter as he buried his head in my hair. Bobby just got up off of the bed and walked out of the room without saying anything. I sensed the mood in the room change with my statement and how Lester's body tensed up.

"Lester what's wrong? Did I say something, wrong?" I looked up at Lester as best I could from the position I was in. Lester's grip of me didn't loosen as he sighed. "Beautiful do you know what you just said? Do you know what you just told Bobby and me?" I could tell Lester was trying to control himself and for a brief moment I was a little nervous and the urge to escape increased.

But before I could move Lester took a deep breath and started talking "Beautiful you just told us that you ran towards your car with a burning rag sticking out of the gas tank. Do you know how lucky you were today? I know you have injuries but had you gotten any closer to your car you could have been hurt a whole lot worse or even killed." Hearing him say that made the tears start to pour down my eyes I could tell by his voice what it was costing him to tell me that. I could hear the worry and that just made everything I felt even more concrete.

"Lester see I don't think first I just react and I do stupid shit, oh my god Joe and my mother are right" I was in shock all this time they were right. "I can't do my job. I am an embarrassment to Joe, my family, you guys, Ranger, and even Rangeman." I need to get out of here. I need to leave now. Lester must have been as shocked by the truth as I am because I was able to quickly pull myself away from him and I took off running.

I ran from the Ranger's bedroom ran out of his apartment as fast I could run. I didn't have time for the elevator so I bolted down the stairs. I don't even know how I ran so fast before I knew what happened I was in the garage grabbing keys to one of the SUVs. I did the lock thing to figure out which SUV I had the keys to I then jumped in and screeched out of the garage.

My mind was going a mile a minute with everything Joe and my mother has ever said to me as tears poured down my face. I wasn't sure where I was going so I spent some time just driving around. With every conversation I remember it was more convincing that they were right. Their words running thru my head what a disappointment, an embarrassment, a fuck up I was.

As conversations passed thru my mind I couldn't help but wonder why Ranger and guys would want anything to do with me. I caused them nothing but headaches and hassles they constantly had to rescue me, they constantly had to worry about poor Stephanie. I replayed the conversation were Joe told me Ranger only gave me jobs out of pity. Joe said that Ranger felt responsible for agreeing to teach how to become a bounty hunter and since I obviously couldn't learn because I still sucked at my job more and more every day that he was ashamed of me. He couldn't admit that he had failed and so he took pity on me whenever I needed money and would give me a job, knowing all along I would only fuck it up.

Seeing truth in that statement made me cry even harder. Ranger did nothing but bled money for me. Not only when the latest psycho was after me but even in just giving me a job when I was low on money. I didn't know how to feel. I mean I was so embarrassed that I had treated Ranger and his men so wrong. I didn't deserve to be considered a friend of theirs. I loved them all and I respected them but they didn't need to be associated with me a colossal fuck up that couldn't do anything right and was constantly in the need of rescuing or getting them hurt one way or another. Not to mention I had to be embarrassing Ranger, the guys, in addition to negatively impacting Rangeman's bottom line with all the money bled for me.

God my head hurt, my body ached but I couldn't stop and think about that. I am so confused but my love for them helped me make the decision to go talk to Joe. To tell him that I was going to change my life, I no longer wanted to be a disappointment, or bring further embarrassment to him or my family. I wasn't going to tell him that I also didn't want to negatively impact Rangeman's bottom line, bring embarrassment to Ranger or my merry men, or that I no longer could bare the knowledge of knowing I had disappointed Ranger.

Just the thought of ever disappointing Ranger made my chest hurt to the point that I questioned if I was having a heart attack. If I didn't know it was my heart breaking over finally seeing the truth then I would have driven straight to the first emergency room. But I knew it wasn't a heart attack it was just the ache of finally seeing the truth and no longer being able to live in denial. Wiping the tears from my eyes and trying to calm my breathing I first disabled the vehicles GPS and then I turned the car in the direction of Joe's house. It was late but I knew he would still be up.

RPOV

Tank and I were talking about Morrelli's odd behavior today. He too had seen the almost smile that I had witnessed and how easily he accepted that Stephanie stay with us after he grabbed her. While we were trying to figure out why and were wondering what he was up to Stephanie came running out of the bedroom like someone had let loose the hounds of hell and they were chasing her.

She never looked our way just hit the apartment door and then I heard the stairwell door bang open. For a moment I think Tank, Bobby and I were shocked we had never seen Stephanie move that fast not to mention use the stairs. Then I was instantly mad because for her run like that Lester must have done something or said something to really upset her.

Lester comes running out of the room and I pin him with a glare that would have most men backing the fuck up. In my most lethal voice "What the fuck did you do, what did you say to her?" Lester had a look of shock on him which caused me to pause had it been anyone else I would have pounced without another thought. Deep down inside I knew Lester would never do or say anything to hurt her. Hell I knew he loved her, and like me he would do anything in the world to make sure that she was never hurt but at that moment she was running and I could see her tear stain cheeks I just wanted to eradicate whatever it was that hurt her.

I turned more to Lester and while I was still on edge I now had better control of my emotions. "Lester, what did you say to her?" Lester sighed ran his fingers thru his hair shook his head "man this is bad, at first Steph wouldn't say much of anything so I pushed a little." My nose flared as I took a deep breath. I had to remind myself again this is Lester. I know he doesn't allow Steph to hang in denial land with him but she has had a tough day she didn't need him pushing her right now. I needed him to give me more. "Explain".

Lester took a breath before he began "Bobby will tell you from the moment her eyes opened she was trying to escape. She at first said she was fine other than loosing another car then tears started forming in her eyes I wasn't really certain what was going on in that beautiful head of hers at first until she mistakenly spoke out loud. She said how she was such a colossal fuck up and that she didn't know how we could even still consider her a friend let alone care for her when she couldn't even do the simplest of tasks as a bounty hunter" What, what would make her think that. We all love her.

We all need her she is our light in the darkness. She is our heart does she not understand that we just plain and simply love her? Before I could voice any of this Lester continues "I pulled her close to me hugging her and I told her that I never wanted to hear her say those things about herself again. I told her that she wasn't just a friend that we considered her family and that we loved her. Then I looked her in the eye and stressed again that we all loved her". Whew well at least he had said all the right things.

My Babe's self confidence has been taking a beating lately because of her bitch of a mother and that son of bitch Morrelli. I have tried to my best to offset their negativity by giving her jobs and telling her that I was proud of her and how she's never disappointed me. I only hope she knows that I meant every word of it. I could tell Lester didn't really know how to tell me what happened next so I motion for him to go on I still have not completely made up my mind if I was going to kick his ass or not.

Lester started "Well" then paused ran his hand thru his hair then down his face "She said that she loved us also but that it was obvious to her that her mom and Joe were right. She went on to tell me about how she had went after a 65 year old skip his name was Earnest Stiller well he ran and forced her to chase him for a while around the neighborhood." He paused again I motioned for him to continue, he is trying my fucking patients here.

"She went on to tell me that she lost him and was rounding the corner to go back to her car when she saw him light a rag he had stuffed in her gas tank." I made a mental note to pay Mr Stiller a visit maybe I would convince him that it would be in his best health if he let Stephanie bring him in next time, if I let him have a next time. Lester then looked on an edge look as he proceeded with the rest of the story.

"Steph told me how she started to run towards her car to grab the rag but the car exploded before she got to it." Holy shit she was running towards a car with a burning rag sticking out of the gas tank. God this day could have ended really bad. I am not certain the last time I prayed for anything or thanked god for anything but tonight I would and I would thank him for keeping Stephanie with me, with us.

Lester took another breath, if he keeps this up he is going to hyperventilate, before he continued with the story I could tell that this was the hard part of the story as I could see him carefully choosing his words as to allow me to keep what little of my control I had intact. "Steph must have felt me tense up and she asked me if something was wrong. Bobby just got up and walked out so I know he felt the same way as I did." Again he took another breath to calm himself

"I asked Steph if she really understood what she had just told us. I knew she wasn't following by the look on her face so I spelled it out for her telling her that she had just told us that she went running towards a car that had a burning rag sticking out of its gas tank. I proceeded to then ask her if she knew how lucky she was today. That I knew she had gotten injured but had she gotten any closer to that car she could have been hurt a whole lot worse or even killed." I couldn't fault him for telling her that, hell I would have probably told her the same thing but there was more to this story. "How did that make her run out of here as though the hounds of hell were chasing her?"

Lester raised his eyebrows rocked back on his heels with his hands in his front pockets taking a deep breath along the way. "Man I tell you, I have never seen her like she was today and let me tell you she shocked the shit out of me. That is the reason why she got loose from my hold because what she said shocked me." I was about to have his ass if he didn't get to the point "make your point Santos".

"Well Ranger she said that she never thought first that she just reacts and ends up doing stupid shit. Then she looked like that her statement almost shocked herself. Then she said oh my god Joe and her mother were right. I was about to ask her what she meant by that when she continued on saying how she couldn't do her job, how she was an embarrassment to Joe, her family, to us, to you Ranger, and even to Rangeman itself. Her statement just floored me that she would think that and I sat there in a shocked state for second. Before I had the opportunity to say anything she had taken off running towards the door."

Damn it and of course we had just watched her run right past us. I looked over at Tank and I could tell he didn't really know what to think about everything he was hearing. Bobby was just standing there as well. They were all waiting for the word of what do to come from me. All eyes were on me. I trust these three guys with my life, I trust them to run Rangeman, but most importantly they all know that I trust them with Stephanie.

It used to be the ultimate compliment for me to give my men was for me to trust them with my life. Not anymore ever since a brown curly hair blue eyed woman came into my life the highest level of compliment any of my men could earn from me was me trusting them with Stephanie's life and they all know it. I haven't even had a chance to look at her since Bobby patched her up not to mention she went running out of here with a sports bra, tiny gym shorts and no shoes.

I look at the three men standing in my apartment and I started barking orders. "Brown you go to the control room and see if you can follow her movements on the video cameras in the building. I suspect she took one of the vehicles but it is possible that she is still in the building hiding somewhere. If she took a vehicle I want you to text me the vehicle license plate number. Santos you get a couple of the guys to put eyes on Morelli and her mother's house I want to know what is going on with both of them so there are no surprises for her if she were to show up there tonight. Santos they are to report to you and you can report anything important to me, but I want them to tell you everything that is happening at both houses I don't care if a fly farts If they know it I want them to report it to you, do you understand." Santos nodded.

I then looked at Tank "Tank you are with me. Oh Brown and Santos regardless of what happens I want you to remain available just in case Steph need either of you at any point tonight." With that having been said we all headed out of my apartment. Lester and Bobby got off on the 5th floor while Tank and I proceeded to the garage.

LPOV

I feel like shit. I can't believe after hearing what Steph said that one she could feel that way. That she honestly thought we felt that way. We love to work with her, hell we fight each other for the opportunity to work with her whenever we get the chance. We love it when she comes to work here. She doesn't realize how much better Rangeman is when she is around.

I guess we never really thought to tell her just how much she is wanted around here. Brown and I walk in the control room I nod my head in acknowledgement to Bones and Slick who are at the control desk. I called the guys that I knew were closest to Stephanie to meet me in the control room. "Hal, Vince, Cal, and Ram I need for you to meet me in the control room ASAP this is urgent."

I hear Bobby in the background clicking the computer for the video feed. It wasn't but a few minutes longer before I hear him with almost a shock sound "holy hell". I look over at the video feed as he backs it up a little. She comes busting out of the stairwell into the garage she runs over and just grabs a set of keys out the box. We see her click the lock while looking for the vehicle she has the keys for. She runs toward the vehicle jumps in and speeds out of the garage as fast as she can go tires just screaming.

Bobby immediately texts Ranger with the license plate for the SUV Steph took off in. I key in the codes for the tracker for that vehicle and key in the codes to see where that vehicle has gone since it left here along with how fast, and I turned on the mike for the vehicle so we could hear what was going on inside the vehicle.

I turn to Hal, Vince, Cal, and Ram I don't want to tell them everything that has happened but I had tell them something for them to understand what I was about to ask of them was urgent and needed to be handled with the utmost care. "Steph got extremely upset and ran out of Ranger's apartment. She left in one of the SUVs. She ran out of his apartment so fast she didn't even take the time to put on shoes she just bolted in a sports bra and gym shorts." I could see worry on their faces they wanted to asked details but none of them did. They knew I would only tell them what I wanted them to know.

"Ranger is out there now tracking her. We don't know where she is going or what she is even doing. But what I need is for two of you to go stake out Morrelli's house while the other two stake out her parent's house." They all look at each other and then back at me.

"I know guys this sounds like an odd request but something is going on and we aren't sure what. If she decides to go to either home we don't want her walking into a surprise and we want her to have backup only seconds away instead of minutes. Hal and Vince you go to her parent's home, Cal and Ram you go to Morelli's. I want you to report anything and everything back to me. I do mean anything, got it. Anything important that I think the boss needs to know about I will report back to him. If she shows up at one of these locations expect the boss to not be far behind her."

I know these guys will do their job, they never fail to perform their jobs but I wanted to give them the warning that Ranger would be there. His control has already been tested today the last thing that needs to happen is for one of them to fuck up on this assignment. The boss would be handing all of us our asses on the mats tomorrow. The guys walked out of the control room and went to their vehicles heading to their locations.

Bobby has been watching Stephanie drive around, I can tell she is crying because I can hear her sniffling but she isn't talking out loud to herself so I can't tell what she is thinking in that beautiful head of hers. Bobby's phone ring "Yo" I look over at him and he mouths the word boss as if I didn't know. "Rangeman she is has just been driving. I have no idea where she is heading at this point."

He pauses then proceeds to tell him "well she is going almost 70 in a 45, she is heading west on Hamilton right now. Guessing I would say she is crying, crying pretty hard actually, but she hasn't said anything out loud." Bobby shifts a little bit presses a few keys "I am patching it thru to your com now. You should be able to see and hear what we do now." Bobby has linked Ranger's GPS to the tracker on the SUV Steph is driving along with the audio feed from her vehicle.

My phone rings it is Cal, him and Ram must be at Morrelli's "Yo" "Lester, we have eyes on Morrelli's all seems quiet. I can see a light from a TV on downstairs in the living room. I haven't yet seen any movement downstairs or up." "Okay man let me know if anything changes. I will let you know when you can pack it in for the night. Until then stay aware of your surroundings." I knew I didn't need to remind them of that but I have a feeling that if anything happens tonight it will be at the Morrelli house instead of the Plums.

I no more hang up that my phone it rings again this time it's Hal, him and Vince must be at the Plum's "Yo" "Lester, we have eyes on the Plum's it seems everyone has gone to bed." "Okay man that is probably normal considering it's after eleven. Let me know if anything changes. I will let you know when you can pack it in for the night."

I no more than hang up that I hear Bobby "Shit, son of a bitch" I look over at him and raise my eyebrow. "She has disabled the GPS and tracking on the SUV, she must have just thought about it." He then bangs the desk out of frustration as he picks the phone up to call the boss. "Boss man she just disabled the tracker and the GPS on the SUV, were you able to catch up to her? Have you got eyes on her yet?"

I curse under my breath. We should have never shown her how to do that, but at the time who would have thought she would have used it against us. Okay that was a stupid thought of course she would use it against us. I think to myself could this day get any more cluster fucked than it already has been?

Just as my cell phone rings. It is Cal and Ram. "Yo" "Lester its Cal and something is going on here" oh shit. "The TV is still on but there is no movement downstairs in the house, we just saw the upstairs bathroom cut on and off two times and both times someone walked past the windows. We can't tell for sure but we don't think it was the same person both times." double shit. Just as I was about to hang up and call Ranger, Cal yells out "Holy shit".

"What's going on" "Lester man you aren't going to believe this" oh trust me at this point I would fucking believe anything. "The upstairs bedroom light just came on and there are definitely two people in the house and from the looks of it Morrelli is going to have a smile on his face tomorrow." Son of a fucking bitch, that asshole! "Lester please tell me I can bash his face in. If Stephanie sees this she is going to..."

Cal just paused I could hear Ram say oh Fuck in the background, what in the hell is happening, why aren't they talking to me. "Cal she is going to what, what the fuck is going on?" "Uhhh Lester, Stephanie just pulled up in front of Morelli's" Son of a bitch just when I think this day couldn't get more clustered fuck, it just proved it could.

I motioned for Bobby to get the boss on the phone. Taking the phone from him "Ranger man you have got to get to Morrelli's like fucking yesterday. The shit is about to hit the fan big time. Cal just called me to tell me that Morelli has a night time guest. While Cal was telling me Stephanie pulled up out front of his house." I could hear the turbo engine rev in the background and Ranger just started cursing "Son of a fucking bitch I should have killed that cheating mother fucker years ago, god damn it. Has she gotten out of the car yet? If he hurts her they will never find his fucking body." "No man I can still hear her in the car. She has stopped crying so I am not certain what she is doing." I silently prayed that he would get there before she got out of the car.


	5. Chapter 4: Forever Ingrained

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**For everyone following this story there won't be a new chapter tomorrow as I will be away. So I am posting this Chapter to make up for it. I hope you enjoy it.**

Chapter 4: Forever Ingrained

SPOV

I pulled up in front of Morrelli's and like I suspected he was still up. The lights were on downstairs and the TV was going. He was probably watching a game, the night time news, or possibly one of the late night shows as it was just a little after eleven. I readied myself with what I wanted to tell him.

I rehearsed it my head, I was going to tell him how I was tired of being a disappointment and embarrassment to myself, him, and my family. That I wanted to change, and to make everyone proud of me I would become a stay at home burg housewife mother of 2.5 children with the white picket fence and a dog. That everyone wanted me to become. I could feel the hives starting just thinking about it, but I have to steel myself so I can tell him without freaking out, breaking out in hives and more importantly without breaking down in tears. I give myself a moment to just breathe.

This would be the best thing for me to do. The guys at Rangeman wouldn't have to risk getting broken keeping me safe, I would no longer attract psychos, I would no longer negatively impact Rangeman bottom line as Ranger would no longer have to bleed money for me, and more importantly I would no longer disappoint or embarrass Ranger because I sucked at Bounty Hunting.

I took a really deep breath and I jumped out of the SUV. My feet hit the cold pavement and I realized I wasn't wearing any shoes. While it was spring it was still rather cool at nights so my feet immediately protested the cold pavement so I took off running toward the house. I didn't have my key but I knew where Joe kept a spare key so I grabbed it and let myself in and locked the door behind me.

As I walked into the house towards the living room I heard moaning coming from the room as I rounded the corner to the living room I understood the moaning as there was a porn flick playing. So typical Joe, but Joe wasn't in the living room. I looked in the kitchen and even out back where I saw Bob tied to the tree, now that was odd. But since he had porn playing I left him out there no need to corrupt poor Bob's eyes with that.

Realizing Joe wasn't downstairs my spidey sense started to alarm me that something wasn't right. Quietly as humanly possible I started climbing the stairs, as I got to the point where I could see the doors upstairs I could see a light on in Joe's bedroom. I quickly and quietly walked up to the door listening for any sounds. I heard Joe grunting and the next sound cause my feet to freeze in place. That sound was unmistakable. He had a woman in there with him.

It was like a bad dream here I was coming to him to tell him that I was willing to change my entire life to be what he wanted so he would no longer be embarrassed of me. To tell him that I wanted to marry him, have his children, become a stay at home housewife so he could finally be proud of me and he was fucking someone else in his bed.

My whole body screamed for me to just turn around and run but it was like a force I couldn't control I saw my hand raise up and press against the door causing the door to open. It was like I was looking at myself from a third person's perspective. I couldn't control my own body it was moving on its own doing the exact opposite of what my mind was screaming for it to do.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Joe was in his bed, the bed that we shared, with none other than Terry Gillman. She saw me enter the room first before Joe was even aware and she took that opportunity to smile at me while fucking him harder causing him to grunt in pleasure. I was in shock, standing there frozen in place not believing my own eyes.

This wasn't happening he was suppose to love me, he was suppose to want to marry me god forbid he said he wanted kids with me and here he was fucking Terry Gillman in his bed while we were in an "on" phase. It was the Dick all over again. I screamed to the top of my lungs "What the fuck Joe?" He froze in place, Terry's legs still wrapped around him his head buried in her chest.

He didn't move away from her only turned his head as if to confirm that I was in fact standing there in the room witnessing him cheating on me. "Cupcake what the fuck are you doing here?" I think he spoke before he realized what he was saying. "What the fuck am I doing here? I think I should ask you what the fuck are you doing here after all I am your girlfriend and you currently have your dick buried in a another woman."

Joe takes a deep breath gets up off of Terry she doesn't have the decency to even attempt to cover herself as she just lays there spread for him to look at as he gets up. I spun on my heels and started to head out of the bedroom. I had seen enough to last me a lifetime I didn't need any more images ingrained forever on my brain.

As I head downstairs running for the door Joe is right behind me. He grabs me by the arm about half way down the stairs. "Not so fast Cupcake. I believe we need to talk." "Joe we have nothing to talk about, after what I have seen I want nothing to do with you, I am done." "I don't think so Cupcake. I know what you saw but I can explain, I am working a case this is just business." "Joe, if that is business then I want no part of it, no part of you, let me GO." I yelled go.

I wasn't sure what I was feeling at the moment. I wanted to just run, I needed to get out of his house, away from Joe, but he wasn't letting go of my arm. He had a grip on it so hard that I knew I would have a nasty bruise by morning. Jerking me towards him "I don't think so Cupcake, I am not letting you go. You are going to marry me, have my children, and just learn to deal with some aspects of my life. Just look at it like this I no longer have to hide it from you, and you may even enjoy joining in."

I looked at him what the fuck was he saying. I hit rhino mode "Joe if you think I am going to marry you, have your children while you are out fucking Terry Gillman and if you think I would be okay with that and would want to join in as you say then you have lost your fucking mine. Now let go of me I am leaving here NOW." Trying to jerk my arm out of his grip panic is now taking over as he starts to drag me back up the stairs.

"Cupcake you are standing here in a sports bra, and tiny gym shorts do you know what seeing you like that is doing to me?" With his free hand he grabs my hand and presses it against his bulging sweatpants, ewww gross. I started to jerk my hand away but decided to take the opportunity presented to get away from him. I quickly stroked up his hard on letting him think I was going to go for what he was offering he released my hand so it would have the freedom to explorer him.

He was still holding my arm tightly but I had to work with what I had. Soon as he let go of my hand I grabbed a handful of his balls and pulled down as hard as I could as if they were a rubber band once I pulled them as far as I could I let them spring back. Joe screamed in pain, pushed me down the stairs and grabbed himself.

I landed spread eagle at the bottom of the stairs. Joe still doubled over at the top of the stairs Terry had run to his side trying to help him stand upright while giving me an evil look, it appears I just ruined the rest of her night, good. Once I was able to catch my breath and get to my feet I started running for the door as fast as I could run.

I hit the door and ran across the porch when I got to the steps I missed a step and ended up sprawled out on the sidewalk. I couldn't get up because I hurt too badly and I wasn't able to breathe I was trying and trying to get air but I couldn't get any. I was clawing at the sidewalk trying to drag my body away from the house because I couldn't let Joe get his hands on me.

I was in full panic mode when the blackness started to take me. I fought against it until black filled my vision and I heard the most blessed voice. "Babe" I knew he was letting me know he was there but I couldn't respond. The black was swallowing me whole and this time I couldn't stop it.

RPOV

Jesus Christ. Fuck all the holy of course she would go to him. Why would I think otherwise? I know it is partially my fault that she runs to him as I pushed her towards him. But what she didn't know was that he wasn't alone. When Santos relayed that fact to me I pushed the Porsche as fast as I could go on the streets of Trenton to get to Morrelli's I wanted to prevent her from going into the house.

Unfortunately I didn't get there in time. I started to have Cal and Ram stop her but then she would be upset with me sending them there. I was literally between a rock and a hard place. To interfere or not Tank read my mind "Man you know if you interfere she will have your ass for it. She is a big girl let her handle her life and just be there to support her. That is what she wants support not caveman antics she has enough of people telling her how to live, and what to do. She does not need you in that role in her life. Just be there to support her in whatever she decides."

"Man you don't know how hard that is. I want to protect her. I don't want her to get hurt not physically, not emotionally, not in anyway. I want to protect her, take away whatever hurts her." "Rangeman I know how you feel we all want to protect her but sometimes you can't. You have to let her stand on her own two feet. Sometimes holding on to something you love too tight kills the very thing you love about it. Let her stand on her own two feet, she is a big girl she can handle it. She is tough even if she doesn't know it. Just be there to support her."

I exhaled a deep breath I knew he was right and I knew that is what she needed it was just hard to allow what I knew was going to happen. Protecting her is one of my greatest ingrained instincts. It will always be my life before hers.

I pull up in front of Morrelli's house Cal and Ram walk up to the Porsche. Cal starts reporting what he has witnessed before I even asked "Ranger she bolted out of the car about 10 minutes ago. She ran to the door got the spare key he hides, what a dumbass for a cop, and went inside. We saw her walk thru the downstairs. Then she headed for the stairs."

Tank and I got out of the car and we all stood outside leaning against the car watching the house. I briefly wondered what his nosy neighbors would do but it was late enough that most of them would be asleep by now. Taking a quick glance around the neighbor my assumptions are right as almost every house is dark. "We couldn't tell where she went as she didn't go into the bedroom far enough to see her thru the window but we did notice Joe jump up and grab some pants."

He no more finished speaking before the door flew open and Stephanie came running out the door. We all ran towards her as she fell from the steps onto the sidewalk. She was pawing at the sidewalk trying to pull herself away from the house when I reached her. I grabbed her and held her to me "Babe" then she went limp in my arms.

I picked her up and quickly ran to my car. I put her in the passenger seat hooked her seat belt. "Ram, regardless of what happens, stand guard do not let anyone get near her do you understand me?" Ram quickly nodded his head.

I turned back towards the house as Joe came out the opened door walking with a slight limp his hand pressing into this lower core. I smiled slightly at the thought of my babe nailing him in the family jewels. "Manoso what the fuck are you doing here? What have you done with Stephanie?" I glared at him with the mention of her name. "Stephanie is no longer your concern" I am laying down my claim to her right now.

"Stephanie is mine, and I protect what is mine. You made your decision when you chose to have another woman in your bed." "Manoso I know you want Stephanie for her ass, but trust me it isn't all that. You should do yourself a favor and just bring her back inside my house. You won't want her for long when you discover how uptight she can be in bed. I know about your reputation and trust me she won't be able to keep up with it."

What the fuck. How did he know anything about my reputation with women? Did he realize I was already on the verge of killing his stupid ass and statements like that about my babe only make my blood boil and only further strain what little control I have left.

"Morelli you are a stupid mother fucker for saying those things. I always knew you were a worthless piece of shit but Stephanie has always for some reason chosen to only see the good. You have treated her like shit for far too long. I am not going to tell you again Stephanie is no longer your concern." "Fuck you Manoso you can't threaten a cop."

"I don't recall threatening you but come near Stephanie again and you will know what it means to be threatened." Tank took a step closer to me not many men would have dared but Tank knows me well enough to know that my anger is focused. Tank stepping towards me is his way of saying stay in control.

I take a cleansing breath and lock my eyes on Morelli I can see fear creeping into his eyes. He may not know the truth about my life with women but he definitely knows my reputation on Stark Street is true and he has a healthy bit of fear of it. Good.

Terry Gillman finally stepped out of the house. Bitch. So that is who Stephanie witnessed him fucking well at least it wasn't the barnyard slut Joyce that she caught her dumb fuck of an x fucking but bad enough. Seeing her and thinking about what my babe had witnessed made me want to take Steph away and erase all of the bad images she has ever had see in her life.

The desire to leave was so overwhelming at this point I couldn't do anything else. "Morelli heed my warning stay the fuck away from Stephanie." With that I walked around my car and got in. Cal and Ram went back to their SUV and Tank got in the SUV that Stephanie was driving.

I put the car in gear and raced off to Haywood where Bobby could once again look at my babe's injuries. She had to be cold so I turned on the heater and made sure the vents were pointing towards her. Looking at her sitting there with her eyes closed so limp, small, and fragile looking at her made my heart swell as well as it made my rage soar.

I could see new bruises forming on her porcelain skin, which further enraged me if that, were possible. I wanted to kill that fucker for hurting her even more than she already was. I gripped the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white thinking of all the ways I could kill that mother fucker. If it wasn't for need to get my Babe away from there I would have turned around and made some of those thoughts a reality.

If given the chance and the choice to kill him I can say I would not choose an easy way. He would feel everything and before he died he would be begging me to end his life. He would beg until the point that he would offer whatever he had to give just for me to end his life and put him out of the misery and pain I want to dish out to him. Hell I may even let my guys take a round with him. Tank is especially good at dishing out pain. Not to mention it would probably be good for Rangeman moral.

JPOV

Damn it Stephanie has managed to mess up another piece of ass for me. I was fucking Terri for all I was worth and she was loving every minute of it when Cupcake busted into the room. I don't even know how long she stood there watching had I know she was watching that would have turned me on even more. My cock twitches just thinking about it.

Maybe that is something I will add to he list to have her do once we are married, have her watch me as I fuck someone else, or better yet have her join in while I fuck someone else now that would be mind blowing for me.

I heard Cupcake scream "What the fuck Joe?" I froze in place my dick buried deep in Terry's pussy her legs wrapped around me I had my head buried in her chest sucking her nipples. Letting her nipple pop out of my mouth I turned my head to verify that Cupcake was in fact standing in my bedroom. Before I thought about what to say to her my irritation with being interrupted was being voiced.

"Cupcake what the fuck are you doing here?" I saw the anger in her eyes "What the fuck am I doing here? I think I should ask you what the fuck are you doing here after all I am your girlfriend and you currently have your dick buried in a another woman." I took a deep breath and then reluctantly pulled myself out of Terry.

Cupcake had ruined the moment anyway. I stood up off of Terry and she just laid there spread eagle for both Steph and myself to see her in all her glory. That single act made me want to say fuck it and go about fucking her like I was before Cupcake ruined it. She is constantly ruining everything I don't know why I put up with her, why I deal with her. The only reason I do is because she is going to be my wife and the mother of my future children, but she is a pain in the ass. Cupcake takes off out of the room as I pull on a pair of sweatpants and head after her.

She was about half way down the stairs when I grabbed her arm. "Not so fast Cupcake. I believe we need to talk." I was using her words from the scene this morning against her. "Joe we have nothing to talk about, after what I have seen I want nothing to do with you, I am done." No I don't think so she isn't done until I say she is done, she doesn't get a say in this.

Maybe I can smooth things over if I tell her I was working undercover, what a pun. "I don't think so Cupcake. I know what you saw but I can explain, I am working a case this is just business." "Joe, if that is business then I want no part of it, no part of you, let me GO." She yelled for me to let her go which made me hold her tighter, I wasn't going to let her go ever and now she was just pissing me off.

First she ruins my fucking Terry and now she wants me to let her go. I jerked her towards me "I don't think so Cupcake, I am not letting you go. You are going to marry me, have my children, and just learn to deal with some aspects of my life. Just look at it like this, I no longer have to hide it from you, and you may even enjoy joining in." Again the thought of her joining Terry and I had me backing up the stairs pulling her with me. After all every man wants a lady in the street but a freak in the bed Cupcake is the lady to be seen with while Terry and my other pieces of side actions are the freaks in the bed. Just until I can turn Cupcake into a freak in the bed then she would be willing to join in.

The look on her face though told me she just wasn't getting it "Joe if you think I am going to marry you, have your children while you are out fucking Terry Gillman and if you think I would be okay with that and even want to join in as you say then you have lost your fucking mine. Now let go of me I am leaving here NOW." Now I was really pissed did she think I was just going to fuck Terry, hell I meant any woman I wanted to fuck.

She tried jerking out of my arms as I was pulling her back up the stairs I can see panic in her eyes so I thought I would take another route to get her to follow me. "Cupcake you are standing here in a sports bra, and tiny gym shorts do you know what seeing you like that is doing to me?" I grab her hand and press it to my rock hard cock.

She at first started to jerk away but then she ran her finger up my length women love my size, including cupcake. They can't seem to resist the Italian Stallion. I let go of her hand allowing her to continue her exploration of my hard cock. The more she rubs it the harder I get. I still had hold of her arm because she looked like she was still ready to bolt.

Soon as I let go of her hand she grabbed a handful of my boys I tilted my head back never expecting what happened next she pulled down as hard as she could on my boys and let them snap back. I pushed her as I grabbed myself screaming in pain while doubling over. I heard Cupcake land on the floor at the bottom of the steps, good. She deserved worse for yanking the boys, hell that will end me getting any tonight.

I was seeing stars for a moment but as soon as I could reach her I was going to teach her a lesson. Cupcake would pay for damaging the boys and interfering with their action. Terry came up beside me helping me stand "Honey what happened, are you alright?" Is she fucking insane? "No, I am not fucking alright. She just grabbed my boys and jerked them." Stupid fucking bitch wait until I get my hands on her, I will teach her a lesson for hurting the boys.

I looked towards the floor Cupcake was getting up. The second she had her feet under her she was running towards the door. I knew I couldn't catch her at least not right at the moment, but I would. As soon as I was able to walk I walked down the stairs to the front door that was left open and noticed Ranger and his goons were outside.

What the Hell? I stepped outside trying not to show how bad the boys where hurting. I saw his lip twitch but other than that his blank face was in place but his eyes were as black as coal and hard as steel. I quickly looked around for Cupcake but I didn't see her.

"Manoso what the fuck are you doing here? What have you done with Stephanie?" His eyes narrow and got even colder if that were possible before he coldly answers. "Stephanie is no longer your concern" What the hell is he talking about.

Before I am able to respond he adds "Stephanie is mine, and I protect what is mine. You made your decision when you chose to have another woman in your bed." Fuck him, like he doesn't bang every woman he can. I know he just wants Cupcake for sex, boy if he knew the truth about that he would just leave her for me.

"Manoso I know you want Stephanie for her ass, trust me it isn't all that. You should do yourself a favor and just bring her back inside my house. You won't want her for long when you discover how uptight she can be in bed. I know about your reputation and trust me she won't be able to keep up with it." His response caused me to become even angrier.

"Morelli you are a stupid mother fucker for saying those things. I always knew you were a worthless piece of shit but Stephanie has always for some reason chosen to only see the good. You have treated her like shit for far too long. I am not going to tell you again Stephanie is no longer your concern." He can't tell me what to do, and Stephanie is mine.

"Fuck you Manoso you can't threaten a cop." That should shut him up after all I am a cop and I know he doesn't want that on his record. "I don't recall threatening you but come near Stephanie again and you will know what it means to be threatened."

Yeah right I need to first teach her a lesson and then she needs to get her shit straight and marry me so we can put an end to this fucking shit and she can do what I tell her. I noticed Tank stepping closer to the thug. Ranger eyes lock on mine and I can see a feral look for a second I am reminded of his reputation on Stark Street and I briefly wonder if I am going to experience it firsthand.

Terry comes out and stands beside me placing her hand on my shoulder. I quickly glance at her she has put on a robe. I look back at Ranger and his blank face is back in place. "Morelli heed my warning stay the fuck away from Stephanie." Having said that Ranger turned and walked around his car getting in, I know he has Stephanie in there with him even though I can't see her thru the tinted glass.

The rest of the thugs got in the SUVs and pulled off behind Ranger. I had no intentions of leaving Cupcake alone she was mine and I still had a lesson to teach her about yanking on my boys. Speaking of my boys maybe Terry would hold some ice on them for a little while. Then maybe later she would be willing to kiss them and make them all better. Now that thought had me smiling as we turned to head back inside.

I obviously had not intended on Cupcake showing up at my house tonight. I figured with all that happened she would be at home and I could pay her an early morning visit. I briefly wondered what she had come here for. Earlier today when I left the scene of her burning car I called momma plum and told her what happened and how Cupcake had treated me. How she had left with those thugs and wouldn't let me help her or take her home.

We discussed our plan to get Cupcake to agree to be my wife. She told me that she will continue to step up the pressure she has currently been applying to get her to comply with what we wanted. With her latest car explosion that shouldn't be too hard. Now I was going to have to figure out a way to explain tonight's events to Momma Plum. Why did everything have to be difficult when it came to my future wife?

"Terry, get me a beer and some ice for my boys. If you are a good girl and hold the ice on them for me I may let you kiss them and make them all better later." Terry just smiles and walks into kitchen dropping her robe on the way. Yep freak in the bed.

I wasn't too concerned though Momma Plum loves me, hell if she wanted I would be willing to give her a little on the side I doubt Frank does much for her considering he never talks. For her age she has a decent body I could see myself doing her and her loving it. She just can't wait until I marry Cupcake so she can call me son in front of everyone. Now she only calls me that when we are alone. Now that could be a little kinky fun. "That's it Terry hold it there, the boys will be ready for that feel good kiss in no time."

LPOV

"God Damn, Son of a Fucking Bitch, Mother Fucker" I am ready to kill someone I am so mad. How much more is Beautiful going to have to deal with today? The poor girl can't seem to catch a fucking break. First her car blows up and she is injured, then she walks in on Morelli fucking Terry Gillman in his bed.

I mean it is the dick all over again. At least it wasn't that barnyard animal Joyce but still it is bad enough. The guys in the control room look up at me because of my rant. I dared them with a glare to say a fucking word being smart fuckers they turned around and went back working. Only Bobby continued to look at me. "Man, Beautiful walked in and caught Morelli fucking Terry Gillman in his bed." I see Bobby's jaw tighten and twitch and his hands forms fists on the desk, my sentiments exactly.

"I don't need to tell you how bad that went. Ranger is on his way back here with her he will want you to check on her injuries. According to the guys she came running out of the house and missed the front porch step. She fell off of his porch and landed on the sidewalk pretty hard. While she was laying on the sidewalk she still trying to escape by dragging herself on the sidewalk further from the house before Ranger got to her." Bobby jumped up from his chair and running to get his first aid kit so he would be ready when Ranger arrived. I could tell he was furious. Fuck I was furious I wanted that mother fuckers head on a stick.

A few minutes later Ranger pulled into the garage. Bobby and I took off running down the steps to meet him. We both wanted to see Steph to make sure that she was in fact okay. I couldn't help but feel the déjà vu of what was happening. Once again Ranger was carrying an unconscious Stephanie out of his car up to his apartment for us to take care of her and watch over her.

I just hope this time ends better than the previous one. "Fuck Lester you didn't tell me she was unconscious" Looking at Ranger he asked "Do you know if she just passed out or if she hit her head and knocked herself out?" Ranger looked at Bobby "Bobby, she hit the pavement like a ton a bricks going down. I know she hit her head but it didn't knock her out at least not right away. Soon as she fell she was dragging her body towards her car away from the house she was completely panicked.

When I got to her and called her name she passed out. She was breathing so hard and so fast I could tell that she couldn't catch her breath. Not to mention she was freezing. Let's get her upstairs so you can look her over." Ranger then proceeded to the elevators with Tank, Bobby, and I following him. Just before we reached the elevator Cal spoke up "Ranger if you need us to do anything for her, you will let us know right?" Ranger just raised his head a fraction of an inch to let Cal know he would as we got on the elevator and started the ascent to seventh floor.

Ranger placed her on the bed. He then took off his utility belt set his gun on the nightstand and proceeded into the closet. When he came back out he had on a pair of sweat pants and was barefooted. He sat on the bed with his back up against the head board as he reached for her again. He placed her between his legs with her back lying against his chest. He put his arms around her and just held her as Bobby started to work on the newest set of injuries.

I walked into the living room and sat down with Tank I am tired it has been a long stressful day. It would feel really good to go to bed and go to sleep for a few hours but I will wait to hear an update from Bobby on Beautiful injuries before I decide if I will go to bed tonight or just camp out here. I suspect Tank is waiting on the same news.


	6. Chapter 5: Waking Up

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

Chapter 5: Waking up

BPOV

As Ranger was holding her whispering Spanish in her ear I was checking her additional injuries. I took note of all the new bruises. From the one on her upper right arm of a perfect hand, son of a bitch, to the ones on both her right and left side. "Ranger when she fell off of the porch did she land on her right or left side?"

He looked at me for a minute as if he wanted to say something but then stopped himself. "She hit her head on the left side of her forehead where the knot and bruise have formed." I moved her head so I could see the knot and bruise. It had already started to swell a little and a nice goose egg had appeared.

"Well then why does she have bruises on her right side that weren't there earlier today when I took care of her injuries? What the hell happened in that house?" His jaw tightened and he shook his head.

"Ranger if he caused these injuries you do realize that half this building will be out hunting him down, they will never find his body it will be in so many different pieces. At this point I would be willing to aid in that effort and Lester will be leading it." Ranger just nodded. I was certain he was thinking that he would be leading the pack.

"Bobby why hasn't she woken up, she has been out now for a while. I realize she hit her head but I don't think she hit it that hard that she should still be unconscious." I just shook my head as I went about cleaning the skin rashes on her cheek, arm, side, and thigh from the brush with the sidewalk.

"No, she didn't. I don't know when she will wake up. Her little body has been thru a lot today not to mention her mind, her emotions, and her heart and it just needs time to process everything and heel a little. She will wake up when she is ready. You really don't need to worry her injuries aren't that serious. Her ankle is probably the worse. From the looks of it she may have twisted it when she missed the step. I don't even think it is sprained at this point. Of course once she wakes up I will evaluate it further with her putting weight on it and walking."

Ranger went back to whispering in her ear. He was speaking in Spanish I couldn't hear everything that he was saying. But I did hear him tell her that he loved her, that she was the light to his darkness. If it weren't for her needing me to tend to her injuries I would have left the two alone.

Even in her unconscious state it was a very private very intimate moment between them. It was as if Ranger saying this wasn't just for Stephanie's benefit. It was as if he was acknowledging these things to be true for the first time. That he was opening up and letting her in, if only she was conscious to hear this and understand his words.

I just hope he is half as brave to actually tell her the words in English once she wakes up. "Boss that is about all I can do right now, I will go out and wait in the living room until she wakes up. When she wakes up I will evaluate her ankle and make the decision if x-rays are needed." Ranger just nods his head in acknowledgement as he continues to whisper in Stephanie's ear.

RPOV

I know when I speak Spanish to my Babe it calms her. Even though she is unconscious I need to get this out, I need to get this off my chest. I decide to try to say all the things I want her to know in Spanish that way I can test how they feel. If I can actually put a voice to all the feelings I have and if I can speak them out loud for the world to hear.

Bobby is working on her injuries I know he can hear me even though he would never comment or speak a word of them to anyone. He is still a good test candidate if I can't say them to her in his presence then I won't be able to tell her in English once she wakes up.

"Babe Te amo. Tú significas todo para mí. Tú eres mi vida, mis sueños y mis deseos. Ya no quiero estar sin ti. Te necesito en mi vida, como mi mejor amigo, mi compañero, mi esposa y mi amante. Cuando se escapó antes se sentía como que me estaban dejando. No podía encontrar la suficiente rapidez. Corrí por las calles hasta que encuentre. Yo estaba corriendo para que ruego que no que me dejes. Se sentía como si mi corazón se estaba arrancado de mi bebé en el pecho. No quiero volver a sentir nunca así de nuevo. Te necesito nena."

(Babe I love you. You mean everything to me. You are my life, my dreams, and my desires. I no longer want to be without you. I need you in my life, as my best friend, my partner, my wife, and my lover. When you ran away earlier it felt like you were leaving me. I couldn't find you fast enough. I raced thru the streets to find you. I was running to you to beg you not to leave me. It felt as if my heart was being ripped out of my chest Babe. I never want to ever feel like that again. I need you babe.)

Bobby looks at me "Ranger when she fell off of the porch did she land on her right or left side?" I looked at him for a minute thinking if he couldn't look at her and tell.., but I held my tongue I know how good of a medic he is. "She hit her head on the left side of her forehead where the knot and bruise have formed."

He moved her head to take a closer look before speaking "Well then why does she have bruises on her right side that weren't there earlier today when I took care of her injuries? What the hell happened in that house?" Shit I missed that. My jaw tightened as once again furry ran thru my veins like cold rapids of a river.

I am going to kill that mother fucker if he hit her. Before I could finish that thought Bobby's voice brought me back "Ranger if he caused these injuries you do realize that half of this building will be out hunting him down, they will never find his body it will be in so many different pieces. At this point I would be willing to aid in that effort and Lester will be leading it."

I nodded it was true only Lester wouldn't be leading, I would. I looked back down at my babe lying against me so small, so fragile with her eyes closed her body limp. I was beginning to get worried about her not having woken up. Thinking maybe we should have taken her to the hospital instead of bringing her here.

"Bobby why hasn't she woken up, she has been out now for a while. I realize she hit her head but I don't think she hit that hard that she should still be unconscious." Bobby just shook his head trying to ease my worry for her

"No, she didn't. I don't know when she will wake up. Her little body has been thru a lot today not to mention her mind, her emotions, and heart and her body just needs time to process everything and heel a little. She will wake up when she is ready. You really don't need to worry her injuries aren't that serious. Her ankle is probably the worse. From the looks of it she may have twisted it when she missed that step. I don't even think it is sprained at this point. Of course once she wakes up I will evaluate it further with her putting weight on it and walking."

What a relief to hear that from Bobby. I relaxed a little and started telling my babe everything I needed for her to hear of course I would have to repeat this in English but this was just a test run.

"Nena tú eres mi luz en la oscuridad. Haces que mi alma cobra vida, que me haces sentir cosas que nunca pensé posible después de la vida que han llevado, las cosas que he visto, y hecho. No tienes idea de lo mucho que han contraído libremente me ha dado sin pedir, esperar nada a cambio. Te amo por todo lo que dan con la pregunta a cabo y quiero darle al niño el mundo."

(Babe you are my light in the darkness. You make my soul come alive, you make me feel things I never thought possible after the life I have lead, the things I have seen, and done. You have no idea how much you have freely given me without ever asking, expecting anything in return. I love you for everything you give me without question and I want to give you the world babe.)

"Quiero que te cases conmigo nena. Quiero que tenerla algún día. Quiero tenerte todas las noches, despierta con usted todas las mañanas. Pasa días enteros buscando en sus ojos azules. Quiero pasar noches haciendo el amor con usted y explotación en mis brazos. Quiero besarte para sacar tu dolor, yo quiero ser el refugio que buscan cuando necesitan protección, yo quiero ser de los brazos para abrazarte cuando necesitan consuelo. Quiero ser la camisa se empapa con tus lágrimas cuando sólo se necesita un hombro para llorar. Nena Quiero ser tu todo. Así como tú eres mi todo."

(I want you to marry me babe. I want us to have her someday. I want to hold you every night, wake with you every morning. Spend days together just looking into your blue eyes. I want to spend nights making love to you and holding you in my arms. I want to kiss away your pain, I want to be the shelter you seek when you need protecting, and I want to be the arms to hold you when you need comfort. I want to be the shirt you soak with your tears when you just need a shoulder to cry on. Babe I want to be your everything. Just as you are my everything.)

Bobby looks at me once again getting my attention. "Boss that is about all I can do right now, I will go out and wait in the living room until she wakes up. When she wakes up I will evaluate her ankle and make the decision if x-rays are needed." I nod my head but I continue to whisper Spanish in my babe's ear.

"Por favor, nena dice que va a casarse conmigo. Despertar y decir que sí, os ruego que si, porque honestamente no sé vivir sin ti. He tratado y cada día se hace más difícil. Te necesito en mi vida, no como estamos hoy, pero completa y totalmente al punto de que pertenezco a ti y tú me perteneces. La idea de que pertenece a mí hace algo para mí que no puedo explicar a usted. No es para controlarte nena no temo que nunca lo intentaría. Es el único que no pertenecen a ningún otro que tú eres mío para que yo amo con todo mi corazón y para que me ame con todo con todo tu corazón. Por favor, decir que sí nena. Vamos a comenzar nuestro día de hoy, en este mismo momento. Por favor, despierta nena y decir que sí."

(Please babe say you will marry me. Wake up and say yes, I pray you say yes because honestly I don't know how to live without you. I have tried and every day it gets harder. I need you in my life not like we are today but completely and totally to the point that I belong to you and you belong to me. The thought of you belonging to me does something to me that I can't explain to you. It isn't to control you babe don't fear I would never try. It is solely that you belong to no other that you are mine for me to love with all my heart and for you to love me with all with all of your heart. Please say yes babe. Let's start our someday today, right this minute. Please babe wake up and say yes. )

I know I was begging, something I haven't done in a very long time. But this was my babe I needed her to wake up. I needed to see those beautiful blue eyes to know that she was okay. My soul was ready to bare to her and I needed to tell her. Having said it out loud even in Spanish made me want it even more so.

Made my desires become even more demanding. God please let her say yes. My heart is hers for the taking even if she doesn't want it, it is still hers I could never, and would never feel for anyone else the way I did for her. We were soul mates. I just held her rubbing calming circles on her marred skin. I think it was more to calm me than her.

"Babe mi corazón es para ti, que está a su disposición para mantener a cuidar. Le doy a usted libremente espero que me dará la tuya porque te prometo que nunca va a traer un perjuicio, yo nunca la hará daño. Yo tesoro para el día que muera como mi posesión más preciada. Voy a guardarla con fiereza, voy a cuidar de él con ternura, y yo lo amo todos los días. Confía en mi nena, confía en mí con su corazón como yo confío en ti con la mía. Despierta y toma mi corazón, mi amor. Di que sí."

(Babe my heart is for you, it is there for you to hold to take care of. I give it to you freely I hope you will give me yours because I promise you I will never bring it harm, I will never cause it hurt. I will treasure it to the day I die as my most precious possession. I will guard it fiercely, I will care for it tenderly, and I will love it daily. Trust me babe, trust me with your heart as I trust you with mine. Wake up and take my heart, my love. Say yes.)

I no more finish my last sentence before my babe starts to stir. For a moment her body tenses and before her eyes even open she chokes out "Ranger" my heart leaps into my throat "Babe, I am here it's okay. You are safe now. Open your eyes let me see those beautiful blue eyes, Babe."

At my request she forces her eyes open. My body finally fully relaxes and I let out a breath that feels like I had been holding forever. I smile at her and she smiles back for a second before tears form I put my arms around her and hold her against me. She seems to just melt into me. God I love that feeling.

"Babe we need to talk, but first you need to get up and let Bobby look at your ankle. We believe that you may have twisted it when you fell off of the porch but it is possible that it may be more serious." She just listened to me. She made no effort to move. Finally she asked the questions I know she was dying to know.

"Ranger what time is it? How did I get here? What happened?" I gave her a smile "Babe its almost 4:00 a.m. you have been out for a while, I brought you here after you passed out, and I was hoping that you would be able to help fill some of the blanks with what happened. Bobby is in the living room. Let's get you up, clean you up a little, change your clothes and then let's have Bobby take a look at that ankle. Then we can work on those questions, okay?" She just nodded.

I sat up bringing her with me. Not wanting her to put any weight on her ankle until Bobby was looking at it I picked her up carried her into the bathroom. I sat her on the counter beside the sink. I reached for a wash cloth got the water warm and proceeded to wash her feet, legs, belly, back, arms, shoulders and neck. I then got a clean wash cloth and washed her face. I didn't remove her shorts or bra. I just grabbed my t-shirt and pulled it over her head.

"Babe, do you need to use the bathroom?" She blushed bright pink just me mentioning it embarrassed her. Damn she is so cute when she blushes. She just nodded. "I don't want you putting any weight on your ankle so I am going to carry you over to the toilet please stand on one leg to get your pants up and down. If you need help let me know." She nodded but said "Ranger I think I can manage. I will call you when I am done."

With that I left her to take care of her business. I waited just on the other side of the door just in case she fell or needed me. In just a few minutes she called me saying she was done. I picked her up and carried her to sink for her to wash her hands. Then I carried her into the living room.

When we got to the living room I paused for moment as we walked thru the doorway. The look on her face made me smile. She was smiling at what she saw. There on the sofa were Tank, Lester, and Bobby fast asleep. They had their feet stretched out on the coffee table in front of the couch, their heads were laid back against the back of the sofa and all three were sound asleep.

My babe motioned for me to be quiet by putting her finger to her mouth. Then she motioned for me to take her back to bedroom. I turned around and walked back to the bedroom and sat her down on the bed.

"Babe, Bobby needs to look at your ankle." She looked at me "no, he doesn't need to right now, let them sleep. They look so cute sleeping there I don't want to disturb them. Besides I think it is fine." She then moves herself over the in the bed and snuggles down in my sheets, yawning.

"Ranger you look exhausted please just come to bed and get some sleep. We will deal with all of this tomorrow." I couldn't argue with that. "Okay Babe, but we really need to talk tomorrow so no running away before Bobby looks at your ankle and we talk okay" she is hesitant for a moment I see so many emotions flash across her face but she finally nodes in agreement.

"Promise me." She sighs "Okay Ranger I promise." I crawl into bed beside her pulling her to me, my front to her back. I wrap my arms around her holding her tight to me. As I start to drift off the only thought I had is this must be what heaven feels like.

SPOV

Shit. I didn't want to promise that. I was hoping to sneak out of here. I need to think. While Ranger was holding me sleeping behind me my mind was racing a hundred miles an hour. I was so convinced that I was doing the right thing going to Joe tonight. I no longer want to be the laughing stock of Trenton. I don't want to embarrass the guys, Ranger, or Rangeman.

Joe can kiss my ass because after tonight I no longer care if he gets embarrassed. We are done. He is history. I can't believe the nerve of Joe to think that I would participate or watch him fuck Terry how disgusting. I never want to see him again let alone have anything to do with him.

I don't want to ever disappoint Ranger, or the guys. I thought going to Joe I would prevent that but that isn't happening now. I will never be with Joe. But I still can't disappoint them. How am I going to not disappoint them, when I am such a major fuck up.

I can't even imagine what my mom will have to say about this latest fiasco between my car blowing up and then Joe cheating on me. I am sure somehow she will manage to make it completely my fault and in so doing I will have disappointed her and managed to embarrass her. Well nothing I can do about that.

How am I going to keep from negatively impacting Rangeman? Again being with Joe was going to resolve that issue as well. Now what I am going to do? God I need to think. Ranger's arms feel so good around me. I wish I could have this every night but according to him his life doesn't lend its self to relationships.

More than likely his life doesn't lend itself to stupid fuckups like me that negatively impact his business. Hell he is probably afraid that if he was in a relationship with me I would bleed him dry with all the money he bleeds for me. He doesn't bleed money because I spend his money no. He bleeds money because of my psychos, my cars, his cars. Yes I have blown up his cars as well as my own. Not to mention if I hung out in this building more he would probably be afraid that I would manage to blow it up some way or another.

God what am I going to do. I can't believe Joe I am so mad right now. He was supposed to love me he said he wanted to marry me and yet there he was fucking Terry while we were together. I don't know if I should be feeling hurt or just plan mad. For some reason I wasn't feeling either. I mean I was mad I walked in on him, and that he was cheating on me but I wasn't feeling the hurt that I thought I would feel if I truly loved him.

I wasn't thinking twice about letting him go. I wasn't full of rage for him hurting me as I thought I would have been or maybe should have been had my heart truly belonged to him. My heart still feels like it is beating and it doesn't feel like it is being ripped out. I realized last night just the thought of me walking away from Ranger made my heart feel like it was being ripped out of my chest. I am not sure I have the guts to face that pain again. It feels so good being in his arms.

I made a quick decision to not think about what tomorrow morning would bring but to just enjoy the moment. This very moment for what it was Ranger the love of my life holding me with that thought I went to sleep with a final thought this must be what heaven feels like.


	7. Chapter 6: The Next Morning

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

Chapter 6: The Next Morning

RPOV

My eyes pop open on alert, I was instantly aware of my surroundings, what woke me? The apartment was quiet. A little light was streaming thru the window so it was early morning. I was on my back Stephanie was curled up in a ball to my left. I heard her whimper, that must be what woke me. I turned to my side gently and reached for her. When I touched her I could feel the tension leave her body. She was having a dream. From the tension in her body and her whimpering it wasn't a good dream.

I silently wished I could chase away all her bad dreams. I gently guided her body back next to mine and wrapped my arms around her. Her body immediately molded into mine and calmed. I smile at how even in her sleep her body knows my body and responds. Just as my body knows her body and automatically responds. Just having her in my arms and pressed against me makes me so hard. But I would never act on that. At least not now, not until after our talk not until after I tell her that I want her to be mine and that I want to be hers.

I held her for a while longer. I just loved the feel of her in my arms and I wanted to be greedy. Relish in the moment as long as I could before waking her. I knew today was going to be hard for her and I knew that she had not had a whole lot of sleep in the last twenty-four hours.

I knew the guys were still asleep on the couch. I know them well enough to know that they wouldn't leave until they laid eyes on her with her eyes opened. At nine a.m. I decided to wake her up. There were things we needed to do today. One of which was I needed to bare my soul to her. Two she needed to have her ankle checked. Three she needed to deal with the burg, Joe, and her bitch of a mother.

I needed to remember Tank's piece of advice support her. Allow her to stand on her own two feet. Allow her to make the decisions for her life and just be there for her. Damn this was going to be hard for me. When it comes to my Babe I can get narrow sited on her well being, her safety and forget to give her options or allow her to make decisions. I need to change that.

I rub my hand up and down her side. God she feels so good in my arms. I close my eyes just cherishing every second of the feeling. I continue to rub up and down her side then I whisper "Babe" into her ear. She turns over towards me throwing her arm and leg over me. I lie back on my back and pull her to me she snuggles into me damn that feels good.

I could lie here all day long and be a very happy man just having her in my arms. "Babe, you need to wake up" she stirs "hmmm…ime is it?" I chuckle "Babe it is after nine" "morning?" "Yeah babe it's morning, come on wake up." "hu..hafta" "yeah it would be easier. Bobby needs to check your ankle and we need to talk." "mkay giv um a inute" My babe loves to sleep, maybe I will give her a little incentive. "Babe if you get up and get dressed I will have Ella make you your favorite breakfast." "eally" I chuckle "yeah babe eally." Of course I was already going to ask Ella to make her favorite meal for all her meals today including desert. Hell she will have desert for every meal. She bounces up and goes to bound off of the bed. I laugh grabbing her "easy Babe, watch the ankle. I don't want you to put any weight on it until Bobby has a chance to look at it." She looks down at it "okay, it's still a little swollen and stiff feeling."

I get up and pick her up and take her into the bathroom. We go thru the same routine as the last time I wait outside the door for her. When she is done I take her out and sit her on the bed while I make a trip to the bathroom. Then I pick her up and carry her out to the living room. When we walk thru the door she instantly covers her mouth to prevent from laughing out loud.

She motions for me to be quiet and she makes the signal for cell phone. I know what she wants to do. So I walk back into the kitchen with her in my arms and picked up my cell phone. She had such a mischievous look on her face I couldn't help but play along. I knew she wanted pictures. I walked back into the living room and we took a few pictures.

Then she motioned for me to take her around behind the couch. So I did and put her down. She was standing on one foot holding on to the back of the couch. She motioned for me to go around front. So I did, She got down and held her arms out across the back of the couch putting V's up behind Bobby's and Tank's head. She had the biggest grin on her face. I snapped a few pictures. How she kept from making any noise and waking them I don't know. The slightest noise would wake them up. I am sure them having a late night was helping her but I was surprised they hadn't even stirred.

Bobby was sitting on one end of the couch with his head back his feet up on the coffee table. Tank was in the exact same position on the other side. The thing that made the whole scene hilarious was Lester. Lester had at some point laid down with his head propped up on Bobby's thigh and his feet over Tank's. We had just taken perfect blackmail photos and don't think for a second my Babe didn't realize the power she would now have over those three.

I quickly emailed her the pictures so if they stole the phone and erased the pictures she would still have them. After the day she had yesterday, and the day that was to come it was nice to see her happy and having fun for a few minutes. She smiled really big again and then held her finger up. I watched as she put her hands shoulder width apart on the back of the couch. She steadied herself for a second. Then in one swift move she launched herself with her one good leg up in the air pushing with her arms she flipped herself and landed squarely on Lester's stomach.

The second she hit Lester's stomach he was in motion "What the hell?" Lester jumping up off of the couch launched Stephanie up in the air and then they both crashed down into the floor between the couch and coffee table. There was a "OOF" from Lester as my Babe landed on him again. Soon as Lester moved Tank and Bobby were in motion startled you could see it on their faces. I just gave them a raised eyebrow.

Inside I was ready to burst out laughing. Stephanie was the first to speak thru her laughter which was ringing thru out the apartment. "Damn Lester, startle much?" as she was trying to get up off of him without putting any pressure on her ankle. "Beautiful I wasn't expecting for someone to jump on my stomach." She was still laughing and by this time Tank and Bobby had joined in. Then she said something that made us all loose it "Lester, you need to be more aware of your surroundings."

LPOV

Tank, Bobby, and I had been sitting on the couch waiting to see Beautiful when she woke up. We all wanted to see her before going to our apartments. We had all had a long stressful day but we knew that seeing her awake would really help our ability to sleep. At some point we must have fallen asleep waiting. The next thing I am aware of is something landing on my stomach.

I'll admit it here to you it startled me and I jumped, But I am not saying that out loud because big bad asses like myself don't do startled. At least I didn't scream like some school girl. When I say I jumped. Well I completely launched myself off of the couch and Stephanie up in the air. I mean here she is probably weighing in at a hundred and ten pounds. I have a good one twenty on her in weight she is like nothing to me. Hell I bench more than double her weight. Well I hit the floor and seconds later Stephanie lands on me. "OOF" For a second I think maybe she's hurt but she starts laughing.

Damn you don't know how good it was to hear her laughter thru out the room. I would do this a hundred times if it would keep her laughing. It wasn't like she hurt me. "Damn Lester, startle much?" she asked and I just gave her a look that I was pissed but she could tell by my smile that I was far from pissed. I was having just as much fun as her. Tank and Bobby joined in the laughter then she said something that took the cake. "Lester, you need to be more aware of your surroundings." I could no longer hold my pissed face I busted out laughing along with her and the guys even Ranger was full out laughing.

Continuing to play I started tickling Beautiful as she was trying to get up. She was twisting and turning laughing. Finally Ranger came over and lifted her up off of me and just held him to her. Her arms went around his neck as they were looking at each other laughing. He sat down in the chair across from the sofa with her in his lap. "Babe, are you ready for Bobby to take a look at that ankle now that the three sleeping beauties are awake." Fuck you Ranger. Beautiful laughed "yeah I guess so." Bringing the fun we were having to an end. We knew today was going to be a difficult one might as well take the bull by the horns. I get up brush myself off and sit back down on the couch.

SPOV

"Bomber, why don't you try to stand up first and let me know how that feels?" "Okay" I stood up off of Ranger's lap. At first I didn't put any weight on it, then I gradually added weight on my leg. "Bobby my ankle is a little stiff feeling and the more weight I put on it the more uncomfortable it feels but it isn't really painful." Bobby looking at my ankle "Good try to take a step Bomber. Let's see how it feels for you to take a step."

"Okay" I went to take a step and it was difficult and it hurt slightly. Instead of really stepping it was more like a step with a hobble. "Taking a step was more painful not too bad but definitely more painful than just standing." Bobby pierced his lips "Bomber try walking to the door way and back" "okay" I started to walk hobble but I made it to the door way and back. "Bobby that wasn't bad, I really think a couple of days and it will be fine."

"Bomber I agree I think you just managed to twist it when you missed the step. We will watch it make sure it doesn't get worse, use ice to help with any swelling, and heat to keep the joint moving. I think in a few days you will be back to normal" Whew I was glad to hear that. I really didn't want to deal with a walking boot or crutches.

Ranger spoke next "Babe I promised you, your favorite Ella breakfast. Why don't you take a shower now that we know you can put weight on your ankle and get dressed for the day? I will call Ella and get breakfast sent up for all us. I also need to check in with the control room. Then we can talk, okay" as much as I didn't want this part of the day to begin I knew it was time.

"Okay Ranger that sounds good. I want Blueberry pancakes, with Ella's Blueberry syrup, and bacon." I knew he knew my favorite Ella Breakfast but I wanted to tell him just to ensure I would get my favorite. He smiled and picked me up holding me to his strong chest and carried me towards the bathroom, I love being in his arms.

As much as I didn't want this day to begin I love Ranger's shower, and his body wash. This was definitely going to be a day where I would need all of the strength I could get and I didn't know anyone that was stronger than Ranger. I had made my mind up that today was the day that I was going to learn to stand on my own two feet so channeling my inner Ranger is a necessity.

RPOV

Soon as my Babe was in the bathroom I called Ella to ask about breakfast. "Ella, I need for you to send up breakfast to 7 this morning. I know I am late in asking but we had a rather long night. Stephanie is here and if you could make her favorite breakfast I would be grateful. Blueberry pancakes with blueberry syrup, and bacon. Oh and Ella make sure it is the real bacon not the turkey bacon. I don't know if you heard but Stephanie had a really bad day yesterday and today isn't looking too promising so I hope by having her favorite things for meals today will help her."

"Carlos, that poor girl has some hard days. I am glad to see that you are there for her. She needs you, you know." "Thanks Tia" "I will have breakfast up for everyone. I assume that Tank, Lester, and Bobby are up there and will be joining you for breakfast?"

"Yes Ella the gang is all here" She knew if Stephanie was having a tough time that none of us would be far from her. "I will have breakfast ready in about 20 minutes." "Thank you Ella, I appreciate it" Great about the time Stephanie is done her breakfast will be here.

I hung up with Ella and called the control room. Ram answered the phone. "Rangeman" "Report" "Ranger everything was quite last night with all accounts, Hector is working on the security install for the Mason house, Hal and Cal are out picking up the latest batch of skips, your appointments for today have already been rescheduled for next week, and progress is being made in tracking down Sanchez so we may be ready for a distraction or a takedown in a day or so depending on how accurate the latest intel is. Vince and Binkie are out in the field getting specs for installing a security system for two new accounts." "Good. The core team will be offline unless there is an emergency until further notice. You know the procedure." "Yes sir" with that I closed the phone.

Lester looks at me "Rangeman how is she? Has she said anything?" I just shook my head "no man she hasn't said anything about what happened yesterday or last night. She woke up last night about four a.m. and I brought her into the living for Bobby to look at her ankle. You were all sleeping so she made me take her back to the bedroom. She said that her ankle could wait that she didn't want to wake you up as you all looked like you needed your sleep."

Lester was a little worried he knew how she liked to live in denial land but we all knew denial land would get her hurt more in this instance. "I asked her last night to promise me she wouldn't run this morning. I told her that we needed to talk and she agreed. I think she will talk to us. It may take some prodding, and encouragement on our part but I think she will open up and tell us what happened yesterday."

I looked at Tank I knew he would remember where this came from "I want Stephanie supported in anything she says today and anything she may decide. These decisions are hers to make. I have thought about this and I am going to offer her some options, and listen to any ideas, desires, or wants she has. In the end what she decides today goes. I don't want any criticism, judging, or negativity brought into any conversation, I don't want her to have a reason to second guess herself today for anything she has done or anything she does today. I want you to offer her support in any way you feel she needs, give her ideas, thoughts, and even give her suggestions but that is all." I eyed each of my men to let them know I meant business.

"Do you understand me? Stephanie will be supported a hundred percent without any judgments or caveman antics. Do I make myself clear? Because if any of you are unclear and fuck up we will be clearing it up on the mats. So if you have questions about what is appropriate and what isn't I suggest you ask now while she is still in the bathroom. I know we all love Stephanie and I want her to know that and understand just how much by the end of the day."

Tank just stood there smiling. I knew that most of that was said for nothing and that of the four of us I was the one that was more at fault when it came to making decisions for Stephanie and being closed off with my emotions and feelings more than any of them. But I wanted for them to fully understand that a new day was dawning between Stephanie and I and I was going to start it on the right foot.

SPOV

Have I said how much I love Ranger's shower? I hobbled out of the shower, dried off wrapped myself in Ranger's soft fluffy towel and went to the dressing room where I knew Ranger kept clothes for me. Channeling my inner Ranger today was easy because my clothes here were all black. So I pulled on my Rangeman under ware, bra, my black cargo pants which hung low on my hips, and my black fitted t-shirt with Rangeman embroidered over my left breast. I didn't bother with shoes.

I went back to the bathroom where I pulled my hair up into a ponytail, brushed my teeth, and put on a touch of makeup lord knows I am going to need mascara for courage today, I think it is going to be a five coat day. I added a little lip gloss that is good as it is going to get. God bless Ella she keeps everything for me here right down to the brand of tampons I use. I swear Ranger doesn't pay her enough and I would give anything for her to adopt me. Just as I was finishing up I heard the apartment door open. Speaking of Ella, here comes breakfast. Yum!

I hurry out of the bedroom to meet the guys in the dining room. As I walk in everyone is sitting waiting on me. I hurriedly sat down and started eating. The second those luscious blueberries hit my tongue I let out a most appreciative moan. I couldn't help it. It was too good. Oh god.

I opened my eyes to see three pair of darkened eyes locked on me. "Uhh guys, what's wrong?" I looked at each of the guys, then around the room in case I missed something. I heard throats clearing as they shifted in their sits. "Babe" I rolled my eyes and went back enjoying my favorite breakfast in blissful happiness with every bite. They are just going to have to deal with it. I moan when I enjoy my food get over it guys.

RPOV

When Stephanie walked into the dining room wearing her Rangeman uniform, smelling like me I couldn't stop the smile. Her smelling like me just did something to me. It was like she was laying claim to me and it made my cock harden with desire. I wanted to pick her up and run back to the bedroom and keep her there all day worshiping her body.

I wanted to show her how much I love her with every touch of my fingers, every kiss of my lips, and with every lick of my tongue against her beautiful body. Damn these thoughts have left me in such a state I am thankful for the table to block the view of my solider standing at full on attention dancing with anticipation pressing against my pants to the point I am afraid the zipper is going to bust.

Just when I think I can't get any harder my Babe lets out a soulful moan. A moan that reminds me of the one night we spent together. When her body writhed under me and the wonderful noises she made as I pleasured her. I am not going to be able to stand up for a while.

The table is completely quiet everyone has stopped eating and all eyes are on my Babe. From the looks on their faces I am not the only one supporting a massive hard on. Of course if I catch them even attempting to have their way with Stephanie they won't be supporting a hard on for long or ever again. I can't fault them for being affected. There isn't a man in all of New Jersey that wouldn't be affected listening to my Babe eat but they just better never act on it.

Stephanie looks up "Uhh guys, what's wrong?" then she looks at each of us and then around the room like she is trying to figure out what is going on. Almost like a choreographed move we all clear our throats and shift in our seats trying to get more comfortable. "Babe" She then rolled her eyes and went back to her breakfasting moaning thru the bites.

TPOV

Hearing my little girl laugh this morning was like music to my ears. I know big tough guys don't normally say sissy shit like that. But she had such a tough day yesterday. I was really worried about her mental status this morning. Not to mention all of the injuries. I know she is hiding out in denial land and for a while we all will let her. But we know that she can't keep denying what happened last night, it won't do her any good to just deny what she saw and pretend it didn't happen.

When she went to take shower Ranger pulled us together and basically told us, no demanded from us that we support Stephanie no matter what. I just had to smile. He had finally gotten his head out of his ass. He had listened to me. He has a plan, I am not sure what choices he is going to offer her but he said he had some choices and that her decisions regarding those choices were to be a hundred percent supported.

If we didn't understand how to do that then we needed to figure it out before we fucked it up. If we fail to support her then we will have our asses handed to us by none other than a major fucking pissed Cuban. Well I wasn't going to have to worry about that. It was never my intention of not supporting my little girl regardless of what the big bad ass Manoso said.

I had to smile when she walked into the dining room for breakfast she was dressed in all black like Ranger, even smelled like Ranger. She knew she would need courage to face the day. I knew by her dressing this way, she was channeling her inner Ranger at least that is what she told me once before.

The first time she told me about that I had to laugh, but it seems to works for her. Ella had made her favorite, no surprise there that Ranger had planned that. This was going to be a difficult day for her. But we were all going to be with her today and help her thru it however we could. When my little girl started to eat the noises that were coming from her had us all in a state.

Not that I would ever act on it or vocalize anything and embarrass her about it. But damn my pants are about to bust and I don't even have feelings like that for her. I look around and all of the guys including Ranger are having the same problem. Whew so it isn't just me. She looks up "Uhh guys, what's wrong?" Jesus doesn't she already know what those noises do to a man?

She looks at each of us than looks casually around the room like she thought she was missing something. We all shift in our seats while clearing our throats to try to get some comfort from what is happening in our laps. "Babe" she then rolls her eyes and goes back to eating her breakfast moaning. This breakfast is going to be the longest breakfast in fucking history. I don't know about the rest of the guys but I am going to have to sit here for a little bit after she is finished to get a handle on the situation in my lap.

Normally Santos would make a joke at this point to alert Stephanie to his state, but he knows Ranger is in no mood for toying with her even if its intent is harmless. He wants her supported not made fun off. I see him biting his lip to keep his mouth shut. Maybe he has a brain after all, or maybe it is a healthy fear that is making him keep his comments to himself no matter how funny he finds it to tease her with the innuendos.

Oh I know he hasn't stopped for good. That wouldn't be normal for Santo's and my little girl relationship but I think he realizes how hard today is going to be he doesn't want to start the day making fun of her, even if it is for a laugh to lift her spirits.


	8. Chapter 7: Finding my Legs

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morrelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**This chapter is long. I thought about splitting it but then decided just to post it as one long chapter. This is what you have been waiting for "The Talk" between Stephanie, Ranger, Tank, Lester, and Bobby. I hope you all enjoy!**

Chapter 7: Finding my Legs

SPOV

Well my breakfast is almost done. No more living in denial land. I am going to have to talk to these guys. Honestly if I had to talk to anyone my choice would be these guys sitting at the table with me. They are my best friends. I trust them, and I love them.

I know what I say will not be repeated throughout the burg. I know I am not going to get thru the day without crying and I really hate it when they see me cry. But I know Lester or Ranger won't mind giving me their shoulder or me ruining their t-shirt with my tears.

I honestly don't know what I was thinking last night. In the light of day I don't think I could have ever turned my back on these guys. My reason for doing it was good I didn't want to ever embarrass or disappoint them but I don't think I would have been able to follow thru.

Just the thought of that makes my heart hurt. I can tell they are waiting for me I might as well bite the bullet. Me Stephanie Plum biting the bullet, taking the bull by the horns, jumping in the deep end. Who would have that thunk it! Please god, I pray, tell me I didn't just say that out loud.

"Well guys I know you want to talk to me. I guess I have a lot of explaining to do as to my actions yesterday, and last night. I will take the dishes into the kitchen why don't you all go and sit in the living room. It will be more comfortable. I will be in there in a few minutes."

They all node "Babe I will help you with the dishes. Guys go ahead we will be in there in a few minutes." I was gathering the dishes up. I noticed that as soon as my back was turned to one of the guys they would get up and exit the room, odd. Ranger and I proceeded to gather the dishes and then walked into the kitchen.

"Babe I know today is going to be hard for you. It is going to be hard for you to talk about some of this. But know that we are all here to help and support you. We all love you." I looked at him and smiled. "I love you all too. Honestly if I have to talk about all of this to anyone you are the ones I would pick. I trust you and I know whatever I say won't be repeated for all the burg ears. It is just hard for me talk about personal stuff. Don't take it personally."

Ranger walks over to me sits the dishes down on the counter beside the sink and puts his arms around me. Pulling my back to his front he buries his head in my hair and I hear him inhale. I feel myself melting into his warm and inviting chest. "Babe I need to talk to you privately today after the guys leave. There are some things I need to tell you." I immediately freeze and tense up.

"Babe don't fear what I have to talk to you about I won't hurt you, I promise you. Trust me okay. Just please no matter what happens today give me the chance to talk to you one on one today." I can't imagine what he has to tell me, but I can tell it is important so I nod. I do trust him with my life, my body. I am just not certain my heart will survive Ricardo Carlos Manoso.

As I place the last dish in the dishwasher, it is time to pull on the big girl pants and stand on my own two feet. I walk over the refrigerator and get out five waters. Ranger takes a few from me as we make our way into the living room.

As we walk into the living room Lester is on the far end of the couch, Bobby and Tank are both in the chairs opposite the couch. I sit down on the middle cushion and Ranger sits on the end of the couch. I hand the guys their water. I don't even know how to start this conversation. I guess it is sort of like taking a band-aid off you just rip it off the slower you go the more painful the process. Or like swimming sometimes you just have to jump in the deep end and hope it works out.

"Guys I don't know where to start to make you to understand where my head was yesterday and last night. I guess the best place to start is the beginning. So this may take a while". "Babe we are here as long as you need us to be here. We are all offline unless there is an emergency. So take your time and tell us whatever you want us to know. Just know that we are here for you, and we aren't leaving." I take a deep breath as I feel Ranger pull me closer to him turning me sideways. Ranger guides me down so that my head is resting on his thigh as Lester grabs my feet and pulls them into his lap.

"My whole life I have done nothing but disappoint and embarrass my family and myself. Even as young as six years old I disappointed and embarrassed my family when Joe pulled me in his father garage to play choo choo." "Babe what is choo choo" "Well basically Joe's finger was the train and I was the tunnel" as soon as the words were out of my mouth I heard four deep intake of air.

I felt both Lester and Ranger tense up. "Guys there are a lot of things I am going to be telling you please don't get upset before I get started." "Babe, I am sorry. You just told us that Joe molested you when you were six. It's a little hard not to get upset and react to that." "Ranger it wasn't like that, I mean all boys and girls play those games right."

"No Babe, not all girls and boys play those games. Had I played that game with a girl growing up my mom would have half killed me." All of the guys nodded Lester added "Beautiful had my mom caught me even thinking about taking advantage of a girl let alone doing it I wouldn't be able to be the ladies man I am today."

"Well when I told my mom she got mad at me she said that I disappointed her. She grounded me, took away my television time and told me that if I mentioned a word of what happened to anyone she would spank me. She didn't want to be further embarrassed by my actions." Lester rubbed my foot.

"Beautiful had my sister come home and told my mom that, my mom would have hunted down the sorry son of a bitch and hung him." All of the guys nodded. Damn I wished I had of had their mom growing up. "Babe, my mom would have told my father and my father would have hunted him down with a twelve gauge shot gun. My mother would not have been disappointed or embarrassed by my sister. Hell she would have been on the phone calling all of the neighbors to warn them that there was a predator in the neighborhood and then she would have called that boys parent's to tell them what he did."

Why couldn't I have had Ranger's mom for my mom. While a part of me still wanted to believe that girls and boys played would play games like that because I didn't want to believe the alternative and that my mom would blame me. I know deep downside had my mom been more like Ranger's or Lester's mom I would have felt differently about the whole incident. I would have felt differently about myself.

"Then to further disappoint and embarrass my mother I jumped off of the garage roof trying to fly. I wanted to be Wonder Woman. For a few seconds I actually flew but then gravity took over and hit the ground breaking my arm in the process." That got a few chuckles out of the room.

"Little Girl how did jumping off of the garage embarrass or disappoint anyone?" "I don't know but my mother said there she goes again embarrassing the whole family. What are the neighbors going to think? When we got to the hospital she told them that I broke my arm falling off of my bike. I asked her why she told them that and she just said we didn't need any more embarrassment brought on the family. That I had already disappointed her enough for the day."

Tank just shook his head "Little girl you can't repeat what I am going to tell you okay" I nodded "When I was little boy I wanted to be superman. One day I took a pillowcase tied it around my neck and proceeded to jump out of the second story bedroom window. As you know I flew for a few seconds and then hit the ground. I too broke my arm. I scared my mom to death. She was so worried about me that I don't think she even knew she had neighbors."

I smiled at him sharing personal information with me. "She took me to the hospital telling everyone how I had jumped out of the window trying to fly. Because of that I had to go thru several additional tests to make sure I didn't do any internal damage." I just looked at him. "They only fixed my arm and sent me on my way. I guess no one even thought that I could have possibly had any internal injuries."

Tank just shook his head "That is because your mother lied and said you fell off of your bike." Why couldn't I have Tank's mom for my mom. I could have been seriously hurt and wouldn't have even known because my mom chose to lie to protect an image she had of herself or us.

"Well for my punishment for jumping off of the roof my mom put me in dance class, and a cooking class. That ended in another round of disappointment and embarrassment for my mom and family. Valerie was always perfect. She excelled in dance and cooking class. I on the other hand had the teachers wondering what happened to me because Valerie was always so perfect and well let's just say I wasn't. Dance classes ended after I had broken all of my partners in one form or another. I would step on their toes, trip over their feet and land on my ass, or we would end up bumping heads. Finally the teacher refused to allow me in class. Bring further embarrassment and disappointment to my mother. I remember the why me, Carol Sabos' daughter doesn't get kicked out of dance class, why me?"

Bobby just shook his head. "Bomber let me tell you in dance class it isn't one person's fault. When you dance you are partners it takes too just like in any partnership. If you were stepping on toes, tripping, or bumping heads than it was just as much your partner's fault as it was yours. And since you were in beginner classes then it was also just as much the teacher's fault because she wasn't teaching her students properly."

"Bobby how do you know that? I am pretty sure most of it was my fault." "Bomber my mom is a dance instructor, she has been teaching dance for 30 plus years. As a young child I would hang out with her in her studio and trust me to say I know enough to know what I am saying is true. There was nothing wrong with you only your teacher for not knowing what she was doing." Why couldn't I have Bobby's mom for my mom. Had I had Bobby's mom maybe I would have been able to stay in dance class and enjoy it.

"Cooking class ended in disaster. Further disappointing and embarrassing my mother and family. I was kicked out of class when I set the oven on fire and managed to mess up boiling water. My mother named off like five other mother's daughters that didn't have any trouble boiling water and never once caught the oven on fire. That was the last straw for my mom and she gave up on classes for me. She said that there was no way she could make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Basically I think that meant that I was a classic fuck up at everything I did and no matter what it was I was nothing but a disappointment and an embarrassment to her." Ranger started running his fingers thru my hair as my head was resting on his thigh "Babe" god that felt good.

"Then came the Tasty Pastry incident" I blew out a sigh "Beautiful what do you mean the Tasty Pastry incident? What could have happened at the Tasty Pastry for your mom to find embarrassing and be disappointed in you."

Oh shit I thought I told them about this. Here goes more embarrassment, I sighed. "When I was in high school I worked at the Tasty Pastry after school. One night Joe walked in just before closing locking the door behind him. I was working alone behind the counter. He said he came in to pick up some canollis for his mom." I felt the guys tense with the mentions of Joe's name again.

"I was sixteen he was eighteen. He walked around behind the counter while he was telling me that he was about to ship off for the Navy and he wanted to have something to remind him of home while he was gone. I wasn't really sure what he was talking about until I soon realized he wanted me. By the time I realized what he was doing he had me down on the floor." The tension was now thick in the air.

"We had sex behind the counter on the floor. As soon as he finished he got up pulled up his pants said thanks Cupcake for the going away present and without a backwards glance he was out the door with a box of canollis in his hand." I noticed how still and quite the guys were I could feel the thick tension in the air.

"Guys?" I looked up at Ranger and I could see him trying to control himself. "Ranger are you okay?" "No, babe I am not okay. I don't think any of us are okay at this moment." He was breathing heavy. "What's wrong?" "Babe don't you know what's wrong? You just told us that Morelli that fucking son of a bitch raped you when you were sixteen years old." "Ranger he didn't" Ranger cut me off running is hand over my cheek "Babe, did he ask you? Did you give him your consent? Did you want to lose your virginity on the floor behind the counter at the Tasty Pastry? He came in and locked the door. Babe whether you realized it or not he was going to fuck you regardless if you consented or not. In my book that is Rape. You might not have fought him but you didn't actively consent. You just allowed it to happen."

Yeah "That's my point Ranger I allowed it to happen, so he didn't rape me. I laid there and allowed him to do what he did without any protest even though I didn't really want it like that." Ranger runs his long fingers thru my hair and takes a breath.

"Babe that is sort of the point I am trying to make. It wasn't really your choice. You went along because you didn't know what else to do. Whether you realized it or not, he wasn't giving you a choice. Because you didn't challenge him he didn't have to physically force you. But had you challenged him my bet would be that he would have forced you." I guess I could see logic in what he was saying "Trust me Babe, these guys and I see it for what it is and trust me when I say it fucking pisses us off."

"Beautiful how could you being raped bring disappointment and embarrassment to your mom and family?" Lester looked confused "Well I didn't tell anyone anything. But before Joe left for the Navy he wrote about having had me, having taking my virginity in some of the public restrooms around Trenton. My dad saw it, as well as several others who reported back to my mom. My mom grounded me screaming how I had embarrassed the whole family. How none of the other mother's had to worry about their daughter's seducing boys because they couldn't keep their legs closed."

"Babe I really hope you didn't listen to her. Morrelli took advantage of you and your mother was a fucking bitching for not seeing it and doing something about it. I apologize for calling your mother that but at this point in time I believe the name fits. Had that happened to one of my sister's my mom would have hunted his ass down in the Navy or not and made sure he paid for it more than likely with his life." He took a deep breath.

"Babe, it's our parent's job to protect us when we are too little and too young to protect ourselves. I am sorry you didn't have that. " Tears formed in my eyes thinking how good it would have felt to have had a mom that protected me. Why couldn't I have had Ranger's mom for my mom? Why couldn't my mom been more supportive of what I was going thru at that time instead of worrying about what someone else might think. Looking back how could she really think that I her daughter couldn't keep my legs closed. How could she say that to her own daughter?

"I did manage one time to make my mom happy once. I was so excited so happy that for once she approved of me. That I wasn't managing to embarrass her or disappoint her that she was actual proud of me. That was when I said yes to marry the Dick. She was so happy that I was marrying a lawyer. She was able to plan a huge burg wedding pulling out all of the stops. I got no say in anything because she wanted the perfect burg wedding and if I made any decisions then it would mess something up. I was just so happy that she was happy with me for the first time in my life I let her have her fun. Of course that all ended when I caught him fucking Joyce on our dining room table before the ink was dry on our marriage license." I heard muttering from the guys around the room. I glanced at them and they were mad again.

"Well the fact that I filed for divorce brought further disappointment and embarrassment to my mom. She said that it was my fault. That had I stayed at home and taken care of my husband's "needs" he wouldn't have felt the need to cheat on me. She said that I was a failure as a woman because I couldn't keep my man happy and meet his needs and he needed to go elsewhere to get what he needed. Divorcing him would bring disgrace to the family and that as a burg girl I needed to stand by my man and work harder to give him what he needed and if I couldn't then I should just overlook certain indiscretions."

Lester was gently rubbing my feet. "Beautiful are you telling us that your mother told you to stay with a cheating husband and over look it. You had only been married what maybe two months? If he is going to cheat on you in the first two months of your marriage then there would have been nothing you could have done to satisfy him. He had a problem. For him to have wanted that barn animal slut over you, well that is definitely his problem not yours. My mom would have probably helped my sister castrate him had it been her in your place."

Why couldn't have Lester's mom for my mom? It would have been nice to have had my mother's support during that time. I left him with nothing. He took everything. I had no money, no place to live, no car. He took it all. It would have been nice to have at least had my mother's support.

"So guys now you know some of my past. There is more but those are the bigger points of me embarrassing and disappointing my family. I have been a disappointment and embarrassment to them my whole life. Now I am not only embarrassing and disappointing my family. But I have embarrassed and disappointed Joe I don't know how many times, I only need to destroy a car or get thrown in something disgusting to hear all about it from him."

I hear a hiss of anger around the room what I didn't say was how I knew I had embarrassed and disappointed them. My heart is literally breaking at the thought. I didn't think I would be able to actually say the words and continue to live but I knew I had to say them.

"I had to black mail my own cousin into giving me a job as a bounty hunter. A job you all know I suck at but would never voice to me. I get pushed into stuff, rolled in stuff, my clothes and my cars get destroyed at a rate I can't afford to replace. I pick up stalkers faster than you guys can shake sticks at. I live hand to mouth and some months it is barely mouth so I have to go munch off my parent's and in the process I have to hear how I am letting my last chance of finding happiness go by not quitting my job and marrying Joe. Can't you see guys? I am a colossal fuck up only capable of embarrassing and disappointing everyone around me."

That statement had the tears rolling only because I couldn't help thinking how I had embarrassed and disappointed them and Rangeman. The hurt was back in my chest as it felt like my heart was been wrenched from my chest.

RPOV

I can't believe what I am hearing Stephanie say. I know it is all true, because I know she would never lie to me or the guys. But her whole life she has had to deal with her mother putting her down, ridiculing her, even bordering on verbal abuse and yet she somehow she turned out to be so amazing. No wonder she can't see the amazing person she is. The amazing things she does. No wonder her self esteem is so low that she seconds guesses herself and she feels like she is unworthy.

Hearing some of the things she said caused my anger to grow and there were times it was all I could do to hold my rage in. I wanted to find that cop shred the skin from his body, break every bone and I do mean every bone all two hundred and six of them, and then slowly and I do mean slowly drain the life from his worthless piece of shit body.

He had done nothing but drag my Babe down and add misery to her life. She has had to deal with being belittled and demeaned her whole life. He molested her, he raped her, and for the past three years he had done nothing but demean her and try to force her to change for him. The bad part of all of this is that I pushed her to go back with him. I would have never done that had I known all of this. Another thing I need to clear up when I talk to her tonight.

When we sat down I had pulled her against me and worked her until she was lying down with her head on my thigh and her feet on Lester's legs. Lester realized what I was doing and pulled her feet into his lap. This way one she was comfortable, she was touching us, we were able to touch her to offer additional support and comfort when needed and by the way we were sitting she didn't have to look at any of us unless she decided to do so.

That way she wouldn't feel uneasy and she could just talk and tell us what was on her beautiful mind. It worked because she opened up about everything. Of course it was good at least we understood her thought process better but it enraged me and I know it enraged the guys. There were several times when I made eye contact with them.

One to warn them about our earlier discussion and two to confirm they were just as pissed as I was at the things my babe had to endure. When the guys took my lead and started sharing personal stories from their life, or how their mother's would have handled a situation that Stephanie found herself in it made my heart swell.

They were letting my Babe in. I don't know if she realized how huge it was for these guys to share those stories. She was baring her soul, herself and they were telling her that they were listening, they understood, they would hold her trust, her heart, her soul and protect it and care for it forever. In return for her gift they would give her the same. I know she would never let them down just as much as I knew they would never let her down.

When my Babe started talking about Joe and disappointing him I wanted to scream. He doesn't deserve anything from her. For her to worry and appear pained at the mention of disappointing or embarrassing him part of me saw red. Not at my Babe I honestly didn't have it in me to ever be mad at her. I just couldn't ever be mad at her. I was furious at Joe how could he harm her the ways he had, talk to her the way he did, how was it that he never saw this amazing person for what she was, simply amazing.

I saw the tears welling up in her beautiful eyes and I just wanted to kiss them away. I never wanted to see tears in my Babes eyes unless they were happy tears. When she said that she sucked at her job, it is true she could use some more training. Most of that was my fault. I had every intention of getting the guys to work with her to train her but I would be lying if I didn't tell you that there is still a part of me that doesn't want my Babe interacting with the trash and scum of Trenton.

However, I know my failure to follow thru and allow her to get by on what she had which are amazing senses and just pure luck was stupid on my part. I needed to open my eyes and see this is where she wanted to be and get her the proper training to defend herself. Another option I am going to present to her and allow her to decide.

Somehow I thought there was something she wasn't telling us but I could see how much pain she was in just telling us what she was saying that I decided not to press her. I wouldn't push her maybe if I offer a break for now it would help her. Get some lunch take a moment of downtime where she can gather her thoughts, emotions, and just take a deep breath it would be what she needed to say what it was that she was leaving out. "Babe, why don't we take a break here? I will call Ella and have her bring up some lunch. We can eat and rest for a bit. When you are ready we can finish talking. How does that sound?"

"Ranger, you can call Ella and have her bring lunch, but I really need to get something off of my chest and mind before lunch. If I don't say this now then I don't think I would be able to eat anyway." Well maybe she was ready to tell us after all. "Okay Babe, I will call Ella now." I picked up my phone, turned it on. I had turned it off after speaking to the control room. I didn't want any interruptions they knew the procedure to follow if they needed us. I dialed Ella

"Ella, Hi." "Carlos how is Stephanie, did she enjoy her breakfast? How are you and the guys?" "Yes and she is doing okay. We are fine. The reason I am calling is to see if you could bring up some lunch for everyone. Remember what we talked about earlier, the same holds true for now." "Carolos I will have Stephanie's favorite lunch including dessert up to all in about twenty minutes" "Ella, Thank you" I know that sounded a little weird but I wanted to tell Ella to be sure to have my Babe's favorite things including dessert without my Babe hearing it. I suspected she would have already sent her favorites knowing Ella but just be on safe side I asked.

"Babe, lunch will be up here in about twenty or so minutes. If you want to continue we can, if you want to rest until then you can. The choice is all yours." "Ranger I think I will continue I really need to get this out. While I still can. If I take a break or rest I don't think I will be able to say this and I need to tell you." My heart just leaped in my throat. What the hell? I am not some sissy ass teenager, but I was feeling anxious and nervous to hear what my Babe has to say. I schooled my voice to cooperate. "Okay Babe"

SPOV

It was so tempting to just say I would rest and wait for lunch but I knew I couldn't do that. I had to tell this now or it wouldn't get said. I needed to tell them. "Yesterday when my car blew up I couldn't help but think how yet again I had failed at my job, embarrassed Joe and my mother. I told Lester the story about my skip running and me chasing him and then losing him for Christ sake he was sixty five fucking years old. Why can't I out run a sixty five year old man? As I rounded the corner going back to my car I saw him light the rag he had stuck in my gas tank. Without thinking I took off running towards it. Well we all know how that ended." I hear groans thru out the room.

"Lester pointed something out to me yesterday when I told him the story. What he said made me see something I hadn't seen before or if I did never allowed myself to acknowledge. He said that I went running towards a burning rag sticking out of a tank of gas. That statement made me open my eyes, I don't think guys. I just do whatever comes to mind first. I don't think about what could happen or what comes next those thoughts never cross my mind I just do whatever it is that pops into my head."

I take a deep breath and steel myself to what I have to say next. "Realizing that brought home all too clear that in fact I couldn't do my job that I only manage to embarrass everyone around me my mom, Joe, you guys, Ranger, and even Rangeman. When that realization hit me I just had to leave. So I ran grabbed an SUV and just started driving."

Ranger tried to say something but I held up my hand cutting him off. I have to get this out in one piece now on to the hard part. "While I was driving around the streets of Trenton my mind was racing with different memories of past conversations with my mom and Joe. Where I was told I was an embarrassment and a disappointment to them and my family. It made me wonder why any of you would want anything to do with me."

They all started to say something I just held my hand up stopping them. "Let me get this out first, while I can okay." They all nodded even though I could tell they didn't really want to. It was straining them to remain quiet. "I mean it isn't like I have made your life easier. I cause you all nothing but headaches and hassles. You all have to constantly rescue me from one disaster or another. Doesn't it ever just get old for you? While I was thinking about all the different incidents I was reminded of a conversation between Joe and me. It was during a time that I was working for Rangeman. Joe said that Ranger only gave me a job out of pity that Ranger felt responsible for agreeing to teach me how to become a bounty hunter and since I obviously couldn't learn because I sucked at my job more and more every day that he was ashamed to tell me. Joe went on to say that Ranger couldn't admit that he had failed and so he took pity on me whenever I needed money and would give me a job, knowing all along I would only fuck up whatever he had hired me to do."

I paused for a second to gather my next thoughts as I took several deep breaths to keep my emotions at bay. My chest was pounding and hurting and I could hear the blood roaring in my head between my ears. My eyes were burning with the desire to just cry.

"In replaying that conversation in my head along with all of the memories I could see truth to that statement. Then I thought how Rangeman bleeds money for me whenever I had a psycho stalker but now it also bleeds money whenever I am low on money and need a job. Realizing this I felt so embarrassed. I had used you all and Rangeman for money. I had collected money for jobs that I wasn't capable of doing. I don't know how you all can even consider me a friend. I love you all but I realized you didn't need to be around me. I am nothing but a fuck up who has been disappointing and embarrassing you all from the very beginning and if that wasn't bad enough in itself I was also negatively impacting Rangeman as a company that you all love and have spent blood, sweat and tears building." I took another deep breath. Thank god they were letting me get all of this out because it was getting harder and harder.

"I was so confused last night but my love for you all and Rangeman helped me make a decision to go talk to Joe." I could feel the tension increase in the room with the mention of his name. "I was going to tell him that I had made the decision to change my life. I no longer wanted to disappoint or embarrass him or my family. What I wasn't going to tell him was that I could no longer negatively impact Rangeman or embarrass or disappoint Ranger or my merry men." I couldn't stop the tears at this point.

Ranger started running his finger thru my hair as Lester started once again rubbing my feet. "The thought of having disappointed you guys was crushing me. I got to Joe's house and sat there in the SUV for a few minutes trying to gather my thoughts of what I was going to tell him. I was going to tell him how I was tired of being a disappointment and embarrassment to myself, him, and my family that I wanted to change, and I wanted to make everyone proud of me. I would become a stay at home burg housewife mother of two point five children with the white picket fence and a dog. I could almost feel the hives breaking out with just the thought of it but I was willing to do it, to make them proud. " I took another breath

"I felt like by making this decision it would be the best for everyone. I knew I would be miserable but if I did this my family would be proud of me, you guys wouldn't have to risk getting hurt keeping me safe, I would no longer attract psychos, I would no longer negatively impact Rangeman's bottom line, and more importantly I would no longer disappoint or embarrass you guys or Ranger because I sucked at Bounty Hunting. So now I am not certain what I am going to do. Obviously I will never do what a planned on last night so I am not sure where that leaves me." I heard a collective release of breath around the room. They weren't holding their breath were they? No, they couldn't have been. Bad asses don't hold their breath.

TPOV

Oh my god. My little girl was going to Morelli's last night to tell him that she would agree to marry him, have his children, and become a stay at home housewife and mother all the things she hates to protect Rangeman, us, and to keep us from being disappointed or embarrassed by her. I went thru all of my memories of any job I worked with my little girl and I could never think of a time I was embarrassed or disappointed in her.

Even the time I broke my leg when one of her skips landed on me when he jumped from the porch roof I wasn't embarrassed or disappointed by her. The time I got shot I wasn't disappointed or embarrassed because of her. I was a little embarrassed and disappointed in myself but never in my Little Girl.

"Little Girl, look at me." I asked her to look at me because I wanted her to see the truth and sincerity in what I was about to tell her. Her brilliant blue eyes met mine. "Little Girl, I can't speak for the other's in this room but only for me. You have never, not form the first moment I met you until right now right this moment ever once embarrassed me or disappointed me. If anything you surprised the hell out of me." I never thought I would tell Steph this but I can see now that I am going to.

"Little Girl when I first met you I wondered what a white bread girl from the Burg was doing in our world. In my eyes you didn't fit. We walk thru some of the biggest shit holes in his city. We trudge thru the filth that most people don't even want to acknowledge exists let alone walk in. Then add to the fact that you are a girl from the burg I honestly didn't think you would make it thru your first nail break when I met you. But you quickly proved me wrong. Not only were you very capable of walking where we walked but you fit in. You were and are one of us. Little Girl, I love you. I am proud that you consider me a friend and I am proud to consider you a friend, a sister." I could see more tears swimming in her eyes. I knew she understood what I was trying to say. "Tank thank you. I love you too."

I heard a knock at the door and then the door opened. It was Ella with our lunch. Oh boy here we go again. I bet Ella had fixed one of my little girl's favorite meals so we were in for another round of moans and groans that could make a grown man cry with desire. We all got up and followed Ella into the dining room. I noticed Lester was a little more quiet than normal he looked almost dejected and I wonder what he was thinking about what my Little Girl had said. I knew her statements would hurt him and Ranger the most.

LPOV

Listening to Beautiful it had been difficult not to interrupt her. I understood her needing to get everything out without being interrupted but it had me so frustrated that I just wanted to scream. How could she even for a moment believed that she embarrassed us or disappointed us, me. She could never.

No matter what happened to her cars or what she rolled in going after a skip. We don't judge her like that we don't judge her at all and if I ever caught one of my coworkers judging her I would have their ass before the boss ever found out about it, then I would tell him and he would then have their ass.

Hell even with all the things that happen to her she still has one of the highest capture rates in the country. She is just a hairs width away from Rangeman's capture rate and we are the best and have scores of the best trained guys. She brings in her skips either by herself or with Lula as her partner. On some occasions we have helped her but most of her numbers was all on her. Some would argue that the bond amount is different and it is meaning our guys tend to be more harden dangerous criminals than the ones Steph goes after but when you look purely at the numbers hers are just about as good as ours.

Hearing how she was going to tell Morelli, that fucking shit of a cop that she would agree to marry him have his fucking devil spawn of children and become that stay at home housewife and mother she so desperately hated made me want to hurl. Bile rose up in my throat and my heart hurt.

She was going to take herself out of our lives. I can't imagine what Ranger is feeling right now. I know for me I feel like I am drowning. I look to her for salvation for absolution from the things I have done. I know she isn't God, or a priest so I know I will have to atone for my sins after all even a drug dealer, a terrorist, a corrupt government leader that is partaking of genocide is still a life. In God's eyes I am still taking a life regardless of orders, regardless of what is morally right, and regardless of how many lives was saved because I took one.

I would have to atone and pay for all of them and there were a lot and as I was sitting here I knew there would be even more. I also knew that none of those lives I would feel sorry for taking or even second guess myself for having done it. She brought back my humanity. I have learned thru her that forgiveness isn't needed from her that as far as she was concerned there was nothing that needed forgiving.

I can't imagine my life without her. I know I have only known her for three years but since having met her something in me has changed. There is light in my world and I enjoy that, I need it and I crave it. When she came into my life I got a piece of me back that I thought I had long casted aside. She had given me hope that I could have love in my life like that between her and Ranger. I was able to laugh and joke again the way I had before I ever joined the Army and the Rangers.

Now that I had it back I could not do without it. I can't believe she was going to walk away. A part of me is hurt. In a sick sort of way I am glad Morelli's true colors came out last night. That she saw what he was. I would never want Beautiful hurt but it was better she saw it before she told him those things then to find out after it was too late. Not that it would ever be too late but it was a whole lot easier at this point than it would have been had she married him.

I needed to lighten the mood a little as we were heading into the dining room. "Beautiful are you going to give us another taste of those beautiful noises that come out of those luscious lips for lunch?" I no more finish that statement before three hands whack the back of my head "hey...ow". Steph blushes a little then giggles. Good I have done my job I thought as I found my chair.

"Beautiful I need to tell you something" She looks up at me. "You have never one time in the three years that I have known you ever embarrassed me or disappointed me. I love you, you are one of my best friends and I consider you my sister. I love spending time with you if it is going with you as backup for skip, hanging out at the office, being your body guard when you have a stalker. It doesn't matter. Regardless of what happens you would never, could never embarrass me or disappoint me. I can't believe that you would consider leaving us, leaving me and living a life of pure hell. That you would do that to protect us from being embarrassed or you disappointing us when nothing could be further from the truth." I take a breath to get control of my emotions. Bad asses don't do emotions.

"The first time I meet you, when you were worried about getting shot or being arrested because you really hated it when that happened and I teased you that you take all the fun out of it. From that moment on I was different for having had met you. You know me as the jokester of the office and you hear me laughing a lot, Beautiful that is because of you. Before you I hadn't been like that since before I joined the Army. Being with you allowed me to regain a piece of myself that I never thought I would ever have again. I could never be disappointed or embarrassed by you."

Beautiful was looking at me as if she was in shock. Like she didn't really know to believe it or not but she knows I would never lie to her. She starts eating still processing what I just said I can see the wheels turning in that beautiful head of hers.

"Do you know that besides Rangeman you have the best capture rate than any other bounty hunter across the country?" With that she paused food half way to her mouth "What?" "Beautiful capture rates are tracked. You can look it up yourself. Rangeman has the best capture rate in the country at hundred percent. And you have the second highest capture rate of ninety-nine point eight percent. Not to mention you have helped us capture several of our skips so the Rangeman capture rate is what it is partially because of you." Again she looked shocked. This time ranger confirmed it "Babe it is true."

BPOV

I have been quiet the whole time she was talking. Other than telling her about me hanging out in my mom's dance studio as a child I have been listening and processing everything she has said. Being a medic I am familiar with psychology and mental health. While it isn't my specialty I definitely know symptoms of depression, PTSD, Bipolar, schizophrenics, etc. After hearing Bomber's story I am surprised that she has never suffered from depression or PTSD but to my knowledge she hasn't or at least not during the time I knew her she hasn't. I guess denial land was good for something.

"Bomber, you know that I have fixed you up more times that I care to think about. You know that I have seen you at your highest and your lowest in the last three years." She just nodded her head in agreement. "Never one time in all of those times have you ever embarrassed or disappointed me. Not ever. Even when you are fighting me to help you because you didn't think you need to go to see a doctor, or you didn't want x-rays I was never embarrassed or disappointed. During those times my only thought is your care, is your health and yeah sometimes I may get a little pissed that you won't listen to me or are being hardheaded in not just going I was never disappointed or embarrassed." I don't do good talking about my own emotions or letting people in so I took a breath. "Bomber, I love you. You are like a sister to me. I never had a sister growing up but I always wanted one. I am an only child, seen as my parent's never gave me a sister growing up I was gifted with the opportunity to pick a sister. Bomber I chose you."

RPOV  
I was right last night. God I came so close to losing her. In a really sick sort of way I should thank Morelli for choosing to fuck up when he did. I knew I felt her pulling away from me. I felt her giving up on us and turning away from me. I just didn't know why. It floored me that she truly believed that she had embarrassed or disappointed me.

She has never, if anything I have always been proud of her. Maybe her ways were different and lord knows she rolled in her fair share of shit but she always got her man and in our world the bottom line is you always get your man. It doesn't matter what has happened or how you get him, the important part is that you get him and you get him back in the system. I have always told her that I was proud of her. Did she think I would just say that to be saying that?

She was right on one hand. I was embarrassed for not training her better. I should have stepped in and demanded that she get proper training from the beginning. Honestly a part of me thought she wouldn't last when I first met her. But she proved me wrong when she continued to go after Morelli. She impressed the hell out of me.

Then as time went by she always got her man. She had instincts that only rivaled my own. I tried exercising with her to help her get in shape but she complained about having to run. Me not wanting to see my Babe do something she hated gave in. I have no excuse for my lack of action in training her. But I was never embarrassed or disappointed in her. Hell to have a capture rate that she has with as little training as she has had she is fucking impressive, amazing.

"Babe you do have the second highest capture rate of any bounty hunter and most of your skips you caught on your own. Rangeman has a whole crew so that is something to be impressed with not embarrassed about and definitely nothing there to be disappointed in. Not only is your capture rate what it is but you have done that with little to no training." She looks up at me confused.

"Babe I should have trained you thoroughly instead of letting you go out so green. But honestly you took to bounty hunting like a duck to water. You impressed us all. Your mind is a beautiful thing to watch when you are in action. Your instincts "your spidey senses as you call it" are amazing and they never fail you. To see it in action, to see you in action is something to marvel at." Her mouth opens at my statement in shock and her cheeks flush with embarrassment at the compliment I just gave her.

"Babe I know from past events and the things you have told us that you aren't use to compliments or someone looking up to you but trust me when I say this you have a whole building of big bad ass military men that all think you are simply amazing that look up to you and only want to spend more time with you." She barely smiles, she is still processing everything she has been told.

"I for one have never been embarrassed or disappointed in you. I know you know I don't lie and I wouldn't tell you something just because I felt sorry for you or pity for you. Which by the way I have never felt either way when it came to you." She nods her head I can see she is replaying my words and sees the truth in them.

"Babe as far as Rangeman goes you have never negatively impacted Rangeman. Yes I told you I bleed money when you have a stalker. I wish I had never made that dumb fucking statement. I told you what we give each other doesn't have a price and it doesn't Babe. If it took me having to get rid of Rangeman to protect you I would without question. I believe we all would."

She looked up at me and started shaking her head no. "Babe we love Rangeman hell we all worked damn hard building Rangeman to be what it is today but please know that it isn't more important to us than you. Please know that you come first, you will always come first for us." I knew that was true for every guy in this room. She came first before us and she needed to know that.

Stephanie looked at us with look that said deer caught in headlights. Tank, Lester, and Bobby all nodded in agreement to the statement I had just made and it made my heart swell even more. I could see her eyes swimming with tears as her mouth opened and closed several times trying to form the words she wanted to say.

"Guys I love you, you have to know that. But in my life you come first, Rangeman comes first you should know that. I would give whatever it is I can give including my life to protect you all and Rangeman. That was my sole reason for the decision I made yesterday."

"Babe I am glad you love us as much as you do but please know that you will always come first, your life before ours and before Rangeman's. Let's finish eating and we can talk more when we are done." The sheer knowledge that she would be willing to put her life on the line for us, for Rangeman was crippling to me and I needed a moment alone with my thoughts.

In a way I wanted to soar with the knowledge that she loved us that much in another way I wanted to run to the bathroom and puke up what little of my lunch I had eaten. The thought that she would die for us had me chocking, gagging, and riddled with fear that she could possibly be taken from us and would gladly give her life for us. Her beautiful bright light warm soul she would give for one of our marred dark dimmed cold souls was more than humbling it was frightening and bad asses do not do frightening.

My babe went back to eating moaning and groaning with every bite. It was both pure pleasure and pure torture. Hearing her happy and enjoying herself made me happy beyond belief but hearing her moans and being reminded of her body undermine that one night was making my cock so hard that I thought it would once again split the zipper on my cargo pants. I once again only wanted to grab her and drag her to bed and lock us in there for the rest of our lives. Thinking about that wasn't helping my current condition. I need to think about something else to help cool my jets.

I don't want to accidentally act because of my current state before I had a chance to talk privately to my Babe. When we finished eating Babe and I gathered the dishes while the rest of the guys went back into the living room to get ready to resume our talk. Like before my Babe grabbed five waters from the fridge. I took a few from her as we made our way back into the living room.

SPOV

Everyone was back in the same seats they had sat in earlier. I sat on the center cushion on the couch Ranger sat on the end. I immediately turned and laid my head on his thigh and put my feet in Lester's lap. Lester's hand immediately engulfed my feet with his warm hands and it felt heavenly. I am not certain but I think I moaned or maybe I purred because I was one happy kitten with Ranger running his fingers thru my hair and Lester rubbing my feet. I could die right this moment and be a very happy woman. I wasn't sure what else there was for us to talk about. I mean I had told them basically everything. I wasn't sure I could tell them what happened inside of Joe's house. It was so humiliating and embarrassing.

"Babe, can you tell us what happened when you went in Joe's house?" Damn ESP I should have never thought about that then he wouldn't have asked me. "No Babe, I was going to ask you, we would like to know what happened. You can trust us Babe." "I guess I said that out loud?" "Yeah Babe you did." The others chuckled, when will I learn to keep my trap shut? "Ranger, I know I can trust you all and I want to tell you all, I do, but some parts of it are really embarrassing and humiliating for me."

"Babe it is okay you have nothing to be embarrassed or humiliated about. This is Joe's doing not yours. Trust us Babe we won't judge you or blame you for any of this." "I know Ranger" I took a deep breath "When I got there I ran inside because when I got out of the SUV I realized I was barefoot. It was cold. When I opened the door with the spare key and went in I heard the TV on. I went into the living room and Joe wasn't there but a porn movie was playing. I checked the rest of the downstairs for Joe and then looked for Bob. I saw that he was tied up out back. I thought it was odd but I left him outside to protect his eyes from the TV" "Babe".

"I then went upstairs looking for Joe." I took another deep breath "When I got almost to the top of the stairs I could see a light on in Joe's bedroom. I quietly climbed the rest of the stairs and walked up to the door listening for any sounds. I heard Joe grunting and then I heard a woman moaning. My head was screaming for me to just turn around and run but my body wasn't responding. It was like my body took on a mind of its own as I pushed the door open and walked into the room." I paused for a moment trying to gain control before continuing.

"My eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing. Joe was in his bed with Terry. Terry saw me enter before Joe was aware she smiled at me and started fucking him harder causing him to grunt even more. For a moment I was shocked unable to speak. Then I screamed at him and he froze in place with Terry's legs still wrapped around him, his head buried in her chest. He didn't even move away from her only turned his head to look at me then he had the nerve to ask me what the fuck I was doing there." I took a deep breath. So far this was easier than I thought to tell. While I was mad at him I truly wasn't as hurt as I thought I would be. In a weird way I felt almost relief a sense of freedom I hadn't felt in awhile.

"I asked him what he was doing since I was his girlfriend at the time and he was fucking another woman in his bed. He just sighed then he proceeded to get up off of her. Terry being the slut she is didn't even bother to cover herself at first. She just laid there spread out for him to look at. I turned and started out of the bedroom as fast as I could. Joe followed me. I was heading down the stairs when Joe grabbed my arm. He said that we needed to talk. I told him we had nothing to talk about that I was done with him. He tried to explain that he was with Terry because some undercover assignment bullshit. I told him I wasn't buying his shit and told him to let me go. Joe said he wasn't going to let me go and for me to just look at it like he no longer had to hide his extracurricular activities from me and that maybe I would even enjoy joining in on them." I heard growls from around the room.

"I told him that if he thought I was going to marry him, have his children while he was fucking Terry and I would be okay with that and even join in with them then he had lost his fucking mind. Again I told him to let me go, let me leave. I tried jerking my arm out of his grip but I couldn't. He started to drag me back up the stairs toward his bedroom." I could feel the tension rise in the room. I took a deep breath

"I started to panic at what he was going to do. Then he said how me standing there with a sports bra and tiny gym shorts was turning him on. He grabbed my hand and ran it over his dick which completely grossed me out thinking he had just had it buried in Terry. But I took the opportunity presented. I distracted Joe by making him think I may be into him long enough for him to let go of my hand once he had let go of my hand I grabbed his balls and jerked them as hard as I could." I heard groans from the guys as Ranger choked out "Proud of you Babe" as I saw them all grab themselves, Men.

"Well Joe screamed and grabbed himself but not before he pushed me down the stairs. I landed spread eagle at the bottom. Terry ran to Joe's side. Once I was able to catch my breath and get to my feet I took off running to the door as fast as I could run. I remember falling on the sidewalk and not being able to get up. I remember fighting passing out and trying to pull myself to my car so I could just get out there. Then I heard your voice Ranger and I tried to respond but I could no longer fight it and passed out."

"Ranger, can I ask you something?" "Yeah Babe you can ask me anything, I will try to tell you as much as I can." "Why were you there? Don't get me wrong I am glad you were there but I didn't call you, or tell you where I was going. I even turned off the GPS in the SUV before driving to his house. How did you know?"


	9. Chapter 8: Confessions and Decisions

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

Chapter 8: Confessions and Decisions

RPOV

Oh shit. What am I going to say? I was hoping she wouldn't think to ask me that, she is going to have my ass. I look over at Tank and see a smirk on his face, fucker. "Babe you went running out of here like the hounds of hell were chasing you. You scared me. You didn't even take a second to put on shoes, clothing, or a coat. I didn't know what you were thinking or what you were going to do. Tank and I took off in the Porsche while I had Lester send a team of two men to both your parent's and Morelli's house. I asked Bobby to pull up video of feeds just to be sure you took one of the vehicles and then pull up the tracker for that vehicle so I could find you." Well she doesn't appear to be mad yet at least. Whew.

"After the day you had I wanted to make sure you had backup if you needed it." She just looks up at me with those bright blue eyes. "They weren't to interfere with anything only be there if things went south by offering you back up, protection, or anything you may have needed." She looked up and then asked the question I had really did not want her asking if she wasn't mad already this was going to do it.

"Ranger did you know Joe had company last night, before I went into the house?" I looked at the guys for moral support. I could see I was on my own, thanks a lot, assholes. "Yes, but only a matter of minutes before you pulled up and then you ran in. I thought about getting the guys to stop you but honestly they more than likely wouldn't have had time to catch you when you took off running. Babe I want nothing more than to protect you physically and emotionally from everything and anything that could ever hurt you. You have to know that. But someone helped me realize that I also have to let you stand on your own. Allow you to make decisions both good and bad and be there to support you. Please don't be mad at me because I didn't stop you."

"Ranger I am not mad at you. Actually I am glad that you didn't interfere. Had you interfered then I would have never known about Joe and Terry. While I am mad at him for cheating on me, and talking to me the way he did I am not hurt like I thought I would be. I am not exactly sure what that means but all in all I am glad I found out his true colors before I did something that I would regret and forever be sorry for. I actually feel a little relieved like a weight that has been lifted off of my shoulders an odd sense of freedom. I just need to figure out what I am going to do now. I did mean what I said I no longer want to be the laughing stock of Trenton disappointing and embarrassing myself, you guys, or Rangeman. I want to change."

"Babe I told you, we have all told you that you could never disappoint or embarrass us or Rangeman so you don't need to worry about that. As far as what's next I have a few ideas I would like to run past you. Ultimately though it is your decision to make, it is your life. You can take me up on one of my ideas or decide something completely different. Regardless of what you decide know that you have the support of everyone of us in this room." "Ranger I am not sure what I am going to do, but I will listen." Whew she was willing to listen. Well I made it over one hurdle. I hope she chooses to stay with us. I honestly don't know how everyone will take it if she doesn't. I don't know how I would take it. I don't know that I could survive it.

"Babe here are some of my thoughts, you can interject whenever you would like. You could continue doing exactly what you are doing. Bounty hunting for Vinnie, and working with us for a distraction or searches when you want just as you do now. You could come to work for Rangeman part time and do bounty hunting for Vinnie part time. You could come to work for Rangeman full time in which you would become a more integral part of Rangeman than just distractions and searches. Or you could choose something completely different. The choice is yours babe." She thought for a few minutes while we just sat there I was running my fingers thru her hair silently praying she would pick us.

"Ranger what if I wanted to work for Rangeman full time?" My heart smiled. "Well in that case you would start working on searches as you have done, we would introduce you to the security side of the business more and I would probably want for you to start meeting with clients. You would be assigned a partner you would work on take downs and distractions as you have done in the past." Stephanie stopped me from continuing.

"Ranger if I was just some random guy on the street what would I have to do to get a job here?" Why is she asking that? Where is she going with this? "Well Babe typically Rangeman hires either x military men or x gang members or x con's that have decided to use their special talents for the greater good. Typically we hire the best of the best for their specialized talents that Rangeman needs at the time." She looks up at me. "No Ranger I mean what are the requirements for working here. Is there a requirement in order to be hired?" again where is she going?

"Babe, we usually require new hires to pass a series of tests. The tests include marksmanship, defensive driving, fighting slash self defense, and overall physical fitness." Not that she would be required to do any of those to have a job here. If she wants a full time job here she will have it no further questions asked from any of my men. "Ranger what happens after that. Say the guy passes all of the tests then what happens?"

"Well he would be offered a position at Rangeman. Provided we had opens in multiple offices he would be given a choice of location. Then he would be assigned to first work with each member of the core team in that office for a week. Then we would assign him to work with each member of the B team for a week. After that he would be assigned to work with any employee without a partner for a whole week to see if a partnership forms between the two." She looked up at me "Anything after that?" "Well there are the requirements that you are aware of. Beings a Rangeman employee requires you to work out at least an hour 5 days a week, they have to train on the gun range three times a week, and they have to pull regular monitor duties weekly." She kept her eyes on me "Is there any grace period?" "Yes, there is a three month grace period. But typically we know before they are hired if they are going to work out or not. If not, then we definitely figure it out well before they are done working with the core team members from the office."

SPOV

Ranger and the guys are being really supportive. They opened up to me and told me a little about their lives, and their feelings and I love them even more for it. I know they would never lie to me even though I find some of the things that they are telling me to be almost unbelievable. I do believe them. I am still not a hundred percent sure what I should do but I know I want to change. I need to change I can't keep doing what I have been doing.

Maybe if the guys are willing to help me change then I can stay here with them. I don't want to give them up especially now that they have opened up to me. The thought of walking away from them from Ranger was heart breaking I don't think I could do it again. But I definitely can't stay and continue to be the person I am right now it wouldn't be right to Ranger or my brothers, I couldn't do that to them they deserve more. I have to become the Sister they deserve in order for me to stay with them.

"Ranger I really want to change what I am doing. I know you all say that I have the second highest capture rate and maybe I do but let's face it I don't go after really hard criminals. The harder skips you all take. I take the ones that my grandmother could probably capture faster than I do." I took a breath "I want for people to stop laughing at me. I don't want to roll around in garbage and tear my clothes up and have my vehicles blown up by geriatrics." "Babe"

"I don't want to be a disappointment and embarrassment to myself, to you guys, and to Rangeman." "Babe" I know what I want. I want to be a full time Rangeman employee. But I don't want to just be handed a full time job. I want to earn it just like everyone else. I want to be an equal coworker. I want to earn the right to be here just as every other member of Rangeman. I wonder if Ranger will go for it. I hope he does.

"Ranger, I have decided what I want to do. I want to work full time at Rangeman." There are hoots and hollers thru out the room. The guys are happy and it makes me smile. "Great Babe, I will get a contract together and you can start on Monday if you want." "Ranger, not so fast I don't want to be just handed a job. I want to earn this job just like every other guy that is working here." They all just look at me with their blank faces slamming shut. Don't do that to me guys.

"I want the interview process, I want the test process, and I want the same options that are given to every other Rangeman employee starting out. I want to be treated just as any other guy you would hire off of the streets, understood?" He just nods looking thoughtful. Tank just smiles. "Ranger I realize right now I can't pass those tests so I want you to give me two weeks. In that two weeks time frame I would like to train with the guys, if that is okay with you, to learn everything I need to know to pass those tests."

This time Tank speaks up "Little girl we would love to train you." Wonder if they will love to train me when they hear the catch. "Thanks Tank but before you speak up you need to hear the conditions. I will train with any of the guys that want to train me but it can't be while they are on company time. I will not allow Rangeman to pay for my training for the entrance tests. Any other guy from the street wouldn't have Rangeman training coming in and while I will have the guys training me that is true I won't have Rangeman paying for it. If the guys want to train me it will be solely on a volunteer bases because they want to." Ranger groans a little and tried to counter but I stopped him.

"Ranger I am not budging on this. If I am to be a member of Rangeman then I have to earn it. I can't be a member of Rangeman and not be equal with all the guys. I will n o longer allow myself do that. If you just hand me a job then I won't be equal and they will know that I didn't earn it like they did. How will they ever be able to trust me as a partner? How would they ever trust me to know that I have their back and would be able to protect them when I couldn't pass the same tests they had to be here?" All eyes were locked on me. I could see something along the lines of pride in their eyes and it made my heart soar. I knew I had made the right decision. Nothing in my life had felt more right.

"Little girl I am sure all of the guys will volunteer whatever time they can to training you. I will bring it up at the meeting tomorrow morning. I will tell them what you want to do and we will setup a training schedule for you. But I will warn you this won't be easy, these guys will push you and work you hard in your training. They won't hold back on you because you are girl, or because you are their bombshell. They may even push you more because of it. If you ask them to do this then they are going to take your word that you want this level of training and they are going to be serious about it. So before you start something here be sure that this is what you want."

"Tank Thanks. It is what I want. I am serious about change. I want the training. I want to be a full member of Rangeman and I want to do it right. I am willing to put in the hard work to do it. So no holding back on me, okay." "Proud of you Babe I have told you before and I say it again, you never disappoint." Just those words made me smile, made me warm inside, and made me feel like I could fly.

LPOV

I am so excited I can barely contain myself. Beautiful had decided to become one of us. Not that she wasn't already one of us as far as the way we felt about her but she had decided to become a full time Rangeman and she wanted to earn her way in. "Beautiful I know I will work with you off the clock. I am sure I can speak for everyone that we all will help train you off of the clock. Like I told you before we all love spending time with you and we don't need to be paid to do it." She smiled at me. "Beautiful one of my specialties as you know is fighting. I would love to head up your training on the mats. You will work with the other guys as well but I would be honored to teach you to fight and defend yourself." Her smile got even bigger as she nodded "Lester, I would be honored for you to train me." I smiled. "Beautiful I will have you fighting and taking down Tank before the two weeks are up." She looked at me in shock and shook her head. "I will never be able to take Tank down, but I will promise to train my hardest and be the best student I can be. Just don't hold back with me because you are afraid of breaking me." "Trust me Beautiful we won't hold back. If we do you will never pass the tests. We want you working here with us so we want you to past the tests so we will be giving you all we got in the next two weeks." While I will push her and work her I am also going to come up with a way to give her a little happy during the next two weeks. It will help her pull thru and it will be a way I can show her how proud I am of her.

BPOV

She was looking a little nervous at Lester's last comment so I thought I would distract her a little. "Bomber I am happy, I can't wait to see you passing your tests. I know I can help you with your physical fitness test. I will come up with a training program that will have you ready to pass that test in two weeks. I want you to know that it won't be easy but it will be doable if you are willing to work with me." Bomber smiled at me and nodded her head. You could see the excitement radiating off of her. I knew then that she was going to be fine. I couldn't wait for her to join us here at Rangeman as a full time employee. She impresses the hell out of me on a normal day but today has taken the cake. She not only wanted to be a full time Rangeman she wanted to earn it. She knew we would just give her a job at her request but she needed to earn the job. Earn the title of being a full time Rangeman. Just her thinking about it that way made me very proud of her. While I knew we were going to push her I was going to plan a few things that I know will help her survive the next two weeks both physically and mentally because it wasn't going to be easy.

TPOV

I am excited. I can tell that Ranger is excited too. We are going to have my little girl here with us full time. It wasn't a question if we could train her well enough to pass the tests. She would be able to pass the tests with flying colors with the training we were going to give her. We would make sure in the next two weeks that she is trained well beyond what it would take to pass the tests. I could see my little girl radiating with excitement. I knew she had committed to doing this and was looking forward to it. "Little girl I will head up your defensive driving training." She looked at me and smiled then it turned to a playful smirk "Does that mean that I will get to drive a car while you ride in the passenger seat?" Oh shit. She remembered me telling her that I only let women drive me in my bed, never in a car. With a little laugh I conceded "Yeah little girl I guess it does." The smirk turned to a huge smile and then she laughed. I was so proud of her that she wanted to earn her Rangeman job. My Little Girl was finding her legs and starting to stand on her own and I was going to be there every step of the way to do whatever I could to ensure that she could take those first few steps on her own. I knew that the next two weeks were going to be hard for her. I knew we would push and work her hard to get her ready but I had a few tricks up my sleeve to help her make it thru it.

RPOV

When my Babe said she wanted to work full time at Rangeman my heart soared. Then she blew me away when she said that she wanted to be treated the same as every other employee. She wanted to be given the same tests, the same options. Then she completely made my day, year, and life when she said that she would train with my men of course she had to follow that up by demanding that they couldn't be on the clock. But my Babe can be complicated like that even still I have never been more proud of her. The only thing that she could say that would make happier would be for her to say yes to me when I asked her to share her life with me forever.

Once again today I found myself wanting to grab her pick her up and lock us in our bedroom for the rest of time. Our bedroom where had that come from? Granted I had only shared that bed and this apartment with my Babe but when did I start feeling like this was ours rather than mine? Man I am going to have to be careful about that until she decides to live with me. If Tank or Lester ever hear me say that when she doesn't live here I will never leave it down. Not to mention they will have perfect blackmail material on me.

"Babe I know the guys will all volunteer to train you without even a thought of being paid. I can help you with your marksmanship skills. I will have you shooting like a pro in no time." I will also come up with little distractions to help her make it thru the next two weeks.

I am going to have a talk with all my men that volunteer to help her. Her training is top priority she is to be trained well past what she will need to pass those tests. Failure is not an option any employee of mine that I find hindering her training will answer to me directly on the mats. Hell I may have them answer to the whole core team that could be fun.

"Today is Friday, why don't we take the weekend to prepare a plan that will work for everyone. Tank will you inform the rest of the guys about Steph's request for training at the meeting tomorrow if you happen to talk to any of the guys sooner let them know. I am sure once the word gets out everyone will be jockeying to be on the volunteer list. Just make sure they understand that a member of the core team is heading up the training for each test objective. For those that volunteer we should match their specialty with the test. I realize many will overlap and that is fine. "

Now I really need to get my Babe alone. I really need to tell her in English what I said to her last night in Spanish. I just hope that she will be as open and receptive to me as she has been to everything else today. I hope my confessions do not have her running again.


	10. Chapter 9: Confessions of the Heart

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**Sorry for the delay in the update. I had a knee injury over the weekend that is causing me some trouble and real life got in the way. **

Chapter 9: Confessions of the Heart

SPOV

I am so excited that they all agreed to train me even off the clock. I know this is going to be difficult but it is what I want. I will do what I need to do to get thru it. I am committed and I will work as hard as I can to pass those tests and become a full time Rangeman. I know in my heart this is where I belong. I only wish Ranger wanted me in his heart and wanted to be in mine.

"Babe why don't you decide what you want to do for dinner. I want it to be your choice. We can have another one of your favorite Ella meals or we can go out for dinner. The decision is yours." I smiled. Now that was a tough decision.

I really wanted to get out of here for a little while. I wanted to go out but having my favorite Ella meal was also very enticing. I finally decided a little fresh air would do us all good as we had been either sitting around the living room or the dining room table all day.

"Ranger I think I would like to go out to get something to eat. Nothing fancy though how about Pino's?" I know once I start my training I won't be able to eat there as much so I will get it when I could.

"Babe that is fine. Guys its sixteen hundred why don't you go to your apartments get cleaned up and meet us in the garage at eighteen hundred." They all nodded as we all stood up. They walked over to me and each hugged and kissed me on the cheek on the way out of the room.

Once they were gone Ranger turned to me "Babe I am going to go take a shower. If you want to change your clothes call Ella if you can't find something you want to wear in the closet. I am sure she will have something for you to wear." Ella had additional clothing that was something to think about.

Ranger went into the bathroom and I laid down on the bed in my thinking position. My mind went to images of Ranger naked soapy and wet and my Hungarian hormones came roaring to life. For a second I had to restrain myself from getting up and going in the bathroom to join him.

He had been different with me today not that he wasn't always kind and gentle towards me but he was just different today. I was able to see his emotions, feel his love in a way I hadn't been able to do previously. It made my heart ache because I was so in love with him and I wasn't sure how he felt.

I was pretty sure he wasn't going to push me back to Morelli but would he push me to someone else or worse just push me away from him. He seemed excited about me coming to work here full time but would he want more. I was pulled from my thoughts when Ranger came walking into the bedroom with just a towel wrapped around him hanging low on his hips.

God how I wanted this man, I want to lick the water droplets on his chest. I want to snatch that towel away and have my wicked way with him. I wanted to jump on him and ride him like the jockey who rode Super Saver across the finish line at the Kentucky Derby. I wanted him hard and fast, I wanted him slow and torturous, I wanted him every way a woman could want a man.

"Babe you are staring" "huh" "playing with fire" well maybe I would like to be burned "Babe" Ranger choked out. Oh god I must have said that out loud. "Yeah Babe you did." My face burned with embarrassment.

Ranger had just caught me lusting after him and then I had to tell him out loud that I wanted him to burn me. What the fuck was I thinking? Oh I know Cuban sex god naked wrapped only in a towel standing in front of me. What the hell else would I be thinking?

"Babe are you going to wear what you have on or do you want to change." I looked up at Ranger coming out of the closet in his black pants and black painted on t-shirt. God how I wanted that man. "I think I am just going to wear what I have on." I needed the courage I was going to heart of the lion's den the center of the burg all he eyes and ears.

"Okay. Babe while we have a little time I would like to talk to you." Ranger came over and sat down on the bed. He put his back to the head board of the bed and stretched his long legs out. He opened his arms and motioned for me to join him. I got up and walked around to this side. He reached out to guide me between his legs putting my back to his front. I leaned back into his strong body my head resting on his wonderful hard chest and I was thinking this is heaven.

RPOV

It was now or never. I knew I could tell her after last night and today but I was still nervous, and bad asses don't do nervous. Once I had Stephanie in the same position that I had held her in last night. I took a calming breath thinking where to start.

"Babe I have some things I need to tell you." I no more got the words out of my mouth that I felt her tense up. "I promise it is okay Babe. I need to confess something to you but it isn't bad and it isn't going to hurt you I promise."

I rubbed my hands up and down her arms and then wrapped my arms around her pulling her closer to me. I instantly felt her relax. "Babe, I love you. No qualifiers babe, I just do. I know I have said and done some stupid shit. Most of it I am still kicking my own ass for especially after the things I learned today. Like sending you back to Morelli. I don' really have any excuse for my actions other than to tell you I was afraid for my own heart." I take a deep breath I have a lot to say and not a whole lot of time.

"Babe last night while you were passed out I laid down with you in my arms just as we are right now while Bobby examined and cared for your injuries. While you were lying against me I was whispering in your ear. I was whispering everything I want you to know about how I feel about you, about us in Spanish. Now I fully intend on repeating those same words to you but this time in English so you fully understand what it is I am feeling and what it is that I want. Please babe let me get all of the words out first." She nodded and I took a deep breath letting it out slowly. Damn I was nervous and I didn't do nervous.

"Babe I love you. You mean everything to me. You are my life, my dreams, and my desires. I no longer want to be without you. I need you in my life, as my best friend, my partner, my wife, and my lover. When you ran away earlier it felt like you were leaving me. I couldn't find you fast enough. I raced thru the streets to find you. I was running to you to beg you not to leave me. It felt as if my heart was being ripped out of my chest Babe. I never want to ever feel like that again. I need you babe." She started to turn towards me but I held her tighter stopping her for the moment.

"Babe you are my light in the darkness. You make my soul come alive, you make me feel things I never thought possible after the life I have lead, the things I have seen, and done. You have no idea how much you have freely given me without ever asking, expecting anything in return. I love you for everything you give me without question and I want to give you the world babe." I took another breath.

"I want you to marry me babe. I want us to have her someday. I want to hold you every night, wake with you every morning. Spend days together just looking into your blue eyes. I want to spend nights making love to you and holding you in my arms. I want to kiss away your pain, I want to be the shelter you seek when you need protecting, and I want to be the arms to hold you when you need comfort. I want to be the shirt you soak with your tears when you just need a shoulder to cry on. Babe I want to be your everything just as you are my everything."

Almost there in a way I wish I could see her eyes it would help knowing how she was taking this but it was easier to say it like this. I really just wanted her to hear it the same way she had last night when I said it in Spanish. My lips right next to her ear quietly whispering how much I loved her just as I had done last night in Spanish.

"Please Babe say you will marry me. Wake up and say yes, I pray you say yes because honestly I don't know how to live without you. I have tried and every day it gets harder. I need you in my life not like we are today but completely and totally to the point that I belong to you and you belong to me. The thought of you belonging to me does something to me that I can't explain to you. It isn't to control you Babe don't fear I would never try. It is solely that you belong to no other that you are mine for me to love with all my heart and for you to love me with all with all of your heart. Please say yes babe. Let's start our someday today, right this minute. Please babe wake up and say yes."

It felt a little weird me asking her to wake up when she was already awake but for some reason I needed to repeat those same words I had said last night. My hands were rubbing calming circles on her beautiful skin just as they had done last night.

"Babe my heart is for you, it is there for you to hold to take care of. I give it to you freely and I hope you will give me yours because I promise you I will never bring it harm, I will never cause it hurt. I will treasure it to the day I die as my most precious possession. I will guard it fiercely, I will care for it tenderly, and I will love it daily. Trust me babe, trust me with your heart as I trust you with mine. Wake up and take my heart, my love. Say yes" When I finished telling her what I had to say, with as much love as possible I placed a gentle kiss just below her ear lobe and loosened my hold so she could move in my arms. My babe turned around facing me. She had tears running down her eyes but she looked more beautiful than I have ever seen her.

Her hands reached up and cupped my face she brought her face up to within an inch of mine she closed her eyes for a second and then said the word I would never forget. "Yes". I instantly closed the distance between us and brought her lips to mine. I slowly sat up taking her with me my lips sealed to hers.

I tried to keep the kiss light and slow pouring my love for her in it. My tongue swiped across her full delicious lip and she opened for me. My tongue slowly entered her mouth me tasting her as her tongue touched mine. In an instant the kiss went from loving light and soft to hard and demanding filled with passion and desire.

God I wanted this woman so bad. She had said yes. I wanted to take her make her mine right now. She felt the desire in the kiss and she met it with all she had. Her hands were twisted in my hair she as she was pulling me to her holding me against her as I was holding her against me with one arm around her back and he other twisted in her hair. I could feel the heat in the room go up twenty degrees as our tongues continued to battle each other in a dance as old as time.

The taste of her lips of her tongue only had me begging for more. I was so hard that I was aching with desire but I wasn't going to make the first move. This was my Babe's decision. It was for her to decide where this went. What she wanted. This was all about her and not about me. She had all the control right now. She has had a rough twenty four hours and I didn't want her to feel like I was pushing her in any direction. What happened at this moment was solely her decision.

I felt her hands loosen their hold of me as her fingers found the bottom o f my shirt. She tugged on my shirt until it was free from my pants. Her fingers ran up my stomach up to my chest leaving a blaze of what felt like fire in their wake. As her hands moved up my body she was raising my shirt I shivered in delight and my cock twitched with anticipation. She broke the kiss long enough to pull my shirt off raising my arms to assist her. The second my shirt was off she pulled me back to her pressing herself against me while crushing her lips back against mine. I growled in delight at the feeling.

SPOV

I heard Ranger growl as I pressed my lips back to his. My hands were roaming over his beautiful hard as a rock chest and abs. God he had a body that was meant to be worshiped and he wanted me. No he needed me, he loved me. I still wasn't sure about everything he said but all I could think was yes. Yes. I would be his until the day I died. That I would be his, that I was his. I was so his I would tattoo his name across my forehead or brand my ass as Ranger's I was so his.

I couldn't get him out of his clothing fast enough. I could tell by the way Ranger kissed me that I was in control. I could take this where ever I wanted and right now I wanted to take this to bed. I wanted him to brand me as his. I wanted to brand him as mine before we left this apartment tonight. I wanted my Cuban sex god to make love to me to claim me not only my heart and mind but claim my body. I was so ready for him. My panties were well past ruined at this point.

Knowing that I was in control I took Ranger's hands in mine and guided them to the hem of my shirt. Hoping he would get the hint. He did, no grass growing there. He started slowly raising my shirt just as I had done with his. His fingers and hand slowly guiding over my stomach up my ribs across my taunt and swollen breast leaving a trail of burning fire. Briefly causing my eyes to roll back in my head with the wonderful feeling it was causing in me.

My body was humming for him. My center was aching for him. I could feel the blood throbbing thru my veins between my legs. My nipples were tight and ached to be touched and kissed they were like the rest of me demanding to be touched, kissed, felt, and loved by my very own Cuban sex god.

I was panting as we broke apart for my shirt to be removed and thrown to the floor along with his shirt. Once the shirt was free our lips found each other again as Ranger's started running his hands over my chest, nipples, and stomach causing more heat to shoot to my core. Ranger was copying my hand movements in a way that said the control is still yours. I reached for his hand and pulled it up to the bra clasp in the front of my bra.

He unhooked my bra as the cups of my bra separated Ranger's hands followed them as his hands and thumbs rubbed across my now bare nipples sending waves of delight thru my body. My nipples drew even tighter with his touch and I moaned in the pleasure of the feel of his hands on my breasts rubbing my nipples. It was causing more heat to pool and I could feel my body responding to his touch. I could feel my muscles contracting as the heat rose in my body.

I broke the kiss from his lips as my tongue traced a path from his lips to his ear. I tasted his ear with the tip of my tongue. God what this man did to me, it felt like every nerve I had was standing on end as I was being teased and pleasured to its fullest. "Y..Yes Ranger, Yes." I softly whispered in his ear. "It will always be yes."

A growl erupted from Ranger as his arms as he pulled me to him tighter and his lips once again found mine. My mind must have dissected from my body for a little while because the next thing I knew we are both laying on the bed naked. Ranger was laying beside me on his side his arms around me. There wasn't even a break in our kissing, he was fucking batman.

His impressive erection was pressing into my side as his hands were running up and down my body. I was filled with such desire that I needed fulfilled. I knew I was still in control even though Ranger had removed our clothing. I moved my lips away from him running my tongue down his chin down his neck following this carotid artery.

When I reached the point of where his neck meets his delicious shoulders I bit down sucking his skin between my teeth. Successfully marking him mine I continued my decent of his luscious body. Tasting his chest, his nipples as they harden even more with my attention as I move to go lower Ranger shifts me back on my back. I was slightly disappointed I wasn't able to taste him but that thought quickly left me when his lips touched mine.

His lips caressed mine but only briefly as his tongue then started on the same path of my body as mine had on his. When he reached where my neck meet my shoulders he bit down sucking my skin between his teeth successfully marking me as his. I smiled at the feeling. I smiled at knowing he had marked me as his, just as I had marked him as mine.

Those thoughts alone lead to further heat rising in my body. As Ranger descended on my body with his tongue tasting my breast and nipples and then down my stomach closer to the promise land a wave of heat was rising to meet him. The heat started in my toes causing them to curl in delight then rose up my feet up my calves, up to my thighs, up to the promise land.

God his hands and mouth on me was enough to cause an orgasm. As his head and hands descended toward my core my body felt like it had electricity running thru it. God, how I needed his touch, the feel of him inside me filling me it was an overwhelming need. It was beyond desire this was a need so great that it felt like if it didn't happen then life would just not be able to go on. To say I had never felt this way before would be such an understatement.

Even the night that Ranger and I spent together when he ruined me for all other men did I feel the way I do now. This was what it felt like to truly make love. It was me pleasuring my lover and him pleasuring his lover without judgments without embarrassments without ridicule without selfishness. My body was for his pleasure as his body was for mine. "Yes, Ranger yes"

Ranger paused and looked up catching my eyes. "God Babe you have no idea what it does to me to hear you say that. It unravels me I am trying to stay in control but every time I hear those words on your lips it just makes me want you more if that is even possible. I am ready to bust with need and desire."

"Ranger I want you to lose control, I want you to take me, and I want to pleasure you every way possible. My body is yours for the taking. I am yours, heart, mind, and body. I trust you Ranger. I know you will never hurt me, that you will only respect me, so I give me to you freely as you give me you. Love me Ranger, love my body as it is yours take me Ranger." Ranger growled and I could tell his control was gone.

RPOV  
Hearing those words come from her beautiful lips was my ungluing. I had to have her, I had to pleasure her. I had to feel her coming around me, over me, under me, in every way. My mouth descends on her as I use my hands to open her legs. God seeing how wet she is makes my cock to jump with excitement.

She tests my will power, my legendary control but the need to feel her orgasms is so great that I don't have to worry about holding back my own for a while. We don't have near the amount of time I need for this but I am going to use what time we have to make sure she knows and feels how much I love her. How this is about my love for her, my need for her, it is about me showing her what she means to me.

My tongue makes the trip up her folds as the taste of her just about engulfs me in pleasure. I hear my Babe moan when my lips and tongue touch her. Her hips shoot off of the bed and I use one hand on the flat of her stomach to hold her down. She is so wet that she instantly has coated my lips with her moisture. The second I taste her I know that I will forever be addicted. Her taste just became a drug to me that I would do anything for. I could stay here for days drinking at her well and my thirst for her would never be quenched.

"Oh God Ranger" I hear my babe scream as I taste and drink a new gush from her. Oh my God is right I think. My cock is so hard it aches with desire. I can barely wait to enter her. I know my size will hurt her if her body isn't ready for me so I first push two of my fingers into her hot center. God she is tight and she is hot. Her walls instantly clamp down around my fingers and start pulling my fingers in.

She started writhing under just my touch, I can tell she is close to another orgasm so I circle her clit with my tongue and then nibble it with my teeth. When my teeth close around her clit she falls over the edge screaming my name "RANNNGGGEERRR". I instantly start drinking from the well again.

As she starts to come down I move up her body kissing her as I go. I pause at her belly button giving it a little more attention and then I pause at her nipples suckling on them as my hand is running over the other soft extremely puckered sensitive skin.

My babe has her hands locked in my hair holding me to her. She is writhing below me with my other hand, fingers still buried in her hot core I begin to slowly move it more. Enticing a nice long moan from her beautiful lips, she begins moving against my hand pressing herself into my hand.

I finally reach her mouth and touch my lips to hers. Her tongue juts out and licks my lip. I know she can taste herself on me and that turns me on even more. I can tell it is turning her on more as well, damn she is hot.

"Now Ranger I need to feel you. I need to feel you inside me." "I do too babe I need to be inside you, do we need" I didn't finish that sentence I knew she would know what I was talking about. "No, I am covered I am on birth control." I position myself above her opening her legs with my knees. I can feel the heat rising from her core the closer I get to her and I can't wait to enter her.

I position myself at her entrance rubbing myself up and down her folds letting her moisture coat my extremely hard cock. I begin to push myself into her very slow. I want this feeling of her enveloping me to last a life time. She is so hot, so tight that I have to concentrate to go slow and not just push myself all the way in and cum at the sensations. I growl at the feeling God it is the most wonderful feeling.

My Babe moans and I can see her control slipping as she tries to raise herself up to impale herself on me but I quickly grab her hips to hold her still so I can take all the pleasure and give her all the pleasure from entering her slowly. I feel her walls constricting around me and it is pure bliss I feel with every contraction of her muscles. Her muscles pulling me in deeper my eyes want to roll back in my head with the feeling this is creating. "Oh Dios Babe, you feel so wonderful, you have no idea what you are doing to me right now. The feel of you wrapped around my cock pulling me in further." I shiver.

I look at her and her eyes are midnight blue with desire. Instantly I think that is now my favorite color. As I continue to push myself slowly into her I lower my body to her. Holding most of my weight on my forearms beside her I lowered my chest down on to hers. Starring into her eyes it is a connection I have never felt with anyone. Even the one night that I spent with my Babe when she ruined me for all other women did I feel this level of a connection.

The further in I pushed the more the connection between us grew. It was hard to tell where I ended and she began at this point. Our eyes locked on each other neither of us able to break it. Truth is I never wanted to break it. As I reached full hilt, completely buried inside of her I stilled with the sensation drinking in the pleasure while I waited for my Babe's body to adjust to my size.

From my Babe's eyes I could see the pleasure she was feeling from having me buried deep inside her pressing against her walls, her walls constricting around me. This was heaven. I started slowly moving at first but when my Babe let out a growl at the feeling it was my ungluing and I just needed her. I began moving faster. The more my Babe moaned the faster I was moving. My eyes still locked on hers. She wrapped her legs around me changing her position which allowed me to go deeper inside of her, oh Dios.

Felling her muscles pulling me deeper as her body moved against mine was causing my balls to tighten with desire. I could tell my Babe was ready to fall over the edge once again. I rocked my hips against her spot as I pushed myself completely into her. I kept moving in and out her each time I would rub my body against her clit until I felt her fall over the edge screaming my name "Raaannnnggggerrr".

I moved in and out of her a couple of more times and then joined my babe in the fall as I shouted her name as I emptied into her. "Baaabbbbe" She was absolutely beautiful when she came. Her face slightly flushed her eyes midnight blue twinkling with desire, her slightly swollen lips slightly apart. Her body was writhing below me as she struggled to catch her breath between the moans and growls of pleasure she is feeling. "Dios Babe you are beautiful when you cum." She blushes even more at my statement.

I went to roll over to allow her to catch her breath and keep from crushing her but she just pulled me closer to her and held me tightly against her. "Babe I am going to crush you" "no Ranger you aren't going to crush me I just want to feel your weight on me." Who was I not to give her what she wanted. It felt wonderful with me still buried deep in her.

Her muscle still milking me moving against me, her hands started slowly moving up and down my spine barely touching me. The sensation it was creating was enough to make me want to stay here forever and never move. I closed my eyes and snuggled into her curls. I was purring in delight, what the hell? Bad asses don't purr, but I guess they do tonight.

SPOV

Oh my god that was mind blowing. It had never been like that with me forever. If I wasn't completely and totally in love with him before tonight I would be after this is. Every movement, every touch, every lick with his tongue, and every kiss I could feel the love he had for me. Our eyes locked and the connection was so great that I wasn't sure where I ended and he started.

I couldn't get him deep enough inside me. I never wanted this feeling to end. When he went to roll over off of me I stopped him. I needed to feel his weight on my body, him still buried inside me. I wasn't ready to give up that feeling so I held him to me. I felt him snuggle into my curls and I could have sworn I heard him purr but that couldn't be right. Bad asses do not purr.

I started running my fingers up and down his spine reveling in the feel of his strong back, his muscles below my finger tips. He was still buried inside of me and I was reveling in the feelings I closed my eyes and willed him never to move.

"Ranger, I Love you. I have loved you for a long time but been too afraid to tell you. Some of the things you said made me believe that you didn't do things like love and relationships so I kept my love for you to myself." "Babe all I can say is that I am a dumb ass sometimes and I say stupid shit when it came to you and me. Please forgive me and know that everything I told you tonight is true."

"Ranger you have made me a happy woman and I am saying yes to everything, but this changes nothing as to the other decisions I made tonight. This isn't going to change any of those decisions. Our work life and our personal life are not the same life. I am going to start training and take those tests and if I don't pass them then I don't come to work here. Please know that if that happens that changes nothing between us how we are right now."

"Babe, you never disappoint. I understand, but you will pass those tests. The guys and I aren't going to let you fail them. We are going to push you so you pass with flying colors. We all want you to be a permanent member of Rangeman."

"Ranger I love you, I am so in love with you" "Querida, I am in love with you, I love you." Our lips met again in a sweet kiss of promise between us. "Babe, if we are going to get something to eat tonight we'd better get up and get dressed. As much as I don't want to move from this position the guys are probably waiting for us in the garage and they would never forgive me if I kept you to myself tonight. They are excited about you wanting to join us and they want to celebrate with you tonight."

"Okay, as much as I don't want to move either, I am hungry." I no more finish saying that before my stomach lets out a loud growl demanding to be heard. "Babe" "What I can't help it, it has a mind of its own. Besides it has been a while since lunch and I have been doing some intense exercising." "Babe" Ranger chuckles and shakes his head as he rises off of me pulling himself out of me.

I instantly miss his warmth. I fight the desire to pull him back to me. "Ranger, do I have time to take a quick shower?" "Yeah Babe you have all the time you need. We will wait for you after all tonight is your night."

For the second time I am reminded of what a wonderful shower Ranger has and how much I love it. As I step in under the warmth of the water cascading down my body. I tip my head back to wet my hair down I feel hands run up my side, I know those hands. I open my eyes to see Ranger standing in front of me. I couldn't help to smile. "Miss me already?" I asked playing. "Babe I missed you the second I pulled myself out of you." Oh my god he wanted me as much as I want him. With that thought, moisture started to puddle at my core and I was ready for him again.

From the looks of his body he was just as ready for me. God could I, would I ever get enough of him? The sight of him makes me want to give him every inch of my body to him for his pleasure. I run my fingers down his chest across his stomach down to his massive erection. I trace it with one finger as it jumps under my touch. I am watching his eyes and I see the pure pleasure I am giving him by touching him.

My lips find his chest, and then I slowly lower my body kissing him down his chest, down his abs, down his lower abdomen. I pay extra attention to his belly button as I hear him growl. Then I allow my tongue to follow his happy trail down to the promise land. I let my tongue lick across his hard head and taste him god he tastes every bit as good as I thought he would. Is it possible to become addicted to a taste besides sugar and desserts because if it is I am addicted to him?

I brought my lips to him and gave him a kiss then licked his full length with my tongue before taking him in my mouth. I took as much of his as I could take and then held the rest with my hands. I heard him growl and his hands fisted in my wet hair. I sucked and licked him rubbing with my hands I felt his balls harden and I knew he was enjoying my attention.

Knowing that I moaned which caused his cock in my mouth to jump with delight. I let out a few more moans for his pleasure and enjoyment. I could tell he was almost at the edge "Babe, I am so close" Ranger hands pulled at me to get me to raise up but I was addicted to him I wanted him to spill in my mouth I wanted to taste more of him so I shook myself out of his hands and focused all my attention on his extremely hard cock.

His hands fisted back in my hair holding me to him. He was letting me have my way. I could hear his breathing becoming labored I could feel him twitching under my fingers and hands. It made me want to cum just feeling him so ready. I groaned again as I sucked on him and pumped him as he fell over the edge screaming my name "Baaabbeee" as he spilt in my mouth. I swallowed every dropped wanting more of the salty and deliciously sweet heavenly liquid. Yeah I am definitely addicted.

He immediately reached down and picked me up and placed my back to the shower title holding me there as his mouth descends on mine. He kisses me, knowing he can taste himself on my lips and in my mouth makes me excited. As he kisses me his fingers find my warmth center as my legs wrap around him.

His fingers pumping in and out of me takes me to the edge so fast that I find myself ready to fall. In one quick movement he is buried in me the feel of his once again hard cock pushed all the way to the hilt inside of me is all it takes for me to fall over the edge screaming his name "Carrrllloosss" soon as the name came out of my lips we both froze.

"Ranger I am sorry, it just came out." "Babe, say it again" "Carlos" "Oh Dios babe, my name on your lips makes me crazy with desire. I am going to make you scream that again."

With that he started pumping in and out of me moving faster and harder making me lose all train of thought as my orgasm builds higher and higher. Jesus this is heaven, I could never have enough of him moving inside of me. 'Babe" I must have said that out loud.

His hands tighten around my waist as he starts to piston in and out of me I think I am not going to last the second before I feel myself fall over the edge once again screaming his name "Carrllloooosss" with bright lights explode behind my closed eyes. When his name leaves my lips I feel him tighten inside of me as he screams my name "Baaabbee" and spills inside of me again. As we both fall to the floor of the shower in a heap of tangled limbs unable to move for the moment gasping for air.

Once we have come down from our orgasms and are able we stand up and finish our showers. We jump out dry off and both threw on clothes. I pull my hair back in a wet ponytail, put on a little mascara and a little lip gloss and we are ready to meet the guys. When we make it to the garage the guys are there waiting for us sitting on the bumper of one of the SUVs.

LPOV

"Tank they did say met them here at eighteen hundred right?" "Yeah man why" "Well it is like eighteen thirty right now what is taking them so long?" "I don't know man maybe my little girl fell asleep and if she did you know Ranger wouldn't wake her up. He would let her sleep and make us wait for her." I know that is true and we would all wait for her too.

I couldn't wait to see her. I was still excited about her decision to join us. I wanted to get this celebration started. "I tried calling Ranger but his phone is still turned off and I am not calling the apartment phone because if Beautiful is sleep it will wake her and Ranger would kill me." "Santos, I believe you're getting smarter in your old age?" "Nah man I wouldn't want to wake her up either." Bobby and Tank both laugh.

I am getting impatient. "I wonder what they are doing up there?" Did you see how he was looking at her today? And for him to say those things to us about supporting her, like we wouldn't support her. It seems like he has changed his mind about his feelings for her."

Bobby looked towards the elevator as if trying to decide if he had time to tell us something. "This can't be repeated but last night when I was tending to Bomber's injuries and Ranger was in the room with her, he was whispering in Spanish to her. Just the little I heard if he was serious then I would say he has changed his mind." Tanks deep voice broke our conversation

"Brown, if you are smart you will keep whatever you heard to yourself. You will pretend that you never heard that conversation he was having with her. If he finds out you repeated anything or told us anything, he is going to hand you your own ass on the mats. And you would be lucky if he didn't ship your sorry ass to a third world country with the clothing on your back and a fucking toothpick. You know he isn't above it core member or not."

"Personally I hope he pulled his head out of his ass and told her how he feels about her. I know how much he loves her and I know she loves him. Hell they are meant to be together. I love her and if it wasn't for him I would have stepped up years ago but I know they belong together."

I am not certain I have ever voiced that before but I knew they already knew how I felt about her. I did love her but she was only ever going to be a sister to me unless Ranger really fucked up which I didn't think would ever happen. I knew how much he needed her and how much he loved her he would never do anything to lose her especially if he ever admitted how much he loved her.

My musing was interrupted with the ding of the elevator. As they excited off the elevator both of them had smiles on their faces that neither could erase and Beautiful was absolutely glowing and she looked radiant. "Beautiful did you have a nice nap? You look like you are completely energized you are glowing like you have been plugged into..." I felt two hands nail me in the back of my head "OW" Beautiful just giggles and shakes her head. Ranger and Steph walk to the Porsche turbo while Tank, Bobby and I walk to the SUV to head out to Pino's. I secretly wish we were all riding together.

"Santos I thought you were getting smarter guess not. They no more step out of the elevator before you are making stupid comments that will earn you mat time for a month. You love pulling your cousin's tail but you should know by now that tiger is going to beat your ass for it. You never win on the mats."

TPOV

When we left the apartment I ran into Cal and Hal on the fifth floor. I immediately told them about my little girl's decision to become a full time Rangeman. They were excited and when I told them about her conditions they were as proud of her as I was. They both immediately volunteered any free time they have to her training.

I asked them to spread the word and told them that we would be setting up a schedule over the weekend. I knew telling them would be like telling the whole building. Everyone would know before we got back from Pino's.

We were on the way to Pino's and part of me wondered why my little girl had picked Pino's in the heart of the burg. Seeing her walk out of that elevator with Ranger's arm around her waist her smiling and glowing brighter than a hundred watt light bulb made me smile.

Ranger must have pulled his head out of ass and told her how he felt. From the looks of it they had both had a little confession of the heart session when we left. I was glad for both of them. If there were ever two people who were true soul mates it was those two.

Bobby spoke up breaking the zone we were in "Bomber looked good tonight." None of us answered him it wasn't necessary it was just a statement. She had dressed in all black once again channeling her inner Ranger for what may happen at Pino's. It then hit me. My little girl was making a statement she was laying claim.

She was claiming Ranger, she was claiming us, and she was claiming Rangeman. I wonder if Ranger realized what she is doing. I bet Santos and Brown hasn't figured it out. I smile a small smug smile for being the first to figure out what my little girl was up to.

By going to Pino's dressed the way she was, glowing the way she was, and with us alongside her she was jumping in the deep end and she was going to make the biggest fucking splash she could make.

Now should I fill Brown and Santos in or just let them be surprised. I think surprised is the way to go. My little girl more than likely wants to surprise us. I am sure she hasn't told Ranger or he would have given us the heads up.

He wouldn't have stopped her but he would make sure we were aware of her plans so we could be prepared to offer her backup and prevent any problems from happening before they happened. I won't spoil her surprise by letting her know I know what she is up to but I will remain aware to prevent any harm coming to her.


	11. Chapter 10: Making a Splash

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

Chapter 10: Making a Splash

SPOV

I picked Pino's because I am going to miss the food once I begin training. But I also picked Pino's because it is the heart of the burg. I know the minute I walk into the building people will have their cell phones out snapping my picture. Me with the four big scary men in black and rumors will start to fly.

I smile because I know it will only be a few minutes after that someone will call Joe or maybe more than one some ones and tell him that I am here. If I know him, he will show up to try to get me to go back home with him. Boy is he in for a rude awakening.

I am staking my claim, I am making a statement of where I belong and to whom I belong. When I got dressed tonight I purposefully put on my black cargos, my black Rangeman panties and bra, and another back fitted t-shirt with Rangeman on my left breast. The t-shirt is v necked and I purposefully pulled my hair back displaying Ranger's mark on me for the world to see.

I looked over and noticed my mark on Ranger's neck on display for the world to see as well. I just smiled. At the thought of him being mine it made me want to scream from the tallest mountain I could find. Ranger reaches over grabs my hands brings them to his lips and lightly brushes his lips across my knuckles. "It makes me happy too querida". Normally when he ESPs me it pisses me off. At this moment I am too happy, so I just give ranger a big smile.

We pull up to Pino's and I smile as I see all the cars. This is going to be fun, deep end here I come.

RPOV

My Babe is buzzing with excitement. I could feel the waves of happiness just flowing from her all the way to Pino's. I can only hope that I am the reason, that I am the cause of her being so excited. Seeing how beautiful she is in her state of bliss makes me want to turn the car around and head back home.

When did I start thinking of seventh floor as home? It was convenient to sleep there with the long hours I work, it was safe in that no one knew where I was, and it was secure. When did it start to feel like home to me? When I came home from a mission and found my Babe asleep in my bed. I never really looked at the apartment in the same way after she stayed there with me.

It was ours and it was home because she was there. I wonder if my Babe would be willing to move in with me. After tonight I don't want to spend a night in my bed alone but I don't want to pressure her or push her too fast. I take her hand bring it to my lips and run my lips across her knuckles. "It makes me happy too querida." She just looks at me and smiles.

We pull into Pino's and I see all of the cars and I briefly wonder if she would want to go someplace else. I look over and she is beaming with excitement so I guess not. I park up front and I hear my babe mumble something about parking, I just smile. I get out of the car and walk around and open her door. I offer her my hand which she happily accepts as I help her out of the car. I put my arm around her and she immediately wraps her arms around me and pulls me close to her. I lower myself and run my lips across her lips. Her tongue traces my lip requesting entrance so I open for her. What I meant to be a light kiss turned into something much more passionate and demanding and it had my cock twitching with desire. God I could never get enough of her.

"Get a room you two" Lester voice pierces thru my desire ridden brain and I pull back breathless. Both my Babe and I are struggling with catching our breath and getting ourselves back under control after that kiss. I quickly check to make sure we both had all of our clothes on.

I turn around and put my arm on the small of her back as we head to towards Pino's I can see some the patrons standing at the windows watching us with cell phones in hand. I bet they got some good pictures. I wouldn't mind have a copy of that kiss. From my current state I am sure that picture would be hot.

As we enter the noise dies down as people start starring at us but we are giving them something to stare at. Our arms are around each other, the glow my Babe is sporting, and they may even be privy to my smile tonight as I am finding it very difficult to school my blank face in place. We make our way to the back table. Tank, Babe, and I sit with our backs to the wall and Lester and Bobby sit across from us.

Lester of course is the first to make a comment. "Damn Beautiful that is quiet a mark you are sporting there, care to share how you got it?" He wags his eyebrows at her "Santos" I give him a warning. My babe turns red and giggles.

Then she surprises us all "Lester I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you and that would make me very sad." We all howl with laughter. "Beautiful I am hurt. You wouldn't really kill me, you love me too much."

"Lester I do love you, it would be a difficult decision. So to be on the safe side I am just going to have to refrain from answering you." Lester smiled Bobby decides to take the conversation to safer ground.

"Bomber how are your injuries tonight, how are the burns, and the stitches do they feel okay." "Bobby yeah everything feels fine. I haven't been sore and my ankle is even better but I guess you could tell because I am walking better on it."

I make note of cell phones being used, pictures taken of us sitting there laughing, whispered conversations that are happening all around us. I would like to get the guys attention to let them know to be prepared for anything without alerting my Babe.

SPOV

This couldn't be going better. The minute we got here and I got out I gave Ranger a kiss that could have burnt the asphalt up from the parking lot. I actually lost control and had it not been for Lester breaking us up it may have actually turned embarrassing. I had to check to make sure I still had on all my clothing it was so hot.

When we turned to go in I saw the patrons standing at the windows with their cell phones in their hand. I wonder if it would be rude to ask one of them to send me that picture. I would love to have a copy. We make our way to the table in the back and sit down. I sit down between Ranger and Tank with our back to the wall as Lester and Bobby sit across from us.

Lester starts joking and I know he is loud enough for at least for a couple of tables beside us to hear him. It couldn't be more perfect as soon as Joe hears about this he will be here. It is only a matter of time. They have been snapping pictures of us, making phone calls, and have been having whispered conversations since we walked in.

The waitress comes by our table and we place our order. We order two large pizzas with the works, pitcher of beer for the guys a glass of coke for me. Ranger orders salad and water. When is he going to learn to eat real food? "Babe that stuff will kill you."

Maybe but eating salad would kill me faster what the fuck do I look like a Rabbit? The guys start to howl in laughter "Shit I said that out loud didn't I?" Three heads start nodding and a chorus of "Yeah" and a "Babe". I really need to work on that.

The waitress comes back with our drinks. "It will be about 20 or so minutes on the Pizzas." Ranger smiles and thanks her and she stumbles over her own feet. "Ranger" he looks at me and smiles. I would probably stumble if I was walking and he smiled at me like that. I can't really fault the girl.

I feel Tank and Ranger go stiff beside me and I look up to see what they are looking at and its none other than Joe coming thru the door. Oh this night is about to get a whole lot more interesting. This is going to be fun.

He walks up to our table "Cupcake I heard you were here with four scary men dressed in black. I came to take you home." "I don't think so Joe. My home isn't with you not anymore." "Cupcake you need to come with me, we need to talk remember." "No, we no longer need to talk. We haven't needed to talk since I found you with your dick buried in Terry."

Joe quickly looks around the restaurant seeing who was there. Oh so there were people who he didn't want to know that he was fucking her. Thanks Joe for the additional ammunition. "Cupcake I can explain that, I was upset after what happened to your car, and then you left with these thugs. I was upset and worried sick about you." " You were so worried and upset about me that you felt like burying your dick in Terry Gilman" I raised my voice when I said her name to make sure everyone heard it.

I could see Joe getting mad. "Cupcake the boys miss you, you need to come home with me now. At least have the decency to stand up and walk over here and talk to me instead of me having to talk over the table at you." I stood up and walked around Ranger to stand in front of Joe.

I reached for Ranger and he took my hand in his. I knew he was giving me courage and support by his touch. "Joe I don't care about your boys you should already know that by now, if I could have I would have yanked them off last night." "Cupcake this is getting embarrassing and you are disappointing me and your mother. You don't want to embarrass or disappoint your family do you?"

I heard growls from the table but I put my hand up to stop them. This was my fight, my battle and I was standing on my own two feet. "Joe I don't give a fuck if I embarrass or disappoint you or my family. My real family would never be disappointed or embarrassed by me. For those that truly love me I could never be an embarrassment or a disappointment to them so you can take your embarrassment and your disappointment and shove them up your ass. Anyone else who believes that I embarrass them or I disappoint them can shove it their ass as well. Fuck you and Fuck them too."

Joe is so mad he is practically purple. So far I am calm only raising my voice when I want everyone here to hear me. I hope everyone was enjoying this show. I was too focused on Joe to really know what the other patrons were doing.

"Cupcake you think these thugs are your family? You think they love you? All they want is your ass. From the looks of you they must have gotten it. I am sure they are probably ready to send you back to me. After all I know how frigid you are in the bed. You could never satisfy a real man, after all I would know." Ranger narrows his eyes "Morelli" in a low lethal voice. If he spoke to me like that I would literally piss my pants.

"Joe what I do or who I do is none of your business. It isn't anyone business if I do all of Rangeman. You lost the right to my business. You lost the right to know what I do when you buried your dick in another woman why we were in an on phase."

Joe stepped closer to me and the guys started to move. I held up my hand to stop them in their tracks. This was my battle however it ended It was mine not theirs. "I will tell you this Joe I would rather fuck every guy at Rangeman than have your dick anywhere near me. As far as being able to satisfy a real man I fucked Ranger before coming here tonight. To look at him he looks pretty fucking satisfied I would say and I know no one would question if he was a real man or not."

Ranger lifted my hand to his lips place a soft kiss on knuckles before saying "Definitely satisfied Babe" with a smile on his face.

"Cupcake they are thugs, criminals, heartless mercenaries for god sake. They are only going to use you, pass you around and then when they are done with you they will throw you out like yesterday's trash. When that happens don't come crawling back to me, I don't do used."

I was hitting rhino mode, I needed to calm myself. "You don't do used huh? Then why were you banging Terry. Who else are you banging Joe because I know it doesn't stop at Terry. You been fucking Joyce too? She is definitely used. How many others Joe? I would say you do used and from the looks of it last night you do used extremely well and in excess."

Joe was breathing thru his nose like a mad bull his hands held in tight fists at his side. He was pissed, good. "Cupcake I am done with your shit, you are leaving with me now. I will not have my future wife in the company of such thugs. And talking to me like that." Now he had done it.

"Joe, fuck you. I am not leaving with you and I will never be your wife. Why don't you go ask Terry she seemed pretty happy with you last night maybe she will marry your sorry ass and have your devil spawn seed but I never will. As far as talking to you like this, I will talk to you to anyway I fucking want, I earned that right when I walked in on you fucking Terry in your bed."

"Joe I am going to tell you two more things and I want you to listen very carefully because I mean every word. First off the guys at this table and the others at Rangeman are my family. They are my brothers, and Ranger is now not only one of my best friends he is my lover, my partner, and my future husband." I looked at Ranger and saw love in his eyes.

"I love them all and I will defend and protect them. I will stand up and fight beside them I will fight for them against you and the whole god damn burg if necessary. They have more honor in their pinkie toe than you have in your whole fucking body. I am proud to call them my family, my friend, and even my best friend" I looked at Lester. "I protect what is mine and they are mine just as I am theirs. I belong there with them not with you or anyone else." I paused for a second to get my breath I didn't want to break out into tears in front of Joe.

"You call them thugs, criminals, or heartless mercenaries again and you will deal with me, understood. They are none of those things. You know them well enough to know that it isn't true you just like bad mouthing them in front of the burg. You let me hear you call them that again or you let me find out that you have spoken about me or about them behind my back and you will be sorry."

"Are you threatening a cop Cupcake?" "No I am not threatening, I am promising my asshole of an x boyfriend who thinks he can manhandle me into being something I don't want, who thinks he can control me by making me fear that someone will be disappointed or embarrassed by me, and who wants to force me to do things that I don't want to do while he is out fucking the city of Trenton behind my back. If he fucks with me or mine he will be sorry."

"Cupcake I am just trying to save you from yourself. You know good and well you can't do your job everyone in this room knows you can't even your so called professed family sitting there knows you can't do your job. Hell they have had to bail your sorry ass out of the trouble you get in enough to know it. I am just trying to give you the life every Burg girl would die for and you spit in my face."

"No Joe I haven't spit in your face. You spit in mine when you buried your pitiful little dick in Terry and told me that I would have to see past your indiscretions and maybe I would want to join in one day. You spit in my face." I wanted so bad to spit in his face but I knew he was just itching for an excuse to get me out of here and he would end up cuffing me and leading me out and I didn't want to end up alone with him.

"Joe you need to leave our Pizza is coming and I am hungry. I am done with this, and I am done with you. Oh and Joe do not ever call me Cupcake again." I started around back to my seat when Joe reached out and grab my arm. I looked down at his hand holding my arm then back up at him. I narrowed my eyes and glared at him I lowered my voice making it hard and stern.

"Let me go Joe, you won't win this fight. The only reason you are still standing here is I have held them at bay. But manhandle me again or force me to do something I don't want again and I won't be so kind to you. Now leave before I have Pino throw you out." "This isn't over Cupcake you won't always have your band of thugs surrounding you. We will have that Talk." "No Joe you are wrong, it is over. If I have to get a restraining order to keep you away you will stay away from me and we won't ever have that talk. Now leave, but Joe remember what I said I meant it." With that Joe walked out and I went back to my seat to enjoy my Pizza with a smile on my face, thinking to myself that was one hell of a splash.

TPOV

Fuck me. She was beautiful. My little girl did just what I thought. She made a splash so big that I wonder if the pool had any fucking water left. Holy hell and she stood up for us, for us. She said that we were her brothers and Ranger was her lover, her partner, her future husband.

Holy shit I guess we know what happened in that apartment when we left? I mean I noticed her glow and Ranger's smug smile for having put it on her but damn had he asked her to marry him? If so, where is the ring? When she told Joe that she would fuck all of us before she allowed him near again and that she had fucked Ranger before coming here tonight I was floored.

I know a couple of times during their conversation my jaw was probably on the table and I knew what she was going to do. She had cut him too short to shit and then sent his ass packing. It was nothing short of beautiful. I hope someone in this place videoed that because I have got to have a copy.

The guys that missed this will want to see it. They will be so proud of her. I know I am. I can feel myself beaming with pride and big bad asses like me don't do beaming. The thought that she would protect us, she would fight with us and for us that she thought us worthy of such trust and devotion made my heart swell with pride as much as it humbled me.

RPOV

God she is so fucking hot. Seeing her standing there putting Joe in his place cutting him to shreds with her words makes me want to take her right here and right now in front of everyone. It was all I could do not to pull her to me and kiss her until we were both senseless when she said that I was her lover, her partner and future husband.

I wanted to take her on the table when she told him that she had fucked me before coming here and I looked satisfied. I wanted to show him truly how much she satisfied me. But when she said that she would protect us, she would fight beside us and for us I couldn't help the pride that I felt. I was so fucking proud of her that I could have shouted from the highest mountain and bad asses don't shout from any fucking mountain.

Man I wish I had a video of that conversation I would love to watch it and hear it again and then make love to her the way I want to right now. When my Babe sat back down I tucked a curl behind her ear "Proud of you Babe, you never disappoint." She smiled and then I captured her lips with mine. I pulled her to me my tongue demanding entrance as it traced her lip which immediately opened for me. The kiss was so hot that I had to remind myself we were in Pino's. When I heard a crash I broke away to see the waitress had dropped a stack of dishes. Good thing it wasn't our Pizza or my Babe would probably have shot her with my gun.

"Beautiful that was amazing. You blew me away. I want you to know that you are my best friend too and I love you. I would protect you and would be honored to have you fight beside me as I would fight for you too." Lester sometimes knows the perfect thing to say to her. She just beams at him her eyes pooling with unshed tears. I was thankful he hadn't brought up her comment about our earlier activities. "But Beautiful I am hurt that you tell Joe details that you said you would have to kill me if you told me." Damn "Santos" I shot him a warning even though I know he was just kidding her.

"Oh my god Ranger I am so sorry, it just came out before I thought about it." I shot Santos a glare for making her question herself. His ass was mine on the mats tomorrow from the look on his face he knew it. He knew he fucked up the second she questioned herself.

I lowered my lips to hear ear and whispered "Babe it is okay, you telling him that made me so hot for you I wanted to take you on this table to show the world just how much you satisfy me. When we get home I am going to show you just how much I am affected by your words tonight and how much you satisfy me." She blushed and turned bright red at my whispered confession.

"Babe we all would be honored to have you fight beside us. To my lover, my partner and my future wife I love you, I will fight for you, I will protect you, and I will love you to the day I die." She looks up at me with tears leaking from her eyes. "I love you too with all my heart. I will be in love with you until the day I die." I kiss her soft lips again. I can't wait to get her back home tonight I only hope she will come home with me.

"Bomber you have to know that I have never in my life had someone stand up for me like that. I am honored for you to be my sister. Knowing that you are watching over me and willing to protect me will be my final thought every night before I go to sleep because knowing that will make me sleep better at night. I love you, I will protect you and would be proud to have you fight beside me and I would fight for you, I would give my life for you." Tears are running down my Babe's face as her brothers confess their love for her.

"Little Girl I knew you were coming here to make a splash tonight. I figured it out on the way here. I didn't tell the other guys because I figured it was something you wanted to do. I couldn't imagine what you were going to do but I couldn't imagine you doing it any better than you did. You were amazing simply beautiful. I have never been more proud of you watching you stand on your own two feet. You didn't just stand up for you, you stood up for us, for me. It floored me. To think that you would protect us, you would fight with us and for us it humbles me. It makes me incredibly proud to know you, to love you, and to consider you my sister. Know that I will protect you and I will fight for you just as much as you will me."

My men made me proud, my Babe made me proud. I couldn't imagine supporting her more than we did tonight even with Lester's stupid comment. I know he was just playing but I never want her to ever be made to question herself again. Looking at her you could see the love, the happiness, the trust, and the bond she had with each of us and that we now had with her. Today had bonded us in a way we had not been before. It had drawn us closer together and had truly made us family with her being the heart of us all. I was one lucky man. I couldn't wait to get her home to show her just how lucky I was.


	12. Chapter 11: Splash Fall Out

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

Chapter 11: Splash Fall Out

JPOV

God damn it, son of a bitch. I am spiting mad right now and I need a drink. That bitch just embarrassed me in front of half of the burg. Here I am willing to marry her, wanting her to have my babies and she treats me like that. Doesn't she know that half the women of New Jersey and all the women of Trenton would want to be my wife and have my children? What the fuck is the matter with her? No, she has to go whoring herself out to those thugs of Rangeman.

I need to call Momma Plum and let her know the latest one of Cupcake's embarrassing and disappointing scenes. I take out my phone and dial her number "Plum Residents" I hear momma plum say. "Momma, how are you?" "Why Joseph it is so nice to hear from you, I am fine how are you?"

"Momma I am calling to tell you the latest on Cupcake. She made a huge scene inside of Pino's earlier tonight. She was in there with those criminals. I tried to get her to come home with me but she refused again. Then she caused a huge scene when she started screaming at me."

"Joseph I am sorry, I don't know what gets into that girl sometimes. I don't know what to do with her. Why me? Joseph please give her another chance. I promise you I will talk to her, I will do my best to get her to do what is right and marry you and leave those thugs alone."

"Momma Plum I don't know if I would consider giving her another change. I could tell that she had sex with at least one of them tonight, and it is possible she had sex with more than one of them. She was sitting at the table with four of them and they all looked pretty cozy when I walked in."

"Joseph, I am going to call her right now and give her a piece of my mind. I am going to set her straight as to what she better be doing if she ever wants to step foot in this house again. I am not going to be embarrassed, humiliated in front the entire burg because my daughter is a slut who can't keep her legs together and has sex with multiple men and criminals at that. She will come back to you Joseph if she wants to keep her family."

I smile. "Thanks Momma, how about we get together sometime this week to further discuss what we are going to do with Cupcake." "Joseph that sounds good. Just let me know when and where and I will meet you there." Maybe she is more willing than I had originally thought, although no woman could turn his down. "Momma I will call you later have a good night." "You too my son, have a nice evening. I am glad you called." I hung up with her smiling. Now I needed to come up with a plan.

I need to get her away from them. If I could get her away from them her mother and I could convince her that life with me would be a happy life. The life that everyone woman would be envious of her, she would be respected thru out the burg for taming a Morelli. At least it would appear that way to all of their faces.

It would have been so simple had she just come with me tonight but no, she has to go and out Terry's and my relationship in Pino's none the less. She has to yell so everyone in there can hear how she caught me with Terry. I tried to do damage control as much as possible. It would have help significantly if I could have convinced her to come with me tonight but she wasn't leaving that band of thugs, whore.

I could see the mark on her neck she was sporting it like it was something she was proud of. She wouldn't allow me to mark her ever. Two faced bitch, she will allow herself to be marked by a common street level thug, a mercenary none the less but not her future the husband. What the hell is she thinking?

I need to form a plan to get her away from them. As I slam back my first shot of whiskey a plan starts forming as to how I am going to get my cupcake back. First thing I need to do is pull out some of my old aliases from when I worked undercover. I need to go back before Cupcake and I started dating so no one will track the identity to me. I still have several aliases from when I did a job with the FBI in Pennsylvania it is far enough away, and it has been long enough that no one will be able to trace the alias to me.

With my identity decided on, it is time Cupcake had another stalker. Not only will this be fun, but this will make her run. I haven't forgotten the past incidents when she had stalkers how she refuses to be locked up, how she runs to keep her independence. As I throw back my third shot I see what a win-win-win situation this is going to be for me.

She will separate herself from Rangeman because she won't allow them to lock her up in safe house. This will cause Manoso to be pissed off at her which will cause her to run even farther. Of course I will be there waiting for her.

She will run back to my arms for protection and comfort and of course I will be willing to give her those things as long as she takes care of my boys for me. Not to mention the fact that since all the guys at the station know Cupcake is mine I will be assigned to the case, it doesn't get any better than that for covering your own tracks. I smile as I throw back my sixth shot and start to plan out my stalker moves.

TPOV

The trip back to Rangeman was fairly quiet besides us ribbing Lester. "Santos, boss man is going to hand you your ass tomorrow on the mats. What were you thinking saying that? You know she didn't think about what she said when she told Joe about her and Ranger. You should have just pretended like you never heard it man." Lester just shook his head "Man I will let him hand me my ass. I said it to just joke with her to lighten the mood not to make her question herself. I wouldn't have said it if I thought she would. She was just so fucking beautiful tonight when she handed him his ass I couldn't help myself, I said it before I really thought about how she would take it."

Boss man and my little girl couldn't keep their hands to themselves tonight. After her showdown with Joe they were constantly touching each other. Kissing each other and there were a few times I thought I would have to remind them they were sitting in a booth in Pino's. It made my heart feel good to see them together like that. I don't know two people who deserve each other more than them. For them to have found what they have is something really special. I always knew they had a connection but to see them tonight well there was no doubt about the connection they share and it did my heart good for them to have found that with each other.

I pull into the garage and park. Ranger and my little girl pulled in just before us. They get out of the Porsche she walks over and give each of us a hug and kiss. "Night little girl, we will see you tomorrow." I tell her as I give her a kiss on the cheek. Steph and Ranger continue on to the elevator.

The elevator door barely closes before the stair way door opens and out pours Hal, Cal, Hector, Ram, Woody, Vince, Zip, Binkie, Zero, and Junior. I smile I know what they are here to tell me. Cal speaks up "Tank we all wanted to come down here to let you know that we all will volunteer to help train Angel." I figured. Lester then joins the conversation. I knew he couldn't and wouldn't wait to tell them all about tonight.

LPOV

"Guys I have something to tell you. You all should have seen Beautiful tonight. She was fucking awesome." Well he definitely got the guys attention. "We went to Pino's for dinner and she had a showdown with Morelli." There were growls thru out the group. I am sure Cal and Ram filled them all in on what happened last night. "Man I am telling you she was nothing short of amazing. She handed him his ass and then told him to get the fuck out." The guys were now smiling. When I tell them this next part they are going to shit.

"She stood up to him on her own. She not only defended herself and stood up for herself but when he called us criminals, thugs and heartless mercenaries she stood up for us. She claimed us as her brothers, her friends, and called me her best friend." My chest puffed out in pride and I couldn't help but smile as I told the guys that.

"She even claimed that Ranger was her lover, and her future husband. It was pure priceless. I hope someone got video of it because you wouldn't believe how hot she was." The guys were looking surprised but they all had a look of pure pride for my beautiful. "She told Morelli that she would fight beside us as well as for us, that she would protect us. You guys should have seen her."

Cal was the first to speak you could hear the awe in his voice. Here he was a big bad ass and you could hear the awe. I didn't know Cal did awe. "Where is my Angel, I need to tell her something." "Man you are going to have to wait until tomorrow to tell her anything. She went with Ranger up to seven. From the way they were tonight I would be willing to bet my left nut that they are busy." Tanks voice boomed in the background "Lester, you let the boss man here you say that and you will be lucky if he just hands you your ass on the mats tomorrow and doesn't remove your left nut you are betting." I held my hands up in a surrender motion.

TPOV

"Guys I know you all want to talk to her. You will have plenty of time tomorrow to talk to her. I am going to go work on a schedule for her training. Just so you know that the core team is taking point on training each test objective. So you will work with a member of the core team as well as Bomber. I am taking point on defensive driving, Santos is taking point on fighting and self defense, Brown is taking point on her physical fitness, and Ranger is taking point on her marksmanship." The guys all nod. "I don't have to tell you that we want her trained well beyond being able to pass those tests. You will be selected to work with her based on your expertise for the different criteria points. I should have a schedule ready for your review tomorrow after Bomber approves it. I am reminding you now that while you are training with her you will be off of the clock, you will not be paid for that time. That is one of Bomber's requirements." They all nodded.

Since they were here I thought I would ask them for a report. It would save me a trip to five. "Report" "Well all has been quiet. There is still no further information on Sanchez. The install for the Mason house went without any problems, and the specs for the two new installations are on your desk." "Good. I will see you guys in the morning." With that I headed to my apartment where I would work on my little girls training schedule.

RPOV

I couldn't wait to leave the restaurant. I wanted my Babe so bad that I could hardly contain myself. I wanted her before I ever left our apartment to go to Pino's but after what she said to Joe I couldn't wait to get her home. On the drive back she was quiet, I knew something was brewing on her mind but I just wasn't sure what. I reached over and picked up her hand I rubbed my lips across her knuckles and then turned her hand and placed a kiss on the inside of her palm. My Babe closed her eyes and sighed.

"Ranger?" "Yeah Babe" I glanced over at her and I could tell she was having a difficult time forming her words. She wanted to ask me something but wasn't certain how to ask me. "You didn't get mad at me even just a little bit for telling Joe that you and I had sex tonight? For me sharing your private business with everyone in Pino's including the guys?" She was chewing on her bottom lip.

I reached up and traced her lips pulling it from between her teeth. "No, Querida, I wasn't the least upset. In fact it made me so hard hearing you say that I had to control myself from taking you right there at the table in Pino's." "Ranger?" again she was chewing her lip "Yeah Babe" "Do I…, I mean when we…, uhmm when we are…." I can hear the level of frustration rising in her voice as she is trying to figure out how to word what she wants to ask me while she nervously twitches and chews on her bottom lip.

I take her hand in mine, run my lips across her knuckles and place it on my thigh with my right hand covering hers. I remain silent allowing her the time she needs to form the words for what she wants to asks me. "Ranger, when we are together ….Do I satisfy you? I mean do I give you what you need?"

That fucker, I could have ripped Morelli's heart out several times while he was in Pino's and felt good about it. He tried everything to get my babe to question herself, make her doubt herself, and make her feel inferior. When he said that she was frigid in bed I wanted to pound him into the floor. My Babe was sex walking and he was making her questioning her sexuality. He yelled in front of everyone at Pino's that she couldn't satisfy a real man.

I was so proud of her and so turned on when she told him that she had fucked me earlier and that I looked pretty damn satisfied that I could have taken her on the table. I never want her to ever question how much she satisfies me and yet he had made her question it. I should have beaten him to a pulp when all of this shit started.

"Babe, you know I would never lie to you. You satisfy me in every way I could ever want to be satisfied." She looked over at me her eyes sparkling from unshed tears. "Babe, when we get home, I am going to show you just how much I want you and just how much you satisfy me. I can't speak for Morelli but if he wasn't happy with you, it was solely his problem and not yours trust me."

I will find a way to pay Morelli back for making my Babe question herself. I am going to talk to Tank about it and we will find a way to make that son of a bitch pay. I can feel the rage coursing thru my veins but I have to keep it in check as I don't want my Babe to think that any of this is directed at her in anyway. Hell I didn't care that she yelled in Pino's about what happened between us earlier. Hell I was ready to yell it from the top a mountain what the fuck did I care if a bunch of busy bodies heard about it in Pino's. Besides it just let everyone know that she is now mine and I am hers.

We pull into the garage and I help her out. I don't want to take my hands off of her. I can't wait to get her into our apartment. I only got a taste earlier of what I wanted, and I was fully prepared to show her how much I loved her, and how much she satisfied my every need all night long.

Steph walks up to the guys and quickly kisses them and hugs them telling them good night and then none too soon she was back in my arms. Stepping on to the elevator I pull her back to my front and lean against the back of the elevator. I move her hair away from her neck and start licking and kissing her neck and shoulder. I feel her relax into me as she moans causing me to smile and my cock to harden.

I whisper in her ear so the camera doesn't pick it up. "See Querida, I flex myself into her so she can feel, see what you do to me. Just the taste of you makes me so hard. Hearing you moan makes my body respond in a way that makes me want to lose control. Never for a minute think that you aren't everything I want, everything have I dreamed of, and never for a minute think that you don't satisfy me. I know I said that I would ruin you for all other men, but the fact is Babe you have ruined me for all other women."

I go back to kissing her neck, while my hands hold her waist to me my erection pressing into her back side. Damn this elevator is moving slow. Finally the elevator comes to a halt and we barely notice as the doors start to open I nudge and we slowly exit the elevator. I unlock the door and as soon as I have her across the threshold and the door closed I grab her in my arms.

I am unwilling to let there be any separation between us tonight. I want her body, I want her taste, I want her screaming my name again and again. As I make it to the bedroom my lips find hers and our hands immediately go to each other's clothing. My cock is so hard it is threatening to bust itself free from my cargos. When I feel her hands opening my pants my cock dances in anticipation.

I pick my Babe up and gently toss her on the bed. I have so many positions I want her in going thru my head that I can't make up my mind what I want first but the need to be sheathed in her hot wet center is more powerful than anything.

"Mi dios Nena, no puedo esperar a que mi polla para ser enterrado en su centro húmedo caliente. No puedo esperar a sentirte a mi alrededor, sus músculos me está sumida en mí según tu cum alrededor, debajo de mí. Sentir que me tire en la leche y mi es un sentimiento tan maravilloso, que me satisface por completo y me dan ganas de pedir por más"

(My god Babe, I can't wait for my cock to be buried in your hot wet center. I can't wait to feel you around me, your muscles pulling me in engulfing me as you cum around, under me. To feel you pull me in and milk me it is such a wonderful feeling, it completely satisfies me and makes me want to beg you for more.)

I watch as my Babe's eyes glaze over while I am talking to her in Spanish. I see the desire, the want that she has for me and it just fuels my desires even more. I crawl my way up to her taking a minute to dip between her legs for a taste of her sweet nectar, I am addicted. When my tongue touches her my Babe lets out a moan as fresh juices coat my tongue and lips. As good as she tastes I have to be inside her. I push a finger in as I continue to work my way up her beautiful body.

I find myself pausing at her nipples I just have to have a taste. The little buds are way to tempting as they are standing up practically dancing from the panting my Babe is doing. I position myself between her legs as I reach her luscious lips. Rubbing my tongue along her lip line she opens for me and I dive in with a kiss filled with desire, need, and love. She meets my kiss with her own intensity. Feeling her desire, need and love in her kiss my control breaks and I completely sheath myself in her hot wet tight center in one full motion. I hear her gasp and moan at my sudden intrusion as I let out a growl.

The onslaught of feelings has me grasping for control to keep from cumming right then. "Oh God Carlos" I hear my Babe say and I think Oh God is right. I pull her to me holding her to me as tight as I can hold her without crushing her as I pause for her body to adjust.

"Babe, que yo sea dentro de ti como esto es todo lo que siempre se puede pedir. La sensación de que a mi alrededor es más de lo que pensé posible. La sensación de que me mueve dentro de sus músculos agarrándome es más de lo que pueda desear o pedir. Babe quiero este sentimiento para siempre" (Babe, me being inside of you like this is all I could ever ask for. The feeling of you around me is more than I ever thought possible. The feel of me moving inside your muscles grabbing me is more than I could ever want, or ask for. Babe I want this feeling forever.)

SPOV

Oh my god when he is talking to me in Spanish the thrill that goes thru me excites me and makes me want him in a way I have never wanted another man. I have no idea what he is saying but it sounds so damn sexy.

Ranger is crushing me against him while he is buried deep inside me and I never want this feeling to end. I want this forever. God how he makes me want him. I just want to scream for him to take me, take my body any and every way he wants me. I would have never given another man I have ever been with an open opportunity. I have never trusted anyone the way I do Carlos. My body just craves to give him anything he wants.

I can't hold still any longer I have to move, I have to feel him inside me moving the desire is just too much so I push my hips into him and shamelessly grind myself against him. But I know there is no shame, there is no judgment just two lovers giving themselves to each other. My movement breaks Carlos out of his trance and he starts moving slowly. He rises up and once again our eyes lock on each other. His eyes are black as the darkest night. They remind me of black onyx the way they catch the light. God I think that is my favorite color.

Carlos begins to move faster and my eyes roll back in my head as the heat rises from my toes taking over my body. "Oh God" I couldn't stop the moan that came from me no more than I could stop a freight train. What he does to me just can't be explained. I could never have enough of him. Him moving inside of me, his cock pressing at my walls filling me completely is more than I could ever want, more than I could ever ask for. God I never want this feeling to end.

A shiver runs down my spine god how I love this man. "I love you" Carlos pauses and just stares deeper into my eyes. I can see the love reflected in his eyes. I can feel the love in his touch, in his caress, in his lips. "I love you too, Querida" his lips lower and capture mine. My tongue touches his I taste him and my body is humming for him.

His arms around me holding me to him, him buried deep inside me aren't enough I need more. I need more of him a growl erupts from me as I press myself against him and grind for all I am worth. Praying that I break his control I want him to take me hard and fast I need to feel him cum inside me. I need to feel his hot liquid release in me, I need to feel him quiver and shake as he falls over the edge. I need to feel myself grip him and milk him. I want to lose myself in him.

RPOV

I can feel my control breaking more every time my Babe grinds against me but the feeling is so wonderful I never want her to stop. The need to just take her is becoming to the point where I know I won't be able to stop it. But me being buried deep inside of her and starring in her midnight blue eyes is heaven. It is the closest I will ever make it to heaven and I never want this feeling to end. I want to lose myself in her. I hear her growl as she grinds against me and all control is gone.

I start moving faster and faster in and out of her harder and harder God I can't help myself, I couldn't stop now if the building was on fire, if my enemy was standing in this room he would have the perfect shot because I couldn't stop feeling her around me, pulling me in grinding against me as I push myself deep inside her. A shiver goes up my spine as I feel her getting close to the edge. I can't wait to feel her cum around me and milk me with her muscles. Just the thought makes my balls tighten with desire.

Starring in her eyes there is a connection I have never felt with any woman I have ever had sex with. I realize I have never made love in my life until now with my Babe. This connection feeling her engulf me to the point I don't know where I end and she begins that is making love. I could never tire of this feeling. I would always want this feeling of her cumming in my arms.

"Eso es Babe, su deseo por mi. Déjame sentir tu cuerpo que me tire en la leche y me como su dulce néctar brota a mi alrededor. Me encanta verte acabar, eres tan bella. La forma en que su piel limpia, brillar tus ojos azules con el deseo. Podría no se cansan de sentir o ver que te corres. Nena por favor, su deseo por mi. Quiero cum con usted, nosotros dos juntos desde que yo ya no sé dónde parar y comenzar a usted. Por favor, cum Babe ahora." (That's it Babe, cum for me. Let me feel your body pull me in and milk me as your sweet nectar gushes around me. I love to watch you cum, you are so beautiful. The way your skin flushes, your blue eyes sparkle with desire. I could never tire of feeling or seeing you cum. Babe please cum for me. I want to cum with you, both of us together since I no longer know where I stop and you begin. Please Babe cum now.)

I know she is only seconds from falling over the edge. I push a couple of more times and reach between us rubbing her clit. I feel her walls clamp down around me tight as she screams "Carrrrllloosss" I push in deep one more time and follow her off of the edge screaming her name "Baaabbee" as I release deep inside her.

I grabbed her and rolled bringing her on top of me, I am still buried deep inside of her. I hold her to me gently rubbing circles up and down her back as we both catch our breath and come down from our high. Her legs are beside me. Her head is lying on my chest. I know she can hear my heart pounding and my increased breathing as I can hear and feel hers.

"mmmhhmm" "Babe are there still questions as to how much you satisfy me?" "No, well maybe, I don't know. You just have to know it has never been like this before." Call me a sick bastard but I had to know what she was talking about. "What do you mean?" "Ranger" "Babe, its Carlos, call me Carlos" "Carlos, it has never been like this before with anyone. For starters I always insisted they wear a condom and not just any condom but a condom that I brought with me. One that I knew hadn't been tampered with." I kept quiet waiting for her to finish, rubbing circles on her back.

"I am on the pill and have been for a long time since I was married but I never trusted the Dick so I always made him wear a condom. With Joe I don't know something told me not to trust him. I didn't have any proof but I always made him wear one and I always made sure it was one I brought. He hated condoms and never wanted to wear them. But I insisted. He bought some one time but I wouldn't let him wear those because I was afraid that he tampered with them." That son of a bitch, that would be his style. Not knowing that she was on the pill he would tamper with the condoms to get her pregnant to trap her into marrying him.

"Carlos I trust you. I know you would never do anything to hurt me. When I am with you all I think about is pleasuring you. You taking my body and it pleasing you I have never ever had thoughts like that before. If anything the thoughts leaned more to when is this going to be over. With you I want it to last forever." She practically whispered the last part as if she wasn't sure how I would feel.

"Babe I never want those feelings to end either. That is why I am holding you like this still buried deep inside you because I never want these feelings to end. I can't tell you how it makes me feel when I am buried inside you. I feel a connection that I have never felt before. Babe you know I am far from a virgin but I will tell you of all the women I have ever slept with I have never just held them like this. Never had the desire to hold them with me buried deep inside of them. They were there for a purpose and once that purpose was fulfilled I was on my way. Of course it was a mutual understanding between us I didn't lead any of them on or make them think they had something more than what we shared at the moment." I am not sure why I told her that. But I felt like I needed to say it, she needed to understand she wasn't like all of the other countless, faceless women in my life.

"I love you Carlos" " I love you too Babe, now sleep for a little while because I am far from finished showing you just how much I love you and how much you satisfy me." She snuggles down in my chest as my hands continue to make slow circles up and down her bare back. I am still buried deep inside her and I think this is fast becoming my new favorite sleeping position as I pull the covers up over us.


	13. Chapter 12: Making Plans

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**I am sorry for missing my Tuesday deadline for posting this story. I have made the chapter a little longer to make up for it. **

Chapter 12: Making Plans

RPOV

I woke up early with my Babe lying across my chest. I wish I was still buried deep inside her but after the night we had I am certain she is sore. We woke up several times during the night needing to feel the connection we had felt earlier. Needing to hold each other and needing to show each other how much we love each other.

I could never get enough of her just having her laying across me makes me hard for her but I don't want to wake her. I gently ease myself out from under her trying my best not to wake her. I know she needs her sleep. I head into the bathroom for a shower. I want to get in a quick workout, get a report from the control room, and talk to Tank about the schedule for my Babe's training. I would like to be able to do all of this before she wakes up. So I can crawl back in bed with her and wake her up when she is in my arms.

I get dressed in my workout clothing a pair of basketball shorts and t-shirt with tennis shoes. I write my babe a note telling her where I will be just in case she wakes up. I kiss the top of her forehead and head out to the gym.

TPOV

I have been working on my little girls training schedule and I hope she will be okay with it. It is a tough training schedule, but if she wants to pass those tests in two weeks it has to be. Basically she will be training eight hours a day. I broke it down so that her training has something physical and something non physical both days. That should help her some with sore muscles but unfortunately she is going to have sore muscles there will be no way around it.

Her training starts Monday morning with Physical Fitness from zero eight hundred until twelve hundred then Defensive Driving from fourteen hundred until seventeen hundred. Tuesday training will be Marksmanship from zero eight hundred until twelve hundred then Fighting/Self Defense from fourteen hundred until seventeen hundred. The rest of the weeks alternate.

I hope my little girl doesn't get upset when she sees her training schedule. I hope it doesn't make her change her mind about joining us. I paired her with some of her favorite merry men so I hope that will offer her at least some comfort. The next two weeks are going to be difficult for her. These two weeks will test her just as much as the test itself. I know my little girl can do anything she puts her heart and mind to so I have faith in her that she can do this.

I leave my apartment on four heading towards the gym. I want to get a workout in before talking to Ranger about the schedule. As I walk in the gym I see Ranger is already there. "Rangeman I thought you would be sleeping in this morning." "Man I wanted to but I needed to get a quick workout in and I wanted to talk to you about the schedule before you showed it to Stephanie. I want to make sure we have her working with the right members of Rangeman." I looked at him and gave him a questioning eyebrow raise.

"Tank you know I only trust some of the Rangeman team with Stephanie's safety. Even though this is training they will be with her outside of these walls in some cases and I want to ensure her safety when she is with my guys." "Ranger I only have her training with those that you trust with her safety inside and outside of this building." "Thanks Tank" "No problem man, you know her safety is one of my top priorities. I have the schedule for you to review after we are done." I motioned for the sparring ring and he nodded.

MPPOV

I am so mad at my daughter, how dare she embarrass us and disappoint us the way she has. Running around with those criminals and having sex with them. I can't believe I raised such a slut that she would turn her back on Joseph and sleep with those...those...men. What is she thinking? Any burg girl would be so excited to have Joseph want to be their boyfriend let alone their husband. There isn't a burg girl out there that would turn down Joseph and here he is after Stephanie but she just thinks she is too good for him.

I don't know what I am going to do with her. How am I going to make her see the errors of her ways and make her beg Joseph to take her back now especially since she has spread her legs for those thugs? I have been calling her home phone and her cell phone but my bitch of a daughter won't answer. I don't know what gets into her at times. There are times I wish I could still turn her over my knee and spank her the way she deserves. Then there are times I just want to erase her from this family and pretend she never existed. She has always been the trouble one. Why couldn't she be more like Valerie and just do what her mother tells her? We wouldn't be in this position. She would have married Joseph and I would be able to call him my son. She would also have babies by now.

I pick up the phone dialing her cell phone number of course voice mail comes on, she doesn't have the common decency to answer her own mother's call. "Stephanie Michelle Plum this is your mother. You are due for dinner this evening at six p.m. sharp. You better be here little lady if you know what is best for you. If you ever want Pineapple upside down cake again in your lifetime you will be here for dinner tonight." I just disconnect the call I don't bother saying bye at this point.

I quickly check the house no one is around and I pick the phone up again dialing my son "Morelli" "Hi my son how are you today?" "Momma Plum, I am doing okay as well as can be expected seen as I haven't been able to talk to Cupcake since last night." "I know Joe and I am so sorry. I have been trying to reach her but she won't answer her home phone or cell phone."

"Momma Plum I went to her apartment last night and she didn't come home." "She didn't come home?" "No she must be staying with those criminals of Rangeman." "How dare she shack up with them? I left her voice mail demanding that she be here tonight at six p.m. sharp. Maybe you should plan on attending dinner as well." "Momma Plum I would be happy to come for dinner tonight. Say you want to meet me later today to discuss what we are going to say to Cupcake to make her come to her senses?"

"I will meet you wherever you would like, just tell me where and when." "Momma why don't we meet at the motel on Route One say around one p.m. does that work?" "Yes that works, I will meet you there. I will talk to you soon my son." I hung up excited about meeting Joseph. I was going to have a few surprises for him when I got there. There wasn't a burg out there that didn't want to know how Joseph performed between the sheets and I was no different. Besides maybe by me doing this it will give Joseph enough to forgive Stephanie and take her back. I head to the stairs. I need to prepare myself for my meeting.

JPOV

Well so far so good. Momma Plum is going to meet me at one at the motel on Route One. I hope she was able to read between the lines and know that I just don't want to talk about Cupcake. I want the boys taken care of. One Plum woman is just as good as another and hell there isn't a burg girl that would turn down a romp with my boys including Momma Plum. I hope she finds it kinky as I do to call her Momma while I am fucking her brains out.

Damn I am getting hard just thinking about her screaming my son while I take her anyway I want her. I bet she won't be above me fucking her in the ass like Cupcake is. She probably won't even require that I wear a condom seen as she doesn't have to worry about getting pregnant. Hell I may even get a blow job from her. Damn I should have told her to meet me sooner. Of course that would interfere with me fucking the nice little piece of ass lying in my bed right now. I picked her up last night after I went by Cupcake's. She isn't as good as some pieces I have had but she will blow me and let me fuck her anyway I want so she will do besides her curly brown hair reminds me of Cupcake's.

I just hope that Cupcake will appreciate what I left for her in her apartment last night. I know I will get a call as soon as she reports her newest stalker. I just hope it doesn't interfere with my plan on meeting Momma Plum.

As I put my cell phone away I head back up stairs to take care of my current situation. I will be thinking about Momma Plum while I fuck her this time. Then I will be able to have the real thing. I rub my hand up my harden length oh yeah I am more than ready.

LPOV

I got up and quickly dressed for the gym. I figured Ranger wouldn't be down at the gym this morning so my ass kicking would get put off and hopefully forgotten. I reached the gym doors with a smile on my face that is until I saw that Ranger was already down there and had already gone around with Tank in the ring. Great I am about to have my ass handed to me. I know I deserve it but damn why couldn't he just have slept in this morning? I planned on going out tonight and picking up a hot momma I guess that won't be happening now.

"Santos, join me in the ring?" "Ok, I didn't think you would be down this early, I am sure you had a late night with beautiful." "Santos you need to learn to mind your own business and stay out of mine and Stephanie's." yeah but it just too much fun pulling his tail. "Santos you know why I called you to the mats. You made Stephanie question herself. I know you didn't mean to do it but you did and I will not have one of my core members or any member of Rangeman making her question herself and it go unpunished." Oh shit. I will be lucky to be able to walk out of this ring.

"Man you know I love her, and I never imagined what I said would make her question herself. I never want her to question to herself either. I know where her self esteem is and I know questioning herself doesn't help it." "Exactly, this will remind you next time to think before you open your mouth and say something fucking stupid again."

With having said that he proceeded to hand me my ass quicker than I have ever been handed my ass before. At least when he walked out of the ring I was still conscious and was able to finally get my sorry ass up off of the mat after a few minutes of cataloging my injuries. Nothing too serious but I would be sporting some pretty nice bruises for awhile.

RPOV

Tank and I just finished sparring when my mouthy cousin Santos walked into the gym. He had a smile on his face until he saw me. Good now I can get his ass kicking over with. "Santos, join me in the ring?" it really wasn't a question and he knew it. "Ok, I didn't think you would be down this early, I am sure you had a late night with beautiful." "Santos you need to learn to mind your own business and stay out of mine and Stephanie's." Will he ever learn? Today should go a long way in him at least thinking before he opens that mouth of his.

"Santos you know why I called you to the mats. You made Stephanie question herself. I know you didn't mean to do it but you did and I will not have one of my core members or any member of Rangeman making her question herself and it go unpunished." He will be my example for the rest of the men. I mean business if these guys make her question herself and lower her self esteem further I will kick their ass and send them to a fucking third world country.

"Man you know I love her, and I never imagined what I said would make her question herself. I never want her to question to herself. I know where her self esteem is and I know questioning herself doesn't help it." I almost feel sorry for having to do this to Santos because I do know he loves her and didn't mean it but I need an example and I won't allow the other members to think they can get by with disrespecting Stephanie. "Exactly, this will remind you next time to think before you open your mouth and say something fucking stupid again."

Having the need to get back to my Babe and wanting to talk to Tank first I wasted no time in kicking Santo's ass. When I walked out of the ring he was lying on the mats conscious but it would take him a little time to get up. I didn't really injure him but he will be sporting some nice bruises for the guys to see. He better come up with a damn good excuse if Stephanie questions him as to how he got his bruises or I will bring him back to the mats to finish what I started.

I walked out of the ring and straight to Tanks office. I knew he would be in his office waiting on me with the schedule. "Tank you have the schedule ready?" "Yeah man here it is." He handed me the schedule to review. "Tank this looks good but I can tell you now we are going to have to hire a couple of contractors to cover for the guys. I don't want Stephanie to know we hired them because of her training. Let her think it is to cover for a large install for a client if she asks. She probably won't realize it and won't ask because she typically doesn't come in contact with the contract workers we hire."

"Rangeman I think that is a good idea. I will call a couple of guys we have used in the past so we know they are good." "Okay man sounds good. I am going to be offline the rest of the weekend but you know how to reach me in case of emergency." "Don't ware my little girl out this weekend her training starts Monday and as you can see with the schedule it is going to be a tough two weeks for her she will need her rest." "Don't worry man I know she is going to have to be a hundred percent on Monday. I want her passing those test more than you do." With that I was heading back to seven to my Babe.

I walked into the apartment and everything is quiet. She is still sleeping. I paused at the bedroom door just looking at her lying there. God how it makes me feel to see her sleeping in my bed. All cuddled up in the covers with a glow on her face her lips slightly parted. I think how much I love her I can't wait for her to become my wife and always be in my bed, be mine. I am going to ask her to move in with me today. I hope she says yes and hope we can pack up her apartment and move her in over the weekend.

I won't push her but I pray she says yes. If she wants to stay at her apartment then I will just be sleeping over there on the nights she stays there because I never want to go to sleep or wake up again without her in my arms. I have to force myself to move in to the bathroom for a quick shower before joining my Babe back in bed.

SPOV

I woke up to strong arms circling me and having butterfly kisses placed all over my face, neck, shoulders basically all of my exposed skin. God I could be woken up like this every day of my life and never tire of it. "Morning Batman" "Good Morning Babe, did you sleep well?" You know I did in your bed, with these sheets it would be impossible not to sleep well. "Yes Batman, always when I am with you." Then I lean over and kiss him good morning. Take a deep breath of Bulgari as my arms go around him holding him. What I wouldn't give to wake up in his strong arms every day of my life.

"Babe, I want to ask you something. I want you to know before I ask you that I will support you however you decide. This changes nothing about your training or your requests for becoming a full time Rangeman." I look up at him and see the seriousness in his eyes but I also see a bit of nervousness. That couldn't be right Ranger doesn't do nervous. I hesitantly agree "Okay" wondering what he would want to ask me that would make him feel like that. "Babe I know this is sort of fast. We finally admitted our feelings for one another but honestly I have loved you for so long from a far that now that I have you I don't want any distance from us." I couldn't agree more so I nod my head letting him know I understand how he feels.

"Babe, will you consider moving in with me and making this place home for the both of us?" Oh my god, I am shocked silent. I know me Stephanie Plum speechless my brain is screaming yes but I can't get my mouth or my body to respond. He wants me to live with him. He wants me to make his apartment home for the both of us. "Babe?" hearing him call me breaks me out of my stupor and I say the only thing I can think to say "Yes Ranger, it will always be yes." His arms clamp around me as he holds me to him and his lips coming crashing down on mine with passion and hunger.

Feeling his desire and him hardening above me brings my hormones to life after the night we had together I didn't expect to be so ready for him again but I was so wet and ready for him to once again fill me and push against my inner walls in only the way he could. "Carlos, I need you now" "What Babe, what do you need? Tell me." "I need you, I need you inside me, I need you filling me, I need you to take me the only way you can and make love to me like it was our first time, our last time. I need you to take all of me and allow my body to pleasure you in the only way my body can. I need for you to make me scream your name and I need to hear you scream my name. Carlos, Take me."

I heard him growl as he sheathed himself all the way in me filling me giving m exactly what I needed. As we moved together lost in the feel of each other it could have been ten minutes or two hours as I was lost in the feelings of us moving together feeling him thrust in and out while I met each thrust and ground my center into him. Oh God just when I think it couldn't possibly get any better Carlos proves me wrong and I climb higher. What that man does to me. His hand gliding up and down my side as his other hand is holding just enough weight off me. Our bodies gliding over each other with each thrust his lips on mine, on my body make me feel as though I am going to combust right now in a fit of heated passion.

Looking into his eyes as he is thrusting in and out of me there is a connection that I will never be able to describe. I am so close to cumming but I am trying to hold it off waiting for him to join me.

"¿Dios Babe, puedes sentir lo duro que soy para ti? ¿Puedes sentir mi necesidad de ti? Espero que puedas sentir mi amor por ti sobre todas las cosas que me haces sentir cuando estoy dentro de ti. Espero que sepas que yo nunca podría tener suficiente de tu coño mojado y caliente. Yo nunca podría beber lo suficiente de su bienestar ot ser enterrado lo suficiente yo siempre quiero más. Siente mi quiero para ti, el placer que me da, y el placer que yo quiero darte. Siento mucho que lo siento por ti y cuánto te necesito Babe pero sobre todo lo que siente cuánto Te amo, te aprecio, el respeto a usted, mi devoción por usted. Babe sentir mi amor por ti y tú solo. (God Babe can you feel how hard I am for you? Can you feel my need for you? I hope you can feel my love for you above everything else you make me feel when I am inside you. I hope you know that I could never have enough of your warm wet pussy. I could never drink enough from your well or be buried enough I will always want more. Feel my want for you, the pleasure you give me, and the pleasure that I want to give you. Feel how hard I am for you and how much I need you Babe but above everything feel how much I love you, cherish you, respect you, my devotion to you. Babe feel my Love for you and only you.)

Even though I didn't understand what he said I could no longer hold back I came like I had never cum before white lights exploded behind my eyes and my body went limp in his arms as I screamed his name "Carrrloooss" It felt like from a distance I heard him scream my name but I couldn't tell as I had fallen off of the edge, fallen so far this time that I wondered if I was still on the same planet as he was let alone still in the same bed. I guess I was still in the same bed with him as I felt him pull me towards him even in my half comatose half jelly like state. I was unable to open my eyes as sleep just took me while he was holding me to him.

RPOV

I couldn't wait for my Babe to open her eyes but I couldn't wake her. We had spent most of the night making love and I knew she didn't have much sleep. So I pulled her to me closer and let her sleep. She had said yes to move in with me. I was so excited I wanted nothing more than go to her apartment right now and start packing her things. I know she doesn't have a whole lot but whatever she wants to bring with her we will make room for in our new home. I loved that feeling. Our home, she made it our home just by being here with me.

I had to control myself just to allow her to sleep but then again just having her lying here in my arms that was heaven just in and of its self. My Babe slept for another couple hours while I just held her and watched her. I could never watch her enough.

When she finally woke up as hard as it was for me I pushed her toward the bathroom. "Babe why don't you get a shower while I call Ella for some breakfast you must be getting hungry?" "Yeah I am pretty hungry" she no more finished saying she was hungry before her stomach growled echoing how hungry she was. I chuckled as she blushed.

"Ella will have breakfast up by the time you shower and get ready. I know that Tank is anxious to go over the schedule with you and I believe some of the guys would like to talk to you so don't be surprised if we have visitors for Breakfast." "Okay, I can't wait to see the schedule." Oh I think she will think something different when she actually sees it but I am glad to hear that she is still excited at least for the moment.

I pick up my cell phone and call Ella "Tia Ella" "Hi Carlos, how are you and Stephanie this morning?" "We are fine. I am calling to see if you would bring breakfast for us up. She is up now and in the shower." "Yes my dear, I will have Breakfast for you two up in a few minutes. Will the others be joining you this morning?" "Ella I am sure we will have guests but I would suspect they would have already had breakfast so if you will just add some snacks for them and extra coffee that should be all they need." "Okay Carlos I will have everything up to in a few minutes." "Thanks Tia"

I wasn't planning on joining my Babe in her shower this morning because I knew her body had to be sore but I just couldn't help myself. So I climbed in behind her.

TPOV

Ella let me know that Ranger had requested breakfast be sent up so I know my little girl is up. I print out the schedule and head up to show it to her. I hope she doesn't get upset. We never discussed how much time she would be training in a day but in order for her pass the tests she is going to have to train the whole eight hours and maybe more on the side if she doesn't catch on quick enough.

I wait until I know Ella is on her way to seven before I call Ranger "Yo" "Rangeman I take it my little girl is up." "Yeah she is getting dressed as we speak." "Do you mind if I bring up the schedule for her to go over while she eats. Also can a few of these knuckle heads tag along they have been dying to talk to her." "Yeah I figured as much, I had Ella bring some extra treats up for you and the guys." I hung up the phone.

I got up rounded my desk and before I hit the door good there was a line of guys waiting for me. Lester had somehow managed to get video of my little girl handing Morelli his ass last night and of course it went thru Rangeman like wild fire. All the guys wanted to talk to her.

"Guys I am headed up to seven now but you all can't come. Some of you will have to find another time to talk to her besides some of you are supposed to be on duty" With that the ones working made a sound of displeasure but got back to work. Leaving Lester of course he wasn't going to miss an opportunity to be near his beautiful. Cal, Hal, Hector and Ram her favorites I knew she would want to see them.

I started to just get on the elevator by myself and fuck with them but in the end I just told them to follow me. "Come on you knuckleheads. I know you can't wait to tell her that you have seen the video thanks to Santos." Sometimes I don't know if he is smart or the dumbest fucker I have ever known. He knows this could go either way. If she got upset he got the video and shared it without her knowledge Ranger will raise the fucking roof and my guess is that this time he will send his dumb ass to a third world country with the clothes on his back and a fucking toothpick cousin or not.

I know Ranger is expecting us so I just let us in when get to seven. I quickly pull Ranger aside "Rangeman, Santos was able to get a video and some pictures of my little girl last night. I will tell you she is fucking hot." He raises his eyebrow at me, I shrug what she is damn he only needs to see the video to understand why I would say that. "These dumbasses with me couldn't wait for her to come down and talk to her they had to see her first thing. I just wanted to let you know"

"Tank if she gets upset because of that video so help me Santos won't be able to hide his fucking ass soon enough. I don't want her upset this weekend. She has agreed to move in with me." Holy shit he has asked her to move in with him. "I hope to be packing up her apartment later today. Maybe bringing these guys up was a good thing I will recruit them to haul furniture and boxes." He says with a smirk on his lips. Then he gets serious again "I want to see the video and pictures Santos acquired." I just nodded. Our conversation was cut short when we heard Stephanie scream.

CALPOV

I am excited that I will be able to see my Angel today. I can't wait to tell her how proud I am of her. After seeing the video Lester was able to get of her confrontation with Morelli I could not have been more proud of her, in awe of her, or love her more. I have never in my life had someone just be so accepting of me. Most people feared me and would instinctively move away from me. I am a big dude not to mention the flaming skull tattoo on my forehead. But my Angel never once feared me or moved away from me if anything she just kept coming. Crawling under my skin, in my head, and ultimately into my heart.

When we got to Ranger's apartment I went to the kitchen to get some water. I hadn't been long finishing a long run and I needed some water. I was standing beside the refrigerator when Angel came walking down the hall way completely unaware of her surroundings playing with her hair. As she passed me I reached out and grabbed her lifting her up off of her feet. She surprised me when she let out a scream and I just about dropped her but I managed to hold on to her.

All the guys came running into the kitchen. Angel was breathing hard and had a hand on her chest "Cal what the fuck?" she asked me. It was to be just a joke to remind her to be more aware of her surroundings but when she screamed like that I guess I really had scared her. "Angel, I am sorry I didn't mean to scare you like that." I was shit. To see the expression of the guys faces directed at me right now I will be answering to them on the mats later today. I look at her sheepishly

"I was just trying to remind you to be more aware of your surroundings. You walked right past me and never even saw me and I don't exactly blend in." "Cal for fuck sake I am on the seventh floor of a secure fucking building so secure in fact that you all know if a fly farts. The same secure building that houses minimally fifty highly trained and very lethal men that no one would ever be able to get thru to get up here and if they did manage that they wouldn't get thru that think steal door with no outside handle or lock. I think I can walk around the apartment that is to be my home without having to peak around every fucking corner looking to see if someone is going to reach out and grab me. So do not fucking tell me that I should be more aware of my surroundings!" "Babe"

Lester is laughing at this point, the rest of the guys have smirks on their faces. I can barely contain the laughter that wants to spring from my chest hearing her rant. But I know better. "Angel I was just playing with you. I wanted to tell you how proud I was of you." "Why?" oh boy I didn't want to be the first to tell her. The guys freeze, oh shit what have I started. Sorry Lester but better your ass than mine. "Lester was able to get a video of your "conversation" with Morelli last night. He showed it to some of the guys including me." She doesn't need to hear it from me that all of Rangeman has seen it. "I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of you for standing on your own two feet and standing up for us. I wanted you to know I will always be proud to have you fighting beside me and I will always fight for you." Pray… pray… pray… that I just bailed my ass out.

"Lester was able to get a video?" Didn't she hear anything else that I said? "Yeah" I look over at Lester thinking maybe he would want to take over this conversation but he was frozen waiting for her reaction. Here we are a bunch of bad asses that feared no one and we were all frozen just waiting for her reaction some could say we feared her but we wouldn't admit that at least not out loud or not where another living soul could ever hear us say it.

"Lester?" I could see Lester force himself to swallow "Yeah Beautiful?" "When were you planning to tell me that you got a video of last night?" "Beautiful I just got it this morning. I was going to tell you as soon as I saw you of course Cal here sort of got the jump on that and told you before I had a chance to." "Were you going to show me the video?" "Yeah beautiful whenever you want to see it hell I will queue it up and we can all go in the living room and watch it together." "Not necessary right now but I want to see it." "Okay".

Angel looked at me with her blue eyes sparkling. "Cal thank you. I am just happy and proud to be able to consider you a friend of mine." Yes. I give her a hug and kiss her on top of her head. All of the guys and Angel turn to walk out of the kitchen to the dining room. Hector hangs back with me, oh shit.

I forgot about Hector being up here. I am lucky he didn't shoot me when Angel screamed and then asked questions. He isn't well known for pausing or waiting when it comes to taking action. Hector looks up at me "Usted es un cabrón con suerte. Asustarla así de nuevo y voy a disparar primero y preguntar después." (You are one lucky bastard. Scare her like that again and I will shoot you first and ask questions later.) I force myself to swallow and nod my understanding before joining the others at the table.

SPOV

Well I think I just had ten years shaved off my life with Cal's stunt. Well maybe not ten but it scared the shit out of me. I was minding my own business trying to get my hair up in a ponytail when he just reached out and jerked me off of my feet up in the air. I was screaming before everything even registered.

I shouldn't have to be aware of my surroundings when I am walking thru what is going to be my home, god I love the sound of that. I am in a secure building for fuck sake. I am not going to walk around my home like I am about to be invaded. I didn't even act that way at my apartment and my own grandmother could pick the locks on my door.

We made our way to the table and I sat down to another on my favorite Ella meals. I wonder now that I will be living here, god I love that, if she will just go ahead and adopt me. "Babe I am sure Ella has already adopted you and just hasn't told you yet." Damn ESP. Let me see how well it really works. Wonder if watching the video with Carlos will make him want to take me again like he did last night. "Babe" Carlos groaned out. YAY me it worked. I just give him one of my own wolf grins in return. Oh this could be fun. Then I look around the room and see all the guys avoiding me and shifting in their seats then I think maybe not, or at least not when any of the other merry men are around.

Tank clears his throat to get everyone's attention "Little girl I have your training schedule for you to review." Yeah. I am so excited to get started. He continues "I am not sure exactly what you had in mind but in order for you to pass the tests it is going to require a lot of work. We told you this wouldn't be easy and we weren't joking." "Tank I know, I am committed I want to become a full time Rangeman and I am willing to put in the work." "Okay I just wanted to double check before I gave you the schedule." He slowly handed me the printed piece of paper for me to review.

I knew this was going to be tough, I knew this was going to be hard work, I knew this was going to kick my ass in away it has never been kicked before but honestly looking at this scheduled I hadn't expected it to be quite as much as they had scheduled. As I read over the schedule I was training four hours in the morning and four hours in the afternoon with a break from twelve until two. The break was probably so Bobby could check me over to make sure I wasn't dead in all honesty. But I was committed to do this and make these guys proud of me, make me proud of me that I wasn't going to let this schedule intimidate me.

The first week I was scheduled to work one whole four hour sessions with each of the core members. Monday the morning session was Physical Fitness with Bobby from eight to twelve and the afternoon session was with Tank Defensive Driving from two until six p.m. Tuesday the morning session was Marksmanship with Ranger from eight to twelve and the afternoon session was with Lester Fighting slash Self Defense from two until six p.m. After the first two days the rest of the guys filled out the schedule with the core team having the last hour of each session. The Second week I noticed that the first two days had the core members working with me for the last two hours of each session and then the rest of the week like the first week where they only worked with me for the last hour. The different sessions alternated days thru the week Monday thru Saturday but there was nothing about training on Sunday. Hmmm Sunday must be a free day YAY me.

I reviewed the guys working with me for each session. Physical Therapy would be Hal, Zip, Cal, Ram, Hector, Zip, Binkie, and Vince but mainly Hal and Zip. Defensive Driving would be Vince, Woody, Binkie , Ram, and Zero but mainly Vince and Woody would be working with me. Marksmanship would be Cal, Ram, Junior, and Zero but mainly Cal and Ram. Finally Fighting slash Self Defense would be Cal, Hector, Zip, and Ram but the main players there were Cal, Hector, and Zip.

I wasn't sure about working with Hector to tell you the truth he scared me a little with the tear drop tattoos but I wasn't going to say anything. These men had volunteered time to work with me instead of being paid. I was floored at all the names. It humbled me that they would volunteer and for some of them multiple hours. Just thinking about it had tears coming to my eyes.

"Tank while I agree this schedule looks intense I am excited about getting started, and I am looking forward to working with everyone who has volunteered to help me." I look around the room at each guy sitting at the table. "Guys I want to thank you for volunteering to help me. I know it isn't easy giving time up when you could be paid to train me but it humbles me that you wanted to volunteer and that you were willing to go without pay for as many hours as some of you have volunteered." I looked at Cal and Ram. "I just don't know what to say other than I promise you hear and now no matter how hard it gets, no matter what you throw at me, and no matter how hard you push my ass I will try my best to remember your kindness and to do whatever it takes to pass these tests and make you guys as proud of me as I am of you." Cal spoke up first "Angel we are already proud of you. What you asked of us is nothing compared to what you what you want to accomplish. Personally I am honored to work with you. But don't make any mistake I will push your ass." I didn't know whether to hug him or take a big gulp of whatever it was that was caught in my throat. I have seen Cal push someone and trust me I am not sure I am going to survive.

Hector just looked at me and smiled big. I smiled back. When Hector smiled you couldn't help but return it even with the scary tats he had a beautiful smile that just lit his face. I was actually sorry that I don't get to see him smile more often.

The rest of the guys were quiet but I could tell they wanted to tell me something. "Okay guys what is it that you want to tell me. I can tell you want to tell me something, I can see it in your faces." Holy shit I can read a merry man's blank face. Call the news, pray to whatever God you believe in because something big is about to happen. Scream it from a mountain top. I can read the face of a merry man. YAY me!

RAMPOV

"Bombshell I just wanted to come up here today and tell you how proud I was of you. Not only for wanting to join our team by passing those tests, but for standing up to that stupid fuck of a cop." Hopefully she won't mind me calling him that but I have never liked the son of bitch even before I knew they were a couple and when I found out she was seeing him after I got to know her well it didn't change my opinion any. I honestly couldn't understand what someone like her would see in something like him but then again this is bombshell and she only sees the good in people. Hell that is why she puts up with our asses.

She has such a gentle sole that we all seek comfort in, absolution in. There is no judgment or assumptions made when she looks at us. She just takes us at face value and accepts us and that is what makes her so special to me to all of us. I am not one for many words I tend to be the strong silent type but that doesn't mean that I am dumb, that I am not observant, or that I don't have an opinion fuck I have plenty I just choose not to voice them especially the ones that don't mean shit or aren't going to change shit. But sometimes you just have to tell someone how proud you really are of them.

"Bombshell I want you to know that I have seen the video and I want you to know that you blew me away. I am proud of you and I would be proud and honored to fight with you and for you." Steph just looked at me for a minute her mouth slightly open almost in shock. "Ram I think that is the most I have ever heard you say at one time. Thank you!" Damn see there you go. Well now that I have used up all the words I need to say for the next couple of months I just nod my head and smile.

Steph just shakes her head "Oh no, you can't take that back now that I know you can talk..." she just drops the rest of the sentence but smiles at me the brightest smile and I can't the half chuckle that escaped and the smile.

TPOV

"Little Girl are there any changes you want us to make to the schedule? Are you comfortable working with all the guys on the schedule? In many cases it will be one on one and I wanted to make sure you are comfortable with everyone on the list. If you aren't just tell me and I will change it no one will pass judgment or feel any differently towards you." I wanted her to know that she had some control and if she felt uncomfortable with any of the guys I wanted to know about it but I didn't think she would.

"Tank no, I am comfortable working with everyone and anyone at Rangeman. I am just honored that they volunteered." I nodded "Well Little Girl enjoy your weekend Monday is going to come fast and hard." "Thanks Tank." With that we all got up to go each of the guys hugging and kissing her on the top of her head and whispering something in her ear. She was saying something back to them and hugging them and kissing them on the cheek. She finally made her way around to me. I hugged her whispered I was proud of her and kissed her on the top of the head. She whispered "Thanks Tank it means more than I can tell you." And she kisses my cheek. We head for the door.

Before we get there Ranger stops us "Guys I have something I want to tell you, I have asked Stephanie to move in with me and she has agreed. Provided she is ready I hope to pack up her apartment today so if any of you could make yourself of service I would be grateful for the help as I don't want her working to hard over the weekend." Fucker is trying to get out of lifting boxes and making it look like it would be for my little girls benefit for us to help. I will let him know later that I see thru his dumb ass. But of course I am going to help my little girl. "Congratulations man I am sure we will be able to help." I go ahead and volunteer the guys. Fuck them, they wanted to come up here serves them right. With that we all head out and leave Ranger and Stephanie to enjoy their weekend off.

*below is the schedule that Tank worked out.

Core Team:

Ranger – Marksmanship

Tank – Defensive Driving

Lester – Fighting/Self Defense

Bobby – Physical Fitness

Cal - Seal, specialized in hand combat, and expert marksmanship, swimming/lifting

Hal – Seal, specialized in hand combat, swimming/lifting

Ram – Ranger, specialized Sniper, expert tracker, gym/martial arts

Hector – X Gang Member, specialized in street fighting. Kills first asks questions later gym/

Vince – Ranger specialized in defensive driving. Running/gym

Binkie – Seal specialized in defensive driving, Running/gym

Zip – Marine Specialized in weapons, hand combat. Running/gym/martial arts

Zero – Marine Specialized Sniper, and tracker running/gym

Junior – Ranger, specialized in weapons, defensive driving Gym

Woody – Ranger, specialized in defensive driving, covering a trail, and tracking gym

Ranger MM

Cal, Ram, Zip, Zero, Junior

Tank DD

Vince, Binkie, woody (Zero Ram - picking up a tail)

Lester F/SD

Cal, Hal, Hector, Zip, Ram, Zip

Bobby PF

Swimming – Cal, Hal,

Running – Vince, Binkie, Zip

Gym – all

WK 1 Monday AM PF

Thursday AM MM

WK2 Monday AM PF

Thursday AM MM

8:00 Bobby

8:00 Cal

8:00 Hal

8:00 Ram

9:00 Bobby

9:00 Ram

9:00 Hector

9:00 Zero

10:00 Bobby

10:00 Junior

10:00 Bobby

10:00 Junior

11:00 Bobby

11:00 Ranger

11:00 Bobby

11:00 Ranger

PM DD

PM F/SD

PM DD

PM F/SD

2:00 Tank

2:00 Cal

2:00 Woody

2:00 Cal

3:00 Tank

3:00 Hector

3:00 Vince

3:00 Hector

4:00 Tank

4:00 Zip

4:00 Tank

4:00 Ram

5:00 Tank

5:00 Lester

5:00 Tank

5:00 Lester

Tuesday AM MM

Friday AM PF

Tuesday AM MM

Friday AM PF

8:00 Ranger

8:00 Hal

8:00 Ram

8:00 Hal

9:00 Ranger

9:00 Zip

9:00 Cal

9:00 Vince

10:00 Ranger

10:00 Ram

10:00 Ranger

10:00 Ram

11:00 Ranger

11:00 Bobby

11:00 Ranger

11:00 Bobby

PM F/SD

PM DD

PM F/SD

PM DD

2:00 Lester

2:00 Vince

2:00 Cal

2:00 Woody

3:00 Lester

3:00 Woody

3:00 Hector

3:00 Vince

4:00 Lester

4:00 Binkie

4:00 Lester

4:00 Zero

5:00 Lester

5:00 Tank

5:00 Lester

5:00 Tank

Wednesday AM PF

Saturday AM MM

Wednesday AM PF

Saturday AM MM

8:00 Hal

8:00 Cal

8:00 Hal

8:00 Ram

9:00 Zip

9:00 Ram

9:00 Zip

9:00 Cal

10:00 Cal

10:00 Junior

10:00 Binkie

10:00 Zero

11:00 Bobby

11:00 Ranger

11:00 Bobby

11:00 Ranger

PM DD

PM F/SD

PM DD

PM F/SD

2:00 Vince

2:00 Cal

2:00 Woody

2:00 Cal

3:00 Woody

3:00 Hector

3:00 Vince

3:00 Hector

4:00 Binkie

4:00 Zip

4:00 Ram

4:00 Ram

5:00 Tank

5:00 Lester

5:00 Tank

5:00 Lester


	14. Chapter 13: Preparing Pt1

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**Warning this chapter contains graphic sexual scenes if you wish you can skip that part when it starts it shouldn't affect the rest of the story.**

Chapter 13: Preparing PT1

RPOV

Thank fuck they finally left. I know it is crazy but I still want some one on one Babe time. "Babe are you really okay with Lester getting a copy of the video from Pino's last night? You know he has probably sent them to all the guys of Rangeman." She just looks at me. "Ranger I am okay with it. Actually I would like to see it." Well at least I won't have to explain to momma, Tia Ana, and Tia Ella that I had to send their son and nephew to a third world country.

"Okay Babe we will watch it but how about later?" She just looks at me waiting for more. "Babe what do you say to us going over to your apartment and packing it up to so we can get you officially moved in here?" She smiles. "Okay" "I told the guys when they were leaving and they volunteered to help us." No need to tell her that Tank volunteered them and I wasn't really asking.

I just want to get this done as fast as possible, get her stuff back here and sit down and watch that video with her. I knew it was going to be hot as hell for Tank to say what he did and how the others were reacting to it. I knew if we watched the video now we weren't going to be leaving this apartment at least no time soon.

I reached out and pulled her to me, covering her lips with mine. I kept the kiss soft and tender I didn't let it deepen as I had an agenda I wanted to stick to. I wanted my Babe officially living with me before the end of the day!

"Ranger I don't have a whole lot of stuff, most of my furniture wouldn't look very good in your apartment, so that really just leaves my clothing and personal items." "Babe it is our apartment it is no longer just mine and if you want to keep anything we will make room for it in the apartment don't worry about how it will look." She looked at me like I had three heads. "Ranger this apartment is beautiful. It is decorated just right and looks like something out of a design magazine. The last thing I would do is bring any of my used furniture that would bring down the look of a dorm room here. Just because I couldn't afford nice furniture and didn't really want nice furniture with the luck my apartment seems to have doesn't mean I don't appreciate it or know nice furniture when I see it."

I can't say I am not happy but I wouldn't have let her furniture being placed in our home stop her from moving in. She was far more important to me than any furniture or how our home looked. It would be home with her here and for that it would be more important than anything else. "Babe whatever you want to do with anything is fine with me. When do you want to go?" She walked over to the couch and sat down. I followed her sitting beside her pulling her into my lap. She cradled her head between my shoulder and neck. "How about we go to my apartment around two I really don't have that much stuff to pack up. It won't take long." "Okay Babe whatever you want."

She snuggled in deeper took a deep breath and slowly let it out. I felt her completely relax into me. God how I loved holding her, I rubbed my head against the side of hers while my fingers were rubbing circles on her back and thigh. It wasn't any time before I could tell my Babe was out. I smiled at how easily she could fall asleep. I loved to watch her sleep, I loved knowing that I could hold her and she could go to sleep in my arms.

She trusted me so much that she could just fall asleep while in my arms. I am not a cruel person but I know what I am capable of people instinctively know to fear me and they don't even know a tenth of what I am truly capable of. Then there is my Babe. Not an ounce of fear in her of me ever not from the first day we met until today. In fact she is so comfortable and trusting that she can just fall asleep. I wasn't sure how I felt exactly.

On one part I wanted to be smug about it but on the other it almost scared the shit out of me because deep down inside I know she is too trusting. Hell the reality is she could fall asleep with any of the guys Lester, Bobby, Tank, Hal, Cal, Ram, Hector, hell the list goes on. Many of those she already had fallen asleep while in their company. Hell her first ever redecorating job with Tank she fell asleep not to mention a few of the surveillance shifts where I heard from the guys that she ended up falling asleep.

Regardless about how I felt having her asleep while I am holding her in my arms be it sitting on the couch or lying in the bed at night feels amazing. I continue to rub my face against hers whispering how much I love her and how happy I am that she agreed to move in our home.

MPPOV

I am on the way to meet my son to discuss what we are going to do with Stephanie. I don't even want to think about her right now as I will just get mad again. I want to be in a different mindset when I see him. When I got off of the phone with him I took a shower made sure I shaved, put on lotion, dressed in some of my more provocative under clothing and one of my sexier dresses. I did my hair and makeup and if I don't say so myself I look pretty hot for a woman my age.

I pull up at the motel and see my son's truck from where he is parked I can't tell if he got a room or not. Suddenly I wonder if I misread him on the phone. Maybe he just picked this place because it was an out of way place that no one would know where we were. That would be a bummer as I went out of my way getting ready for him.

As I approached the parking spot close to his truck his door opened and he hopped down and all I could think was wow.

JPOV

I saw Momma pull in the lot I had already gotten a room and was waiting for her in my truck. When she pulled into the parking spot just down from my truck I hopped out and walked up to meet her at her car. "Hey Momma, how are you this afternoon?" "I am fine, how are you son?" "Good" I don't want to bring up cupcake right now and ruin the mood. I take her hand and start walking towards what will be our room for the next couple of hours.

"What did you tell Frank?" "Frank is driving the cab today so I didn't tell him anything as he left the house before I did. I will make up something to tell him if he is there before I get home but only if he asks me." Good we are on the same page. I shut the door, lock it and engage the safety bolt as Momma turns to look at me with a sultry look on her face. Oh yeah the boys like that.

RPOV

I am having a dilemma do I wake my Babe or let her continue to sleep. It is almost two when she said she wanted to leave to go to her apartment but she is still sound asleep in my arms. I love her being here and I know she needs her rest. I know how much I kept her up last night and how active we were even though she slept some this morning I know that wasn't enough for her. However I wanted to get her moved in as soon as possible and she had said two.

I whispered in her ear "Babe I love you, it's time to wake up" no response. Still whispering but slightly louder "Babe I love you, it's time to wake up" and added a slight jarring of her with my arms. She stirs a little and moans. Damn, now something is awake but it isn't my Babe and I am not going to be able to do a damn thing about it as I want to get started getting her moved in. "Babe wake up…I love you...It is time to wake up so we can get you moved into our home." With that her eyes opened and focused on my face. She smiled up at me as she sifted to stretch her body.

As she shifted her breast came in contact with my chest as they brushed past me turning up towards me. I couldn't resist and I lowered my head to them nuzzling them thru her shirt and bra with my nose and lips. I could feel them pucker and harden under the shirt which only made me further harden. No way in hell were we going to make it out of this apartment without me having another taste of her.

My lips found her neck gently kissing, nipping, and sucking at her skin. My tongue gliding over her skin soothing her and exciting me more my hands seeking her bare skin found her stomach as I glided them up taking her shirt with them. I paused when I reached her lace clad breast as I felt each nipple under the lace. Her breathing was short almost a soft pant at this point I could feel the need within her just by her breath alone. I pull up the shirt further and pull it off.

I pull my Babe to me while I lower my mouth over her nipples sucking the fine lace along with her nipple in my mouth. Playing with it with my tongue as my hands search for the clasp as soon as they find it her bra meets her shirt on the floor and I have her nipple in my mouth god how good her skin tastes. I look up and my Babe's eyes are closed I can see the delight she is feeling in my touch. I lower my hands to her jeans and unbutton them, lowering the zipper. Seeing her lace covered mound even before I have off the jeans has me hardening even more I am not exactly sure how that is possible.

Shifting her slightly but not letting go of her nipple from my lips I successfully relieve her of her jeans. She lying here before me in her lace thongs and I swear I have never seen anything anyone more beautiful or sexier in my life. God what this woman does to me she drives me crazy with need.

I froze when I felt her hand run up my erection that was all it took. I had to have her right this second I could no longer wait. My control for her was gone. My lips met hers and it was like lighting the torch at the Olympic stadium we both couldn't get each other fast enough. I could feel my clothing been torn from my body in our fit of need. I heard a rip and her gasp as I realized I had ripped her thongs from her body.

I had to taste her. I had to have my mouth on her and I couldn't wait another second. I grabbed her cupping her beautiful ass in my hands and just raised her to my face. She placed her legs beside my head hanging over the back of couch with her hands knotted in my hair while I held her to me feasting and drinking from her well. Damn she was wet and warm and tasted like sweet peaches with a summer rain. I could hold her here to me all day.

She was moaning and writhing so much that I was afraid I was going to drop her but I couldn't stop feasting with every moan and scream of my name came a fresh gush and I just couldn't stop drinking and lapping up every drop. Finally my Babe started begging "Carlos please let me feel you." I smiled an replied "You can feel me Babe feel my hands cupping your sweet ass holding you to me, feel my tongue playing with your sweet pussy licking it, exciting it, feel my lips kissing your lower lips rubbing against you, feel my tongue playing with your clit as I drink your sweet peach nectar. Feel my nose as it nuzzles against you as I breathe you in, the scent of peach and summer rain. Feel my breath on you as I talk to you how it whispers across and around your outer and inner folders of your beautiful and sexy pussy. All of that Babe is me you are already feeling me now let me feel you as you release more of your sweet nectar for me to drink " I barely got out what I wanted to tell her when she screamed and gifted me with another fresh gush. Oh yeah my Babe really liked it when I talked to her while I was driving her to her orgasm.

I was so ready to be buried deep in her my dick was dancing with anticipation with every lick and suckle of her. Once I had drank from her all I could without going completely crazy with the need to be buried inside her. I slowly, completely in control, lowered her body hopefully letting her know that her weight was absolutely nothing for me to hold like that all day. I lowered her body down on to my erection. As soon as my head started to push in her tight hot center I couldn't wait anymore I had to have her and this position wasn't going to give me or her what we needed right now. I instantly stood her legs wrapping around my waist as I brought both of our bodies up off of the couch. I walked over to the closest wall and placed her back up against the wall. Her eyes were wide but you could see the excitement she was feeling. I doubt she has ever had anyone take her the way I was going to take her and that made me smile with more excitement as I plunged my way home.

Her gasp and my growl only ignited the fire more and flames shot to the ceiling as I started to piston in and out of her as fast and hard as I could. God she was so tight, so hot, so wet that I knew I wouldn't hold out long. I could already feel the pull and tightness growing in my balls and I knew it wouldn't be much longer before I wouldn't be able to hold it back. But for right this moment I was lost in the feeling of me connected with my Babe of her connected to me and from the look on her face she was just as lost in those feelings as I was. We were lost together and that was pure paradise. My Babe was panting and then screamed "oh my god Carlos" as I felt her inner walls clamp down on my dick. They clamped down harder than I had ever felt them before and pulled me in I wasn't going to last against that I felt them slightly release me only to clamp down and pull me in again and that was it my release burst forward with a force so powerful that it felt like I literally exploded inside of her. I had never in my life cum so hard with such force as I had with my Babe. I heard her gasp and then she stopped breathing falling limp in my arms. My Babe had passed out.

It wasn't easy with her limp body and the position we were in but I didn't want to remove myself from her. I wasn't ready to be out of her hot center. I maneuvered us back to the couch where I lowered us down on the couch me on my back and my Babe laying flat on me. It was a few minutes later she stirred. "What?" I could see confusion on her face.

"Babe you passed out, I moved us back to the couch to wait for you to join the living again." I couldn't help it I was feeling a little smug at being able to make my Babe cum like that. To make her orgasm so intensely that it actually caused her to pass out. She blushed then she looked worried which confused me. "Babe? What's wrong did I hurt you?" "No Carlos never, it is just that I passed out." Yeah so

"Babe I take that as a compliment that you passed out." She looks at me like I have three heads for the second time today. "Carlos how can you take it as a compliment when I leave you unfilled because I pass out. I guess I do suck in bed." Those mother fuckers I could break theirs god damn fucking necks right now for taking this from me from her by them putting that stupid shit in her mind that she sucks in bed.

"Babe, listen to me and believe me." I look at her and wait for her to agree she looks me in the eye and nods "Babe what you experienced just now is a gift to me it doesn't take anything away from me or deprive me of anything. For me to pleasure you to the point that you passed out makes me feel like I am a god among men. All my body wants to do is please you and when you respond to me like that I know that I have pleased you to the ultimate point and nothing could please me more or give me more pleasure." She shifted on top of me looking at me.

"Carlos but where was your release? How did my body pleasure you? Like you when I am with you my body craves to pleasure you. I only want to please you. It has never been like that with me before I never really thought about that before. But when I pass out and stay out obviously for at least a few minutes then I feel like I didn't pleasure you and didn't give you the release I know you need just as much as me. I may not have cared about it before but I don't want to suck in bed not with you." A tear came out of the corner of her eye. I took a cleansing breath because I didn't want her to feel the hatred that was running thru me at this moment.

It wasn't directed at my Babe but at the people in my Babe's life. That dumb shit of an x-husband, her bitch of a mother, and that fucking piece of shit cop that was in her life because of them they made her question herself, they made her not believe in herself, and worst of all they made her question her sexuality as well as her womanhood that would have any man in his right man crying for the opportunity to spend an intimate moment with her. I swore to myself that I would find a way to make them pay and they would pay dearly for what they have done to her.

"Babe don't worry I had my release when I felt your walls clamp down hard on me I came and it felt like I exploded inside you. I have never cum with such intensity I have never cum like that with anyone else. But Babe I don't want you to ever worry about me not having a release when we are together. It isn't about me, when I make love to you it is all about you. It is about me showing you what you do to me. How I feel about you, showing you how much I love you, need you, and how you affect me. How just looking at you makes me hard, how hearing you moan makes me tight with desire, and how tasting you just makes me lose all control." Tears were rolling down my Babe's face.

I reached up and run my thumbs under her eyes while cupping her face with my hands. "Babe no tears, okay" "Carlos they are happy tears. I love you so much. When we are together…" She starts and pauses blushing damn she is sexy when she blushes but continues "you know…I want it to be about you, about me showing you how much I love you, I want you losing control, I want you screaming my name as you cum. I want it to be my body, my love that pushes you to your orgasm and makes you fall over the edge. I am not sure I do that, I am not sure that I know how to do that, I am not even sure that I am capable of doing that." More tears leaked from her eyes but I wasn't sure these were happy tears.

"Carlos, the men in my life cheated on me because I wasn't good enough in bed for them and they were nothing the man you are. If I wasn't good enough to satisfy them then how in the hell am I ever going to satisfy you. I can't stand the thought of me not satisfying you in bed when I it is all I want to do." She started sobbing. Those mother fuckers were going to pay and if I had my way they will be paying with their pitiful worthless of a fuck life.

"Babe please stop crying" I hold her tighter to me, I am still buried deep inside of her and it feels wonderful but I need for her to understand how she does satisfy me how no other woman has ever made me feel the way my Babe makes me feel. "Babe, take a minute catch your breath, then take a look at us and feel us and tell me what you see and feel." She takes a couple of deep breaths and hiccups as she scans us lying there on the couch. Then she closes her eyes taking a moment.

When she opens her eyes "Carlos we are laying on the couch you on your back and I am lying on your stomach facing you." "What else, Babe?" "Your arms are around me and you are very softly drawing circles on my back with your fingers." "Uh huh, what else, Babe?" "My arms are resting on your shoulder chest area and my legs are resting beside the side of your hips and my nipples are pressed against your chest." "Yeah, what else, Babe? Say it, tell me" she blushes she knows what I want her to say but she isn't sure she can say it. "Your…my center…uhhmmm…" She was having a tough time finding the words. "Babe it is okay you can say anything to me, tell me. What else do you feel?" She could cuss like a sailor but when it came to just talking about body parts and sex she was shy and bashful. I nudge her to let her know I was waiting and that she could do it. "Carlos, I am not sure exactly how to say this so I am just going to spit it out." She took a deep breath steeled herself and blurted out "I feel your dick buried deep inside me and it is the most incredible feeling I have felt to just lay here like this still connected to you." Finally she had said it.

"Yeah Babe you are right it is an incredible feeling and one I have only felt with you. You make me feel so good when I am inside of you that I never want to be out of you. You satisfy me so completely that I never want that feeling to end so I want to remain inside of you for as long as I can possibly stay. I don't know why the other men in your life chose to cheat on you but I promise you right here right now I will never. You are the love of my life, the only woman I want and the only woman who will ever be able to satisfy me again for as long as I live." She reaches up and kisses me and I harden inside her.

"Carlos I want you to know that you are the love of my life too, the only man I want and the only man who will ever be able to satisfy me again for as long as I live. There will never be another." My Babe starts to shift back and forth riding my hard cock and I growl with pleasure as she moans.

"Babe, never think again or ever again feel that you suck in bed, but if you want to suck in bed now that would definitely be all my pleasure." I smile at her as she smiles at me and presses her core against me harder. "Not hardly Carlos, it would be my pleasure too as I am addicted to your taste." Holy hot hell!

MPPOV

Well my meeting with Joe certainly went well. Now I know why all the women in Trenton line up for a chance to romp with Joe. Holy hot flash I haven't had it that good in well let's just say a long time. They say that older women that date younger men are cougars well I was every bit of a cougar with him. I might even be able to classify myself a tiger with the way I attacked him and screamed for him. To say I am happy right now well that really wouldn't do our little coming together justice.

I hope that he wants to meet more because I definitely do. Some of the moves that my son knew in bed well were simply amazing and I don't understand why my bitch of a daughter wasn't thrilled to be with him. To have a man that could perform like that in bed willing and wanting to marry you and then throw him aside to be with some thug, some criminal, some hired killer is beyond my concept. Personally I don't think she could do better. I know I have been married to Frank a long time and he has never made me feel like my son did today so I know she could definitely do worse when it came to picking a man.

I am still reveling in the feel of our afternoon together while I drive to the store to pickup something to fix for dinner tonight. I am going to have to be careful at dinner that I don't accidently say something that I shouldn't know. This is my son's and I dirty little secret and I fully intend on keeping it that way because I want more. I know he is going to be there tonight and it is going to be difficult to hide my excitement when he gets there.

We did talk about Stephanie, the little bitch I still get mad when I think about what she has done to him to me to her family, after our coming together. Just the thought makes me want more already like a kid in a candy store I don't think I can get enough. We formed a plan how to deal with Stephanie and my son agreed to take her back after I gave him the best blow job that had him screaming momma for his life. Frank never lasted past one my son however he couldn't get enough of me. He took me every way a man could take a woman and was screaming my name in pleasure. That's right people don't call me sex kitten as I am no kitten but sexy tigress now that is more like it.

JPOV

Well I knew those Plum girls knew how to satisfy a man. I am not sure exactly what happened to Cupcake along the way but Momma now Momma was a hell cat. From the time we entered the room she was on me like white on rice. I knew she had wanted to get a taste of the Italian stallion for a while and give her a taste I did.

She was down on her knees sucking my dick in less than five minutes of us walking in the room. There was at least one Plum woman who knew how to satisfy a man and what a man needed. Before we left I had fucked her every way to fuck her and I had her begging me for more. She was screaming my son as I was taking her cumming in her mouth, her wet pussy, and finally her ass. Why couldn't my Cupcake be so accommodating to my needs maybe there was hope for her after all that hell cat was her mother. I would just have to coax it out of her.

I haven't gotten a call from anyone on the force concerning Cupcake's apartment so she must still be shacking up with those thugs from Rangeman. I can tell they are going to make my plan difficult they are already throwing a monkey wrench into my plan seen as she hasn't been home. Well she will soon or later I just hope sooner. I would like her to know about having a stalker and have reported it to the police before dinner tonight at her parent's.

Our plan for dinner was a good one. I just hope that my Cupcake would go along with it without too much friction. With her it would be hard to tell and now that she had spent so much time with those criminals and thugs lord knows how much bullshit they have been feeding her.

SPOV

We finally made it out of the apartment. It was difficult to say the least. I didn't want to stop making love to Carlos. I didn't want to stop riding him, he made me feel wonderful, sexy, empowered, a goddess, but most importantly he made me feel desired, cherished, and most important loved. I never want those feelings to end.

We slowly made it down to the garage and their stood Tank, Lester, Bobby, Hector, Cal, Ram, and Hal. Why don't we just invite the rest of the guys and we can just make it a huge party at my place. "Babe if you want we can do that." Ranger whispers in my ear and I look at him "Out loud?" "Yeah Babe, out loud." Oh well I shrug my shoulders.

I turned to look at the guys standing there "Guys you all really don't have to come if you don't want to. I am sure Ranger or Tank volunteered you to help and if you have something else you would rather be doing please go and do it. I don't have that much to pack up at my place. It won't take long."

Hal spoke up first "Bombshell I won't speak for everyone but as far as I am concerned going with you will be the best part of my day. I don't have anything better to do than go hang out with a friend and help her pack up her apartment." I looked at him and smiled "Thanks Hal that means a lot." I see the other nod so I nod back at them and tell them to load it up.

"Okay boys let us load up and get it done." I laughed as some of the men chuckled around me. Ranger just shook his head "Babe" which I took to mean sometimes you are just too funny for your own good but more than likely it meant Babe don't order my men around.

The ride to my apartment went smoothly the guys loaded up in various SUVs and I rode with Ranger in his truck. I told him I didn't have much but he insisted that we needed the room just in case I decided I wanted to bring anything home with me that was too big to fit into one of the SUVs. Men sometimes I tell you.

We got to my apartment and three spots were right up front. How? I want to know how the fuck can they pull into the lot and three slots are open by the door do they call ahead and make people move for them? Their parking karma just amazes me had it been me driving the only spot available would have been all the way at the back beside the dumpster. I don't even bother looking for closer spots because I automatically know there will be none.

Oh well we won't have far to carry the boxes so I won't look a gift horse in the mouth but still it burns my ass sometimes how lucky these guys are and the funny thing is they don't even know it or think about it. Ranger comes around and opens my door. "Babe what's the funny look for, something wrong?" "No Ranger nothing is wrong. I am just amazed at how you all do it and do it every time." "Babe you lost me what is it we do when we do it every time?" and his lip twitches great just fucking great I am amusing him again.

"Parking Ranger that is what you do." "Babe everyone who drives parks I am not following you." "Ranger every time I pull into this lot with my vehicle the only spot available is by the dumpster. Every time you or your guys pull into the lot there is spot right beside the door. Today we pull in here and there are three spots just waiting for us right next to the door. I want to know how?" His lip twitches again. "Babe I don't know what to tell you, I guess we are just lucky like that."

I narrow my eyes at him and his lip twitches even more. Uggg men whatever let's just do this. We round the front of the truck meeting the other guys and head into my building. We took the stairs. I know before you say it I figured the weight of these guys in the elevator was probably more than it could hold so for safety reasons so I went with the stairs. Besides it is good to get a little extra exercise in now and then.

When we got to my apartment door I handed Ranger my key to open the door. He started to open the door and my spidey sense started to go off. Oh god this wasn't going to be good. "Ranger stop wait a minute" I called out to him. He froze in place key in the lock mid turn. He looked back at me "What is it Babe?" "Ranger my spidey sense is going off something isn't right. Step back away from the door. Please." I looked at him pleading him to come closer to me. Something wasn't right and I didn't want him turning that key any further. I looked back over to the rest of the guys and motioned for Ranger to follow me as I backed my way back to them.

"Guys something is wrong, I don't know what but I feel it. Something isn't right and my spidey sense went off when Ranger put the key in the lock of my door." I told them to explain my actions. I couldn't care if they thought I was crazy I wouldn't risk Ranger being hurt or one them being hurt because I didn't stop them or tell them what I was feeling. "Ranger hand me my key, I will go unlock the door if it is safe then you all can come in." Ranger just looks at me "Like hell Babe. We have all told you before, us before you Babe. I am not giving you the key and letting you go unlock your door if you think it is unsafe for me then it is unsafe for you." "Damn it Ranger it is my door, my apartment. Let me do it" I was starting to get a little upset. "Babe, don't get upset there are other ways neither of us has to do it." Ranger looks at Hector

"Héctor, salir subir la escalera de incendios vienen en el apartamento de Stephanie a través de la ventana de su dormitorio. Sólo asegúrese de comprobar que no existen dispositivos primer viaje. Luego diríjase a su puerta y háganos saber si usted ve cualquier cosa. Recuerde guardar silencio sólo en caso de que alguien está esperando por nosotros y ver su espalda." (Hector, go outside climb the fire escape come into Stephanie's apartment thru her bedroom window. Just make sure to check it for any trip devices first. Then make your way to her door and let us know if you see anything. Remember be silent just in case someone is waiting for us and watch your back.)

I have no idea what Ranger just told Hector but he nodded and said Si which I knew meant Yes. Ranger then looked at Ram and asked him to follow Hector. "Ram, go with Hector and keep look out for him. Watch his back as much as you can but remain on the fire escape until you get the all clear." Ram nodded and they both disappeared down the stairs. Ranger turned back to me and explained what he had asked Hector to do.

HectorPOV

I knew something was wrong I saw Angelito stiffen and then tell Ranger to stop. I heard her say that her spidey sense was going off. I wasn't sure what the hell a spidey sense was but I wasn't going to question it. It was enough proof when Ranger froze and retracted back to Angelito for me to believe in it. They had a little discussion about opening the door like he would have let her. Had he been that stupid to put her danger I would kill him right here, right now and took the key from her before she had the chance. Ranger looked at me.

"Héctor, salir subir la escalera de incendios vienen en el apartamento de Stephanie a través de la ventana de su dormitorio. Sólo asegúrese de comprobar que no existen dispositivos primer viaje. Luego diríjase a su puerta y háganos saber si usted ve cualquier cosa. Recuerde guardar silencio sólo en caso de que alguien está esperando por nosotros y ver su espalda." (Hector, go outside climb the fire escape come into Stephanie's apartment thru her bedroom window. Just make sure to check it for any trip devices first. Then make your way to her door and let us know if you see anything. Remember be silent just in case someone is waiting for us and watch your back.)

Now that sounded like a plan. He picked me because I was the smallest of the guys, I was quickest, and I could get in and out of anywhere unseen. We weren't really sure what we were up against if someone was in the apartment or if it was something else completely.

Ram and I made it out of the apartment and up the fire escape nothing appeared out of place, no one was watching us everything seemed normal. We made our way to Angelito's bedroom window and her window was intact and locked. I picked the lock peered around the window as best I could see there were no traps set. I slowly raised the window waiting for the window pane to break the seal with the windowsill nothing we were good. I raised the window all the way up and gently moved the curtains back to get my first full glimpse into the room.

Her bedroom door was closed that was a good thing at least for now and no one was in the room unless they were hiding under the bed. Her room was in disarray and I was pretty certain that someone had been in her bedroom going thru her things. When I looked at her bed it was confirmed someone had definitely been in here and left her a message.

This fucker didn't just leave Angelito a message he just signed his fucking death certificate because as soon as we find out who he is he is going to be dead by my hands. I motion for Ram to take a look and I see him tense as he takes it in. I can feel the fury roll off of him in waves. Oh yeah one very dead stupid mother fucker coming up.

Ram grabs my shoulder as I move to go thru the window. "Hector si vas allí y alguien está ahí vas a matarlo? ¿Puede el control de sí mismo para mantenerse de matarlo? si no, no puedo dejarte ir y tendremos que encontrar a alguien más. Dime ahora lo puedes hacer?" (Hector if you go in there and someone is in there are you going to kill him? Can you control yourself to keep yourself from killing him? if not, I can't let you go in and we will need to find someone else. Tell me now can you do it?)

I look at Ram's hand on my shoulder and then back at him. I see him steady himself he knows what I am capable of. I may be smaller than him but that doesn't mean that I am not more lethal in so many ways.

"RAM es mejor quitar la mano de mi hombro antes de vivir a pesar de que el hombre de decisiones. En cuanto a control se que tengo mucho todo lo que necesito. Si hay alguien en el hecho de que voy a decidir cuando llegue allí si dejarlos vivir o no. Dependerá de lo que han hecho, lo que hacen, y lo que pienso que van a hacer. Cuando he hecho mi mente acerca de aquellos que o bien se llevará a su vida o dejarlo vivir. Pero tu mano en mi hombro no me va a impedir entrar ahí. Usted debe saber mejor mi hermano." (Ram you better remove your hand from my shoulder before you live to regret that decision man. As far as control goes I have plenty all I need. If there is in fact someone in there I will decide when I get in there if I let them live or not. It will depend on what they have done, what they do, and what I think they will do. When I have made my mind up about those I will either take his life or let him live. But your hand on my shoulder isn't going to prevent me from going in there. You should know better my brother.)

Ram looks at me and removes his hand from my shoulder with a warning "Sólo recuerde de Bombshell está de pie justo delante de la puerta que no es necesario contar con una persona muerta en su apartamento y luego descubrir que usted es la persona que lo mató. Piense en su hombre antes de hacer nada." (Just remember Bombshell is standing right outside her door she doesn't need to have a dead person in her apartment and then find out that you are the person that killed him. Think about her man before you do anything.) I nod my understanding as I make my way into her bedroom.

I ignore the bed while it is gross what this fucker has done it isn't a threat to my Angelito. I make my way to her door and gently open it peering out into the hallway. There is nothing the apartment is quite. I quietly check her closet, her bathroom, her kitchen and finally her living room and dining room. No one is there. Can't say I am sorry but it would have been simple to have found who had left her the "gift" in the bedroom had someone been here. I make my way to the entry door and freeze in the entryway.

There was a device fixed on the door. Had the handle turned the device would have gone off. I step closer taking a closer look. I notice there are no real explosives to cause any damage just enough to make a loud sound. Had Ranger turned the key and the knob it would have gone off but only succeeding in scaring someone not harming them. I yell to Ranger form inside the door.

"Ranger ¿me oyes? No es un dispositivo que se ha colocado en el pomo de la puerta. Es principalmente diseñado para asustar a ella que su daño. Angelito había abierto la puerta que habría hecho un ruido fuerte y la asustó, pero no han perjudicado a ella o el apartamento. Estoy desactivar ahora en pocos minutos se puede entrar No es más el que hizo esto la dejó una sorpresa en su dormitorio en su cama." (Ranger can you hear me? There is a device that has been placed on the knob of the door. It's mainly designed to scare her than harm her. Had Angelito opened the door it would have made a loud noise and scared her but wouldn't have harmed her or the apartment. I am disabling now in a few minutes you can come in. There is more whoever did this left her a surprise in her bedroom on her bed.) I couldn't keep the venom out of my voice for that last part.

Ranger yelled back thru the door "Hector gracias y gracias por la advertencia." (Hector thank you and thanks for the warning.) "No hay problema" (no problem) I told him as I opened the door for them to enter.

RPOV

Hector opens the door and shows me the device. My Babe's intuition is never off she doesn't know how amazing she is. "Babe the door was rigged with a device that I had I turned the knob it would have gone off. You stopped me. You followed your intuition Babe your Spidey Sense and you saved me." She looks at me and tears well up in her eyes as her arms go around me and she holds me to her so tightly that we couldn't force a piece of paper between us.

"Babe it's okay shush don't cry Babe." "No it isn't okay Ranger you could have been harmed you could have been taken away from me, it isn't alright." "Babe the device wasn't dangerous it was mainly for sound than actual boom. It wouldn't have harmed us but I wanted you to know how important your intuition is. Your intuition had no way of knowing what type of device it was. It could have harmed us all. I wanted to let you know how important it is that you keep listening to your spidey sense and never doubt it Babe. I know I don't." The device was fairly amateur not really impressive to anyone who has ever built a bomb but I took the warning it served seriously.

I wanted to see what this Stalker had left for my Babe before she walked in so I distracted her a little. "Babe why don't you, and the guys start in the living room packing up the things you want to take while I go tell Ram that he can come down off of the fire escape." Please buy it. She looked at me and nodded. Whew.

I walked into her bedroom and went to the Bed. What was there disgusted me and sickened me. I knew there was no way around the men seeing this but on the other hand I also knew that it would embarrass my Babe. My anger was about to boil over as I gave Ram the sign to come inside. As he was making his way down the fire escape I closed and locked her bedroom window. Well it was no or never.

I walked to the bedroom door and called for my Babe. "Babe, will you come in here now there is something that I need to show you and you need to see." I knew the guys would stay behind since I didn't asked them join her, but I also knew it was no way around it they would see it.

SPOV

I heard Ranger call me from the other room. I had just got started packing my movies, my little things I had on the shelf of my entertainment center in a box. "Babe, will you come in here now there is something that I need to show you and you need to see." Oh god dread filled me. I knew this wasn't going to be good. I could feel my stomach wanting to revolt. After the device on the door it was just too good to think that there was nothing else wrong. I should have known better. It is never that simple when it comes to me.

I make my way to the bedroom and notice that none of the guys follow me. Oh this is so not good this is bad very bad. I mean like babies dying bad, puppies drowning bad. With every step I feel it even stronger and my desire to just run the other way grows leaps and bounds.

My apartment is small but walking from the living room to my bedroom felt like I was walking the green mile. If I listened carefully I could probably hear the walls whispering 'walkin' the mile, walkin' the mile, walkin' the green mile' as I took each step towards Ranger and my bedroom.

By the time I reached Ranger I had worked myself up into full blown panic mode. "Babe you need to calm down and breathe in and out slowly, breathe in and out." He demonstrated as he was telling me. I locked eyes with him as I started to follow his breathing patterns. It took a couple of seconds but I finally had my breathing under control. "Babe, know that we will find the person who did this and we will make him pay." I nodded my head as I made my way further into my bedroom.

When I saw the bed I couldn't control it, bile rose in my throat and I took off running towards the bathroom. I barely made it had any of the guys followed me into the hallway it would have been bad. As it was I had christened most of the toilet. I threw up and threw up until there was nothing left to throw up and I was left dry heaving and gagging. Ranger was right behind me holding my hair back rubbing my back and neck with a cold damp washcloth.

I made it to the sink to rinse my mouth out and brush my teeth to rid myself of the puke fest. My legs still wobbly I slowly made it back to my bedroom. This time the guys following me. I wasn't sure I wanted them seeing this but after my reaction I knew they would want to see what upset me so much. Ranger was right beside me and the guys were filed in behind us. When we got to the door I turned around facing them before we walked into the room.

"Guys there is something that I have to tell you here before you walk in here. You have to know that what you are going to see none of it is mine. I don't know where it came from but none of it is mine, was mine and none of it was here while I was here with the exception of the clothing used." I looked at my best friend Lester "Lester please don't make any comments about anything you see, okay" My eyes pleading with him. I was embarrassed as it was for them to see this that I didn't think I could take any comments.

Lester looked confused at first but then just agreed "Beautiful I don't know what it is but I promise I won't make any comments I can tell how upset you are and trust me Beautiful I don't want you to ever be upset like this." I just smiled at him. Sometimes he knew exactly what to say.

I turned and walked back into the room. Looking at the offending bed one more time taking everything in piece by piece on the bed someone had laid out several scenes for me. He created scenes with pictures from magazines, sex toys, and then used my under ware and negligees. Dispersed thru it all were condoms that appeared to have been used and notes for me. There were candles on the bed that you can tell had been lit and some wax spilled on to the comforter. There were also handcuffs, whips, and even chains.

I could feel the tension in the room as the guys looked at my offending bed. I could feel the anger, the heat and hatred rolling off of their bodies. I instinctively knew none of it was directed at me. I am not sure how I knew that but I knew it. We were family now and they were feeling like this because of how this stuff affected me, how it made me feel, and the fact that someone out there has a very sick sexual appetite and that someone has now set his eyes on me and from what the messages say that someone wants me to fulfill that sick appetite by acting out the sex scenes he has setup on my bed. I take Carlos' hand as I start to look over each of the scenes on my bed I need his strength and the assurance that he has hasn't left my side while I look over the scenes my newest stalker as left for me. I hope to find some clue as to who this guy may be.

It is a good thing I agreed to move in with Carlos because I would never be able to sleep in this apartment another night after seeing this. The first scene started with a magazine picture of woman sucking a man's dick. With that scene was a pair of my black thongs with a used condom laying on top. The note read. _The rumor is you don't go down on men, that you won't take their dick between those lips of yours but I will teach you, I will be your first and you will suck my dick while I fuck your mouth until I cum and then you will swallow my cum as it fills your mouth. I have left you a sample if you would like a taste think of it as an early treat_.

The second scene was a magazine picture of a man and woman having sex. There were several viberators of various lengths and thickness positioned around a picture of a girl holding herself open with her fingers. More of the used condoms and one of my negligees was lying near the picture of the girl along with another candle with spilled wax. The note read. _I have heard that you suck when it comes to satisfying a man. That you can't satisfy a real man in bed I really hope for your sake that wasn't true. I hope for your sake that you take the time while you are fucking those men of Rangeman to learn some new skills because I don't like it when my women don't satisfy me in bed. Not satisfying me in bed would end very badly for you Stephanie and I wouldn't want to see that happen. _I shuddered when I finished reading the note. Carlos pulled me closer to him.

"Babe do you need a break?" "No, I want to continue I may be able to find a clue as to who this person is. I am just embarrassed that you and the guys are seeing this." "Don't Babe this says nothing about you and everything about some sick demented sexual pervert out there that has focused on you. We will find him until then don't fear Babe he will never get his hands on you." I smiled and once again put a brave face forward. Carlos always knew what to say to me.

The third scene was a magazine picture of two women and one man having sex with each other. The picture was a woman on her back with another woman on top each between each other's legs while a man was having sex with the woman on top from behind. Where do you even get pictures like that? Again more pictures of girls holding themselves open this time there were two of them. More viberators along with a strap with a penis attached. Even a couple of fake tongues were placed around the pictures with two pair of my lace under ware where he had slit the crotched and propped it open as if they were crotch less panties. Used condoms, candle, spilt candle wax finished out the scene. The note read. _I am just going to go with a feeling here that this is something that you wouldn't consider doing at this point. Maybe I should suggest two men since you probably have had some experience with that now. But that really isn't my thing so hopefully one will transfer to the other and you won't mind another woman joining us. Because other women will be joining us and you will need to perform one way or the other to keep me and my other women satisfied. But it will be good to not have to force you but I will if you don't comply. You could try thinking like mikey by just trying it, you just might find that you like it! _

I wanted to puke again. I was so grossed out, I was so repulsed, and so embarrassed and now reading these notes these threats I just wanted to hide my head in the sand and force myself in denial land. This wasn't happening to me, it didn't happen. I would never wash the dirt off of that these pictures, the toys, the used condoms, and the notes were making me feel.

The fourth scene on the bed was a picture of a man and woman having sex from behind. You could see from the picture that he was in the back door if you know what I mean. I shuddered just seeing it. But more disgusting were the pictures of women's asses that he had placed the sex toys, used condoms, and a pair of my boy short but with this time he back cut out of them. Gross! The letter read: _I know by just looking at you that you have a virgin ass and I can't wait to be your first. I promise you it will be fun and good for the both of us by the time I am done with you. You will be begging me to fuck you in the ass every time we are together. I can hardly wait. It won't be long._

I could feel myself wanting to heave my stomach contracting making me gag. I pushed it down one more scene to look at and then I was done. I wanted nothing more than to just run back to Haywood bury my head in Ranger's sheets and never come out again. My embarrassment was complete as well as my humiliation in front of the guys. I tried not to think about it and think about it like everyone of my prior stalkers but this wasn't like any stalker I had ever had.

The final scene on the bed was a picture of a man and woman in bondage. The woman was handcuffed to something the man had on a leather mask and he was holding a whip. You could see red spots on the woman's skin near her breast and lower body. Here he once again and pictures of a woman being spread wide by restraints and around that picture were whips, leather, chains, and other devices that I wasn't sure what they did. He chose a black negligee which he spilled candle wax on the breast and crotch area. With this scene the letter read: _I can't wait to tie you up to handcuff you to my bed. To restrain your feet so I have you at my mercy. I will whip you and pour wax on your nipples and your pussy until you beg me to fuck you. You will be mine I will take you soon, very soon and make you mine in all the ways you see displayed here._

I turned to walk out of the room barely able to look at the guys I just felt dirty, unworthy of them to look at too touch. "Guys I don't want anything from this room or much from my apartment." I could no longer hold off the tears. I could never put on my clothes again without thinking about this man putting his hands on them. Going thru my drawers with my under ware, my personal items. Him doing god only knows what while he was going thru my things. I slowly made my way back to the living room.

Some things you can't just un-see and those scenes were one of them. The notes kept flashing thru my mind the words kept coming back to me as though my mind was replaying a video. I barely made it to the couch before I just collapsed it had been too much. Ranger was beside me before it even registered that he was with me and he was pulling me into his arms.

RPOV

I didn't know what I wanted to do. I wanted to hold my Babe and comfort her and tell her that none of that affects who she is that it is just someone's sick mind. I wanted to erase the fact that she ever had to see that but I was thankful she didn't have to see it by herself that I was there for her that her brother's and family was here for her. But most of all I just wanted to kill someone. The rage, the hatred, and fear I felt wanted an outlet needed an outlet. I wanted this man found, I wanted this man beaten, I wanted this man tortured, I wanted this man's dick cut off, but mostly I wanted this man's life.

Putting his sites on my Babe would have been enough for me to want to hunt him down and find him but by him threatening to take her force her to perform some of those scenes he had laid out on her bed. The notes he left attacked her womanhood, her sexuality, sexual positions and things that a man and a woman who loved each other may enjoy sharing with each other he turned dirty, disgusting, and cheap. Taking more experiences from my Babe and me that we could have shared together would now be tainted by the scenes he had laid out on her bed. I want his life truth be told I wanted more than his life. I wanted to kill him bury his body unbury it and kill him all over again. But since that isn't possible I will have to make the most out of killing him the first time.

I held my Babe as she cried, shuddered, and gagged. I knew she was replaying the scenes the notes in her mind. I just held her tight to me. I whispered to her "I am right here Babe and I am not leaving your side. I am here." She needed time to process what she saw, how she felt and I was going to give that to her but I also wanted her to know that I was right there and I wasn't going anywhere she could take her time.

I figured she would want to call the police to report she had a stalker I just wasn't sure exactly how we were going to do this. I knew she didn't want anyone other than me and the guys that were here to see all of things displayed on her bed. If I messed with the crime scene and then reported it I could be causing a problem with the investigation from the side of the law, not that this was going to court. He would be long dead before any court had a chance with him. I finally decided to leave the decision up to my Babe.

After a little while she finally calmed down. The guys remained in the bedroom processing the scene. I knew they had a kit brought over. I knew they would be scanning for finger prints, bagging the pictures, the notes and the items found. Hell truth be known my guys were better at crime scene preservation than anyone on the police force and rightfully so they were trained by some of the best crime scene investigators and forensic specialists in the country.

"Babe what do you want to do about reporting this? Do you want to call the police?" She looks up at me. Her eyes haunted and hollow looking and another wave of rage courses thru my veins. "What choice do I have Ranger? I don't want anyone seeing what is in there. I am already humiliated that your guys have to see it, that you had to see it." Why were they all of a sudden my guys again was she pulling away from us?

"Babe look at me, you have nothing to be humiliated by. No one is judging you, no one feels less for you because of what some sick sexual pervert some son of a bitch has done. If anything most of them are ready to kill him they are so angry at him for hurting you and putting you in this position. Believe me Babe anger doesn't even come close to how they are feeling and none of it is directed at you." She nodded her head. "Carlos deep down I know that I keep trying to tell myself that but I just feel dirty, unworthy, not good enough to be their friend, their sister..and…" she paused chocking on her words. Swallowing hard she continued "and your future wife."

I grab her and crush her against me she isn't walking away, I can't let her. Now that I have her I can't let her go. "Babe listen to me you are the same person that you were when we walked into your apartment nothing has changed with you. You are not dirty, you are more than worthy of us babe if there are unworthy people in this relationship Babe it is us not you. You, not good enough? Babe we don't know anyone better than you. Normally I don't speak for my men when it comes to their feelings or how they feel about something, someone but in this case I know how they feel. Babe you are the good we seek the light we need in our lives. You remind us that there is good in this world and it is worth fighting for." She was just looking at me saying nothing tears filling her eyes.

"Babe, please know that this changes nothing between us, nothing between what we share as a man and a woman who love each other. What you saw in there doesn't change you, it doesn't change what I see when I look at you, it doesn't change how much I love you, how much I need you, it doesn't change how much I desire you. Furthermore it will never change or affect what we give each other when we make love. Those scenes that were laid out for you were disgusting, dirty, and cheapen what a man and woman who love each may enjoy together."

"Carlos?" I look at her "Yeah Babe" "How is it that you always know exactly what it is I need to hear and say it when I need to hear it?" "I don't know Babe I guess it is just the connection we have. I don't know why I am just glad I do." Her lips touched mine and gently we kissed each other confirming our connection, our love for each other.

"Babe what do you want to do about calling the police?" She looked at me "Do we have to call them?" "Babe, the guys are processing the things now bagging, tagging, taking pictures of the scene. They are better than anyone on the Trenton force when it comes to processing a crime scene so no we don't have to call them right now." My Babe looks thoughtful for a moment, now this reminds me of my Babe. "Carlos, do they have the ability to process the evidence they have gathered?" "Yeah Babe we have the ability to process evidence for things like finger prints, DNA, etc." I know her answer as she looks at me "Well can they just process it and see what evidence we have and if we have any then we can call the police and turn it over, if not then let's just keep this between us right now, okay?"

I smile at her "Sounds like a plan Babe. I am proud of you. Babe you never disappoint." I wanted my guys processing the scene something told me that it was important to keep TPD in the dark about this as long as possible but I was going to give my Babe the opportunity to report it if she wanted to. "Babe I need to speak to the guys for a minute are you going to be okay here on the couch or do you want to come back with me?" She was thoughtful for a moment then responded no "Carlos I will be fine. Go talk to them I am going to finish up in here and listen to my messages on the phone. Once I am done in here I will be ready to go. I am not taking anything from my Bedroom with me." "Okay Babe, I will be right back."

I make my way to her bedroom. The guys are busy processing the scene. I step thru the door. "Guys I know I don't need to say this but be careful with every shred of evidence. I don't want anything happening to any of the evidence. If we have something here we can use I don't want it taken away because it wasn't properly collected or handled wrong. Guys dot your I's and cross your T's on this one. I know you are the best but mistakes can happen and I know you all are emotionally attached to this one."

Tank spoke up first "Rangeman how is my little girl? How is she holding up?" I looked at Tank "She is shaken. She is worried that you all will view her different or having seen what was here. She said that she felt dirty, unworthy, and that she wasn't good enough to be our friend, sister, and future wife."

All the guys started to speak at once shaking their heads in protest. I held up my hand "Guys, guys" getting their attention "Don't worry I told her that she wasn't being judged that you all still loved her and thought of her as your sister, that we only saw good in her and that she was worthy if there was someone unworthy than it would be us. She has calmed down a little and is in the living room finishing packing up the things in there."

I looked across the men and Santos was no longer with us. He was probably talking to my Babe. I would be willing to bet he didn't wait around to hear the end of my little speech. I will hang out here and watch the guys for a little and give him time to talk to her. While he is crazy and can manage to say the most stupid shit at the most inopportune moment he somehow knows exactly what to say to Steph to make things better for her.

LPOV

Processing the scene made me furious. I wanted this mother fucker's head both of them. I was going to make sure this mother fucker paid. He would pay dearly death wouldn't find him fast I would make sure of it. Death was after all one of my specialties as a Ranger and I would personally make sure that death eluded this asshole for a very long time.

I went about documenting, bagging and tagging the evidence but my mind was on Beautiful. What she must be feeling and thinking. I knew it would take all of us to pull her through having seen what this sick son of a bitch had setup for her.

I am a ladies' man and I have probably done everything in all of these scenes and more but it was never done cheap, dirty, and disgusting as these scenes were laid out on her bed. Hell I had done them and never felt the way the presented scenes made me feel. This was one sexually sick fucker and I hope to have him in my sites before long.

We were almost finished with processing everything when Ranger walked into the room making the announcement. "Guys I know I don't need to say this but be careful with every shred of evidence. I don't want anything happening to any of the evidence. If we have something here we can use I don't want it taken away because it wasn't properly collected or handled wrong. Guys dot your I's and cross your T's on this one. I know you are the best but mistakes can happen and I know you all are emotionally attached to this one."

Fucking A we are emotionally attached. How could we not be, it was our sister, our friend, my best friend that this fucker is going after of course we are fucking emotional. Stupid fucker didn't need to tell us or remind us.

Tank spoke up first "Rangeman how is my little girl? How is she holding up?" he looked at Tank and it felt like I was on pins and needles waiting to hear "She is shaken. She is worried that you all will view her different or having seen what was here. She said that she felt dirty, unworthy, and that she wasn't good enough to be our friend, sister, and future wife." That was all I could hear I bolted from the room in search of Beautiful.

I found her in the living room standing in front of a box with tears running down her eyes. I walked up to her and put my arms around her. "Beautiful please don't cry. When you cry you make me want to cry and when I cry I ruin my makeup." She giggles at my comment as her arms go around me.

"Shush Beautiful please don't cry. It is going to be okay I promise." She looked at me "Lester, do you still want to be my brother, my best friend? I mean after" I pulled her tighter against me. My throat went dry as the Sahara desert as I tried to form words and then speak them.

"Beautiful you are my best friend and sister, nothing will ever change it. We may not share the same blood as a bloodline brother and sister do but, I am your brother and you are my sister in all the ways that count, I love you as much if not more than I love my bloodline sister. It doesn't matter what happens nothing could change that. Especially not some pictures and cheap crap that someone left for you in an attempt to scare you."

"Lester I love you too, know that you are my brother and my best friend and I love you nothing will change that." "Beautiful let me help you pack up the rest of your things in here." She smiles at me nodding.

It wasn't long before we had the things she wanted all packed up. She went into the kitchen and grabbed her cookie jar that was all she was going to take from the kitchen with her. I checked her refrigerator and it was empty other than a few bottles of water and a single bottle of beer. I briefly thought what the hell does she eat. She looked sheepishly at me "Money has been tight. I haven't had the money to go food shopping."

Holy hell she didn't have any food in her apartment. I let her walk out of the kitchen hanging back I checked her cabinets and they were empty as well other than a box of pellets for Rex. No wonder she ate with such gusto when we would feed her. How did I not know this before? I wondered. I now had even more reasons to be glad she was moving into Rangeman.

TPOV

"Rangeman I think we are finished with the evidence. If my little girl has finished packing what she wants we can head home." He looks at me and nods as he walks out of the bedroom. The guys and I follow him to the living room where my little girl is standing by the phone.

"Babe have you finished packing everything you want?" She looks up at him "Yeah it is just these two boxes I am taking. The rest can go to the dumpster I don't want any of it." "Okay Babe"

She looks over at us "Guys I am sorry you had to see that. I am embarrassed and humiliated but I want you all to know that I still love you, I still feel as though you are my brothers, my friend I only hope that you still feel the same way about me." There were a chorus of 'of course we do', 'you can't get rid of us that quickly', and 'we love you's' from the men around me.

"Little Girl you are my sister and no sick demented twist son of a bitch is going to change that." She just smiled at me and then said. "Thank you guys I love you all too. If you don't mind I want to get my messages off of the phone and then I will be ready."

I wanted to verify that she did in fact wanted what was left in her apartment to be thrown away. "Little girl are you sure about the rest of your things, you sure you want them thrown away?" Looking at me she said "Tank, I packed what I wanted. I couldn't wear any of my clothes if I took them not after what…so yeah I got everything I want the rest is trash."

She turned back to the answering machine while I turned to the guys "Guys you heard her let's get the rest of this stuff to the dumpster. We split up a couple of guys for each the living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, leaving her bedroom for last. None of us really wanted to go back in there. When we got there we would take a box and just dump the contents of her drawers in the boxes we put the stuff from her closest in boxes and bags and hauled it all down to the dumpster including the bed, mattress, and linens even the dresser. When we were done the apartment was completely empty.

SPOV

I was standing by my answering machine when Carlos walked back into the room with the guys behind him. "Babe have you finished packing everything you want?" I look up at him "Yeah it is just these two boxes I am taking. The rest can go to the dumpster I don't want any of it." "Okay Babe"

I looks over at the guys "Guys I am sorry you had to see that. I am embarrassed and humiliated but I want you all to know that I still love you, I still feel as though you are my brothers, my friend I only hope that you still feel the same way about me." There were a chorus of 'of course we do', 'you can't get rid of us that quickly', and 'we love you' from the guys as they all started talking at the same time.

Tank spoke up "Little Girl you are my sister and no sick demented twist son of a bitch is going to change that." I just smiled at Tank and then told them. "Thank you guys I love you all too. If you don't mind I want to get my messages off of the phone and then I will be ready."

Tank got my attention again "Little girl are you sure about the rest of your things, you sure you want them thrown away?" I Looked at Tank and told him "Tank, I packed what I wanted. I couldn't wear any of my clothes if I took them not after what…so yeah I got everything I want the rest is trash." Then I turned back to the answer machine.

There were over a hundred messages. I am sure the burg grapevine had gone crazy after the past couple of days. I push play and it was as if claws were being drawn over a chalk board when the voice came on.

"_Stephanie Michelle Plum this is your mother. You are due for dinner this evening at six p.m. sharp. You better be here little lady if you know what is best for you. If you ever want Pineapple upside down cake again in your lifetime you will be here for dinner tonight."_ I deleted it there was no way I was going there for dinner tonight. I have had all I can take in one day. I don't want her finding out that I have yet another stalker on top of everything else that is going on in my life. But if I didn't go it would probably only make matters worse. I looked at the time it was quarter to six.

Part of me wanted to run to our apartment take a boiling shower and blockade myself in and never come out. The other part of me wanted to get this dinner over with so I wouldn't have to worry about it. Monday I started training and I knew I would have to be top of my game for that. Okay that decided it I will go tonight. I listened to a few of the other messages Lula, Connie, Mary Lou all asking about how I was doing, how I was holding up. More from my mom and a few from Joe demanding that I call him I just deleted them I will deal with them later. I finally got tired and just deleted the remainder of the messages.

"Ranger my mother left me voice mail demanding that I come to dinner tonight at six. I don't want to subject you to anymore tonight so I will get you to drop me off and you can then pick me up later. I don't really feel like going but I want to get it over with before my training starts. I want to be focused on Monday morning." "Babe you never disappoint, but I won't be dropping you off. I will be going with you."

My mouth drops he is going with me. Holy hell he knows how crazy dinner with the plums can be and he is willing to go for me. "That's right Babe I am willing to do anything for you even dinner at your parents. Te amo Babe." I smile at him and repeat "Te amo" Carlos' growls at the sound of me speaking his native tongue.

I quickly deleted the rest of the messages I didn't need to hear all of them. I am sure most of them were from my mother. I took another look around my apartment and it was empty. The guys made fast work of throwing away everything not that I had a whole lot. I quickly left my termination in Dillion's mailbox as he wasn't in and we all walked out the parking lot. Ranger and I heading to my parent's and the rest of the guys back to Rangeman. I quickly gave all of them hugs and kisses and thanked them for their help before getting in the car with Carlos.


	15. Chapter 14: Preparing Pt2

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**Another long chapter for you guys. Actually I think this is the longest chapter I have written but it is the dinner scene, then the aftermath I didn't make you wait. I want the next chapter to be her training so I just put everything in this chapter. Since the updates are coming slower I thought I would give you more. I Hope you enjoy it!**

Chapter 14: Preparing Pt2

HectorPOV

Something is feeding me, pulsing thru my body. After hearing Angelito tell Ranger that she was going to her mother's for dinner tonight I have been unsettled. I have spent too many nights and days as a gang member to one of the most notorious gangs in the city to just ignore that pulse. That is the same pulse that has kept me alive. While I was in the gang and when I decided I wanted to leave the gang.

Where I come from you don't leave a gang. Once you are member the only way out is death. I wasn't just a lowly gang member of my gang. I was one of the big dogs, I was one of the members that all the other members looked up to wanted to achieve to be and wanted to defeat to prove they were stronger. Some tried but none succeeded the smart ones weren't afraid to admit they were too scared to try to test my power.

When I decided to leave the gang and become a better citizen a better person they came at me with everything they had but none were able to stop me. The only thing their effort got them was dead. I had just about wiped out the whole gang I was a member of because of their stupid shit. They should have known better but in the end I understood they had a code to uphold and I had broken the code. I could respect that but that didn't mean I would let them succeed it just meant that when they came for me I had to be the one that succeeded. The winner and I was even if it were my own gang brothers I was fighting.

I am hardened to life and taking a life doesn't mean much to me. The guys know my reputation shoot first and ask questions later. Why the fuck not it had saved my life more than once on the streets and I didn't see the point to trying to fix something that wasn't fucking broken.

Then Angelito walks into my life thru Rangeman. While I don't work with her a whole lot I watch her. I watch out for her. I protect her. I can see a goodness that radiates from her and I protect that goodness. Angelito means little angel. She is my little Angel, Angelito. I am not even sure she knows yet that I call her that that I feel that way about her but it doesn't matter. One day I will tell her or she will find out.

I make sure her trackers are working, I make sure panic buttons work, I even watch her on the videos while she is at Rangeman to make sure none of the guys are rude to her. If they step out of line with her I remind them of how a respectful man should act around a lady. Most of the guys love her and care for her but there are a few that don't of those most won't say anything to her or out loud about her for fear of the other guys hearing. But on occasions there have been some contract workers that mouthed out concerning her. I had fun putting them in their place. I never told Ranger or Tank maybe I should have but I took care of it and it seemed to get them back in shape. Besides they temporary contract works they weren't there long.

People tend to talk freely around you when they think you can't understand them. I use it to my advantage whenever I can and I never let on that I know and understand English just as well as anyone born and raised in America. That is my secret and I have told no one. I have used it to keep people safe, to thwart a bad guy's plans, and I use it to watch over my Angelito.

We are currently in an SUV heading back to Rangeman while Angelito and Ranger are headed to Angelito's parent's place. Ranger may kick my ass later but as soon as I get to Rangeman I am going to get my gear and I am going over the Angelito's parents to watch their backs. If I am wrong I will welcome the ass kicking but I won't be wrong I know it with this pulse feeling they will need me. The way it is coursing thru my veins I won't be settled until I know my Angelito is safe.

MPPOV

I left the grocery store with a roast for dinner tonight. I planned on Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Spinach, Gravy and biscuits for dinner. I hurried thru the store getting the items I needed and checked out. Hurrying home I had very little time to get things together and do what I knew I would need to do before dinner. I just hoped that mother would still be out of the house.

I remembered her having an afternoon visitation so she should be out. I smiled. I needed to throw Frank off. Part of me didn't want to interfere with the feelings that I had felt earlier by carrying thru with this but it was a necessity if I am going to keep meeting Joseph and since I wasn't planning to give it up anytime soon on my own I definitely need to make sure my trail was covered.

When I pulled up I noticed the cab was back. So Frank was home good. I smiled and got out of the car and took the groceries in and put them away. I got the roast started as that would need a few hours to cook. Once I had it cooking I took off in search of Frank.

I found him sitting in the living room as I stepped thru the doorway. His eyes never leaving the TV am I surprised. I think to myself, my son didn't even turn on the TV while we were together this afternoon and I can't get Frank to turn his head.

I walk up to him "Frank" He turns and looks at me. I bend over in front of him pretending to pick something up off of the floor. I then turn around and remind him that Mother will be out of the house for a few hours and suggest that he join me upstairs. "Honey you know Mother will be out of the house for a few hours this afternoon and the roast has a couple of hours of cook time. Care to join me upstairs?" Men can be so easy.

Frank paused the TV and gets up following me. I think he wouldn't want to miss any of his show oh well he never lasts long anyway and all I need is an excuse for my afterglow should my mouthy mother say anything about it when she sees me. Maybe I could coax him to stay in bed with me longer if I show him some of those new moves I learned today. I can always tell him I learned them on Oprah he is so dumb he would believe it.

We walk in the bedroom and I shut and lock the door, just in case. Then I dropped to my knees in front of Frank pulling at his pants thinking I am sexy tigress hear me roar.

FrankPOV

I was watching ESPN when I heard Helen pull in the driveway. I wondered where she had been but when she entered thru the kitchen door and I heard her banging away in the there and rustling bags I figured she had been at the store.

I heard her doing her thing in the kitchen while I was getting caught up on the latest basketball and hockey league happenings when she walked into the living room. She called my name to get my attention and then bent over in front of me picking something up off of the floor.

"Honey you know Mother will be out of the house for a few hours this afternoon and the roast has a couple of hours of cook time. Care to join me upstairs?" What is up with her she never asks for sex during the middle of the day but who am I to pass on the opportunity? I paused the TV and get up following her upstairs.

We walk into our bedroom and she closes and locks the door. I turn at the sound of the lock engaging as she stalks over to where I am standing. When she reaches me she drops to her knees and makes light work of getting my pants down. She takes me in her mouth and immediately starts working my dick. Oh this is going to be a fine round of afternoon sex. It has been a long time since my wife has done this to me. I have almost forgotten what it feels like. I may have to return the favor and extend our love making and forget catching up on the sport statistics.

MPPOV

As I walk downstairs from our bedroom I can't help the smug smile on my face. I Helen Plum have had sex with two men in the same day. I Helen Plum have had two men screaming my name while I sucked them and fucked them. I felt empowered, I felt sexy again, I felt enlightened. It had been a while since I had screamed anyone's name including Frank's and today I had not only screamed more than once I had screamed more than once with more than one man. I still had it.

I step into the kitchen to finish making our dinner and my thoughts return to Stephanie. That daughter of mine I just didn't understand. I want her to be happy, I want her to be married, I want her to have children, I want her to be a stay at home mother and wife. I want her to care for her children and her husband as I have for my children and my husband. Frank certainly should have no complaints. At least he didn't just a few minutes ago when he was screaming my name. I was so happy and so sated that I was practically bubbling. No matter what I tried to focus on my thoughts kept drifting back to my love sessions with my future son and my husband. Oh what a day! If I still kept a journal today's entry would definitely be an entry filled with and dot dot dot.

I still had it and after feeling what I did today I had no intentions of giving it up and I be damn if I am going to allow that bitch daughter of mine Stephanie to ruin it. She will take my son back, she will marry him, and she will become the person he wants her to be if it is the last thing I see happen. I am not going to have him pull away from me because my daughter is too stupid to see that it is going to happen and she shouldn't bother to fight it. I smile as I go over the plan my son and I came up with this afternoon.

Stephanie would come for dinner tonight at 6:00. Joe was going to park out behind the house so she would not know he was here until she was in the house. He actually was going to hang out back until she was in the house and in the dining room then he would come in the back door and join us.

We would all sit together and have a good meal. When it came time for dessert I would lure Stephanie into the kitchen where Joe would join us. I would already have their dessert packaged and ready to go and from there he and Stephanie would leave out of the back door go across the lawn to his waiting car on the next street over.

If Stephanie didn't want to go well Joe would encourage her to see things his way and if push comes to shove he would just handcuff and carry her over to his car. Then he would take her to his house and they could talk out their relationship until Stephanie agrees with him.

Hopefully tomorrow we will start planning their wedding. Then hopefully not long after that we will be planning a baby shower. I told him to just stop wearing the condoms even if she insisted just say no and take her she would give into him and let it happen if he applied the right pressure.

I just hoped that once he had Stephanie he would still want me for a romp between the sheets because after today I really wasn't ready to go back to the way things were. I took a beer to Frank in the living room. His paused TV was all forgotten about and whatever he had been watching was long over. I handed Frank the beer and I couldn't help but notice the smile on his face.

Oh yeah he was happy with me tonight. Having done that might have served more than one purpose not only did it account for my afterglow it made him happy with me so if there was any friction tonight with Stephanie or my Mother he would take my side after all I held the key to him feeling like that again. If he sided with me I may be more inclined to give him more, if he sided with them well I would just hold out on him. Oh what do they say about paybacks? Paybacks are a bitch and I am just the bitch to deliver

HectorPOV

When we got to Haywood I immediately went to my electronics office. I gathered the devices I needed and made sure my gun was loaded and my stun gun was fully charged. I checked to make sure I had all my blades on me. I knew with this pulse coursing thru m that anything could happen and I made sure I was prepared for anything. You didn't live to be as old as I was in a gang by being stupid or unprepared.

I wasn't old by most people's standards I am thirty-two but by a gang member standards especially in a gang as notorious as the gang I was in well I was ancient. That is why I was feared people instinctively knew I was dangerous and feared me. For those that chose to be my adversary they learned quickly as my hands dealt them death that there was reason to be afraid. That I was to be respected and feared for I would deliver them straight to the depths of hell and then walk back out.

Angelito saw none of that knew any of that. She somehow had found good in me. She made me see good not only in others but in myself. There isn't anything I wouldn't do to protect her including giving my own life if necessary. Here I had fought against some of the meanest, badest, and deadliest mother fuckers to walk the face of the earth and I had lived. I had protected my life I had fought for my life and I would give it up for hers. To say I would fight for Angelito well that went mildly. I would fight harder for her life than I have ever fought for my own.

The pulse I felt was telling me that tonight maybe one of those nights where I would have to fight for my Angelito and I was going to be prepared.

I pull out of the garage heading to Angelito's.

SPOV

We left my apartment and it only took a few minutes to get to my parent's. I really didn't want to go in so when we pulled up out front I sat in the car for a few minutes. I will be honest with you I was praying for divine intervention. I was praying that something would happen anything aliens zap up the house, aliens zap me up, tornado come and swoop me up taking me to the other side of the rainbow, I could face the wicked witch of the west better than I could my mother. But in the end divine intervention just wasn't on my side.

I looked to Carlos. He was just watching me with a slight turn up of his lip. Great he had just ESP'd me and knows all about the aliens and tornado wishes. Maybe that is a good thing maybe he will think I am crazy and admit me into the crazy ward then I won't have to go in.

"Not a chance Babe. If I admitted you into the crazy ward then I would have to admit myself because I don't intend on sleeping alone tonight or any other night." Great so he got all of that as well at least he still wanted to sleep with me that was a plus. He broke my inner dialog.

"Babe let's just go in the quicker we get in there the quicker we can leave. Okay?" Okay I could get on board with that idea, the leaving part that is. "How about we just leave?" "Babe" was his only reply I took it to mean you can do this, you can face your demons and you will come out on the other side. Carlos got out of the car and came around to my door. He opened it and helped me out.

As we were making our way to the door I couldn't help but to think of the Book of Eli and I repeated what Eli said with each step "_though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me_" I know Eli said it to God but I said it with Carlos in mind I feared nothing even evil when he was beside me and my mom was pure evil. When I reached the door I remembered what Carlos, Lester, Tank and Bobby had told me about their mothers and how protective they were, how much they supported them and loved them and once again I found myself wanted their mothers to be mine.

As I reached for the door handle I steeled myself. I made the decision I wasn't going to let my mother get the best of me. I had found my legs with Joe and I was going to find my legs with my bitch of a mother. I had Carlos beside me I didn't need anything or anyone else he was my strength when I needed strength, he was my light when I was in the dark, he was my force and I was going to let it be with me. I was going to use it to stand up on my own two feet against my mother, against my whole family if necessary.

I saw Carlos looking at me watching me and I am certain he is understanding my every thought but I don't care I know he isn't making fun of me. I can tell by the feel of his hand on my back, my hand in his hand that he is offering his strength his support his love. He leans in and whispers in my ear "Babe, let's do this." Oh yeah he understood. I smile at him and give a quick tight nod. I open the door and we both step thru.

I typically call out if mom and grandma aren't standing by the door but tonight I just quietly and quickly walked in. It was exactly six o'clock so I figured everyone would be sitting at the table. When we walked in to the dining room I quickly noted there were two empty plates at the table. One I knew was for me but I didn't tell mom that Carlos was coming with me. She had something up her sleeve. I quickly squeezed Carlos' hand and he lightly responded telling me he saw it too.

"Mom, Dad, Grandma it is good to see you, you remember Ranger." I thought I would start of nice as we made our way to the two empty place settings on the table. I could see the look on my mother's face was pure rage. "Stephanie. Nice to see you again Ranger." My mother responded it was a forced response not sincere but she wasn't going to let go of her burg manners at least not yet.

Ranger and I fixed our plates and started eating when Grandma spoke up "Oh yes I remember Ranger, the man with the nice package." I blushed, my mother crossed herself and my dad just muttered something about a bat. My grandmother's eyes then pierced mine as her smile widened. "From the looks of you Stephanie I would say you know all about his package. That you have been having some fun of your own with his package you are glowing brighter than the light bulbs above us."

My mom gasped "Mother please we are eating dinner and we have a guest please don't say things like that around the dinner table." Mom no more finished when I heard the back door. I quickly thought this is who the extra plate was for. As the kitchen door opened I heard "Cupcake it is good to see you again…" Joe didn't finish his sentence as his eyes fell on Ranger sitting beside me.

My mother jumped up from the table "Oh Joseph it is nice of you to come. Would you like to join us for dinner? I will grab you a plate and some silverware, I will be right back." My mother hurried into the kitchen.

I could feel Ranger tense beside me but he wasn't going to make a move this was my move and he was letting me have it. Joe wanted to walk into my parent's house and act as though nothing had happened act as though we were still a couple and call me by that dreadful nickname then he was going to get it too. The burg would not be prepared for what might happen here tonight.

I wasn't sure the walls of this old house were prepared for what might happen here tonight. I doubt they were structurally capable of standing up to a category five hurricane and unless the tide suddenly shifted and washed Joe ass out cat five is what they were going to get. This was just the calm before the storm. You know that moment when the skies break open and the sun shines down and everything calms just before the storm hits. This was that moment. This was judgment day.

I reached for Carlos' hand as my fork hit the plate with a clatter. My Grandmother's eyes were bouncing around the room not sure who to land on first I could see the excitement building in her. Well at least she would have a show and something to tell the girls tomorrow at the clip and curl.

Joe was standing behind the last available chair at the table the chair beside my Grandmother on her left. My dad didn't even bother to look up he still had his head down and was just eating not paying attention to anyone. Typical Dad I thought. My mother returned with a plate and silverware for Joe and hurriedly worked around him sitting him a place at her table. I could see the excitement in my mother and wondered what the hell. When did she get so excited to see Joe at dinner? I squeezed Carlos' hand again and he responded letting me know he had picked up on her excitement as well.

Looking at my mom she had a little glow about her as well.

RPOV  
Walking up to the door I heard my Babe chanting at first I couldn't quite make out what she was saying but finally I heard her say "_though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me_" I was hoping that she was referring to me. Not that I had a thing against God I just like protecting my Babe and I like to know that she seeks that protection from me and that she doesn't fear because she knows I am there beside her and I would never let anything happen to her at least not as long as there is a breath in my body no harm would come to her if I could prevent it.

I watched her face as she reached the door the thoughts and feelings flashing thru her eyes. I paused just watching her giving her the time she needed to think thru what she was replaying in her head. I saw her steel herself I saw her confirm her standing in the world I saw her pulling herself up to her full height standing on her own two feet. My Babe was amazing simply amazing and watching her transform before me was hotter than hell. I almost picked her up and made a run for it. I knew she was ready and I was going to give her all the strength, all the courage, all the support I could give her.

I placed my hand at the small of her back and took her hand in my other hand. I lean into her "Babe, let's do this" she gives me a quick tight nod letting me know she is ready. She opens the door and we walk in.

We quietly walk thru the house until we reach the dining room. I quickly take note that there are two place settings. I didn't think my Babe had told anyone I would be coming. I feel her squeeze my hand she hadn't. They were expecting someone else and I bet I couldn't guess who that someone else might be. I lightly squeezed her hand to let her know I saw it.

My babe spoke first "Mom, Dad, Grandma it is good to see you, you remember Ranger." She was going for nice. Nice. "Stephanie. Nice to see you again Ranger." It was a forced response but I nodded my head to the greeting. I didn't feel the need to speak. We made our way to the table.

Babe and I fixed our plates and started eating when her Grandmother spoke up "Oh yes I remember Ranger, the man with the nice package." I just sat there my Babe blushed, her mother crossed herself and her dad just muttered something about a bat. Her Grandmother then locked eyes with my Babe as her smile widened. "From the looks of you Stephanie I would say you know all about his package. That you have been having some fun of your own with his package you are glowing brighter than the light bulbs above us."

Babe's mom gasped "Mother please we are eating dinner and we have a guest please don't say things like that around the dinner table." She no more finished when I heard the back door. I quickly thought this is who the extra plate was for. As the kitchen door opened I heard "Cupcake it is good to see you again…" Joe didn't finish his sentence as his eyes fell on me.

Babe's mother jumped up from the table "Oh Joseph it is nice of you to come. Would you like to join us for dinner? I will grab you a plate and some silverware, I will be right back." She hurried into the kitchen.

I could feel my Babe tense beside me but I wasn't going to make a move this was her move and I was letting her have it. I was just offering my strength, my support, and my love. I could tell my Babe was having a conversation with herself and I could feel the anger coiling thru her I could feel her controlling it using it to her benefit and I would have to say I have never been more proud of her or more turned on by her. Here I am sitting at her parent's table supporting a massive hard on luckily we are at the table because it hides it well. But she is so damn beautiful when she is like this it is hard for my body not to respond to her.

I felt her reach for my hand and I took it. She had made her decision I could tell by the way she held my hand. She was ready for battle. I quickly glanced around and wondered if the walls of this house would be able to support what my Babe was going to unleash here tonight.

Her mother came back in hurrying to set a place for Morelli at the table. She seemed excited different than times in the past when I had dinner here. Of course that had been a while and only a couple of times so I really didn't have much of a baseline for her but something told me she was acting a little off tonight. My Babe squeezed my hand again and I responded letting her know I had seen the same thing.

Morelli went to sit down and my Babe spoke up "Joe do not sit down at this table." Oh this was going to be good and damn it I didn't have a recorder. Joe looked at her "Cupcake your mother just invited me to join you all it would be rude if I didn't sit down." My Babe narrowed her eyes at him and her eyes turned to the color of cold blue steel and her voice turned icy which sent a shiver up my spin. "Joe I am warning you if you sit down you will not like what will happen. The last time we talked I told you to leave me alone, I told you to stop calling me cupcake I warned you. Sit down in that chair and there will be no further warnings." He looked at her turning slightly red. "Cupcake you can't tell me what to do in your parent's house your mother invited me I am sitting down and I am eating a nice home cooked meal." He looked over at Helen and she blushed.

It was like passing the microphone because her mother started "Stephanie how dare you treat a guest of this house the way you have for you to treat Joseph your future husband like that what are you thinking?." My Babe turned to look at her mother her eyes becoming fixed. "Mom Joe isn't my future husband. He will never be my husband he won't even be a friend when I am done with him." She glances back at him and then back to her mother.

She releases my hand and takes both of her hands and grabs my face pulling me to her and she kisses me with the intensity that I have to remind myself where I am. Holy hot hell if I died right this moment I would have been a happy man. "Mom, Dad, Grandma, and you, you sick fuck Joe I want you to all hear this and I want you all to know this beyond a shadow of a doubt. Ranger is my future husband I am his future wife he is my life and I am his and I choose him. I will always choose him it will never be Joe or anyone else. It will always be Carlos be Ranger so back the fuck off of me. If you have problems with my choice keep it to yourself or better yet if you can't keep it to yourself then shove it up your ass because I don't give a good flying fuck." Her mother gasp, her grandmother laughed, Morelli turned some shade between red and purple and her Dad just sat there almost in shock. I am not exactly sure what I felt. I think it would be somewhere along the lines of pride and jubilance she chose me but bad asses don't do jubilance.

"Stephanie I didn't raise you to speak like that to talk like that to say words like that. What kind of daughter are you that can say stuff like that at the dining room table. What kind of bitch did I raise that you could speak to your family like that to Joseph like that? Those men you have been hanging around those criminals they have been a bad influence on you. You need to apologize right this minute young lady and sever ties with those men those thugs. You need to apologize to Joseph and you need to accept his offer of marriage if you want to belong to this family. If you still want to be considered our daughter a part of this family you will act right, the way you were raised." Her mother screeched.

Babe's eyes turned hard and cold her voice was ice cold. "Mom you have never approved of a fucking thing I ever wanted. You were too embarrassed by me and disappointed in me my entire life to ever care or give a fuck what I wanted or how I felt. It was just what you wanted and what others would think that you cared about that mattered to you. You didn't care about me so stop fucking pretending to care now because I know you don't. You had your chance to protect me. You had your chance to defend me. You had your chance to care for me. And you had your chance to fight for me. And guess what mom you fucked up every single fucking time. You let me down that's right mom you let me, your daughter down." My babe took a deep breath I knew she wasn't finished

"When I came home when I was six fucking years old and told you what that sick son of a bitch did to me in his father's garage you blamed me and grounded me. Why didn't you protect me and defend me by notifying his parent's what he was doing to young girls. No you kept it our dirty little secret making me feel dirty at six years old mom." I know I am sick but why the fuck didn't I bring a recorder. This was pure beautiful. My Babe was taking her life back and she was calling those that wronged her to the mats. This was judgment day for her.

"When I was eight and jumped off the roof and broke my arm you lied when we got to the hospital. I could have been seriously injured I could have had internal bleeding a concussion and because you chose to lie to the doctor they didn't do any of the tests they should have, they only fixed my arm. Why didn't you make sure I got the care I needed by telling them the truth. Did you care for me? No you put me in danger by lying all to protect your dear precious image of our fucked up family."

Her Dad's fist connected with the table and then he spoke up "That is enough Stephanie you have said enough I think you should leave." She turned towards her dad and I knew that comment hurt her I knew he could hurt her the most. She grabbed my hand with a vice like grip as she set her sites on him.

"Dad you have always been quiet never speaking up and you choose to speak up now I guess I know where I stand in your life. Well that being the case and you choosing now to say something I have something to tell you. I looked to you for protection, I looked to you for support, I looked to you for love and I always questioned why I never really got it. I tried to force myself to believe that you loved me in spite of it but I guess I now have my answer to that. You taking mom and Joe's side so be it. Know that I no longer look to you for those things and I haven't for a long time. You didn't give them when I needed them and I sure as hell don't want them now when I don't. So you know you can go fuck yourself along with the rest of them." Holy shit she was hot and I silently prayed I never got on her bad side.

My Babe looked at me her eyes and voice softened "it would never happen batman" who the fuck was she kidding she had ESP, she had just ESP'd me.

She turned her gaze back to her mother and continued. "Like I said you had your chance. When I was sixteen and came home ashamed because that sick fuck Morelli had taken my virginity" She focuses on him as she clearly enunciates the following "without my consent, without my permission, and without my having told him yes." She looks back at her mom "He came in and locked the door and just took from me what he wanted. At the time Mom I didn't understand like I do today but he for all intents and purposes he raped me and what did you do what did dad do I tell you fucking nothing other than grounding me and calling me a slut who couldn't keep my legs together. Mom and dad just in case you two are too fucking stupid to realize it that was the moment when I needed my parent's I needed you to protect me, care for me, and fight for me instead I got something else far from that. Like I said you both had plenty of chances to do right by me and you both never made the right decision, never did the right thing, never cared about me above your worthless selves so don't hand me no shit about how you just want me to be happy, you just want me to have a happy life. If that is the case then do me the fucking favor of never stepping foot in front of me again and staying the fuck out of my life and I will have a happy life with the man I love and my true family my brothers."

Her mother gasped and crossed herself probably for the tenth time since we had been there "Stephanie Michele Plum I don't know what has gotten into you but you apologize right this minute. You take it back and you act like the young lady we raised not some heartless bitch who has been running with hired killers." You would think these three would want to duck for cover instead of causing her to set her sites on them but these dumb fucks couldn't learn.

Steph focused further on her mother "if I hear that any of you have called my family, yes I repeat my family thugs, killers, or criminals again so help me god if it is the last thing I do on the face of this earth you will live to regret it. I will make sure of it. So from now on out I would choose my wording very carefully if you are talking about my family. They are my brothers, my friends, my best friend, and my future husband I will clarify my soon to be husband." I was speechless she wanted to marry me and she wanted to marry me soon. I was on cloud nine I almost lost focused of what was happening around me that statement made me so happy. I had to remind myself bad asses don't do cloud nine fucking shit.

Joe finally found his voice "Cupcake you know you are going to marry me you know he doesn't want to marry you. Hell once he is done fucking you he will send you back to me. Like I have told you before I know you can't satisfy a man in bed why the hell do you think every boyfriend you ever had and your x husband have all cheated on you because you suck in bed. Mark my words Ranger will be no different." My babe smiled and squared her shoulders.

Her fury turned to Joe. For a fleeting moment I may have felt sorry for the sick son of a bitch but he deserved everything my Babe was going to throw at him. "Joe you sick fucking child molesting bastard and rapist. The reason my x husband and my x boyfriend cheated on me was because they were fucking assholes. They were less than worthy of being called a man and they didn't know how to keep their dick in their pants. They were weak and they were selfish, self centered bastards that would never be faithful to one woman no matter what she did. They didn't deserve my respect, my trust, or my love. I may have stupidly allowed them to fuck me but I never allowed them to make love to me and I sure as hell never made love to them. I have only made love to one man in my life and I intend on doing that for the rest of my life." She turned her head and looked at me her whole body softened as her eyes met mine and she smiled at me I squeezed her hand and smiled back. Then just like the shifting tide she turned and faced Joe with coldness and hardness in her eyes that should make any opponent of hers quake.

"Joe you right I do suck in bed but it isn't the kind of suck that you are talking about. Tell him Carlos." Oh shit here we go again. "Babe like I told you before. You could never suck when it comes to making love to me you complete me, you satisfy me in a way no woman ever has, you make me whole you make me feel like a god among men when we make love and I feel you cum around me on me under me. I can't get enough of you. You satisfy me so much, but like I told you if you want to suck in bed now that would be all my pleasure." I knew that is what she wanted me to say but I added the other to let everyone know how much she means to me, how much she does satisfy a man in bed, how much I love her, and that she was mine.

She looks at me her eyes soften and warm with desire as we stare at each other almost forgetting anyone else is in the room. She smiles "That's right and my reply to you was no sucking you was definitely not just all your pleasure that it was my pleasure too as I am addicted to your taste."

She knew exactly what to say to enrage him and enrage him she did. He screamed coming up out of the chair so fast that it fell over backwards. "Cupcake I mean it I am no longer playing your games you get your fucking ass over here right now we are leaving. You are coming with me if I have to handcuff you and drag your ass out of this house. You are coming with me now. I have had enough of this I have heard enough from you and no future of wife of mine is going to sit across from me and talk to me about sucking some other guy's dick." My Babe was ready for him.

"What's the matter Joe? When we were together it was okay for you to have your dick buried in Terry and god knows how many other women. It was okay for your head to be between their legs and I am sure their head between yours. Hell you even went as far as saying you wanted me to join in with your little whores." I noticed her mom blush hmmm. "But I can't have any side action of my own?" with that he starts to round the table to face off with my Babe. "Cupcake if you are going to suck a guy's dick you are going to suck my dick." She acts like she has just figured out the big puzzle. "Oh so Joe you are mad not because I fucked Carlos not because I gave him my body and he gave me his but because I won't suck your disease riddled dick. But that I sucked Carlos' delicious wonderfully huge dick and drank him with pleasure unable to get enough." Faster than anyone could act he reaches out and slaps her hard.

I go for him ready to kill him but she blocks me "No Carlos don't he isn't worth it." She touches my hand and squeezes it. I then realize it was what she wanted him to do. I understand now, now she has the leverage. "Joe you just assaulted me. Please know that I will be filling charges against you for assault and battery." Damn she had them all eating out of the palm of her hands including me and none of us saw it coming. She had played him like a fine tuned fiddle of course I was enraged that her plan had caused her to be hurt. We would discuss that when we got home but damn if she wasn't beautiful.

Stephanie's mom screeched "Stephanie you know you asked for that. You pushed him and pushed him until he had no other choice than to put you in your place. After all you are his future wife and here you are telling him about how you have been with another man what would you expect? You know you deserved that." She turned again to her mother.

"Mom Joe is nothing to me he is my future nothing. As far as he should be concerned I can sleep with anyone without him having any say. Carlos is mine and I am his he is my future husband you need to understand that it isn't Joe and never will be. Joe had no right to hit me and no I didn't deserve to be hit no woman ever deserves to have a man lift a finger in anger towards her. If that was the case then Daddy should have hit you a long time ago. Make no mistakes charges will be filed and a restraining order will be issued making him stay away from me because he is still too fucking stupid to leave me alone. Him showing up here tonight is proof of that."

Stephanie turns to her Dad "Dad I don't know what to say to you other than I am disappointed in you. I thought you loved me that you would support me but I guess not. I hope you are happy with your choice. I hope you are happy that your wife enjoys fucking other men because she has been doing it for a long time. I am not going to tell you who or when I will leave you to figure that out but I am almost certain it hasn't stopped. So continue to look the other way the way as you have been doing for years I am sure nothing will change your dinner will be on the table at six, bury yourself in that stupid fucking TV and maybe she will throw you a fuck every now and then for good measure. Have a nice fucking life because when I leave here tonight I won't be coming back into this fucked up house and this fucked up family." Damn I am speechless.

She turns back to her mom who is standing there with her mouth wide open "That's right mom you didn't think I knew you didn't think I knew all those years ago what you were doing. I knew, I just never told anyone because I didn't want anyone hurt by your actions. But now I don't give a fuck. You had your chance like I told you and you fucked it up every time. You are all chanced out. I hope you have someone you are fucking on the side now because you will be able to spend more time now that I am none of your business. I wash my hands of you, I am done with you as of this moment you only have one daughter. My name will be changed so fast and Plum will be erased from it so fast that it is going to make your head swim. From the moment I walk out of his room out of this house I am dead to you and you are dead to me do you understand me? Do not call me, do not ask me to dinner, do not even speak to me and if you see me on the street I would advise you to turn and walk the other fucking direction if you know what is fucking good for you. If you press me I will wash all your dirty laundry for everyone to see. I know now all I was to you was a distraction by flashing me in front of everyone and showing everyone my mistakes and shortcomings you were hiding yours. Well let me tell you, you may have hid them from everyone but not from me I saw and if you push me I will tell. I have a very big mouth as you have witnessed here tonight. Have a nice life."

With that she turned away from her mom as she had her dad and faced Joe. "Joe I warned you to stay away from me after you fucked Terry. I warned you not to call me Cupcake and not to disrespect my chosen family and I warned you not to sit down in that chair but you chose to not listen and for that you got what you deserved and you will be sorry. I will be heading to the police department in a matter of minutes to file charges so expect the police to show up on your door step and don't bother running because we will find you. I have allowed you to fuck me over one too many times and this time I promise you asshole it isn't happening again."

She gave him another look "oh and Joe don't bother coming by my apartment looking for me I moved out today. I just finished packing up my things I am moving in with my soon to be husband which is obviously not you so stop thinking it is, and stop saying it is. Don't come around thinking that I want to talk to you, want to forgive you, or anything else. I want nothing to do with you ever. If you are a smart man which I seriously doubt you will heed this warning and just stay the fuck away from me. If you don't you will live to regret it I promise you cop or not."

"Cupcake you moved out of your apartment today?" Her head snapped up and she squeezed my hand I squeezed back. She narrowed her eyes "Yes, why do you ask Joe?" He just shrugged and said "I thought you moved out earlier I have checked the lot the last couple of nights and you weren't there." Something was off how would he have known she wasn't there when she didn't have a car? Maybe because the lights were off. I know with the device on the door he probably hadn't gone in the apartment but something wasn't adding up.

My babe finally turned to her Grandmother who had laughed, smiled, and was glowing with pure pride looking at her granddaughter. "Grandma from the look on your face I can see you support me. You always have. Know that I know that and know that I love you. I will always love you and you will always be my Grandmother. Know that I will find away to stay in touch with you but I won't be stepping foot into this house again to do it." With that she hugged her grandmother and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Edna just patted her on the back and then said "Baby Granddaughter I have never been more proud of you." Edna was a scary woman and it was a little unsettling when she talked about my dick but she supported my Babe and for me that earned her brownie points.

My Babe looked at me smiled brightly and then said "Carlos let's blow this popsicle stand I need to get to the station to file my complaint against one of Trenton's detectives a Joseph Morelli supreme asshole bitch fucking and dick sucking scumbag that decided to hit me tonight because he couldn't control his temper." I gave her a full on 200 watt smile "Babe you never disappoint."

As we made our way thru the house to the front door Joe came at her again but this time I blocked him with a simple move that had him hitting the wall to the right of us. We stepped thru the front door on the porch and were down on the side walk when he came running out of the house screaming at us again.

HectorPOV

In my bag I had picked up a listening device and recorder. The listening device only needed to be pointed at the house to hear everything that was going on inside. We had these devices courtesy of the government and used them on our missions as well as for some take downs when we needed to know how many people where in a house.

Before I pulled up at Angelito's house I took a trip around the block and noticed Morelli's car parked on the Street directly behind her parent's home. So he thought he would sneak in on Ranger and Angelito. Of course he probably didn't know Ranger was going to be with her. He parked here so she wouldn't know he was going to be there.

Now I know and understand the reasons behind the pulse that I felt. He had something planned he probably planned on taking her from her Parent's house. Well that wasn't going to happen. I quickly pulled up behind his car. I put a tracker on his car I thought I would monitor what he did over the next couple days see if I saw a pattern. Then I went about disabling his car if he tried to take her tonight and somehow was successful in getting her to his car then his car wasn't going anywhere. I quietly slipped back into my car and went around to the front of Angelito's parent's home.

When I got there I parked down from Ranger's car and setup my listening device and recorder. I heard my Angelito's voice fill the car. I could tell by the venom she was mad. I am not certain mad covered what she was. I briefly looked at the house and wondered if it could withstand what she was about to unleash on it.

I had recorded her whole conversation everything she told her parent's everything she told Joe I had even heard skin hitting skin and when I heard her tell Carlos no that he wasn't worth it I was ready to invade her parent's place and take that fucking pitiful excuse of a cop's life right then. He had hit her and no one would hit my Angelito and live to tell about it. I was her guardian I had taken it upon myself to guard her to protect her.

I heard them leaving and I heard a thump of someone hitting the wall seeing Ranger and Angelito coming thru the door I knew it wasn't them. I guessed it was Joe. I immediately exited the car to have their backs I don't even think they realized I was there. When Joe came out of the house again screaming and running at them I took him down.

No I didn't kill him, or shoot him I was there between them before it even registered on them and I grabbed Joe and slammed him down on the pavement effectively taken all of the fight from him as he was gasping to catch his breath that had been knocked out of him. I doubt that he even knew what hit him.

Stephanie gave me a hug and kissed my cheek rubbing my tear drop tattoos. The feel of her skin touching mine allowed the good to filter back in my soul and I was able to walk away from Morelli with him still having his life. I wouldn't tell Angelito how rare that was for me. To walk away from someone who posed a threat to me or mine with them still having their life. She didn't really need to know that. She didn't need to know that her single action tonight resulted in saving that piece of shit's life.

RPOV

I turned when I heard Joe scream and start running toward us but he never made it onto the sidewalk before Hector was there taking him down. What the hell? Where the fuck had he come from? I didn't tell any of my men to follow me here tonight.

Now I feared for Morelli's life not that he deserved to live but I didn't want my Babe to have to see his life taken before her eyes. I knew Hector I knew if he deemed Morelli a threat he would take his life without a second thought and ask questions later that is how he worked that is what has kept him alive all of these years. That is why he didn't really do take downs with us at least not the part that had hands on skips or they would never make it to the station.

Stephanie walked up to him and at first I wanted to pull her back away from him. Hector is a harden man much harder than many of my other men. You were a smart man to fear him and to give him his space but my Babe didn't understand to fear any of my guys she trusted them blindly never questioning her safety.

I watched Stephanie walk up to Hector give him a hug then she kissed him on the cheek and rubbed her fingers across the tear drop tattoos I briefly wondered if she knew what they meant. What I saw next had me speechless. I knew she had a positive effect on all my men but when I saw Hector soften at her touch and step away from Morelli I was shocked. Her goodness her light affected him just as it did us all.

Morelli should kiss the ground my Babe walks on she had effectively saved his life tonight and didn't even know it. What she thought was a thank you to Hector actually resulted in her saving Morelli's life.

I turned to Hector extended my hand shaking his when our hands met. "Hector gracias hombre. Gracias por tener la espalda, pero se puede saber por qué estás aquí?" (Hector thank you man. Thanks for having our backs but may I ask why are you here?)

Hector looks at me and responds "Guardo mi Angelito. Cuando me di cuenta de que ibas a venir aquí me sentí un impulso que me dijo que algo estaba fuera. Quería asegurarse de que Angelito estaba a salvo. Por eso vine aquí y trajo un dispositivo de escucha con grabadora. Tengo la mayor parte de la conversación. Yo era un poco tarde porque me coches pendejos con discapacidad. Aparcó en la calle de al lado." (I guard my Angelito. When I figured out you were coming here I felt a pulse that told me something was off. I wanted to make sure Angelito was safe. So I came here and brought a listening device with recorder. I got most of the conversation. I was a little late because I disabled assholes car. He parked on the next street over.)

So he had taken it on his own to guard her. He was calling himself her guardian lord help anyone that threatens to harm my Babe. But honestly truth be told I was glad I knew Hector well enough that if he put himself in that role then he loved my Babe. I also knew him being in that role harm wouldn't come to my Babe. I just wondered how many dead bodies we are going to have to hide for him being in that role. Oh well I would worry about that another day. For now I will just be grateful.

"Hector vamos a la estación. Stephanie tiene que presentar un informe en contra de Morelli y obtener una orden de restricción. Estaremos en Haywood poco después de eso. Nos vemos allí y gracias hombre. Oh, ¿puede enviarme una copia de esa grabación?" (Hector we are going to the station. Stephanie has to file a report against Morelli and get a restraining order. We will be at Haywood shortly after that. I will see you there and thanks man. Oh can you send me a copy of that recording?)

I wasn't sure I wanted to tell him that but I was sure he probably heard him hit her and already knew it. He looks at me nods his head and then goes back to his car heading for Rangeman.

I look at my Babe "Babe you ready to head over to the station?" She looks at me I see she looks tired the adrenaline is leaving her system. "Yeah I am ready as ever I want to get this done and then get home and go to bed I am tired." We make our way to the car. Morelli is still lying on the side walk but hey he is breathing so he should be thankful.

SPOV

We made it to the police station. Carlos in his zone and me resting my head against the head rest of the seat I was tired. That wasn't exactly how I intended for tonight at my parent's to go but I'd be damn if I was going to let them walk over me. I'd be damn if I was going to let Joe sit across from me at my mother's dining room table after I told him to stay away from me and stop calling me that fucking name Cupcake. And I'd be damn if I was going to let them tell me who my future husband was.

I told nothing but the truth I had nothing to be ashamed of embarrassed by and I sure as hell wasn't disappointing anyone that gave a shit about me. In some ways I felt so liberated free that I felt like I was flying. That I could fly if I wanted. I was taking back my life. I was standing on my own two feet and it was judgment day at the Plums and it felt so damn good.

Hearing how the guys mothers were made me realize all the things mine wasn't it made me see her for her true colors, colors I would never admit to seeing prior. I guess the same was true for my Dad when I realized that he was going to side with mom. It is okay I wouldn't expect any less. I was hoping he would support me but in twenty seven years he never had once taken up for me, spoken up for me I shouldn't have expected or hoped for it now.

One would think I would be a blob of tears after effectively taking myself out of my family but I wasn't. I didn't feel the way I feared I would the way I thought I would feel. I was free, I was liberated. All I felt was freedom coursing thru my veins and it felt damn good. If I listened carefully I could swear I could hear the little munchkins singing about the witch being dead.

Carlos broke me out of my little celebration "Babe come on we are here." Oh yeah I guess we are. We got out of the car and walked into the station. I walked up to the window and Robin was behind the desk. She looked up at me and did a double take. "Stephanie what happened to you. You have a heck of a mark there." So it begins.

"Hi Robin I need to file a report. Can you get one of the guys for me hopefully Eddie, Big Dog, or Carl any of them will work if they are on duty." "Sure Steph hang tight for a minute while I see who is available."

I reached for Ranger's hand. Holding his hand gave me courage and strength and I was going to need it to get thru this report. It would be hard telling this even though it was my idea and my plan from the moment Morelli challenged me by taking a seat at the table. He was never going to stop harassing me unless I made him. Round two of standing up for myself of standing on my own two feet and round two of judgment day was coming.

It wasn't a couple of minutes before Eddie and Big dog walked into the waiting area. Eddie spoke up "Hey Steph what can we do for you?" I turned to him smiling "Hey Eddie I need t file a complaint I was assaulted this evening as you can see" I motioned to my face "and I need to report it. I also need to get a restraining order."

Eddie spoke up "That is some shiner there Steph. Why don't you come on back and we can get everything filled out." We all headed back to a private room.

Eddie had someone with a camera take a few pictures for documentation purposes and then he asked me what happened. Calmly as I could I told him. "Eddie, Joe and I got in a heated conversation and he hit me. I want to file charges against him and I want a restraining order." I could see shock on both Eddie's and Big Dog's faces then I could see something else. They were mad.

Eddie spoke again "Steph are you saying that Joe did this to you? He hit you and gave you that shiner?" I nodded my head "Yes Eddie he did in my mother's dining room to be precise."

Big Dog just shook his head and then asked "Steph you said you had a heated conversation can you tell us what the conversation was about."

I looked at him "Big Dog I won't give specifics but I was basically telling him that I wasn't now nor ever going to be his future anything let alone wife. Besides it doesn't matter what we were talking about what matters is that he hit me and I want to file assault charges against him. I want a restraining order preventing him from coming near me in the future."

Eddie spoke up "Steph are you sure you want to do this? This is Joe we are talking about it this will affect his career as a police officer a detective." My mouth dropped open how dare him. "Eddie I can't believe you just said that I don't give a fuck how it affects him or who the fuck he is. He should have thought of that before he raised his hand to me. I am no longer anyone's fucking door mat and that includes Joe's so if you don't want to fill out the paper work and do your fucking job than get someone else in here that will do it." I was seething.

Eddie started back peddling "Steph honey I didn't mean not to do it I just wanted to make sure you knew what would happen. I just wanted to make sure before we took the next step because once we do there will be no undoing it." I relaxed a little and nodded that I was sure.

"Eddie I am sorry I jumped on you like that it has been a long night and as you can see and my temper is on a short fuse." He looked at me and gave me a sad smile "I understand how that can be the case."

I filled out the paperwork and gave them my statement. All in all it didn't take long and Carlos and I were on our way back to Haywood. My first night sleeping in our home, the first night of many of me sleeping with my soon to be husband in our home and that thought made me very excited. It would have been nice had tonight not happened and we would have been able to really celebrate without this hanging over our head but it is what it is at least according to Paula Abdul. I was just glad to be free to finally feel free.

Tomorrow I would wake up in the arms of my lover, we would make love. We would hold each other we would share the day together. Then Monday will come and my training would begin. I couldn't be happier even though I now had a sick sexually sadistic stalker after me I still couldn't be happier at this moment. I was taking back my life and I was freeing myself of the dead weight that has done nothing but held me down and held me back.

JPOV

Downing my first shot of bourbon I can't help but think that bitch! She shows up at her mother's house with that fucking criminal. She then proceeds to completely destroy our plans for the evening. My plan to take her home with me completely ruined. The boys missed her I needed some alone time with my Cupcake and that wasn't going to happen tonight. Damn it I am pissed.

Not only did she say she was my future nothing she told me that she was sucking that thugs dick the nerve of her. She would never do that with me and she will with him. That was going to change. She would suck my dick if it is the last thing I do. She thinks this over. She thinks that by filling charges against me and getting a restraining order she will stop me well I hate to inform her but this is war and she started it by humiliating in public, by humiliating at her parent's house, and by sucking another man's dick. Hell she is probably taking it up the ass as well.

I am a fucking cop for Christ sake I know there are a whole lot of people six feet under who had restraining orders against their attackers they are about as worthless as the paper they are printed on. A piece of paper wasn't going to stop me from getting what I wanted and right now what I wanted was Cupcake sucking my dick and me fucking her ass.

She had gone by her apartment but I never got a call from the department. I wondered what she did with the stuff I left her and I wonder if that little bang device did its intended job in scarring her. I briefly wondered how she felt about the different scenes I setup for her on her bed and if she knew how excited it made me to do it thinking about her with every scene I laid out.

I wonder why she didn't file a report with the police. Fucking bitch always ruining my plans, it felt so good slapping her tonight. I hope she realizes that is only tip of the iceberg as to what I am capable of and by her actions tonight she deserved a whole lot worse than a simple slap but at least I was able to do that. For that I could feel good. I ordered my third shot this time a double.

I am furious and I am disappointed that she is moving in with those thugs my access to her will be limited but I will find a way. I will find a way to get my Cupcake. I will find a way to break her trust in them, I will get her back. I will make her mine.

When Ranger and Cupcake walked away leaving me lying on the sidewalk trying to catch my breath Momma came out to check on me. "Oh my Joseph are you okay? What did they do to you?" I wasn't really sure what happened to tell you the truth. "Momma I am fine I think I tripped or something."

She rushed over to me and helped me up. "Joseph I don't know what to say. I have no excuse for Stephanie's actions tonight other than to just say that she is a bitch and if you let me I will make it up to you." I look at her and smile. "You don't need to say anything but I will definitely allow you to make it up to me. How about I call you tomorrow and we will setup a time to meet." She looked at me eyes sparkling "Okay my son I will talk to you tomorrow." With that I made my way to my car which wouldn't start

Well I guess it is a good thing I didn't drag Cupcake out tonight I wouldn't have made it far with my car not starting. Another fucking thing gone wrong tonight I made my way home grabbed my bike and then went to the nearest bar I needed a drink.\

RPOV

My Babe impressed the hell out of me tonight. She stood up for herself, she stood on her own two feet and she didn't allow anyone to walk on her. She was pure beauty, she was a goddess tonight. She was every bit worthy of the wonder woman title she had always wanted. That gave me an idea of a surprise I would have for my Babe tomorrow morning.

She didn't know it but while she was doing her training the building was being renovated she would have an office beside mine that adjoins to mine. We would share the same bathroom between our offices but there would also be a door between the offices that we could use instead of walking thru the bathroom every time. I knew exactly what I would do for her office as well.

I pulled into the garage at Haywood parking in my spot. I got out of the car went to her door helping her out. Part of me couldn't wait to get her upstairs but I knew if the guys on the monitor saw her shiner they would want to hear from her what happened. I knew some of them would be pissed at hell at me for allowing it to happen. Come to think of it I am surprised Hector left without saying more to me, or doing more to me.

We get on the elevator and I pull my Babe to me placing her back to my front as I leaned against the wall of the elevator. I knew it was going to stop on five I didn't need to push the button. Sure enough the elevator came to stop on five. When the doors opened Lester, Bobby and Tank were standing there at the doors in the back ground I could see some of the other guys Cal, Hal, and Ram where standing all waiting to hear what happened.

My Babe spoke up first "Hey Guys! I know you all are wondering what happened to me. How I managed to get this shiner while at dinner at my use to be parent's house." I saw the guys eyebrows go up questioning her statement. This was her show I was going to let her have it.

"Guys let's just say my mother invited an unexpected guest to dinner one who I didn't want to sit down at the table across from me. I told him not to sit down but he didn't listen to me so he got what he deserved." I could see confusion on the guys faces. Lester spoke up

"Beautiful you are losing me here you are the one sporting the shiner, what exactly did he get that he deserved? I hope my cousin here beat the shit out of him. At least he better tell me he beat the shit out of him." I could hear the anger in later part of his statement. Oh yeah they were going to be pissed at me. Stephanie shook her head.

"No Les, we didn't lay a single finger on him. He slapped me but we didn't touch him. I left my parent's and I went to the police station where I filed an assault charge and obtained a restraining order against one officer Joseph Morelli, the bitching fucking dick sucking piece of shit swine that he is. I warned him but he wouldn't listen. As for Ranger beating the shit out of him he tried but I blocked him. Had he done that I wouldn't be able to file my charges and Joe would have arrested him so I stopped him."

The guys were smiling at her statement. I could see how proud they were of her and they didn't even know the half of what she had done tonight. If they could have seen what I had seen they would be as floored by her as I was.

Lester looked at her and asked her "Beautiful you said your use to be parent's house. You okay? You want to talk about it?" She looked at him and smiled. "Maybe tomorrow when my actions have had time to sink in but basically I told my mom and dad that they could go fuck themselves. That when I needed them they failed me and now that I don't need them I don't want them." I could see shock in the guys. I know the feeling.

I pull her to me and place a kiss on the side of her neck and she melts more into me. "Guys I am pretty tired I had a rough afternoon and night so if you don't mind I am going upstairs but I will see you tomorrow, okay?" The guys nod and give her a hug and kiss before we get back on the elevator heading for seven.

"Babe you hungry do you want me to call Ella to bring up something for dinner?" She giggles "Carlos haven't you had enough of dinners for one night?" I chuckle "yeah Babe I guess I have. But I have to say seeing you tonight I have never been more proud of you and I have never seen you more beautiful or sexier than you were tonight."

She looks at me with tears swimming in her eyes "Thank you" she says as the elevator comes to a halt and opens. I open our apartment door and grab her picking her up carrying her across the threshold.

"Carlos what are you doing? You carry your wife over the threshold not your girlfriend." I look at her and smile "Well according to you, you are my soon to be wife and I wanted the practice. Besides I love holding you. Where to Babe?"

"Carlos I want to take a shower. I really need to wash the day off of me between the stuff at my apartment and my parent's house I feel like I need a shower to just get the dirt and grime off of me." I carry her into the bathroom and place her on the counter top beside the sink.

I reach in and turn on the shower letting it get warm while my attention focuses back on my Babe. "Babe let me" I start to slowly take off her shirt, her pants, her bra and her underpants until she is sitting there before me naked. I quickly shed my clothing. I take her brush and run it thru her curls along with my fingers freeing her hair of any tangles that may have formed since she last brushed her hair. Her eyes closed and I can see her body begin to relax under my touch and attention.

I whisper to her "I may be cleaning your body Babe but it isn't because of anything that you saw today. What you saw, what you went thru today left nothing on you Babe. It didn't taint you, it didn't dirty you, and it didn't change you. You are still that beautiful sensual sexy woman that is mine. You are still my Wonder Woman the woman of my dreams that excites me, that allures me, that makes me want you in every way a man can have a woman. You are still every bit the woman I love, I adore, and the woman I will cherish until the day I die. Today changed nothing."

A tear fell from her eye. I knew she needed this time to let it out. Standing up for yourself, standing on your own two feet battling your own wars I know is important but I also know that you need a release from it in the end. You need to release those feelings. You need to come to grips with those feelings or they eat at you. I knew Stephanie needed this release she needed to come to grips with her feelings. She needed process time and understanding.

"Babe what you saw today those scenes they speak nothing of who you are, what you are, or what you choose to do. They cheapen what it means when a woman and man who love each other share. Know that what we share with each other isn't that cheap rendition of those scenes. What we share when we are together is beautiful, it's sensual, it's exciting, it's sexy, but most important what we share when we are together is love. What we have his pure love for each other pure desire for each other and pure passion for one another. Passion, desire and love that can't be tainted by pictures, toys, or anything else you saw today." I spoke to her as I kissed her body.

I started at her lips and then worked my way down her body giving each her of her breast and nipples a kiss as I made my way down her body. I gave her mound a gentle kiss and continued down her body until I reached each of her feet.

She didn't say anything just had her head back and her eyes closed reveling in my lips touching her skin you could see the joy she was feeling on her face. I gently picked her up and stepped into the shower. Placing her under the spray of the shower head I gently ran my fingers thru her hair as the water soaked thru and ran down her body.

I watched the water as it trialed down her body and I prayed to be water at that moment. To be able to run down her body feeling her skin under me oh the feeling that would create. I took one finger and trailed the bead of water down. With my other fingers ghosting slightly over her skin I watched the goose bumps they left in their wake.

I grabbed her shampoo and poured some into my hand gently I started working it thru her hair washing her hair rubbing my fingers across her scalp. She moaned and I hardened even more. After working her hair into a sudsy lather I reached for my bath gel and her loofa where I proceed to wash my Babe's body. Paying attention to certain areas of her body with my hands and fingers instead of the loofa I could tell it had just about sent my Babe to the edge.

I wasn't ready for her to cum yet so I turned her back into the water rinsing her sudsy body and her hair. I picked up her conditioner and run it thru her hair my fingers running from roots to tips of her hair. Once I had her hair coated well I then picked up her razor and proceeded to gently shave both of her long sexy legs. When I was done I led her to the seat in the shower and coaxed her to sit down.

When she sat down on the seat I kneeled between her legs nudging them so she would spread them for me which she did. Seeing her wet almost made me forget what I had planned. But getting myself back under control using the loofa and some shaving cream and I went over the area of her mound. I shaved her bare. She was smooth and silky when I finished.

It was erotic and I wanted her so bad at that moment I could barely think but I kept it together. I stood her up maneuvered back to the water and rinsed the conditioner from her hair and the remnants of the shaving cream from her body. I quickly cleaned myself and rinsed and stepped out of the shower. I quickly dried off but remained uncovered. I wanted my Babe to see the affects she had on my body.

I wanted her to know that I responded to her body, her sexuality, her sensuality as a woman that she affected me even doing the simplest of things. I grabbed a towel for her and helped her out. I went about drying her body inch by inch. Letting the towel ghost down her skin drying her I gave her a towel for her hair which she quickly wrapped around her hair and head.

Once I had her body dried I placed her again on the counter where I proceeded to rub her down with lotion from top to bottom. When I was done I let down her wet hair and rain my fingers thru her hair and then I brushed her hair free of any tangles.

I could see my Babe was completely relaxed by the time I was finished. I picked her up and once again asked "Babe where to?" Never opening her eyes she said "Bed Carlos take me to bed." Now that I can do. It will be my pleasure. I walk into the bedroom with her in my arms and I place her in the center of the bed.

Crawling up the bed to lie beside my Babe I asked her whispering in her ear "What now Babe, What do you want?" Once again she doesn't open her eyes but just speaks "Carlos I want you to make love to me, I want to feel you inside me. I want to feel our connection. I want you to take me. I want to take you. I want to taste you again, I want to ride you Carlos god I want it all." Holy shit she was hot when she talked to me like that.

"Babe you can have it all, I am here for the taking and it will be my pleasure to take you to bury my cock into your hot wet center to feel your muscles pull me in and contract around me as your sweet nectar spills around me and on me. Making love to you is my greatest pleasure. I love you my Amante."

My Babe turns toward me on her side and looks at me her lips touch mine kissing me lightly and then she pulls back and she repeats my words "Carlos you can have it all I am here for the taking and it will be my pleasure to have your cock buried in me. It will be my pleasure when I feel you spasm and feel you empty inside me. Making love to you is my greatest pleasure. I love you my Amante."

Her lips again seek mine and the kiss turns to hungry passion. She breaks first as she raises up on her knees working her lips down my body. I quickly grab her body and pull it closer to me my lips meeting her body working their way up and she works her way down mine. Both of our lips, teeth and tongues working each other as we both are making our way to each other's promise land.

When I feel my Babes tongue lick the pre-cum off my dick I lift her legs and place her tight wet pussy right above my face. Her legs straddling my head, I raise my head to taste her to drink from well. Feeling her lips on my cock further drives me to lick and suck at her. We are both being driven by the other both feeding each other as we push one another to the edge. I feel my balls tighten I feel the spasm coming and I hold it off as long as possible so I can taste more of her as fresh gushes follow her moans which the vibrations they cause make me want to shoot off as if I was heading to the moon.

Both of us giving and taking at the same time it was pure pleasure for both of us until it reached the point that neither of us could hold on to the edge any longer and we both fell. I shot off in her mouth coating it with my seed as she gushed and I quickly tried to seize every drop of that deliciously addictive nectar as it left her body.

Once we came down from our orgasms I turned my Babe so I could taste us I knew she would taste her and I would taste me and together we would taste us. It was as erotic as I thought it would be when my tongue entered her mouth as hers met mine and they entwined together effectively mixing our juices.

We both moaned at the taste and my dick hardened god I could never get enough of this woman. My hands reaching between her legs I could feel that she was wet with need and want she was just as ready for me as I was for her.

SPOV

My god what this man could do to me, what I wanted him to do to me. Whenever he touched me my body screamed to please him. My body screamed for him to take me and ravish me anyway every way he wanted. I was his and he was mine. My body was an open blank canvas for him and he was the artist who had the freedom to paint whatever it was that pleasured him on me. No one in my life ever had that amount of freedom with me. No one ever had that amount of trust or free reign when it came to me and my body. I never trusted someone so freely so openly that I would open myself up to them and give of myself the way I did for Carlos. Oh what that man could do to me.

Tonight when we got back to our home, god I love saying that, I just wanted to lock myself in the bathroom and bath until I had washed off all the dirt. Truth be told I probably would have scrubbed myself until my skin fell off with all the mixed up feelings I was feeling. But Carlos wouldn't allow me to bask in the dirt, the cheapness, the filth of what we experienced today. Instead he cared for me bathed me, dried me, even applied lotion to my freshly bathed skin. It was relaxing, it was exciting, it was non-expecting something that I had never experienced with another man.

Carlos took care of me without the expectations of him getting anything. His touch was as erotic as it has ever been for me but I could tell it held no expectations on his part. His touch was telling me that he was there for me, that he would care for me, that he supported me, but most of all it spoke of his unconditional love for me. He didn't love me for what I would give him, he didn't love me because I would allow him a sexual release. He loved me because he loved me. Actually I wasn't really sure why he loved me, but I was just grateful, thankful, and felt special because he did.

His hands ghosting over my body while he bathed me had me quivering with need. I needed him so bad yet he continued. When he sat me down and nudged me to spread my legs I couldn't believe how acceptingly my body opened for him. There was no hesitation, no shame, no embarrassment my body just responded to his request. It left me feeling desired, feeling sexy and confident. When he started shaving me I was overcome by the feeling of need I wanted this man like I had wanted no other man. My body was opened for him, it ached for him, the desire to have him fill me was so strong I could feel my inner muscles clamp down and pulse with the need to be fulfilled.

My lower lips were wet with the desire I felt for him. I wanted to scream for him to take me but I resisted this was his show he was showing me what he wanted me to see of his feelings for me and I wasn't going to interrupt that with impatience.

When he stepped out of the shower and dried off but remained uncovered standing naked before me as he dried and caressed my skin it was all I could do not to take his hard erection in my hand and force his show along a little but I resisted. Seeing him hard for me the desire on his face the love in his eyes it was all I could do to hold back so when he set me on the counter I just closed my eyes and felt him touch me.

Felt his long strong fingers and hand as they rubbed the lotion into my body. I felt his fingers lightly rub across my sensitive skin leaving a wake of burning fire behind them. I was on one had so relaxed yet on the other hand so excited it was an odd combination sensations he was creating in me.

When he asked me where to there was only one place I wanted to be with him and that was in bed. I never wanted these feelings to end. I didn't even open my eyes when I felt him pick me up and place me on the bed. I felt him crawl up beside me

He asked me what I wanted and I responded that I needed him to make love me that I needed to feel him inside of me that I needed to fill our connection. Then I got carried away and my mouth just started working spitting out stuff my brain was thinking but I would have never been brave enough to say to anyone other than Carlos. I told him I wanted him to take me that I wanted to take him that I wanted to taste him again and ride him.

When he told me that making love to me was his greatest pleasure I couldn't help but repeat those words back to him. Letting him know that I felt the same way letting him know that he could have all of me that I loved to feel him buried in me and I loved when my body made him spasm with release and that I loved him with all I am, all I have, all I ever will have.

I kissed him and couldn't wait any longer to taste him. I had to have his taste. I broke the kiss and slowly made my way down his body. He pulled me closer and positioned me so as I worked my way down he was working his way up. When my tongue touched his harden dick tasting the pre-cum I almost lost it. I was lost in the taste the sensations I barely noticed he had moved my body on top of his. When I felt his tongue lick me and his lips suckle me pure lust ran thru my body.

I had him in my mouth sucking him licking him tasting him as he was tasting me the thought alone just about drove me crazy with desire. It fueled me and drove me to pleasure him more to push him to the edge like he was pushing me. There was no embarrassment there was no shame there was only love that I felt. Love from him and my love for him. My body pleasuring him as his body was pleasuring mine the way it should be. The way it was when a woman and man loved each other.

I tried holding on I tried pushing my orgasm back as I wanted to continuing pushing him to the edge I wanted him to cum. In the process we were only driving each other crazy us both waiting for the other but neither stopped pushing and both resisting our own pleasure of release. In the end we both just pushed too hard and neither of us could control the fall as we both lost the battle to our own pleasures and came with a roaring release that left us breathless and me in a jellied state of barely conscious.

After a couple of minutes Carlos turned me around facing him and kissed me deeply. When our tongues met I could taste our juices mixing combining in our mouths and it was erotic, I didn't even know I did erotic but this man pulled it out of me. It was sexy it was hot and it had me screaming for more of him. I could never have enough of this man in my arms. He was waking up a sexual desire in me that I never knew existed. It was bold, it was demanding, it was sexy, and it was insatiable for the man of my dreams, the man of my desire, the man that held my heart.

I felt him harden as I felt his hand seek me out finding me warm wet and just waiting for more of him. I reached down and ran my finger long his hard erection. Taking him in my hand and rubbing him back and forth has fingers were running along my folders over my clit and then pushing deep inside me. He kept repeating that pattern as I was stroking him. Our eyes locked on each other the desire we felt written on both of our faces.

Revealing in the feelings of touching and being touched we both just allowed the pleasure to fill us to the point where we had to have more we had to be connected. Carlos rolling towards me placed himself between my legs. Positioning the head of his massive erection at my opening I had yet to remove my hand from stroking him as he was still stroking me. Our hands still rubbing each other while my wetness coating him and me. He lowered his head and took my swollen and tight nipple in his mouth suckling and nipping at the bud.

I was so close to losing it. It felt like I was going out of my mind. I reluctantly let go while he started to push himself into me at a painstakingly pace. I wanted to just grab him and pull him into me but I resisted and just allowed myself to feel the sensation he was creating as he was gently pushing in me my walls opening for him, my body stretching to accompany his massive cock. My body wanted to curl into him but I resisted the urge just feeling the pleasure he was giving me.

I could see his eyes rolled back in his head as he continued to slowly push his way home. I knew this was bringing him a much pleasure as it was me. He was still working my nipple with his mouth switching from side to side so both got to reveal in his attention. I could feel my orgasm building and he wasn't even all the way inside me. Not that it mattered that man could make me cum just by looking at me the right way. My body just responded to him like no other.

When he was fully sheathed inside me he brought his head up and stared into my eyes. I felt the world shift I felt the earth rock underneath us and I felt the building quake with the feelings running thru me thru him. If there had been a shadow of a doubt this was my soul mate prior to this there would be none after this moment. This wasn't just two lovers making love. This wasn't two people who cared about each other sharing themselves with one another. This wasn't a woman and man seeking comfort and desire with one another. This was two souls combining, this was the intertwining of two hearts two lives that would or could never be split apart again. I could tell by his eyes that he felt exactly the same thing I did. I could tell that he witnessed the same quake and the same coming together of souls. I saw his eyes turn black I felt him shudder I felt his control break as did mine.

I am not exactly sure what happened after that moment as all conscious thought left my body as I gave into the carnal primal emotions and went for him as he went for me. Both giving and taking what we needed on the basic human level. I do know I have never had a more intense orgasm I do know that I have never rose as high or fell as far in my entire life. I also know that I have never screamed as loud or begged to be fucked the way I had begged Carlos. I also knew there would be marks on both our bodies for days to come to mark the night that our souls came alive took control of our bodies and mated in the most primal of ways.

I lay there beside Carlos exhausted surprised satisfied and somewhat feeling of wonderment I turned looking at him "What…?" trying to ask what was that but not being able to finish. Looking at me he shook his head "Querida I don't know all I can say it was the single most intense feeling I have ever felt in my life." I nodded I didn't have the ability to form any more words at the moment and words didn't really seem to do what I felt what we felt between us justice.

It wasn't long after that before sleep took us both.

RPOV

I am not exactly sure what it was between my Babe and me last night but it rocked both our worlds it was like when I looked at her our eyes locked on each other and I could see her soul. It was like her soul and my soul bonded together and took over our bodies. We no longer had the control our souls had the control and they came together taking and giving to each other. All I know is I have never felt anything remotely close with anyone else. It was intense it was thrilling and I knew I needed to feel more of it. I craved it I desired it.

I never knew it could be like that and now that I had a taste I would want it always. I wanted to learn to control it to hang on to it to allow myself to bask longer in the sensations that it created in me. It was powerful, it was electrifying, it was beautiful, and it was raw.

It left you feeling spent exhausted yet happy fulfilled and exhilarated I know bad asses don't do happy fulfilled and exhilarated but get the fuck over it this one now does all of that. At least with my Babe I do.

I woke up me spooned to her back. I was hard and pressing into her backside. I needed to feel myself inside her again so I started playing with her nipples and kissing, nipping, and sucking on her neck, shoulder and back as my fingers played with her nipples. One hand I let trail down her stomach and down her mound. Finding her wet between her folds I moaned.

I gently raised her leg as I sheathed myself in her from behind. Entering her I heard her moan as she started to stir. She then relaxed back into me as she started to press her tight little ass into me. "Morning Babe" She looked over her shoulder and smiled "It is now Carlos." She responded as she ground her ass into me eliciting a growl from me.

God I couldn't get enough we had sex more in the last twenty four hours than I had had in the last three years yet I couldn't get enough. I didn't think I would ever be able to have enough of her and as long as she was within reach of me I would want her ache for her desire her.

Today was Sunday the day before her training is to start and I didn't want anything preventing her from being a hundred and ten percent to start her training. Our lovemaking was slow and gentle when we both came I pulled out. Getting up out of bed I picked her up and carried her into the bathroom. Like last night I sat her on the counter and filled the bathtub with warm water and bubbles. I knew she had to be sore.

I placed her in the tub. But I didn't join her I knew if I joined her I would once again not be able to control myself and end up having to have her again which wouldn't help her soreness. "Babe rest here for a little while. It will help if you have any sore muscles this morning." She just smiled at me. She would never say she was sore but I knew she had to be hell I was sore.

I went to set her surprise in motion while my Babe soaked in the tub. Getting on the phone I called a friend who owned a spa and ordered the works for my Babe. I had Ella fix my babe a special cake for dinner tonight and then I set about ordering the special things I would need for my Babe's new office.

Heading back into the bathroom to get my Babe out of the tub I can't help but to think about last night again and how powerful our lovemaking felt. It felt like we moved heaven and earth when our souls combined. It left me with a smile on my face I didn't think I would be able to erase it is good I was going to be offline today. Because I bet today my Babe wasn't the only one glowing in after glow. If the guys saw me they would never let me live it down even loving my Babe the way they do.

They would never tease her about her afterglow but me now me they would ride my ass every opportunity they got. They would tease me relentlessly until I drug one of their sorry asses to the mats to shut them up and Lester would be the one leading the show.

"Babe, time to get out I have a surprise for you. You need to get out so we can get dressed and get breakfast." She looks at me and smiles. Then she stands up and steps out into the waiting towel in my hands. I dry her off and wrap the towel around her. Then we head towards the closet. "Babe it doesn't matter what you wear just pull something comfortable. Like your yoga pants and t-shirt. Don't even bother with makeup or your hair. Just pull it up in a pony tail or loose bun."

We no more finished getting ready before Ella was brining breakfast. We made it to the table and I noticed Babe's breakfast was pancakes with blueberries and raspberries I wondered if she would catch on the red, white, and blue theme of the day. Those were wonder woman's colors after all.

Once we finished eating we headed down to the car so I could drive her to her surprise. I had called one of our clients that owed me a favor. He happened to own a luxury spa that we provided security for.

Typically they care closed on Sundays but he was going to make sure one of his top employees would be there to meet us. Of course I would make it well worth his and their efforts. The spa was about an hour drive so I put on some softer music so my Babe could relax. Who was I kidding she would be sleep before we hit the highway.

I look over and sure enough she is sleep. I smile. She could sleep anywhere. But I still took it as a compliment that she trusted me enough to sleep while I was driving. She trusted my driving. She knew I would protect her to the best of my abilities.

We pull up to the spa and it is beautiful. I lean over and gently kiss my Babe's lips "Babe wake up we are here." Her eyes flutter open as she takes in her surroundings. "Ranger where are we, it's beautiful." Yeah it is Babe. We are at the Grand Cascades Lodge but we are going to a place called Reflections."

"Reflections?" "Yeah Babe you will see. Come on." We got out of the car I could tell she was excited I knew the place was luxurious beautiful with its red décor little crystals hanging from the ceiling. When we walked up to the place my Babe let out a squeal. "Carlos you are taking me to a spa?" "Yeah Babe I am treating you to a spa day. I want you relaxed and ready for tomorrow and I thought this would help you." "Carlos its perfect it's beautiful." As we walked up to the door she sighed disappointingly "Carlos they are closed. They aren't opened on Sundays." I looked at her and smiled. "Babe they will open for us. I promise you." I knocked on the door and a woman came and opened it.

"Hi Mr. Manoso we have been expecting you my name is Tammy please come in and we will get you all settled." I just nodded as I stepped aside for my Babe to go in first. Once we were inside Tammy asked if we would like anything to drink. "We will have some champagne and water please." I didn't want my Babe to drink too much but I wanted her to relax and enjoy herself.

In a few minutes Tammy was back with our glasses and a bottle of champagne. She quickly poured our drinks and then asked what we would like. "Tammy I won't be partaking in any of the services I just brought my fiancé. I want her to have the royal treatment. Can you give her a list of the services you provide so she can select what she would like." "Sure thing Mr. Manoso I will be right back."

She left to get the information leaving me and my Babe alone. "Babe I want you to select what you want I want you to have the royal treatment price isn't an issue. If I get a hint that you are selecting services based on price I will make the selection for you."

SPOV  
He brought me to a spa. I can't believe it they weren't even supposed to be opened today but they opened especially for us. Will this man ever stop surprising me with what he is capable of? I mean they just opened for him. He called and they opened. Holy hell I feel like a famous movie star. You know the ones that get private shopping sprees private openings of movie theaters private openings of restaurants. Well I get private opening of a spa.

This place is gorgeous with the red fabric on the walls the crystals hanging from the ceiling it screams luxury it screams expensive and exclusive. This wasn't your average run of the mill spa.

Tammy comes back in and hands me the list of services. "Here is a list of our services please look them over and let me know which ones you would like." I could tell she felt awkward not knowing my name. "Tammy I am Stephanie you can call me Steph if you would like. I will let you know as soon as I have made my selection."

She nodded and walked away. I looked at the services and they all sounded so luxurious so relaxing any of them would have made me feel like I had died and gone to heaven. They had so many to choose from it was difficult but in the end I made my selections. Carlos was insistent that I choose a treatment from each grouping. I was concerned about time but Carlo insisted that we had all day.

So I chose under the luxurious skin care section I chose Om Signature Facial – _A restorative and de-stressing treatment with pure organic aromatherapy to replenish and nurture from the inside out. The skin is purified, toned, and exfoliated with powdered pearls – crushed Champagne grape seeds restore the skin's luminosity A face and neck massage with an organic chamomile and lavender anti-aging crème, along with a restorative Manuka Honey masque, leaves the skin glowing and the soul rejuvenated._

For the decadent massage Carlos talked me into the Four-Hand Massage – _Once you've experienced a two-therapist, four-hand massage-you'll remember it, possibly forever. Beyond the sheer nirvana of one therapist caressing your head, the other your feet~ and then, in perfect unison, your entire body~ there's the bonus of total and absolute relaxation, of time and place forgotten._

For the Indulgent Body Treatments I selected the Volcanic Clay Body Ritual – _This detoxifying treatment begins with an aromatic sea salt body scrub in the old world tradition. This will make your skin more receptive to a purifying botanical mask with Volcanic Clay and wild crafted essential oils. While you are wrapped, enjoy a soothing scalp massage followed by a warm relaxing shower to remove this revitalizing mud. You will then receive a moisturizing application of Rosemary lotion. This treatment is designed to detoxify, revitalize and tighten the skin__._

When Tammy came back in the room I told her the treatments I wanted. When she asked that I followed her back to begin I turned to Carlos. "Where are you going to be? I will be back there for a few hours are you just going to wait for me?" He smiled "Babe I will be here for the most part but I do have to run a quick errand. I promise you when you are done I will be right here waiting for you." I smiled at the thought of him waiting for me. "Okay I love you, and thank you for this you make me feel wonderful." He smiled and responded "I love you Babe." "Love you too Batman."

With our goodbyes said I followed Tammy back for what was going to be an afternoon of relaxation.


	16. Chapter 15:TrainingPT1: Bobby Phy Fit

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

Chapter 15: Training PT 1: Bobby Physical Fitness Training

SPOV

I have had a wonderful day. Carlos took me to a spa where I was pampered beyond belief it felt so wonderful, so relaxing, so rejuvenating. I feel centered I feel balanced. I feel wonderful. When we left we stopped and got an early dinner.

During dinner Carlos gave me a package and asked me to open it. When I opened it I was blown away he had gotten me a bracelet with two charms. The first charm was the batman symbol done in black onyx. The other charm was the wonder woman symbol done in a white stone. Ranger went on to tell me that the bracelet was a Pandora bracelet and that charms could be added that they had charms that dangled like the ones on my bracelet and other little charms that just went on the bracelet.

I also found out that he had the two charms specifically made for me. I was floored that he would do something so special for me. That he would think to do something like that, I would treasure this bracelet my entire life.

It was obvious what the batman and the wonder woman symbols stood for. The Batman obviously was him and the wonder woman he told me was me. He chose black onyx for the bat because of his blackened soul and he chose the white stone because of my light that I brought into his world.

When we got home he called early bed time and I couldn't argue with that so to bed we went. I was able to properly thank him for my bracelet a few times before we fell asleep.

I woke up to his alarm going off damn it's morning already. Feeling him stir behind me and stretching back in his arms I couldn't help but think every morning should be this good. Waking up in the arms of my lover now that was a feeling I would never have enough of.

"Morning Babe" Ranger whispered in my ear as I could feel his morning wood press against my back. "Morning Carlos" I heard him groan and then he got up and I could tell he was forcing himself to make each step towards the bathroom. I wouldn't have complained had he decided stay a little longer but if I know him he didn't want to deplete my energy and ware me out before my day started.

Today was the first day of my training and I was excited. Today's schedule was work with Bobby on Physical Fitness from eight o'clock until twelve o'clock. Then I would be working with Tank from two o'clock until six o'clock. A little slower than Ranger I got up and fumbled my way into the bathroom took a shower for what I wasn't sure but I guess I wanted to be clean before I got all sweaty and gross.

I wasn't sure what to wear I didn't have a whole lot of clothes here. Since I took none of my clothing from my apartment I knew I would need to go shopping soon or I would be out of under ware and bras. Not that Ella didn't keep my clothes clean hell I barely had dirty clothes with her around I still would need some things.

Looking around I found another pair of yoga pants and t-shirt. I went to get my under ware and sports bra and I had to laugh. My under ware wasn't all black like before. I still had a couple of black pair but I also noticed that I now had two pair of under ware that were blue with white stars and two that where red and white stripes. I even had one pair that looked like the American flag. Of course all of them had Rangeman embroidered on them. I knew there could only be one person responsible for this and that would be that fine sex god Cuban man of mine, Carlos.

Turning I found him standing in the door way of the closet looking at me with his lips slightly curved up. I picked them up motioning to them "Carlos you wouldn't have had anything to do with these appearing in my drawer would you?" I raised an eyebrow, okay tried to raise an eyebrow, with the question.

"Babe wonder woman needs her wonder woman under ware." I just laughed. I know it was silly but I loved them. I was like a kid in the candy store I couldn't wait to wear them. I pulled on a pair of the blue and white stars pulled on a sports bra which I was a little disappointed wasn't wonder woman and then proceeded to pull on my black yoga pants and black t-shirt.

I pulled my hair up in a high pony tail. I put on my socks and tennis shoes. I took the time to pack a bag for myself. I put a pair of gym shorts as well as a towel and some deodorant in my bag before going into the kitchen. Ella had already brought breakfast and I cringed at the thought. I knew it would be healthy with my training starting so would the healthy food. I just hoped it didn't taste like twigs and leaves.

Sure enough she brought me the same thing she had for Ranger. We had an egg white omelet filled with vegetables no cheese, ugh. A cup of fruit which consisted of Raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and kiwi I could deal with that. Finally rounding out the breakfast was a cup of plain yogurt no doubt fat free and sugar free and a piece of whole wheat toast.

While I wasn't thrilled I knew this was my wish to get training to become a full time Rangeman so I sucked it up and sat down and ate with my usual gusto. Don't tell Ranger and guys but breakfast was better than I thought it would be. Ella was a god in the kitchen and I knew this because she could even make healthy taste good and everyone knows healthy food tastes like shit. Everyone just forces themselves to eat the shit because it is healthy for them but they don't like it, they don't love it if they did then there wouldn't be a fast food restaurant on every corner instead it would be healthy shit.

But all that aside breakfast was good and I felt good for haven ate it. At least it wasn't one of those powdery drink mixes that taste like chalk and leave an after taste in your mouth that is worse than when you vomit and can't brush afterwards. I gag just thinking about it.

So it is now quarter to eight Ranger has been gone for a while and I am in the elevator headed to the gym to meet Bobby today is Physical Fitness training. Four long fucking hours of physical fitness this is worse than high school there I only had to endure on hour and there I could get a pass from the nurse on some days. Oh well I think to myself suck it up Wonder Woman you can do this.

I hear a chuckle come over the elevator speaker, Lester I should have known. I just said "Out Loud" and he responded "Yeah Beautiful, out loud but I agree wonder woman can do this, go knock Bobby's socks off Beautiful show him what you are truly capable of." I smiled at the camera and waved at Lester he always knew when I needed encouragement when I needed that little extra lift to my wings to help me fly. He knew I would be nervous this morning and be questioning everything. There was a reason he was my best friend and there it was because he never failed to be there for me even it was just talking to me over the elevator speakers. "Thanks Les, I needed that. Thanks for being my Best friend." "Beautiful you don't have to thank me for being your best friend. I hold that title with pride and joy."

The elevator opens on the third floor and I exit it. Entering the gym with a new step in my walk and renewed air in my wings, I am ready to fly. I am ready to become wonder woman.

BPOV

I have been down in the gym for almost an hour getting everything ready for Bomber. I am so excited for her. I am excited that she decided to join us and I am full of pride that she wanted to earn it. I am going to do everything in my power to see that she is able to pass these tests.

I have been out of the Rangers now for four years but I have kept my shape. Working out daily keeps me in shape and I take that seriously not only as a medic I know how important good health is but I know for the work we do it is important to be in the best physical shape possible. Not only does it help in fighting off an attacker it also helps in injury prevention, injury recovery and it helps your confidence.

I know Bomber needs help with her confidence. If she could see in herself what we all see in her then she would have confidence in spades but she has been browbeat by her pitiful excuse of a mother and that asshole fucking cop x boyfriend of hers. You have no idea how good it makes me feel to call him an x boyfriend of hers.

I hear the ding of the elevator and I know it is Bomber. Most of the other guys are finished their workouts for the day and are busy working or doing whatever it is they do during their time off so the gym is all ours.

When she walks thru the door I can see that little extra lift in her step as she makes her way to me. I see the look on her face the determination and I smile inwardly and think that's my Bomber tough as nails.

She walks in and goes toward the bench and sits her bag down. She takes out her towel and places over the back of the bench and then proceeds to place her water bottle on the bench. Looks like she came prepared for working hard. I smile again.

"Bomber how are you this morning?" She looks up at me and smiles "I am good Bobby and you?" "Good. Are you ready to get started?" She nods her head "No time like the present as they say."

"Bomber as you know we will be working here for four hours but before we begin I thought I would talk to you a little about what the test requirements are. What you will need to be able to do in order to pass the test. Then I thought we could work thru the elements of the test to see where we stand and then we will know what we need to focus on for your training. Are you okay with that?" She looks at me "Yeah I guess so Bobby that sounds good to me. But know I don't work out so I will probably be at the bottom of everything."

I am not going to let her talk negative about herself not while she is with me. "Bomber, know there are no expectations at this point. There is no bottom. There is only a starting place. We will figure out where we are starting and we will work toward where we need to be. There is no shame here and no judgments. Okay? Remember only starts here." "She looks at me and nods and I can see some of her worry leave."

Once I had her understanding I continued "There are five requirements to pass the physical fitness test for Rangeman. The first requirement is that you be able to run five miles in fifteen minutes that means you need to be able to run three miles in five minutes and maintain that speed for fifteen minutes. This is probably going to be our biggest challenge in the two week time frame as we will have to get you running pretty quickly and increase your speed each day to get you running that fast and being able to maintain it for the time period required." She looked at me a little scared. I knew that first one would scare her a little because Bomber isn't a runner.

Continuing before I lost her "the second requirement is to do fifty sit-ups in two minutes. This one will probably be fairly easy to achieve. You have very little body fat on you so it won't take us long to get your muscles responding and building mass and it won't be long before your core muscles will be able to crank out fifty sit-ups in 2 minutes." Thought I would give her a little bit of happy.

"Bomber the third requirement you will need to do fifty push-ups in 3 minutes because you are girl and there is no provision for the girl form of pushups we decided to add a minute to the allotted time but you will have to do military style pushups." I thought that would make her happy but her head snapped up while I was talking to her and her eyes become fixed on me.

"Bobby what do you mean you added a minute to my time?" "Bomber we gave you an extra minute because you will be required to do military style pushups" Her lips pursed as her eyes squinted "Bobby I appreciate you wanting to make it easier on me but I do the same test as all of the rest of the guys or I don't take the test. So you take that extra minute back. I can either past the test in the allotted time with the allotted requirements or I can't. But I'll be damn if I am going to pass some altered test because I am a woman and be satisfied with that." Damn she makes me proud wait until Ranger hears about this.

"Okay Bomber consider it done fifty pushups in two minutes it will be. The same as it has been for all the other guys who have ever taken the test here."

"The fourth requirement is twenty five pull ups in two minutes. Finally the fifth requirement that will pose the greatest challenge is to run the obstacle course in less than thirty minutes. The obstacle course is like you have seen on television shows and movies it consists of nets, ropes, walls, beams, etc. You will be required to maneuver your way thru the obstacle course from start to finish in thirty minutes. Don't worry we will break down each obstacle and work our way thru the course before you are asked to run it. So are you ready to see where our starting point is?" She nods her head.

"Bomber I am going to get you started on the treadmill I want you to start by warming up your body. Every session we will start by warming you up and stretching a little. Never stretch your body before you have warmed it up or you could risk injury or tearing a muscle."

Walking over the treadmill she hops on I know she has used a treadmill before so I don't go thru any of equipment details. I set her up on a brisk walk for five minutes.

"Bomber once we run thru the test leaving out the obstacle course for right this minute then I will set you up on a workout for your upper and lower body. We will figure out where your starting points for those exercises are and then we will spend the rest of the day at the obstacle course going over each obstacle." I wanted her to know what I had planned for our four hour session. I didn't want her wondering what was coming next. If she kept thinking about what was coming next because I didn't share then she wouldn't be able to focus on the task at hand. This way she could focus because there were no surprises.

"Bomber don't worry about memorizing this stuff I will have it for you after our session today. I will have it all printed out and we will work from those sheets with each session. I do expect that you work out every day in addition to our training it is the only way you will get strong enough. She nodded her head in understanding."

When her five minutes were up I motioned for her to come over to the mat. There I walked her thru several series of stretches to stretch out her body. Teaching her how to Stretch out her legs, her core, her arms, her neck and her back. Then it was on to the test requirements.

I skipped the running for now and focused on requirements two, three, and four. That way she wouldn't be too tired from running to perform her best on those exercises. I knew she wouldn't have much endurance at this point as she was just starting so I had to switch things up to make it easier on her, and easier on her body.

"Bomber let us see how many sit-ups you can do now in two minutes. I will hold your feet for now but for the test you will have to hold your own feet in place. That is something that we will work up to for now I am going to hold them with the same resistance as you should be able to once we have you built up some just give me as many sit-ups as you can do in two minutes."

I held her legs with one hand and set my clock with the other. Giving her a get ready, get start, and go she began as my watch started counting down. When two minutes were up she was at twenty nine but she was struggling. Like most people she started out strong and fast and withered as she went I would teach her a better way but for now we would take that and move on.

"That was good Bomber you got to twenty nine. Now let's do the same for the push-ups. Let's see how many military style push-ups you can do in 2 minutes." She rolled over I helped her a little with form making sure she kept her back straight and she went to the floor by bending her elbows not by flexing her back up and down. Surprising she did better than I expected. She did fifteen military style push-ups.

I then helped her stretch her arms out and let her take a minute or two to rest before the pull-ups. Following me over to the pull-up bar I explained the proper pull up the proper position of hands, body and legs. I had her practice the position a few times with me supporting her weight for her so she could get a feel of what it should feel like as she raised her self up and lowered herself down. Technique is important or she could end up tearing something and that would set back all of her training. None of us wanted that.

"Bomber you think you have the feel for the technique?" She nodded "Okay show me what you got let's see how many you can do in two minutes." She started and she surprised me. To be so little she has a lot of upper body strength which was a good thing. In two minutes Bomber had done twelve pull ups.

"Good Bomber that was twelve pull up s done in proper technique I am impressed. Most of the guys still don't do pull ups in proper technique."

We made our way to the treadmill. She hopped on "Bomber I am going to start you out at a jog and let's see if you can maintain that for fifteen minutes if not then we can slow it down but I would like to find our starting point and not start too slow because like I said we are going to have to get you faster soon we don't have time for a slow build here especially depending on where your starting point is."

I started the machine and put it on 6.0 that is a good jogging pace. At six point zero if she could maintain that speed for fifteen minutes then she would run about a mile and half as that is about the speed for running a mile in ten minutes. She would need to be much faster to run a mile in three minutes. In order to run a mile in three minutes on a treadmill the speed needs to be sixteen. She would need to get much faster I only hope that she could maintain six for the fifteen minutes and not be too much out of breath.

Half way thru the fifteen minutes Bomber was going strong. I saw no signs of her weakening no signs of her slowing down. She was maintaining the speed which was a good sign and I even thought that I could push her by speeding it up but I decided to let her continue at this speed that next session we would speed it up when we actually got to training.

In the end she made it the full fifteen minutes and was only slightly out of breath which made me happy. That means I probably could start her training at seven point zero or seven point five to actually push her. The closer we could start to sixteen the better we would be.

"Bomber I am proud of you. When we started you said your numbers would be at the bottom but your numbers are looking good considering you haven't exercised in a while. You know this isn't going to be easy but I will tell you this it is more than doable especially with the numbers you have given me today."

She beamed when she smiled at me. I could see how proud of herself she was she had tried her hardest and put her best foot forward and she was excited and happy with her results. It made me smile.

"Bomber you did 29 sit ups, 15 pushups, and 12 pull ups and jogged six point zero on the treadmill for fifteen minutes without too much effort on your part. I will have to say impressive. I am proud of you. Now let's go over your workout plan then we will head to the obstacle course where I will introduce you to each obstacle of the course and that should wrap out our session for the day.

We walk over to the machines the first thing I was going to do was set her up with an upper body workout. One that would help build those arm muscles and shoulder muscles as she would need it to get those pushups where they needed to be.

Bomber the first thing I am going to do is walk you thru what will be your upper body work out. We won't do all of the reps and sets today but you are to do this work out every other day you will alternate with the lower body work out that I am going to show you next. Again you don't have to write this down as I will have it all for you after our session. You will be given one free day from training and that will be Sunday. The rest of the days you will alternate between these two workouts with an added cardio which as you know will be running. You will also be swimming some as well as that will help you with your sore muscles.

We walked over the weight bench the first muscle group we were going to work was the chest. "Stephanie the first set of muscles we are going to work is the chest muscles. Your chest muscles are made up of your pectoralis major or you have probably heard the more common name pecs." I set the bench for her showing her exactly how I am adjusting it.

I don't want her messing with barbells right now so I am going to have her work with dumbbells it will help her muscles more as she will have to control her own body so there will be both a positive and negative resistance force that her body will have to control.

"Bomber what I am going to have you do is what is called a dumbbell Bench press. You will lay flat on the bench with your legs on each side of the bench your feet flat on the floor." I demonstrated "You will have already laid the weights out you need for each set yes they will change for each set." I grabbed a set of dumbbells from the rack and came back to the bench. I got back into position. "While you are flat on the bench you will bring each dumbbell up hold them just to the side of your chest palms of your hands facing away from you with the dumbbell almost at the point of your underarms you will push the dumbbell straight up and lower it. You want to try?"

I get up and she immediately places herself on the bench in the correct position. I hand her two ten pound dumbbells. "Bomber I want you to do twelve reps" She does twelve reps in proper form without any trouble. "Very good" okay this is how you do this exercise you do one set of twelve reps at ten pounds, you will wait for one minute then you will do a second set of ten reps at twelve pounds, you will rest for one minute then you will do a third set of eight reps at fourteen pounds, you will rest for one minute. Your fourth set for this you will do six reps at fifteen pounds. Then you will immediately move into your second exercise which will be Dumbbell Flyers for another round of twelve reps at the weight you started with so in this case it would be ten pounds."

I proceeded to get her in proper position for the dumbbell flyers. "Bomber for the flyers you will remain flat on the bench only difference is your arms go out beside you even with your chest. With your palms facing up you will bring your arms together palms will be facing each other and then you bring them back down. You will do twelve of these. Then to wrap up your chest you will come over to the cable machine here and do what are called cable crossovers." We made our way over to the cable machine where I showed her the proper position for crossovers and showed her how she is to pull them across her body and extend her arms all the way out. I set a weight that I thought she would be able to start with of ten pounds. "Bomber give this a try and see if you can do twelve reps at this weight." At the end of twelve she was putting forth some effort but I left it at ten pounds.

"Bobby all that just for my chest?" she asked me "Yep Bomber all of that just for your chest. You will find these exercises go quickly you will be able to complete your workouts in an hour every day and that includes your twenty minute cardio workout." She looks at me like I have lost it but I know these exercises as she gets to doing them she will be surprised how effective they are and how fast they are to complete.

"Bomber your next muscle group we are going to focus on are the muscles in the back which consist of two large muscles your Trapezius and your Latissimus Dorsi. You may have heard them referred to as Traps and Lats" I pointed each of them out on her back so she would know where to concentrate her efforts. "We are actually going to start on the cable machine this time." I show her how to set it for what we are going to do.

"Bomber these and all of the other exercises are going to follow the same pattern of reps you will do one exercise for four sets upping the weight and lower the rep number with each set then you will do two other exercises focusing on the same set of muscles each for twelve reps at the lower weight."

"For this set of muscle groups pull ups happen to be one of the exercises so we are going to use that. But for your four sets exercise we are going to do the wide-grip Lat pull down." I showed her the bar where to grasp it and how to stand. I set the weight at twenty pounds. "Okay Bomber do twelve reps." She did twelve reps with very little effort. So I will start her exercises weight a little higher maybe thirty.

Then we moved on to the pull ups. "Bomber I already showed you how to do the pull ups but you will do twelve of them immediately following the set of reps with the pull down bar. As time goes we will add weight to you to give you additional resistance in the pull ups. Then your final back exercise will be a one-arm dumbbell row" We walked back over to the weight bench. I demonstrated how she will place a knee on the bench and lean over placing a hand on the bench with her back level she will pick up the weight and proceed to pull it up towards her chest with the palm of her hand facing her body.

"Bomber you will do twelve of these on each side of your body let's try a twenty pound dumbbell and see how you work with that." She got in position and the weight selected looked good.

I went on to the next muscle group "Bomber the next group of muscles we are going to focus on are the shoulders they are made up of the Deltoid and the Trapezius as well. You may have heard of Delts before. Most of the guys here refer to their muscle groups by their shortened name." I again pointed out the different muscle of the shoulder.

"For the Shoulders your four rep exercise is going to be Lateral raises." I again showed her the proper standing position and how she was to bring the weight up from her side with her arm extended out to her side until it was level with her shoulder. I gave her two five pound weights. "Bomber can you do twelve for me this time you will do both sides at the same time." She did the exercises with little effort so I would increase the weight with her workout program.

"Good Bomber now your one twelve rep exercise will be what is called front raises. Where you will stand with your dumbbell placed in front of you sort of resting on your hip area your hands will be palm down and you raise the dumbbells straight up in front of you and lower them." This time I give her two seven pound dumbbells to try. "Okay Bomber give it a try." It is a little more effort for her I believe we found our starting number.

"Bomber the second twelve rep exercise will be reverse flyers." I showed her to bend at the waist with her back flat. With the weights in her hands dangling towards the floor she is to raise her arms up out to the side until her arms are level with her back and then lower them to the floor. "Ready to try it?" I asked her she nodded and I gave her the seven pound weights. Getting in position she performed the exercise.

"Bomber your biceps are next." I pointed to the upper arm where the biceps are and I flexed mine for her I couldn't resist. She giggled.

"For this muscle group your first exercise the exercise that you have the four reps with will be Alternating dumbbell curls." Grabbing a weight I showed her proper position and then I proceeded to curl the dumbbell up and lower showing her how controlled the exercise should be performed. It shouldn't be you throwing your arm up and letting it fall back down.

I handed her a seven pound weight and asked her for twelve reps which she did without much trouble. "For the first exercise of twelve reps you will do what is called a concentration curl." I showed her how to sit on the bench with her legs a part place her elbow on the inside of her leg and curl the dumbbell. I gave her the seven pound weight and had her do twelve.

"The final exercise for the bicep will be what is known as preacher curls." We walked over to the machine I explained how to put the weights on the bar and demonstrated a proper preacher curl. I took the weights off and had her go thru all the steps which she did without any problems.

"Good Job Bomber. Now on to the last of the upper body muscle group and exercises the last muscle group is the triceps." I pointed out where they were on the back of the arm and we walked back over to the weight bench. "Your first exercise which will perform the four separate reps for will be the seated tricep presses." Again I got in position and showed her the proper form. I gave her a five pound weight and ask her to press me out twelve reps.

"The second exercise for twelve reps will be the tricep kick backs" I showed her once again the form of putting a knee and hand on the bench on the bench keeping a straight back you extend your arm behind you lining it up with your body and then lower it. I had her do twelve reps at five pounds.

"Bomber the last exercise for your upper body workout will be bench dips." I sat on the bench placing my hands beside me. My legs stretched in front of me and demonstrated the proper technique for bench dips. "Bomber why don't you give it a try" She did exactly as I had done and did twelve dips.

"Bomber that was great. You have great form. Don't tell the guys but you are better student than many of them." She laughs. I was serious. There were still guys here that form was off no matter how much I preached it to them.

"Bomber you want to take a couple of minutes break, get a drink of water and then we will move on to the lower body." "Bobby that sounds great do I have time for bathroom break?" "Yeah bomber you should be able to use the locker room no one is down here I will make sure no one goes in there while you are there." "Okay, thanks." I take the time to make some notes on my upper body workout plan for her. Then drink some water.

"Bomber for your lower body the exercises are simpler. You will find this workout actually goes quicker than your upper body. With the lower body it also includes your core but I want you to add core exercises to your upper body work out as well. I will write some suggestions down on your workout schedule." She nods her head. I can tell that she has been concentrating and taking in everything I have said because she has been so quiet.

"Bomber your lower body workout starts with your quads." I show her where they are. We walk over to the leg press machine. Setting a weight for her of fifty pounds I show her the proper position. I show her how to place her feet how to release the machine and then how to properly perform the exercise. "Okay Bomber you will use this machine for the four set of reps increasing the weight with each rep set. Just like in the upper body workout. Give me twelve reps." She pushed out twelve reps.

"The second exercise for your first set of twelve reps will be leg extensions." We went to anther machine where I demonstrate proper technique and showed her how to set the machine. "Hop on board Bomber and show me how you set the machine and then press out twelve reps." She made me proud she adjusted the machine for her and did twelve leg extensions. She was definitely my best student.

"The third exercise will be squats. I will show you proper form so many people do these wrong and end up injuring themselves so be careful when you do these make sure you are in proper form if you have questions ask me or one of the guys for help. Don't be bashful we are all here to help you. Okay?" She nods her head. I show her the proper form for a squat and she follows me exactly keeping her knees behind her toes.

I give her two dumbbells and ask her to do twelve of them while I watch to see if her form falters any it doesn't so I think twenty pounds is a good start.

"The second muscle group is the hamstring." I point out where the hamstring is "The first exercise for the four reps will be lunges. Again like squats many people have poor form and end up hurting themselves so I am going to show you proper form but if you ever have any questions ask me or one f the guys don't do them unless you are sure you have the proper form and you can maintain proper form thru the whole series of sets. Even if it is mean dropping the weight drop it don't injure yourself."

She nods in understanding and I show her the proper form. Then I have her do twelve for me with no weight to make sure she has the proper form. Then I add weight and ask for twelve more which she does without any problems.

"Your second exercise of twelve reps will be Straight leg dead lifts again there is potential to injure your back if not performed properly." I demonstrated the proper way to do a straight leg dead lift and she copied me. I had her do twelve more holding twenty pounds.

"Final exercise for the hamstring will be Lying leg curls." Walking over the machine I demonstrated how to set the machine for her and put weight on twenty pounds. I showed her how to get on and off of the machine. When I was done I motioned for her to hop on. She adjusted the machine set the weight and then got on the machine and proceeded to do twelve leg curls.

"Good job Bomber. The next muscle group is the calves." I motioned to the calves most everyone knew the calves if no other muscle group in the body. "For this muscle we are going to do standing heel raises for the series of four sets." I demonstrated and she followed starting out with twenty pound weight in addition to her body weight.

"The second set of twelve reps will be Seated Calf Raises." Again I demonstrated and she did fine with the twenty pound weight. "Since there are few exercises that isolate the calf we are going back to standing heel raises for the final set of twelve exercises."

"The only muscle group left is your abs. For those we are going to do a variety of different things as I want you to build core strength. For your lower work out which will be done independently of your physical fitness time during training you will do the following. Your four set exercise will be decline crunches." We walk over the decline bench and I show her how to adjust it. "Bomber we are going to start out a less severe of a decline but the goal is to eventually have you hanging and being able to do crunches." She looks at me and I can see images of GI Jane run thru her brain. "Yep just like GI Jane" I respond to her.

She give me the eye that says you just ESP'd me and I chuckle. "Back on track Bomber hop on and let me see how you do." She got on after a minute of difficulty and was able to do twelve with no real trouble. "We will eventually add weight and then up the incline or in your case decline of the bench."

"The second exercise will be regular floor crunches for twelve followed by hanging knee raises for a count of twelve." I walk her thru both of those. "Now bomber I will give you all of this later and you can get started with your upper body workout during your free time this afternoon or evening. Let's head out to the obstacle course. On the way I will discuss your cardio workout with you."

*A/N The exercises for the workout routine and cardio are that of Body for Life.

SPOV

Holy shit what have I gotten myself into? All of these exercises and they are to be done on my own time every day other than Sunday and the physical fitness training is going to be in addition to my workout. I wonder is he trying to fucking kill me? No I have to remind myself this is what I wanted. I will never be a full time Rangeman sitting on my ass eating bonbons all day but how good would that be? Of course Carlos wouldn't allow bonbons in our home so that is out. Oh well nice thought now on for more hard work.

I pack up my bag and grab water for the road at least I get a little break I smile. Maybe I can have a cat nap in the car. We head for the garage and get in one of the SUVs.

Normally the Merry men go into their zone when they drive but not today. I guess Bobby did warn me but as soon as we got on the road he was talking about my cardio training.

"Bomber for your workout sessions you will do twenty minutes of Cardio before every workout. In that twenty minutes there are specifics for how it is to be performed. You have to trust me it will make you stronger, faster and build your endurance and right now we need endurance and faster." I nod my understanding.

"When you do your cardio workout it will all be based on levels of exertion so you will need to rate your level of exertion usually you can do that by testing if you can talk or say a complete sentence. The more you can talk and complete a sentence the lower the intensity of your work out and the less exertion you are putting forth. Obviously the less you can talk and complete a sentence the more intense and there is more exertion on your part."

I was following him so far it made sense. "I will have this for you in your work out stuff but I wanted to sort of explain it now so it would make sense when you read over it later." "You will start your cardio at whatever you deem is level five intensity and you will do that for two minutes. Then from two to three minutes you will move from a level five to a level six. Minutes three to six you will go from six to nine level intensity and you will repeat that pattern of six to nine intensity level for minutes seven to ten and eleven to fourteen and you will work your way from six to a level ten intensity for the fifteen to nineteen minutes. Level ten intensity is the most you can do for a minute. Then from nineteen to twenty you will cool down at a level five for a minute."

How the hell was I going to remember that? "Bobby I think I will have you walk me thru it the first time. I am not sure I am following you." He looks over at me "Okay Bomber sure thing."

At this point I think I should be afraid...be very afraid. But maybe I am just to dumb to be afraid part of me is still very excited. The obstacle course seems like it could be fun for me.

It wasn't long before we were pulling up in front of a tall wired fence with one of those security code things. Bobby placed his thumb on a pad and then entered a number and the gate opened for us to enter. "Rangeman owns this. This where we train for missions, the obstacle course is here, the shooting alley is here as well as sniper training. The driving course is here so you will be spending a fair amount of time here over the next couple of weeks." Wow I had no idea they had anything like this. All this time and I had no idea.

We pass by a few buildings as Bobby points out different things to me and then the next thing I know we are pulling up in an open area and parking.

"Bomber the obstacle course is over that hill there. Come on let's go." I walk with him and when we top the hill and obstacle course come in view my mouth drops. It is exactly like those you see on TV oh this is going to be exciting I can't wait on one hand and on the other hand I know it is so going to kick my ass.

"Bomber we aren't going to run the course today. What we are going to do is go to each obstacle and see how you perform each obstacle." This obstacle course was amazing and remembering he said I had thirty minutes nearly brought me to my knees.

Luckily the obstacles weren't that far apart so running from one to the other wouldn't be a problem but there were several obstacles and I knew a few of them would take me time.

We walked up to the first obstacle and it was a series of jumps you had to do there was a muddy ditch you had to jump over. "Bomber these are obstacles you should be able to jump over with a single leap. With the ditch you will leap over it with the trench you will leap down into it and then back up on the other side. And the hurdles you should just leap over them as you are running to the next obstacle."

"Go ahead Bomber and give it a try I will be right beside you." I took a few running steps and leaped over the muddy ditch, then over then leaped into the trench and with the momentum I had I was able to somewhat easily leap out of the ditch probably not as smooth as Bobby did beside me but I didn't do a face plant so that was good. We made our way to the hurdles and with single leaps we made our way over the hurdles. I felt like a true solider in training on this field.

"Damn Bomber that was nice. You did great." I was beaming I was so happy with myself. We made our way over to the next obstacle. "Bomber the next set of obstacles is all about dodging. Moving your body in away to dodge something is important so keep that in mind as we make thru the next couple of obstacles. You want to think dodge." Okay dodge as in they can't touch this. Oh yeah sing it to me MC Hammer. I could hear the song and the beat in my head as we headed to the dodge zone of the obstacle course.

Part me was ready to just sing out can't touch this when we came up to the first obstacle. "Bomber this first obstacle is called Lanes to guide you run in the lanes and it will teach you to quickly change direction. The angles are sharp and to pass you can't touch any of the logs that make up the lane." Again I think can't touch this as we headed into the lanes to guide. Sharp angles was a bit of a mislead there as the lanes all of sudden went from one direction to the other sort of like Z or a better description is a series of right side up and upside down Vs.

But I did my best I hit the very first pole but after I watched Bobby's footing the first time I was able to make it thru the obstacle without any thing touching me again of course MC Hammer was still going strong in my head.

We came up to the second dodge obstacle and Bobby Stopped. " Bomber you did amazingly well thru that obstacle most people struggle with that and after you hit that first log at the first turn you seemed to get your footing and you took off. It is all about footing and remaining light on your feet so you can change directions quickly. This next obstacle is like that, remember dodge the obstacle and maintain a light footing and you will do equally as well with this one." I was well into the whole 'Can't Touch This' now. "This next obstacle is called Maze of Cause what it is a series of posts that are placed close together you are to go thru without touching the posts. The positioning of the posts is tight and will require you to be light on your feet and requires you to quickly change direction in order to be successful."

I nodded and we started Bobby went first as there isn't really enough room for more than one at a time. I watched him, and watched his footing. When it was my turn I stepped up to the obstacle with what I saw Bobby do and the song beating a rhythm in my head I made my way thru the obstacle carefully not touching a single post. I was thrilled with myself.

"Wow Bomber I think you are natural at this." I smiled I was feeling really good. Seeing his pride in me makes me feel like I am flying. We took off to the next set of obstacles in the course. Approaching the obstacles I can see a platform with a cargo net on it and beyond that a wall. Great climbing, I am an excellent climber. I have been climbing in and out of the second story window for years.

"Bomber this is the vertical climbing and surmounting part of the course. Obviously you climb the cargo net but the wall you will need momentum to surmount it. You will need to propel yourself up grab the wall and throw a leg over it then pull yourself over the wall. The wall is eight feet tall and you are five foot nine add the length of your arms which are roughly two feet and you have seven foot nine so you will need to jump to make up the difference but what is going to get you over that wall is your leg making it over the top. If you can hook your leg then you can get over it." I nodded my understanding.

I climbed the cargo net without any problem but the wall that was another story. No matter how fast I ran no matter how high I jumped I just couldn't seem to do it. At least not all of those things at the same time in rhythm together. The wall was literally a wall to my passage of the rest of the obstacle course. I slammed myself into the wall and fell from the wall so many times that I thought I was going to knock myself out. Finally Bobby ended it.

"Bomber let's move on you have done amazing we can work more on the wall during another session. Don't let it get to you." I agreed I wasn't getting over that wall at least not today. I can't say I wasn't disappointed but I was still proud of myself so far I felt like I performed each obstacle extremely well. Well with the exception of that damn wall. I hate walls, walls hold you back just as ceilings hold you down. Walking around the wall, me cussing it for all it is worth and sending it a death glare so it would explode in front of me which it didn't and I made a mental note to work on death glare, we moved on to the next set of obstacles.

Coming up to the next set of obstacles I could see what appeared to be monkey bars and then a rope extended between two poles. "Bomber this is horizontal traversing part of the course. The first obstacle is known as the ladder but for all intents purposes they work just like monkey bars you use to play on as a kid. You will hang from them and go across them using your hands moving from bar to bar. There are no special requirements like only one hand on the bar at a time but you have to remember your course time so the faster you get across the more time you can spend another obstacle or the faster you finish the course. The second obstacle is the rope where you will go across the rope. The easiest way is to use your hands while wrapping your legs around the rope to help with your weight but if you like you can also hang and make your way across whatever you prefer both work and both pass the test."

I wanted to tell him that I loved the monkey bars as a kid and that I was a natural but I wasn't taking anything for granted on this obstacle course. So we made it to the obstacle in silence. I watched him easily go hand over hand across the ladder. I started out putting both hands on the bars at the same time but once I got comfortable with the rhythm I then finished with hand over hand like Bobby.

We got to the rope and Bobby demonstrated the way he explained with his legs. My first attempt wasn't pretty and it landed me flat on my back effectively knocking the wind out of me. I chocked but eventually caught my breath. Bobby wanted to stop fearing I had hurt myself but I convinced him I was fine and got back up for another try. The second time was a charm and I made it across. Locking my legs around the wire definitely helped me make it across but it was getting my legs hooked around it that took a little effort.

When I finished Bobby was smiling it was infectious and I couldn't help but smile at him. I sweaty, I was dirty, I was a little sore from the fall truth be told but I was excited and I was proud of myself. I could tell Bobby was too just by the look on his face. There was no blank face today.

Then next set of obstacles where crawling exercises. We crawled thru a tunnel and then under razor wire just like I have seen on TV. I didn't have any trouble once I got started. I was small enough that I wasn't worried about the wire catching me.

Bobby explained the next set of obstacle a fence and a low wall about three and a half foot high we were to vault over. So running side by side we came to the fence grabbing it with one hand I threw my legs over like Bobby and we made our way to the wall which I effectively did the same clearing the wall.

"Bomber I said you were a natural and now I have no doubts. I know this next set won't be an issue as it has to do with balance. You will cross the logs and then walk on the beams." I look at him "No problem you say? Do you know me? I have trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time." He smiled and chuckled. "Okay Bobby, let's do this." We walked to the log oh shit of course they crossed a huge puddle of muddy water. Of course now if I fall in I will be soaking wet not to mention that is some seriously nasty dirty water.

You can do this Stephanie, you are strong and you can do this. I stepped up on the log put my arms out for balance and proceeded to walk across the log. Looking at the end of the log and not down I made my way to the end. YAY me! The final obstacle was a beam walk where the beam was zigzagged doing the same thing I got up put my arms out focused on the end when I made it there I turned and focused on the end of that beam and did the same for the final beam of the obstacle. I had done it! I had finished the obstacle course. I had done all of the obstacles all fifteen obstacles well actually I had only completed fourteen thanks to that fucking wall but I still felt pretty incredible.

BPOV  
Our little girl had done it. She had successfully performed every obstacle to the obstacle course with the exception of the wall. I had no doubt she could do the wall she was just letting it defeat her. The wall is one of the obstacles of an obstacle course that could defeat you if you let it. People would form hang ups when it came to the wall and they would get to the point that they would believe they will never get over that wall. Once in that mind set it was difficult for them to break out of it and they would fail at the wall every time. I had seen it time and time again in basic training.

I just about had a heart attack when she fell from the wire and landed on her back. I know it had to hurt like hell it knocked the wind out of her and she chocked trying to catch her breath. I hope Ranger wasn't watching I didn't tell her but the whole obstacle course is setup with cameras. I didn't want her to be nervous thinking the guys were watching her. Of course they were fucking watching her.

I am also fairly certain if Ranger was watching he is going to kick my ass for not catching her. Hell I was kicking my own ass but I thought she had it I thought her leg was hooked and it wasn't. When she went to move her hand down she came faster than I could reach her.

"Bomber you did a great job." I told her as I pulled her in for a hug and twirled her around in the air. I picked her up and placed her sitting on my shoulders like they do for the VIP of sports. She had her hands in the air just as though she was a champion. She was a champion she had taken on the obstacle course and we were calling it a victory for the day.

While on my shoulders she leaned over and kissed the top of my head. "Thanks Bobby you made it seem easy." "Bomber don't thank me you did the work, you made it appear easy." Normally I would have put her down but today I let her ride on my shoulders all the way back to the car. Her weight was nothing for me to carry why not give her a little bit of happy.

When we got back to the car she surprised the hell out of me. "Bobby thanks for the ride. Do you know when you will have my workout schedule for me I have a two hour break between sessions for lunch I want to use that time to do my work out before my next training session?"

I figured she would want to rest or take the time for a long lunch but no she wanted to work out. "Bomber I will have it for you as soon as we get back. I only need to fill in starting weights which won't take but a couple of minutes."

"I figure lunch time the gym won't be as busy as it is in the morning and I can do my work out without anyone being in the gym. I don't really want the guys seeing me lifting five to twenty pound weights when I know they lift the serious weights." I didn't want her to feel beneath anyone in the gym.

"Bomber we all started somewhere remember these are your starting numbers but don't be ashamed for what you lift. You will never lift the weight some of the guys lift. Hell most of them lift weights that outweigh you. No matter how long you work out you will never lift the same amount of weight but you have to look at it as ratio your body weight to theirs. Hell most of the men out weigh you by a hundred pounds some almost two hundred of course they are going to be able to lift more weight. But that doesn't mean that you work less or put out less effort than them."

She nods her head in understanding "Still Bobby I think I like the idea of working out alone for a while. Maybe as I become more confident in my workout I will start working out with guys."

As we pulled back into the garage I saw Lester waiting for her I could tell he was happy, excited, and was bubbling with pride for her but I really silently hoped he didn't tell her about the cameras. I knew the moment I saw him that he had been watching her. I thought to myself _Lester please keep your fucking mouth shut about the cameras. _ I don't want her to be self conscious out there.

*A/N Obstacle course came from

LPOV

I watched Beautiful out on the obstacle course and she was amazing. I was so proud of her I wanted to tell her so bad how proud I was of her. Ranger had made me promise him that I wouldn't tell her about the cameras or us watching her. He said if I slipped and told her it would be my ass in a foreign country and he would tell my momma and Tia Ella that he slipped and put the wrong address on the container I was shipped out in. Like they would believe him, but that would do me little good if I ended up in a foreign country.

I was so afraid I was going to slip but I had to see her. So I made an excuse to be in the garage. I had lost my sunglasses and was looking for them. Perfect excuse I thought. I could see the look on Bobby's face and I knew he was telling me to keep my mouth shut about the cameras. When you have worked with these guys as long as we have worked together you didn't really need words you could just look at the other person and know what they were thinking. I gave him a nod that I understood.

I was at Beautiful's door before the car came to a complete stop. Opening her door for her and helping her out. "Beautiful did you have a good time this morning?" She was beaming. Her smile was radiant and I could tell she was excited. "What's got you so excited Beautiful?"

Bobby took off for the elevator while Steph and I hung back talking. "Lester I had a great morning. Bobby set me up with a workout this morning that I am getting ready to do soon as he writes down my starting lifting weights for the exercises." "You lifting Beautiful that is awesome. You want to work out with me? I don't mind spotting you. Hell I will even let you spot me." I joked and winked at her. She swatted at me and giggled.

"I think I am going to do my work out during my lunch break that way I will be the only one in the gym at least for a little while. My starting weights won't need a spotter." "Okay Beautiful but know I am good in the gym." I wag my eyebrows at her. Again she giggles.

I had to ask her "How was the rest of your morning?" She smiled "It was good, Bobby took me to the obstacle course and we went over each obstacle." I smiled "How did it go Beautiful?" "It was fun I actually enjoyed it, I did all the obstacles with the exception of the wall. I couldn't get over the wall no matter how hard I tried. I threw myself at that wall until I thought I would either knock myself out or bruise my whole body but I couldn't seem to get everything working together to get myself over the wall." "Beautiful it will come with time. The wall is one of the more difficult obstacles out there even for us guys and we have the advantage of height that you don't have." I didn't want her to get discouraged.

"How were all the other obstacles?" "They were fine. I did fall from the rope and land on my back but I was okay. It just knocked the wind out of me but I didn't let it stop me I got it the second time." Yeah I saw that so did Ranger. We were on our feet ready to make a b line there when she fell. When we saw her get back up we breathed a sigh of relief that neither of us acknowledged. Then Ranger cussed at Bobby for not catching her. I have to agree he had a valid point he should have anticipated her falling and been there just in case. But in the end she was fine so Bobby would live to see another day.

Not that we would kill him no we would just beat his ass but Hector now Hector would have probably killed him. I wouldn't be surprised if Hector doesn't have something to say to Bobby regardless if Ranger says anything to him. Ranger told me about Hector naming himself her guardian. All of Rangeman have a hefty bit of respect for Hector. He was a harden man who Beautiful had found a soft spot in.

"Beautiful sounds like you did amazing today on the obstacle course. I am proud of you." She beamed I gave her a hug and picked her up twirling her as she giggled. Bobby wasn't the only one who was going to get to twirl Beautiful today. I then took the liberty to plant a nice big ole kiss right on her plump lips. Shocking her and making me laugh. "Beautiful opportunity knocked and I took it. What can I say I am nothing if not an opportunist and I don't give up opportunities like that." She just shook her head. She knew there was nothing but brotherly love behind the kiss.

"Well let me get back to doing what I was doing before you two pulled in here distracting me." It was time for me to give her my excuse for why I was down here in the garage. Knowing she was naturally curious I knew she would ask "What were you doing?" "I was looking for my sunglasses I misplaced them and can't find them." She started out giggling and then started laughing. What? What was so funny about me misplacing my sunglasses? She then pointed to the top my head and sure enough there they were resting on the top of my head.

I laughed and shook my head. "Well Beautiful thank you for helping me find my sunglasses." We made our way to the elevator getting on she pushed three for the gym and I pushed five for the control room. Before she got off I reminded her about her time tomorrow afternoon. "Beautiful I am looking forward to having you all to myself for four hours tomorrow afternoon." I wagged my eyebrows as she exited the elevator giggling. She knew I was teasing her, but I was also serious.

Now back to the control room to do a little more watching beautiful. I really hope Ranger didn't expect any work to be done these next two weeks because all eyes would be glued on Beautiful. We all wanted her to succeed we all wanted to watch her and see if there was anything we could help her with we all wanted to be there cheering her on as she made each and every achievement no matter how big or small.


	17. Chapter 16:TrainingPT2: Tank Def Driving

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

Chapter 16: Training Pt2 Tank Defensive Driving

SPOV

I got off of the elevator giggling at my best friend. He was forever saying something that would land him in a world of hurt with Carlos but I loved him regardless or maybe in spite of it. Lester was my best friend. He was the first person at Rangeman that opened up to me being here. I mean Ranger was okay with me being here but I don't think the other guys knew how to take me at first.

Lester openly accepted me and made me feel at home. He is the most talkative of all the Rangeman he laughs and has the funniest jokes he can make a joke out of anything. I love that about him. Lester is a looker, a charmer, a classic ladies man but not in the sick disgusting way. He could come in and sweep a lady right off of her feet. He was beyond good looking he was like Carlos gorgeous and had a body that would make a grown woman cry but when he smiled at you, well you found yourself wanting to see more.

My heart, my body, and my soul will forever belong to Carlos and when it comes to all of the Merry men and Carlos there is no doubt who the winner is in the drop dead gorgeous or sex god category but Lester would be a close second.

Lester and I became friends fast hell I think I considered him a friend when he teased me the first time I met him on the redecorating job from hell. I should have known Ranger wouldn't do decorating bad asses don't do inter decorating sometimes I could be so naive. The way he teased that I didn't know how to have fun because I was afraid of getting arrested or getting shot at that is still a inside joke between us. When I started working here besides Ranger he was the only guy who would say more than two words to me.

He would eat lunch with me and even helped me hide my contraband which I will never forget. He even keeps chocolate hidden in his desk for when I am in dire need of emergency chocolate. Now you know you have a best friend when they keep your emergency chocolate for you and don't eat it.

The more we got to know each other the more we realized we had a lot in common. We liked the same type of music, we enjoyed the same movies, and we even liked the same TV shows. We both watch and discuss certain TV shows like Justified and Bones he even watched Covert Affairs last summer so we could talk about it because I told him I wanted to watch it and I agreed to watch Blue Bloods. See that is what Best Friends do.

Besides watching the show knowing your best friend is watching it so you can talk about it and the characters makes the show more fun to watch. We started it with Lost when we discovered we both loved Lost but when the show ended we found we missed our television show discussions so we found other shows to watch together. We don't necessarily watch them together as in the same room but we know each other is watching it so we can discuss it later.

On days that weren't going my way, or days when I had rolled in god only knows what, or days when I just felt like I was at the end of my rope and hanging on for dear life it was Lester who would help me up brush me off and set me back on my feet. Especially when Ranger wasn't around to do it or when Ranger was in the wind. I could talk to Lester as easy as I could talk to Mary Lou.

I walked into the gym Bobby was waiting for me with my workout schedule. "Bobby is that my workout schedule?" "Yeah Bomber I have it all ready for you. I thought I would walk you thru your first cardio session and then overlook your workout session if you would like. That way if I see something that needs to be tweaked we can do it." "Okay Bobby that sounds good."

I walked over to the treadmill and hopped on and Bobby proceeded to walk me thru my cardio routine.

MPOV

I can't believe Cupcake filed charges against me. That bitch. I know she said it but I sort of thought she wouldn't go thru with it. After all I just have her best interest at heart. No the cops show up at my door asking me to turn myself in because she has filed charges against me. So I had to go to jail and then see the judge who let me out on bail thankfully I didn't have to put up any money since I was an upstanding member of society. See even the judge knows how crazy Cupcake is for doing this. She is just trying to pull a good cop down. She even got the restraining order not that I cared about that. Like I said before, there are plenty of people buried that had restraining orders.

She would pay. I would make sure Cupcake paid dearly for this. By her filing charges it would go on my record and it would affect any promotions I may be considered for. It would affect undercover work I would be assigned. It would affect my whole job not to mention some of my co-workers are now looking at me like I am not as good as the gum that is stuck on the bottom of their shoes.

Eddie, Big dog, Carl and Robin are all avoiding me or not speaking to me. I can't believe Robin won't speak to me. She has always been happy to have a little romp here and there with me and now she won't speak to me. I hope she comes around because sometimes it is convenient to just slip down to the basement utility area for a little than having to go find a place.

Damn Cupcake always ruins everything. Well I will have the last laugh when she has nothing. Hell I may even tell her she can't have me just to see her suffer. Of course I will then have a change of heart after she is broken and take her back. When I am done she will no longer trust or want to be anywhere near her new family as she calls them those fucking thugs.

I need someone to fuck to take my mind off of all of this. Picking up my phone I dial Momma "Plum Residence" Good she answered. "Momma how are you today?" "Why Joseph I am well how about yourself? I hope my x daughter didn't cause you too much trouble filing those charges against you. I seriously don't know what gets into her to make her act like that."

"Momma I am fine. It isn't anything that won't work itself out with time. It is more of a pain in the backside if you know what I mean than anything. It will affect any promotions I may be considered for and some of my undercover assignments but beyond that I will be fine." "Well I am sorry that it will affect your job is there anything I can do to make it better?" I thought she would never ask.

"Yeah you can meet me same place, same time as yesterday that would go a long way to helping to make me feel better." I say this I as I stroke my hardening dick. I was ready for a little rough and from the way she was yesterday I knew she could handle it. "That sounds good Joseph, you take care and I hope to see you some time soon." She must not be alone but it was enough for me to know that she would be there.

MPPOV

I was nervous that he wouldn't call me again. Wouldn't want to meet me again after what my bitch of a daughter pulled last night and then the audacity of her to actually go and file charges again Joseph knowing how it would affect his job.

I mean this was her lively hood too if he couldn't get a promotion then he wouldn't get a raise and he had to make enough money for her to be able to stay at home and raise their children after all what type of burg mother would she be if she worked while her children were young? Seriously sometimes that daughter, x daughter of mine doesn't know what she is doing.

I was thrilled when he called. I was excited when I heard his voice and when he asked me to meet him same place same time I almost collapsed at the knees with joy. He still wanted to be with me even if Stephanie was acting like a bitch and making his life difficult. Well I was going to be there for him any and every way I could. I would do whatever he wanted to give him a little bit of happy I know he had a rough night thanks to that x daughter of mine. This was the least I could do.

TPOV

I have been in my office for the past couple of hours planning out my little girl's training for Defensive Driving. I had to chuckle to myself when I thought about her comment about her driving me. Only my little girl would remember something like that and bring it up now.

I had been watching the feed from the obstacle course this morning and I was proud of how well she performed each obstacle. She was taking it seriously and she was doing everything to the best of her ability. For that I was proud of her. Sort of like a proud papa when his little one spreads their wings.

I wasn't going to let her know that I had seen her on the course we all agreed that if she realized there were cameras there then she would become self conscious and we didn't want that. When she fell and landed on her back I thought Ranger would hit the roof. I heard him cussing in my office and I knew why. He was cussing Brown for not being there to catch her. I mean she fell like eight or so feet and landed on her back she could have gotten hurt. I wanted to question Brown as to what the fuck he was thinking but in the end she was fine so I wasn't going to bring it up.

Her getting hurt is one of my biggest concerns for her training. I know how all the men feel about her we all love her we are overbearing and we are furiously protective. I also can't help but think about what Ranger told me about Hector having declared himself her guardian. I hope my little girl understood what that meant the honor that he was bestowing upon her by allowing her in. Hector allowed no one in even us and we have worked with him for years. I mean he liked us and all but if we were to wrong him or threaten him he wouldn't think twice about spilling our blood.

I am all for guardian angels but If I had to pick between a guardian angel and Hector well let's say I would pick Hector every time. I smiled knowing Hector would keep my girl safe but I also cringed with the way she attracted crazies, stalkers, and the people she came in contact with skip tracing there would be a lot of bodies that we would need to make disappear with Hector as her guardian.

I just silently hoped that none of them would be Rangeman bodies because we allowed her to get hurt or we caused it as with Brown earlier today not being aware of his surroundings and letting her fall from the rope. I secretly wondered what Hector would do to Brown and hoped it wasn't too drastic.

Her Defensive driving course covered so much groundwork. I really wondered how we were going to fit it all in during the two week time frame. There was just so much to learn. I finally decided that we would focus on the test requirements and fill in the holes once she has passed the test. It isn't the greatest of all scenarios but it is the one that will accomplish the objective of getting my little girl to pass the test and join us here as a full time Rangeman and that was the main goal.

SPOV

Damn that is some workout. My upper body feels like jello the muscles are just not responding. My arms feel like they are ready to fall off. But I did it. I finished it. Bobby walked me thru the cardio which made a lot more sense to me now and then he proceeded to watch me do the upper body workout we had discussed this morning.

I had less than an hour to get cleaned up and eat something before meeting Tank for the afternoon training session. I made my way up to our home and in the bathroom. I was just stepping in the shower when I heard the apartment door open. Carlos must have come up for a quick bite.

I heard the bathroom door open "Babe?" just before I heard Carlos call my name. "Carlos I am in the shower." "Babe" his voice sounding strained. I knew what he was thinking. "Carlos I need to get cleaned up and ready for my training session with Tank and get something to eat so don't let those thoughts get too carried away or I am going to be late." Groaning he comes in and leans up against the counter.

"Babe I don't have much time either. I have to meet with a client in less than an hour or I would join you and just make Tank wait. I wanted to ask you how this morning session went with Brown." Why did they insist on calling each other by their last names? I mean he doesn't call all of them by their last names but those without nicknames he does. Why not Bobby or Lester I briefly wondered, I mean he calls Hal, Hal, and Cal, Cal, why not Lester, Lester, and Bobby, Bobby, no they have to be Santos and Brown so confusing?

"It was good. He set me up with a daily workout schedule which I just finished my workout session and I have to say I am not sure I am going to make it my upper body and arms feel like jello. I can tell I am going to be sore tomorrow already and I haven't even begun to feel it."

"Yeah Babe, that will happen. When you start a workout especially lifting your muscles first break down before rebuilding during that break down phase is when they will feel tight and they will hurt. It is natural it is normal don't worry about it but it will be painful. But it will go away in about a week or so."

"Carlos Bobby took me to the obstacle course today why is it I didn't know that existed until today? That place seems pretty cool. Bobby said I would be spending a lot more time there as many of the things I will be learning will be trained from there."

"Babe I never thought to tell you, I never really thought it would be something that you would have been interested in." Guess he had a point. "But Brown is right we will be spending some time out there as well as you and Tank. How did the obstacle course go?"

"Bobby said I did amazing, those were his words not mine, Carlos I didn't know Bad asses did amazing." I couldn't resist saying that giggling to myself. His reply though surprised me "Babe when it comes to you everything a typical bad ass wouldn't and would do gets thrown out the window. I have learned that over the years." I had to giggle I couldn't hold it back.

"Laugh it up Babe, but it is true. Just don't tell the guys that. We all like to believe that we are still bad asses even though a little hundred and ten blue eyed curly brown hair monster has all but leveled us to our knees." "Carlos you all are still bad asses in my eyes." I had to throw him a bone even though he had just made my day.

"Anyway badasses aside the obstacle course was fun. I successfully performed all of the obstacles with the exception of the wall. I couldn't get my ass up and over that wall no matter how fast I ran at it or how hard I hit it. How high I jumped I still couldn't get over it. Bobby said that was okay and that we would work more on that obstacle over the next two weeks."

"Babe that is one of the harder obstacles on the course just ask the men here they will tell you scaling that wall is difficult even for them. I have faith though you will get over that wall." I smiled he had faith in me. Oh wow, now that made me feel like I could do anything.

"The rope was also a little challenging for me. My first attempt I fell and landed on my back. I knocked the air out of me but once I got my breath back I was able to successfully get myself up there and across it without any problems."

"Did you hurt yourself Babe? When you get out of the shower I want to take a look at your back before you get dressed." Of course he would want to check me out but I thought I would tease him a little "Carlos is that just a ploy so you can see my naked ass?" He choked ha I had surprised him. YAY me!

TPOV 

It's almost two and I am waiting for my little girl in the garage. I thought we would drive out to the compound and go over what we would be doing for her defensive driving training. I wanted to go over the test objectives with her and then we could get busy.

I heard the ding of the elevator and both she and Ranger exited the elevator. They walked over to us and her eyes were sparkling with mischief no doubt she is once again thinking about driving me in the car.

"Babe you have fun this afternoon. I have client meetings off site all afternoon but I will see you for dinner tonight." She looked at him gave him a kiss "Okay I will see you tonight. I am training until six tonight." He gives her another kiss and nods at me before walking over to the turbo. I know that nod is saying keep her safe fucker or you will live to regret it. I nod back my understanding.

"Let's go little girl we are going to head over to the compound where the driving course is located. Then we will get started on your training." She smiles nods and climbs in the passenger seat. Good at least she didn't think I would allow her to drive me to the compound. It wasn't going to happen, no way no how. I drove the cars if women wanted to drive well I let them drive in my bed. Of course the only woman driving in my bed these days was Lula.

We pull up to the compound and I put my thumb on the pad and enter my code the gate opens and we proceed to the defensive driving range. Once we get there I park the car removing my seat belt I sit back to talk to my little girl a moment before we got out.

"Before we get started I wanted to go over the test objectives with you for Defensive Driving." She nods waiting for me to continue. "There are five objectives to the Defensive Driving test. The first objective is just that driving defensively meaning proper breaking, accelerating, being aware of your surroundings, protecting yourself as well as others in your car, and using your car safely as a weapon if necessary to protect you or a passenger." I could tell she was a little confused but I will clarify everything later.

"Some of what I may say at this point you may not understand but you will trust me. The second objective is detecting a tail. You will be required to detect a tail even a complicated tail where different vehicles are used." I could see her wondering how she would do that.

"Little girl don't jump too far ahead we will show you we will start out with one and work up from there. With your senses it will come easy I promise you. The third objective is losing a tail. You need to effectively loose a tail. This will tie in with last objective but I will get to that in a few minutes." She nods her head in understanding. I don't think I am use to my little girl being this quiet. I know she is just focusing on what I am telling her but it is eerie for her to be so quiet.

"The fourth objective is tailing another car. You will need to effectively be able to tail a car without detection. And finally the fifth objective you will need to drive a car around the course here in excess speed while avoiding obstacles and hazards that will occur on the course."

I could tell that she didn't know where to begin. She was just taking in everything I said and was replaying it. Well no time like the present to jump in. This was going to fun.

"Okay little girl let's get started." She smiled looking at me "Okay Tank let's do this." I had to smile at her I couldn't help myself.

SPOV

All in all it didn't sound that bad. At least it was just sitting behind the wheel. No lifting or physical exertion required because after this morning I am not certain I would be up for it.

We made our way down to the course and got behind the wheel of one of the SUVs on the course. Tank getting in the passenger side still made me smile and giggle to myself. No matter what happened I would never let him live this down it was just too good. I Stephanie Plum will be driving Tank. The thought of that caused an image to pop in my head from the movie "Driving Miss Daisy" where Tank was setting in the back and I was his chauffer and I just had to crack up laughing.

Tank looking at me with a raised eyebrow quickly sobered me and I settled down to get ready for business.

I have been driving in New Jersey since I was a teenager so I think I am fairly decent defensive driver I mean you haven't driven until you have driven during rush hour traffic on the New Jersey turnpike. I mean they should make you pass a special driving test just for that road.

I get in the vehicle and Tank immediately starts explaining to me how to set my seat, my mirrors, where to place my hands on the wheel. I can't believe what he is saying to me. "Tank" I interrupted him, oh shit I just interrupted him he is going to fucking ship my ass off. He just looks at me "You know I have driven before, right?" He smiles.

"Yes, I am well aware you have driven before and I have seen your cars." He laughs and I glare at him. "This is different than your typical driving. You will be driving defensively and offensively you will be driving at excess speeds it is important for you and your passengers that everything is properly adjusted prior to starting the car. So pay attention and don't interrupt." He smiled at the last part I just prayed that mean that he found me amusing and wasn't going to ship my ass off.

"When setting your side mirrors it is important to know that you do not have any blind spots. Blind spots can get your seriously hurt or killed especially if you are driving in excess speed or need to get away from an attacker." I nodded I could see the truth in that.

"So when setting your side mirrors the proper way to set them so there are no blind spots is for you to lean the opposite direction of the mirror you are setting as far as you can lean and then set the mirror when you can see the side or rear view of your car come into view on the mirror it is set. So for the passenger mirror you will lean toward your driver door. For you side mirror you will lean toward the passenger seat."

I leaned and sat the mirrors as I was told. I had never been told that before so I was in fact learning something new. Obviously I knew how to set the review mirror.

"Most people when driving place their hands at what is known ten and two. I don't know if you tend to do this or not but for offensive or defensive driving you should try to retrain yourself to place your hands at nine and three. By having your hands at nine and three you will have better control of your vehicle. If you have ever watched racing on TV you will notice that the drives hold the wheel at the nine and three positions they do that because of the control they have. You will also have the levers for bright lights, turn signals, and window washers right at your hands as many of them are placed at the nine and three position of the wheel."

I typically drove ten and two but shifting my hands to nine and three was doable I would just have to remind myself a few times until it came natural. Tank continued

"When you are driving make sure you can always see pavement between you and the car in front of you never drive or stop closer to the vehicle in front of you that you can't see pavement. When you can't see pavement that means you don't have the room needed for escape. By seeing pavement between you and the vehicle in front of you that means you always have a route for escape."

So that is why they always stopped so far back from cars. I thought they had a no tailgate policy as everyone in Jersey tailgates. They always frustrated me with how far back they drove and stopped but now I know it was to prevent from being trapped between two cars. Made perfect sense, I realized I was going to have to really retrain my brain when it came to driving and he wasn't close to finished.

"Have you ever heard of something called the dead pedal?" I looked at him while my mind was racing had I ever heard of a dead pedal. "No I have never heard of a dead pedal." "A dead pedal is to the left of the gas and brake pedals. Have you ever noticed the raise place to the left that many people typically rest their left foot while they are driving with the right?" I nodded I knew where he was talking about.

"That area is known as the dead pedal. It is there for several reasons one if you are driving a vehicle with a clutch it keeps your foot in a better position for engaging the clutch. If you are not driving a clutch it still serves a purpose and if you don't already you should learn to keep your left foot on the dead pedal when driving. If you need to break heavy having your left foot there will help brace your body and will reduce the chances of you bracing your body against the gas pedal because you used your left foot for the gas while your right foot rams on the gas. I know it sounds silly but it happens more than you will ever realize. It will help you maintain your position in the seat and in helping brace your body it allows your right foot to either brake or accelerate to prevent a crash." I put my left foot on the dead pedal and pushed as though it was a true pedal.

"You have ridden with us enough to know that when we drive we tend to be quiet I believe you have referred to it as our zone. Well I am going to tell you know what that zone is and you will learn how to get in that zone over the next couple of weeks." I look at him and am shocked. I know my mouth is hanging open as I am picking my chin up from my lap. I am going to learn how to have a driving zone.

"I already spoke about maintaining distance between you and the vehicle in front but actually you should maintain distance between your vehicle and other vehicles on the road on all sides as you move down the road. I know sometimes it is difficult to maintain distance of the cars behind you but we will show you some tactics to use. The distance that you should maintain is the distance that would give you the ability to escape should something happen on the road."

I nodded that I understood him and was following along. "The second thing you should be doing is scanning your environment for potential hazards. You should be scanning the area approximately twelve seconds ahead that way you will have the ability react to the hazard. The faster you are moving the faster you need to scan and the further out you need to scan as your speed directly affects your reaction time. So it is actually better if you scan the area that you can see for any and all potential hazards."

That makes better sense to me to just scan what I see I have no idea what is twelve seconds ahead of me.

"What you refer to the zone is actually part of our defensive driving. Where we are maintaining space for escape if necessary, we are constantly scanning our environment for any potentials hazards. We then identify potential hazards such as people walking, kids playing, animals near the side of the road, etc. Once identified we try to predict what might happen and then we form a plan of action before even reaching the potential hazard. If the hazard presents itself we are ready with a plan and then only have to maneuver and execute our plan."

Oh wow I should have known they were doing this but it never occurred to me. When I drive I just drive. I mean I watch where I am going but I sing, I talk, I think about my day my life, what happened last night. I don't scan for potential hazards, I don't plan escape routes, and I don't plan my actions for potential hazards. I just drive. This was going to be a whole new experience for me. Again I realized I was going to have to retrain the whole way I drive.

"Wow I never realized that was what you all were doing when you are driving. I just thought you all were sort of lost in thought."

He half chuckled and let out an hmm sound before continuing. "There is a whole lot more to defensive driving than just what I told you but that is a place to start. When it comes to detecting a tail part of that is using the defensive driving of being aware of your surroundings. When driving being aware of your surroundings also means to take note of the type and color of the cars around you paying attention to who is driving those cars."

God I am going to have to learn cars. I have no idea the model of cars I mean I know type by the emblems but now I need to know models. Hell I know there are cars, suvs, vans, and trucks isn't that good enough? As if reading my mind Tank responded.

"No it isn't good enough you need to know that it is the same truck and not a different truck that happens to be the same color. Why do you think all of Rangeman's vehicles are black?" Oh I know the answer to this one. "Because Black is Ranger's favorite color, everything he has is black." Tank smiled again I am amusing him again. Guess I didn't know the answer to that question after all. Did bad asses do favorite color? Hmm I am going to have to find out.

"No that isn't the reason that all of the vehicles are black the reason is because black is easy to forget it doesn't stand out its easily forgettable. You may look at a shiny black car and think wow that's a pretty car but if you look at a shiny red car the same make and model you are more inclined to remember the red one versus the black one." He continued

"When scanning for a tail you should look for suspicious vehicles. Look for vehicles that without reason change the line of traffic or direction or break traffic rules to keep up with you. Spotting the same vehicle in multiple places that is where knowing the model, color, outward appearances, and the occupants of the vehicle and if possible the license number in mind. Then you can keep track of how many times you have seen the same vehicle. We will start with just one vehicle tailing you and then multiple car tail."

"Tank how am I supposed to know and remember every car I mean there are hundreds or thousands of cars that I am on the road with every day. How do you remember them?"

"You don't have to remember them as in always just while you are driving down the road take note of the vehicles around you as you continue on your route keep track are those same vehicles still with you or have they dropped off. Again remember to look for suspicious vehicles. Most people trying to tail you make mistakes of getting too close for fear they will lose you. Meaning you will make a green light and they won't or you will make a turn they won't see."

"That leads us to losing a tail. The best way to lose a tail is to use the advantages of traffic in your favor. You could run a red light, drive the wrong way on a one way street, on a freeway at high speed suddenly cut across all lanes of traffic and make a speedy exit. If you feel that you are being followed but aren't certain by which vehicle after taking a turn pull over and park then take note of any vehicles that pass you. Use your turn signals to signal you are going to turn and then at the last minute change and go straight or turn the opposite direction. You can also use any offensive driving techniques you will learn such as a one eighty turn called the bootlegger's turn to lose a tail."

Oh now that sounded fun. I always wanted to learn how to make those fast turns.

"Little girl I want us to drive around the course at a slower speed for the first time. This course will have obstacles that you will need to maneuver around, it will have potential hazards setup along the route and you will need to identify them to me tell me what potential hazard they could be and what you would do if that hazard where to happen. I will tell you some of them will and others won't while you are driving the course. For the test you will need to drive this course at speeds of sixty to hundred miles an hour depending on where we are on the course. You will see a speed sign and that is the minimum speed you should drive for that part of the course. I will tell you faster will get you higher marks but you won't fail the test by going the posted speed as long as you properly maneuver the course."

Now I was a little worried shit what have I gotten myself into? I find myself wondering for the second or third time oh hell I have lost count.

"For your first time on the course let's drive at a slower speed of thirty miles an hour. Don't believe that if you drive this course it will always be the same hazards because they change so don't bother trying to remember where a hazard was."

Great, of course they would change this was Rangeman after all they would have the most elaborate driving course known to mankind. Okay that may have sounded a little cynical but a driving obstacle course that changes, really?

I start the SUV and proceeded down the vehicle obstacle course. "Tell me what you see has the potential to cause a hazard." Okay looking around all four sides of my car "I see kids playing on the side of the road with a ball. The ball could roll into the road and a kid could run out to get it and run in front me." It didn't happen we continued on. "I see a car coming to what would be a stop light and I see pedestrians in the cross walk. The car could run the stop light or a pedestrian could step out in front of me." I felt a little silly saying all of this but I did it anyway.

As we approached the intersection the car bolted in front of me forcing me to slam on the brakes. Remembering about the dead pedal I braced my foot against it as I slammed on the brakes. I stopped us just before impact. "Very good" I heard Tank say over the blood pounding in my heart. Even knowing something was going to happen on the course didn't stop the panic that flooded thru me when I saw the car run in front of us. Holy shit that just shaved a few years off of my life my heart was pounding like it was going to pound out of my chest and this had only just started.

"Holy shit Tank. That was close." He looked at me and smiled. "You did good little girl. You stopped us in time that is all the counts." "Yeah but I am fairly certain I shaved a couple of years off of my life in doing so." Still shaking my head trying to lose that nervous feeling the adrenaline was coursing its way thru my system. "We will help you focus your adrenaline in time you will be able to use it for now it will leave you feeling a little weak and shaky that is normal. Take your time and take several deep breaths. Breathe in….Breathe out." I matched my breathing with his and in a minute or so I was feeling more normal.

We continued down the course reminding myself about keeping space between my vehicle and any that may be in front of us. I also kept reminding myself to leave an escape distance when we stopped. It was a good thing too when all of a sudden I heard squealing tires behind me and saw a car barreling down toward us ready to ram us. I was able to successfully escape the crash by escaping into the other lane.

The course was a big course with several turns and different streets you could take all in all I would say it was probably a two mile square with streets running thru out it. I was amazed at how advanced it was in that the cars moved and the fake pedestrians, animals, and kids playing all moved. All had the potential for jumping out right in front of you or ramming you. You really had to be aware of your surroundings in there.

Tank and I spent probably close to two hours maybe more just driving around the course up and down the different streets. Me telling him what I saw, what the potential threat was, and what I needed to do to avoid it often times I had to prove it because whatever the potential threat was would happen as we approached. Finally Tank said we had worked enough on the course and he instructed me to leave the course exiting on the opposite end than where we entered.

On this end was sort of what I expected the course to be initially. There was a big area with cones you drive thru, fake people standing that you had to race to and stop before hitting them, and then a large area that I wasn't sure what they did there.

"This area is where we practice high speed driving. You will start out here driving slow like we did the drivers course but then we will add speed like the drivers course you will be doing speeds out here in excess of hundred miles an hour. You will be practicing your one eighty turns, your abrupt stopping in front of people, and you will practice learning how to control your vehicle in a high speed chase."

That sounded like fun to me. "For the test you will only have to perform in the course but all of these elements will be there in the course." I nod in understanding to him.

He instructed me to go to the cones where I effectively at thirty miles an hour maneuvered the SUV thru the cones without hitting any. Tank had me increase the speed as we went toward the fake people and then had me slam on the brakes and turn the wheel. What should have effectively brought the side of the SUV up to them so they could quickly get in. Sounds simple right? Seen it done on TV how many times? I could not tell you. It looked easy right? Well let me tell you it is not easy.

I kept wiping out the fake people with the side of my car. Poor fake people. Poor Tank because each time we tried he had to get out and sit them back up. The only time I was somewhat successful I was far enough away from them to park another car between us. While kudos for me I didn't take them out I still wouldn't have passed the test. I was a little disappointed.

TPOV  
I could see the disappointment creeping its way into my little girl and I wanted to stop it. She had done a great job today I didn't want her getting down because of this. "Look at me, this isn't easy it isn't only judging your space, distance, speed but you have to judge the weight of the vehicle you are driving the stopping distance and account for sliding. It isn't something that just comes natural. It comes with training. You will get it."

I could tell she wasn't as sure as I was but she was going to trust me and move on. For that I was happy. We ended our session with instructing her to drive around the outside of the courses maintain a speed of at least ninety plus miles per hour. If she was going to learn how to drive a car in excess speeds she needed to practice what it feels like and learn how to control it.

She did well all in all I was very proud of her. We concluded our training with a trip around Trenton. We got out of the course SUV and walked over to the SUV that we drove to the compound. "Now it is my turn to drive I told her." Giggling she got in the passenger seat. I proceeded to tell her how we were going to spend our last hour.

"We are going to drive around Trenton. Actually I am going to drive. But what I want you to do is remain fully aware of your surroundings. I want you to tell me what you see. I want you to describe to me the vehicles around me what you notice about them, if you see them more than once, I want you to tell me what potential hazards are around us at all times. It will be easier for you if you aren't driving then you only have to think about remaining aware of your environment. Later we will have to drive and do it but I want you to get a feel of it prior to driving."

She nodded her head. "Okay let's do this Tank." I had to smile. She had made me proud and this was only day one of training.

As we drove thru the streets of Trenton she kept telling me about cars behind me beside me in front of me potential hazards to be aware of. I had to say she really had an eye because I don't think she missed much if she did then I must missed it also.

As I made the final turn on to Haywood I couldn't wait to tell her "Little girl you did an amazing job this afternoon. I want you to know that I am proud of you. I can't wait to see how your training continues. It has been my pleasure working with you this afternoon." I glanced over at her and tears were in her eyes.

"Thanks Tank you don't know how much that means to me to hear you say that. It has been a long time since anyone has spent the time with me you guys are spending with me training me. It means the world to me to have your support. I couldn't do it without you all. I couldn't take my life back if I didn't have all of your support." With her finished sentence the tears were flowing down her cheeks. God I hated it see her cry.

Here I am a big mean badass capable of taking down any opponent and this little one hundred ten blue eye brown curly haired girl could bring me to my knees. What the hell?

"Little Girl please don't cry. We are all here for you. We all want nothing more than support you and work with you. We all will help you anyway we can, know that but please stop crying. If I take you back crying Ranger is going to kick my ass and god only know what Hector will do to me. I seriously may not live to see tomorrow for making you cry."

She looks at me "they are happy tears I am just so humbled, so thankful, and so undeserving to have friends like you all." Jesus Christ she thinks she is undeserving of having us. How could she be so blind and her world so tilted that she would think that shit and actually believe that shit. "If there is anyone undeserving it's us Little Girl not you. Don't ever think differently."

She shakes her head "No Tank you are wrong" what the fuck, I am wrong. Not many men are brave enough to tell me I am wrong about something even if I am. In this case however, I am not wrong. Most mean would rather shit themselves than contradict me. I am not use to people contradicting me. At Rangeman the only one brave enough is Ranger and I think once Bobby and Lester tag teamed me. In the Rangers anyone contradicting me lived to regret it and learned really fucking quickly never to do it again. Here once again this one ten light weight from the burg had brought me to my knees.

"How am I wrong? You are good. You are the light in our dark world. You give us reason to smile to see good in the world to understand why we do what we do. To remind us what we do is for the good, what we do protects the good. How is it exactly that we are deserving and you believe you that you aren't?"

"You just said it. It is one of the reasons I want to be a member of Rangeman. I want to help protect the good. I want to put away the bad people and protect the good. Right now I don't do that. Right now I just accept your protection I accept that you all protect me from the bad. I want to feel like I protect people from bad. When I feel like I do my share to make this world a safer place like you guys do every day then I will feel as though I deserve the same things I believe you all deserve. Until then I will always feel a little unworthy of all you all do for me."

Holy shit for the third time today in less than ten minutes I am leveled to my knees. I don't even know what to say to her. I don't know words to describe what I want to tell her. I am so humbled by her. So I say the only thing I can think to say. "Little girl I love you. You are my sister, my little girl, and I will always be here for you. Even when you become a member of Rangeman know that I will still protect you and look out after you as will every man in the building." She nods her head and smiles. Then she asked me something that I wasn't sure I wanted to tell her but she just had to ask me.

"What did you mean when you said that you didn't know what Hector would do to you if you took me back crying? Why would he do anything?"

"Well I didn't want to be the one to tell you, I am sure Hector would rather tell you himself but since you asked me and I sort of spilled the beans on that one I will tell you. Hector has sort of deemed himself your guardian." She looked at me "My guardian why would he do that?"

Shit now what am I going to say "Well I guess like many of the guys he loves you and thinks of you as a sister. Hector is a hard man. Life for Hector was different than the other guys. The other guys for the most part are x military and while we have seen our fair share of fucked up things that we don't like talking about for the most part we have had or have families that love us. But for Hector he didn't have that. Life for him has always been hard hell I don't even know all there is know about Hector. He grew up in a very ruthless gang and rose to the top. He got out of that same gang and to my knowledge he is the only member of that gang that ever walked away alive. He has no family he doesn't have close friends he doesn't really let anyone in but he has let you in. Because you are the only person he has let in he feels the need to guard you in order to keep you. Hector will protect you from everyone including one of us, his own brothers."

I could see the shock of what I just told her. "Protect me from you all, no one needs to protect me from anyone at Rangeman. I trust you all, I love you all." I know that was true that no one here would hurt a hair on her head or would allow her to be hurt if it could be prevent. "I know that, you know that, but that isn't the world that Hector is use to living in so he doesn't necessarily see it that way. He knows we all love you and we all will protect you but if you are hurt during one of our watch we better have a damn good reason why we didn't do all we could to protect you."

"Has he told you this, did he tell you that?" I shook my head "No little girl he doesn't have to we all know him well enough that if he thinks of himself as your guardian we all know what he will expect of us. Just ask Bobby, if you don't believe me, I would be willing to bet you that Hector has probably had a talk with him about you falling from the rope this morning."

"I believe you. I just can't wrap my head around it. It isn't like Hector and I are that close I mean we haven't worked together I can't understand what he says and he can't understand what I say. I would expect you, Lester, Bobby, and definitely Ranger to feel this way but not Hector."

"We do feel the same way about you." I wasn't going to tell her that we had better control than Hector. I wasn't going to be the one that told her that Hector's first instinct was to kill and then question when a threat presented itself. Even though we were x military, badasses and very lethal in our own right hell we probably had all taken more lives than Hector had even thought about we had the ability to seek alternative ways to keep from killing someone if possible, especially here at home in daily work life. Hector didn't necessarily have those skills. Life's experience had taught him something entirely different. I would leave it up to someone else to explain that to her.

SPOV

Tank and I had been sitting in the SUV in the garage talking I couldn't wrap my head around what he was telling me about Hector. Here I was still a little intimidated by him not that I would tell anyone. He sort of scared me and yet I was hearing that Hector thought of me has his sister, that he loved me and that he had labeled himself my guardian my protector.

I guess one can never have enough guardians or protectors but usually I am the independent type. I mean all of my friends here are protective over me and now I find out that Hector is as well even though we barely know each other. That just confirmed to me even more how these guys are my brothers my family and how much I loved them.

I don't mind them protecting me like a little sister. Truth is I always wanted an older brother but I do hope that it doesn't get overbearing or to the point that it starts to take my independence away because that I will no longer tolerate. I think the guys know me well enough to know that I need my independence and that I need to be able to make decisions for myself. At least I hope they do.

"Well you ready to head up? Knowing the guys I am sure they are waiting to hear how your first day of training went." "Yeah I am ready, but I doubt anyone is waiting on me. They have their own lives their own things to do." Tank just shook his head as we made our way to the elevator.

RPOV

It was after six and quitting time for many of these fuckers and yet here they all are hanging around. Maybe I should come up with something for them to do since they like hanging out in the office after hours.

I know why they are hanging out. They all want to hear about my Babe's first day of training. They were nothing but a bunch of Pansies. When it came to my Babe all of the guys might as well just hang up their badass plagues because they were mush in her hands. She had them wrapped around her finger and she didn't even know it. I guess I was no different but I wasn't fucking admitting it to those fuckers, at least not verbally.

I had seen Tank pull into the garage and I was wondering what was taking them so long to get to the fifth floor. Pulling up the feed I could see them talking in the SUV. I was growing impatient but I wasn't going to let that show at least not in front of my men. They all knew she had me wrapped around her finger but I wasn't going to prove it.

Unlike Lester who has paced five times now between the elevator and the control room checking the feed. He never could wait. He knew no control when it came to his mouth or his patience. Not since my Babe entered the picture. No wonder they are best friends hell they are exactly the same. She has no patience either. I have to chuckle to myself thinking about all the ways they are similar.

I am just happy that my men love her accept her protect her. My life is too dangerous if they didn't. I know I can keep her safe with the help of my men and that helps me sleep at night. The knowledge that they will protect her even with their life allows me to find peace with my Babe being in my life. Without them I am not certain I would have ever been able to let her in my life, in my world. I am not certain I would have felt completely capable of protecting her by myself.

I am not a praying man. I do believe in God but with the life I have lived well let's say I am probably not his proudest member of the human race. But when it comes to my Babe I pray. I pray that we will be able to keep her safe, I pray that my enemies won't find her, and I pray that I will be able to spend a long happy life with her in spite of the life I have lived.

I heard the elevator signaling their arrival. I got up and stood in the doorway of my office. I just had to watch the crumbling of the bad asses in this room. They would crumble at her feet like school boys waiting to get the least bit of attention from the head cheerleader. I can't help but think what pansies but then again if she wasn't mine I would probably be out there right along side of the rest of them fishing for a bone of attention from her. Since she was my woman and I was her man I could make fun of them.

Tank walked up to me turning so he could see the show. Chuckling "And she thought they wouldn't be waiting for her. I told her they would all be up here chomping at the bit to talk to her but she didn't believe me." "They have been pacing back and forth I know Lester made five trips to the control room to pull up the garage feed trying to figure out what was keeping you two." "She needed to talk a little I told her about Hector declaring himself her guardian." I knew Tank wasn't going to tell me what they talked about. He didn't work like that. He figured if she wanted me to know then she would tell me but he wasn't going to tell me. "What made you tell her that?" He looked a little sheepishly "Well I said something that caused her to ask me so I had no choice but to tell her." I knew that was all I was going to get from him.

"How did her training go?" "She did good Ranger, I tell you I was impressed with how aware of her surroundings she was when she focused. She did well on the course at the lower speeds so it will just be getting her use to driving at faster speeds and being able to remain aware." "Good I am glad, she has had a good day. I think it is time we celebrate. I will see you tomorrow." He responded "Tomorrow" and then headed for his office as I made my way to my Babe.

Breaking thru the crowd of guys that were around her listening to her tell them about her first day of training I couldn't help but smile. There she was sitting on Lester's lap telling them all about her day and they were riveted to her every word. When she saw me she hopped up off of Lester's lap and jumped into my arms her arms coming around my neck resting on my shoulders. I hold her close to me smiling because she is happy.

"Babe" getting her attention "I take you had a good day?" She nods "Yeah I had a great day." I chuckle nodding my head. I then lower my lips to her ear and whisper "Why don't we take this upstairs and do a little celebrating of our own?" She goes still in my arms and her breathing hitches. "Babe" getting her attention again she blushes then says "Sounds like a plan I am pretty hungry." I have to chuckle.

Looking to the guys "Okay guys break it up party is over for those of you who should be working I suggest you get back to work and for those whose shifts have ended I suggest you leave the floor unless you want us to give you more work." There were a few grunts and of course Lester had to pipe up with some protest but the floor cleared out and we got on the elevator heading to seven.

Tonight we would celebrate her first day of training.


	18. Chapter 17: Training Pt3: Ranger Marksma

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

Chapter 17: Training Pt3 Ranger Marksmanship

RPOV

There is nothing better than waking up with my Babe in my arms after having made love to her the night before. Last night when we got to apartment Ella had already brought our dinner. We quickly ate and then decided to call it a night. We had a little celebrating to do.

Stephanie had a big day yesterday it was her first day of training. She had worked hard with Brown in the gym and on the obstacle course. Then during her lunch hour she did her workout that he had setup for her. Looking at her workout he had setup for her I knew how sore she would be.

I first ran a nice warm bath for her and put some lavender oil, sea salt, and a little bubble bath for the bubbles. I helped her off with her clothes and helped her in the bath. This was all about her. All about me caring for her, I loved caring for her.

I left her in the tub while I got things ready in the bed room. I lit some votive candles, got her some water along with a couple of Advil, and got the body oils that I picked up at Reflections. I put a sheet over the bedding and placed a pillow at the foot of the bed.

Stripping my clothes off I went to join my babe in the tub. We sat in the tub until we were shriveled up. Deciding that was probably enough I stood us up toweled us off and then we got in the shower. I washed her hair and body and then mine. I can remember how bad I wanted her but I held off. I had to keep reminding myself it was about her. Chanting this was about her to myself keep me in control and prevented me from just taking her in the shower.

I dried us off and brought her into the bedroom I had her drink the water and take the advil it will help with muscle soreness. I could see the surprise and then the smile on her face when she saw what I had setup for her. But she had no idea what I was going to do. I had her lay down on the bed on her stomach with her head on the pillow at the foot of the bed.

Straddling her legs I begin at her arms and I slowly but firmly starting massaging her. I worked from her arms, neck, shoulders, upper back down pulling any inflammation that may have formed around her muscles away. When I got to her lower body I massaged her muscles up from her feet to her hips. I have to say my favorite part was massaging her beautiful ass. She has the perfect heart shaped ass.

I then had her flip over and proceeded to massage the front of her body taking the same direction as with her back pulling any inflammation away while massaging her will be sore muscles. I knew this wouldn't make them go away or not be sore tomorrow but I hoped it would help.

When I was done with the massage I then had her turn over back on her stomach and I laid a thinner towel over her back, and shoulders. I then went to the kitchen and returned with several ice packs. I laid them on her shoulders and upper back. The larger muscle groups are the ones that will be the sorest after working them. Once the ice had been on for ten minutes I had her turn over and then proceeded to ice her chest and front of her shoulder muscles for another ten minutes.

I then brought in a large heating pad and applied heat to the same large muscle groups for twenty minutes front and back. Once I had finished caring for her I removed the sheet, replaced the pillow and my Babe and I got in bed. Where I made love to her very slowly and gently until we were both begging for release.

Nights don't get much better than the one we had last night. I can't keep the smile from my lips thinking about her and us. Holding her while she is sleeping it is one of my indulgent pleasures I could never be able to get enough of. She has no idea what she gives me just in allowing me to hold her.

My alarm starts to go off and I silence it. It is five a.m. time for me to get up but I really don't want to. I force myself to let go of her giving her a kiss on the cheek and I get up. Heading into the bathroom then in the closet dressing in a pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt I head out of our apartment to the gym for my workout.

While working out I plan out my Babe's training session.

SPOV

Ugh is it morning already? How the hell could morning come so fast? Remembering this is what I wanted I get up and proceed to the bathroom where I take a hot shower, and get dressed for the day. Today I am wearing my wonder woman under ware, bra, black cargos and black Rangeman t-shirt.

I pack my bag with my workout clothes, towel, ipod, my workout schedule for today. As I am walking into the kitchen Carlos walks thru the door with Ella right behind him.

We sit down and eat breakfast. There is still a little time before our training begins. "Babe before we begin training I need to check in with Tank. I want to make sure he is up to date with the client he will be meeting with this morning."

"Okay that sounds fine with me. I will finish getting myself ready and meet you down at your office in a little bit."

RPOV

I left our apartment heading to five. I needed to make sure that Tank had gotten the contract workers in place. After today the other guys would be working with my Babe and I wanted to make sure they would be here before that to take over whatever was needed while the guys worked with her.

I made my way to the fifth floor. Lester was happy, I knew why he was happy but I thought I would pull his chain a little. "What's got you so happy today Santos." I said in my no nonsense, no bullshit tone. He looked at me and smiled.

"Nothing boss can't a guy just be happy because he is just happy?" Just happy my ass he is happy because this afternoon he will be training with my Babe.

"How about since you are so happy I give you extra monitor duty or extra long surveillance duty?" His smile abruptly halts. Gotcha fucker, sometimes he is just too easy. I keep walking to Tank's office.

Walking into Tank's office he is already sitting behind his desk. "Hey man how's it going?" I ask him.

"Good man, everything here is running smooth. I figured you would want to check in before your training session with Steph. I was just going over things for the meeting this morning. The two contract workers should be reporting for duty today so they can get a feel of everything before they start covering for the guys tomorrow."

"Good that is what I wanted to hear. You all versed for the meeting do you have any questions?" Tank just shook his head. I knew it was good to go so I went back to my office to wait for my Babe.

SPOV

Before leaving our apartment I put on my utility belt and placed my gun in the holder. I didn't bother to make sure it was loaded I would do that when we got to the range. I made my way out of the apartment and went down to the fifth floor. I walked up to Carlos' office briefly tapped the door jamb as I walked into his office.

He looked up from his desk and smiled at me. Getting up rounding the desk "You ready to do this Babe?" I nodded my head. "Yeah let's do this" I said to him smiling. He grabbed me giving me a hug and kiss and then we made it out of the office. We went to the garage and then went into the shooting range.

Carlos went over to the weapon cabinets and opened them. He pulled out several handguns and laid them on the table along with a box of ammunition for each one. He then pulled out a box of ammunition for the gun a currently carry. He sat down at the table and motioned for me to follow him.

RPOV

I took several different handguns out of the cabinet that I thought my Babe would be comfortable shooting. I know she currently had a revolver a little thirty-eight special. I would like to have her carrying a semi-automatic handgun instead. The main reason was they held more rounds. Working for Rangeman and being out on the streets if gun fire erupted with a revolver you have five shots before you have to reload. Reloading meant loading a bullet in each chamber of the cylinder and then putting it back in place. In a gun fight that is a lot of time to spend and it could get you killed.

"Babe I want to explain the guns I have placed before you and then we are going to have you shoot them along with the gun you currently carry. I hope we will find a match for you. I would like for you to start carrying one of these handguns in addition to your thirty-eight." She looked at me her eyes widening slightly at the thought of carrying more than one gun. But then she nodded her head.

I pick up the first gun "Babe this gun is a Glock. You probably have seen them before. Almost all the guys at Rangeman carry at least one of these. I actually have three Glocks laid out on the table." I point to the other two letting her know they are also Glocks.

"Glock is an Austrian company that produces some of the most reliable and durable handguns in the world. In addition to being reliable and durable they are fairly accurate. Another characteristic of the Glock is that there are no external safeties. Safety in Glocks is implemented in internal safety devices with no external safeties. The combination of trigger safety, firing pin safety and drop safety is designed to prevent the gun from firing other than via pressure on the trigger. Therefore, safety is reliant on training to inculcate the basic safety rule of not putting your finger on the trigger until you are ready to shoot."

"The Glock I am currently holding is a Glock 17 it is your basic Glock. It is the one that Military and Police forces have come to rely on. I guess you could say it is their standard issue. This gun is a nine millimeter, it has a fixed scope" I pointed to the scope on top "it has the capacity of holding seventeen bullets in the magazine plus one in the chamber." I point to the clip and the chamber. "This gun is a little large and it weighs just at two pounds when fully loaded."

I sit that gun down and pick up the next one. "This Glock is the Glock 19 as you can see it is slightly smaller than the Glock 17. It is still a nine millimeter, has a fixed scope the only difference between this one and the previous one I showed you is size. This gun has a shorter barrel length and slightly smaller dimensions. The magazine for this gun holds fifteen rounds in addition to the one in the chamber. This gun weighs less than two pounds when fully loaded."

I move on to the next one. "This is another Glock. This Glock is known as the Baby Glock it is the Glock 26. As you can see it is quite a bit smaller than the other two it is known as a subcompact. Like the other two it is a nine millimeter, has fixed scope, the magazine holds ten rounds in addition to the one in the chamber. This gun weighs slightly over a pound and half fully loaded."

I sit that gun down and go to the next grouping. "The next group of handguns I laid out are Berettas. They are an American company that supplies the US Army with M9s. You will notice with these guns that they have an external safety unlike the Glocks. When the safety is engaged this firearm will not fire. I will explain to you later why that is both a good and a potentially bad thing. Other than that they are similar in that they are all nine millimeters and all have fixed scopes." I pick up the first one.

"This Berretta is the Px4 Storm full size nine millimeter. This gun also comes in forty caliber and a forty-five caliber. This one is the nine millimeter version. Like the Glock 17 it weighs right at two pounds when fully loaded and holds seventeen rounds in the magazine. " I set that gun down and move to the next one.

"This Berretta is again slightly smaller being considered a compact it s the Beretta Px4 Storm Compact. It is nine millimeter and like the Glocks I previously showed you the only difference between this Beretta and the first one is its size and the amount of ammunition it holds. The magazine for this gun holds fifteen rounds and weighs in slightly less than two pounds fully loaded." I move to the last one in this group.

"This Berretta is the Px4 Storm sub compact nine millimeter like the others this gun also comes in a forty caliber. Like the Baby Glock this gun is the smallest of all the Berettas I have laid out. It weighs about one and half pounds fully loaded and the magazine for this gun actually holds more than the Baby Glock it holds thirteen rounds."

"Babe I would like for you to first hold the full size guns for me and we will see what type of fit we have for your hands. If I feel the fit is good or even close I will have you test fire these handguns to see how you feel."

She reached for the Glock 17 picking it up feeling the weight in her hands it is currently empty but I want her to get a feel for it before we load it. I wanted to explain to her how to properly hold a gun and work the slide action of a semi-automatic before loading it and going to test fire it on the range.

"Babe when you hold a semi-automatic there is a right and a wrong way. If you are holding your gun wrong and fire it, it could catch your thumb in the slide action effectively jamming your gun and giving you a nasty wound."

I take the gun from her hand. I quickly show her the curved part on the back of the gun. "See this curved part all semi-automatic hand guns have them. Some are more pronounced than others but they are there. This is known as thumb guard. When holding a gun you will hold it so the area between your thumb and finger rests against that area and your fingers will wrap around the grip." I point to the grip as all my fingers wrap around the grip with the exception of my index finger. "Your thumb will wrap around the grip from the other side. I suggest you just rest your index finger along the side of the trigger guard area of gun until you are ready to fire." I turned my hand to show her how my index finger laid alongside the trigger and I didn't actually have my finger thru the hole on the trigger.

I handed the gun to her picking it up I could see it was a little awkward in her hands but I gave her a minute. I know she doesn't like guns and I know she isn't use to handling them so it would take her some time before she would be comfortable.

She gripped it properly in her hand with her finger running alongside the trigger. I took the gun back from her. I wanted to explain what happens when a semi-automatic fired a bullet and how the slide action worked.

"When a semi-automatic fires a weapon eight things happen in the operation of the weapon. The order is feeding, cambering, locking, firing, unlocking, extracting, ejecting, and cocking. Some of those happen at the same time but that is basically the working order."

I continued to explain and show her by moving the slide of the gun and pointing to where I was talking to her about. "A magazine" I picked up the empty magazine and showed it to her "is placed in the receiver of the gun" I showed her the bottom of the handle where the receiver is and I showed her how it goes and placed the magazine in the gun. "Right now the gun is loaded but it won't fire because there is no bullet cambered. To camber a bullet you need to pull the slide of the gun" I pointed to the top area of the gun "back fully and release. All slides have a rough area on the slides for your fingers to grip to pull the slide back. When you have pulled it back fully until you can't go any further you just let go of your fingers from the slide and it will slide shut on its own cambering a bullet as it goes.

I handed her the gun to have her practice pulling the slide back. She struggled a little but was eventually able to pull it all the way back and then let it go. The slides take a firm grip to maneuver.

"You will notice once you pulled the slide back and it slide into place the hammer remained in a cocked position." I picked up another one of the guns to show her the difference in the hammer. Pointing to the hammer of the gun in her hand it was cocked back where as the hammer in the gun in my hand was all the way up against the back of the gun.

"Provided you had bullets in the magazine your gun at this point is ready to fire. This is one difference between your revolver and a semi-automatic. Putting bullets in the magazine and putting the magazine in your gun doesn't make your gun ready to fire. With your revolver once you have put the bullets in the cylinder and the cylinder back in your gun your gun is ready that isn't the case with these. In order to have them ready to fire you need pull that slide and actually camber a round. Once you have cambered the first round as the gun is fired it will continue to camber rounds until you are out of ammunition. With each firing that slide will slide backwards just as you pulled it so that is why it is important that your thumbs stay below that thumb grip."

"When you fire the last bullet the slide will actually remain open on the gun." I point to the slide locks on the side of the gun. "These slide locks engage keeping the lock open making reloading easier. You only eject the magazine" Pointing to the magazine catch pushing the button and catching the magazine half way out. "Then you can slide a fully loaded magazine in. Hit the slide lock which will cause the slide to slide back into place effectively cambering your next round."

I walked her thru loading the magazines of all of the guns on the table. Then we made our way to the range with all six guns including the one she was wearing on her side.

"Babe there are several different ways to hold a gun. One is one handed like you have seen me and the guys around here hold our weapons. The other two ways are using both hands. For you I would suggest two hands as your hands are smaller than ours. Holding your gun with both hands will give you more stability which will also give you more accuracy."

I demonstrated the first two hand hold. "This hold is known as the Fist Grip. You hold the gun with your right hand as you were doing early your left hand comes up and grips the fingers of your right hand. Make sure the index finger of your left hand, your non firing hand, is between the middle finger and the trigger guard" I pointed out the trigger guard "and the thumb on your left hand lays beside the thumb of your right hand. Do not wrap it behind the gun as it will be in the way of the slide and the slide will grab it and catch it in the gun."

I then demonstrated the second two hand hold. "This hold is known as the Palm-Supported grip. You hold the gun with your right hand the same as we have done. Your left hand, the non firing hand then cups your right hand. Your left hand fingers wrap around your right hand and the thumb of your left hand lies on top of your middle finger from your right hand." I make sure she can see how I am holding the weapon.

"Babe I would like for you to try both of these holds on all three guns and let me know which gun you like the best. Which one feels the best in your hands? You will still fire them all but just holding them which one feels the best."

She picks up the first gun holding it fist grip then proceeds with the other five holding them all in a fist grip. She then does the same thing this time holding them in a palm-support grip.

"Ranger I feel like with both grips that I can hold the Glock 19 and the Beretta Px4 Storm Compact the best. The Glock 17 and Beretta Px4 Storm feel too large and the Baby Glock and Sub Compact Beretta Px4 storm seem too small they all feel awkward in my hand with these holds."

"Okay well what do you say let's try firing them and see if you change your mind." We walked over to the range. I load up the targets and send them out twenty feet or so.

"Babe when it comes to shooting accurately there are several things involved. In order to accurately shoot you need to know and understand how to apply all of the elements of marksmanship. These elements apply regardless if you are using a semi-automatic or revolver or any other weapon for that matter. The first one we have started and that is grip. The others will we work on every training session. They are aiming, breath control, trigger squeeze, target engagement and positions."

Stepping up to the small counter I stepped behind her. Bringing her arms up holding the gun I place my hands on either side of hers. "Another part of gripping the gun regardless of how you choose to hold it when you are holding it with two hands you should do what is called isometric tension. Where your right hand applies forward pressure and your left hand applies backward pressure. This is known as the push/pull. By pushing and pulling you create an isometric force that will help stabilize your weapon and reduce barrel rise from the recoil." I move her arms and proper position

"Your firing arm should be fully extended with your wrist and elbow locked. Your non firing arm or supporting arm should be bent at the elbow with the elbow pointing downward. The key is that you should have equal pull and push force in both arms if not then you won't have accurate shots. So take your time and get a feel for it." I then had her put in the ear plugs and the safety goggles as I did. At least these ear plugs allowed you to hear each other but only blocked noises above a certain decibel. So I could still talk to her and tell her what I needed her to hear.

"When it comes to aiming a gun with a fixed scope as with these semi-automatics and your revolver you need to line up the front and back scopes." Pointing to the scopes "When you aim your gun you should look thru the back scope and line the front scope up in the middle level then once that is lined up you position the front scope on your target where you want to hit. So your final view should be back scope centered around front scope which is centered on your target. There is a lot more to aiming and different aspects of aiming that we will get into later but for now, for today we will use this one."

"The final thing is your natural point of aim. This is where you are the most comfortable position to hold and fire your weapon. This point will be your most relaxed point and the way we will find that is by you taking aim at the target and then you will close your eyes for three to five seconds and open if you are still aimed at the target then you have found the point if not we change positions and start over."

I stepped up behind her and helped her get into what I thought would be a comfortable position by nudging her legs with mine. Her stand was shoulder width apart I had her standing tall her arms in position. "Okay Babe take aim at the center of the target."

Then I lowered my head to her ear and whispered "Close your eyes" I counted to five then asked her to open them "Open your eyes Babe. Do you still see the target? Has it moved any?" She nodded that she still had it and the shook her head that it hadn't moved. "Good. Now all you need to do is fire." I felt her tense up at the thought of firing the weapon.

I stepped up behind her again putting my arms out beside hers I deliberately put my lips next to her ear she could feel my breath on her skin I heard her breath hitch. "Take aim Babe I whispered in her ear" feeling her pushing and pulling force "you see your target lined up in the scope?" She nodded her head and let out a heavy "Yes" I smiled I knew how I was affecting her. I whispered "Good. Now pull the trigger." She pulled the trigger hitting the target.

"Good job" I told her as I smiled at her. She was beaming looking at the target with a whole in the center. "Okay do that again and then try with the others." She went thru all the bullets we had loaded in all of the guns. In the end she selected the Glock 19. She said it fit better in her hand and it felt easier to handle than the others ones. I was happy at least she had more than five rounds on her and could easily reload it if necessary. Not to mention she was practicing one of the test requirements accurately shooting the target at 20 feet away. When she was done we walked back over to the table. I wanted to go over with her the test requirements for Marksmanship. Now that we got her outfitted with a different gun we could move forward.

"Babe I wanted to tell you what the test consists of for Marksmanship. There are five requirements. The first is accuracy at twenty feet meaning you shoot the target multiple times and you hit the target center mass with none of the bullets being more than one inch apart. Typically we like to see at least five but you can shoot more." She looks at me and nods. "The second is accuracy in the shooter alley we won't do this today but it will come soon. Basically you will need to kill the bad guys but leave the civilians and cops unharmed. The Third is accuracy at 100 yards. The fourth is to properly site in a sniper rifle and finally accuracy at 1000 yards."

"Babe Today we are just going to continue shooting paper targets working on your stance, your comfort level. We will first get you shooting accurately at varying distances before moving to the shooter alley and the other long distance shots. From what I have seen today I am impressed."

She beamed. I loaded up some more paper targets and had her continue to shoot as I moved the distances of the target closer and farther away. I had to admit I was impressed she was shooting extremely accurate for someone who openly admitted she was afraid of her own gun.

TPOV

The morning meeting went well I was happy. I knew Ranger would be happy we had another client that would be spending about a million dollars with us. The client did require a lot and it would keep the guys busy so I was glad we had gone ahead and gotten the two contract workers. Making it back to my desk I found them waiting for me with Cal.

I walk up to them "Cal" he looks at me nodding his head and steps out of my office. I look at both of them. "You both have worked here before right?" I asked them they both nodded. "Good so I shouldn't have to explain everything to you again." They shook their head no. "We have an apartment on four for you to share if you would like. Your shift will begin this afternoon. See Cal for your assignments." Now if you could give me your names along with your driver's license I will have your ids for you shortly."

The first guy spoke up "My name is Michael Drake" handing me his driver's license. The second guy followed suite "My name is Douglas Palmer but my friends call me Doug." I wasn't his friend. I didn't want to be his friend. "Okay Douglas good to know." Letting him know I had no interest in being friends while taking his driver's license.

"Report to Cal for your assignments your shift will begin at twelve hundred." Effectively dismissing them from my office pulling up the searching program I ran background checks on both individuals. I wanted to make sure nothing has changed with these two since the last time they worked for Rangeman.

CalPOV 

Great just fucking great, I get stuck with these fucking lackeys. I should have known it I should have known neither Tank nor any of the core team would want to deal with the fuckers I was just hoping it wouldn't fall to me.

I hate having to talk to new people. Having to be friendly or at least appear friendly and answer a bunch of fucking questions from the newbie. I mean really who the fuck wants that job? I swear this just put me a bad fucking mood. Don't these people around here understand that I am not a fucking people person? I mean for fuck sake I have a tattoo of a flaming skull on my forehead. I didn't put it there because I was such a people person. I fucking had I put there to purposefully to ward people off because I don't like dealing with people. Oh well suck it up solider because here the fuckers come. I guess they can sit at the monitor and watch it for any problems or trouble without fucking it up too bad.

They walk up to me, I look at them. I know they have worked here before but I don't know their names. I never bothered learning their names. To me they were dumb fuck number one and dumb fuck number two and that was all I needed to know. They should know we aren't the warm and fuzzy type. We don't give a shit what they ate for breakfast, who or how many they are fucking, what their mother told them, what kind of car they drive or if they like sports. Just so long as they keep their fucking mouth closed, do their fucking job we wouldn't have a problem.

I look at dumb fuck number one as he extends his hand to me "Hi I am Mike." "Mike" I nod as I shook his hand. I looked to dumb fuck number two and he just stands there he doesn't bother to shake my hand or say hi. Not that I really give a fuck but I did think a little strange he didn't follow dumb fuck number one aka Mike.

"This afternoon you both will be on Monitor duty from twelve hundred until twenty hundred. You will get a break for dinner and breaks thru out your shift but you both can't be gone from the control room at the same time. So you will need to stagger your breaks and dinner break as well as bathroom breaks. That control room should never be without a man in it. If you need to leave and no one is there then get one of the other guys to cover for you do you understand me?" They both nodded. "Good your shift should begin shortly until then you can hang out in the kitchen area feel free to grab something from the refrigerator I am sure Tank will have your id badges as well as any logons you will need shortly." Turning back around to the work on my desk effectively dismissed them from my office.

SPOV

My arms felt like they were going to fall off. I have been holding this gun so long stretched out in front me firing it at the paper objects. My arms were already sore from my work out and now they felt like I wasn't going to be able to continue to hold them up. I had shot so many paper targets I really thought I was going to cause some kind of national shortage of paper targets.

I was however very proud of myself. I had saved a few of my paper targets. The ones that Carlos said I had excelled at. The ones that he made a big deal over saying that I was a natural. Well I don't know about that but some of these aren't bad.

I want to show them to Lester to see what he has to say about them. Then I am going to find some place to keep them as I would like to hang on to them. They are something tangible that I can pull out and remind myself that I am good at something when I need it.

"Babe what are you doing?" Carlos asked me as I was rolling up my targets. "I am saving them Carlos, I want to be able to look back at them and remind myself how good I did." "Babe" I am not sure what that Babe meant. But I am going to believe it meant way to go good thinking.

Carlos came over put his arms around me and gently kissed me on the lips. I so wanted to deepen it him being this close to me this morning had my hormones raging and I wanted nothing more than strip him down and take him right here on the table. "Babe" ranger said rather strangled. "Out loud?" "Yeah Babe out loud." Oh god I blushed "I hope I didn't say it loud enough for the cameras to pick it up." I confessed to him. Carlos just laughed and shook his head I hope that meant I didn't.

Carlos started massaging my sore arms and I swear it felt like I had just died and gone to heaven. I relaxed into his touch leaning back against him my back to his front as his hands worked their magic over my tight sore arms. Stealing a glance at the clock it was twelve o'clock time to go to the gym.

"Carlos, as good as this feels, and as much as I don't want you to stop ever I need you to stop I need to get to the gym for my workout then grab lunch and have a few moments to shower and get ready for my training session with Lester this afternoon." He chuckled.

What was so funny? "Babe I never thought I would hear you say you wanted to stop something that felt as good as you were saying so that you could go work out." I rolled my eyes at him of all the times to find humor in something. He just started laughing again "Come on Babe I will walk you up the gym and make sure the locker is empty so you can change there." "Thank you Carlos."

We made our way to the gym it was empty as well as the locker room. Ranger stood guard while I changed in to my workout clothing of bike shorts, sports bra, t-shirt and my tennis shoes. Making my way out I saw that Bobby had come down.

Carlos came up to me gave me a kiss and went on to say "Great training this morning Babe. I am headed to my office. I should be around in case you need me. Let me know if Lester gets out of hand and I have to kick his ass on the mats." I laughed giving him another kiss before he headed out of the gym.

I turned to Bobby. "Hey Bobby what's up." Reaching in my bag to get my workout schedule and then made my way to the treadmill for my cardio workout.

"Hey Bomber How are you? I just came down here to oversee your lower body workout. See if we need to make any adjustments with your training. After I look over things today we will evaluate during your training lessons."

"I am good I had a good training session with Ranger if you look in my bag I kept some of my paper targets to show Les but you can see them too if you want." He made his way over to my bag and pulled them out. Looking at them he smiled really big. "Wow that is impressive shooting there. I see you have a new gun in your bag how do you like it?"

I told him "I liked it. Ranger had me try several different ones but in the end that one just felt better in my hand and I liked the way it shot so I choose to keep that one. It's a Glock 19 but you probably already knew that." He smiled nodding his head.

"Well Bomber looking at these targets I don't want ever end up in your cross hairs." I laughed. Neither he nor anyone else at Rangeman would ever end up in my crosshairs. "Don't worry there Bobby you will never be in my cross hairs."

MichaelDPOV

I was excited about getting called to once again work for Rangeman. Everyone knew how elite it was to be a member of Rangeman. We all wanted to be a full time member of the Rangeman team.

Having worked for them in the past I knew what to expect. They were hard core men that believed in working hard. There was no fun, no play, it was serious and it was work. That is why Rangeman was the best of the best. They only hired the best of the best the most dedicated and serious men.

I was a little disappointed when Cal told us we had monitor duty but I wasn't really surprised I mean we were lowly men on the bottom. We were outsiders in their world. We didn't belong I understood. I could and would deal with the shitest job here to get a chance to be a full time Rangeman.

We stepped into the control room just before our shift. We met two men sitting at the monitors.

I spoke first "Hi my name is Mike. I am a contract worker that has been brought in to help you guys out for a little while. Cal told us that we had monitor duty starting at twelve." They two men looked at me.

I extended my hand the first man grabbed my hand shaking it "Binkie, nice to meet you." Then the second guy shook my hand "Hal" nodding his head. Douglas followed my lead this time.

"Hi I am Douglas but my friend's call me Doug" why the fuck does he have to say that every time. Just say your name is Doug if you want to be called Doug. He should know enough to know they aren't concerned with being his friend.

Binkie spoke up first "Hey" and shook his hand and then Hal nodded and shook his hand. With that Binkie and Hal walked out of the control room. Taking our seats we started watching the monitors.

We had worked this position before so we knew what to do. We hadn't been sitting there long when I heard Doug let out a long low whistle. Looking over at him questioning with just my expression what the hell was he whistling about he motioned to the monitor in front of him.

Looking at the monitor I saw a beautiful, sexy woman working out in the gym. She had a body to die for tight little ass. I couldn't remember a woman working here the last time I was here.

"Have you ever known a woman to work here other than the Ella?" Doug shook his head no then added "What an ass she has. What I wouldn't do to get a piece of that ass. Looking at her just makes me want to fuck her. I wonder if she is fucking any of the guys here maybe we will get lucky and she will be the office whore." I wasn't hopping on that. I was going to ignore I ever heard him say that.

"Man if you are smart you will forget you saw her and watch the monitors like you were contracted for."

DougPOV

I was stoked walking into Rangeman this morning. I have worked for them once before and I must have made an impressions since they requested that I come back. Hopefully by the end of this I would be a full time Rangeman. I mean I am good enough. I am the best of the best and according to all around they only hire the best.

Going into Tank's office I had my head up high riding the wave of greatness. I wanted to be a full time Rangeman, I knew I deserved to be a full time Rangeman, and I was going to show them. I was hoping that Tank would take me up my friend offer but he didn't. I knew that having a friend here would go a long way to getting in the door. When Tank directed us to Cal's desk I knew better than to try to talk to him. We butted heads the last time I was here. I can only hope Cal doesn't remember.

We sat in the kitchen area waiting for a shift to start at the monitors. There were several other Rangeman sitting around but none bothered to talk to us. That was okay, I would make friends with them. I would find a way in.

When we walked into the control room we introduced ourselves to Hal and Binkie they seemed nice enough although Hal barely spoke. Binkie was the more approachable one maybe he would be my way in. The easiest way to be accepted by the rest of the guys is for one of them to accept me.

Sitting at the desk I started watching the monitors. One caught my eye. It was the gym here in the building a beautiful sexy as hell woman was working out.

I whistled low and slow Mike turned his head to look at me I could see the questioning look as to why I would have done that. I motioned for him to take a look for himself. He asked me "Have you ever known a woman to work here other than the Ella?"

I shook my head no and added "What an ass she has. What I wouldn't do to get a piece of that ass. Looking at her just makes me want to fuck her. I wonder if she is fucking any of the guys here maybe we will get lucky and she will be the office whore."

He just looked at me shook his head "Man if you are smart you will forget you saw her and watch the monitors like you were contracted for."

Yeah right forget I saw that? Not likely I was going to get a piece of that. She had a nice tight ass one that just looking at her made you want to fuck her. Her whole body screamed fuck me. The more I looked at her the more I could hear her screaming for me to fuck her. Oh I already knew she would want this. I had to keep reminding myself that I was sitting in the middle of the control room to keep from stroking myself just watching her.

I was disappointed that I was given monitor duty when I heard my assignment but monitor duty is looking a whole lot better if I get to keep my eyes on this fine little piece of ass. I can't wait till I have her screaming my name while she is fucking and sucking me.

SPOV

I think I have died and gone to hell. I just finished my lower body workout and my legs don't feel like they can hold me up. They feel like sponges just boneless squishy muscle and skin. I delicately make my way to the elevator. Getting on a give the guys in the control room a little finger wave.

I push seven between training with Carlos this morning and holding my arms up for hours shooting the different handguns and then working out my lower body my whole body was screaming. Walking into the apartment I had just about an hour to eat, shower, and get ready for training with Lester.

I have missed Lester today. I can't wait to show him my paper targets from this morning training session. I hope he would be as impressed as Carlos was. I know Carlos would always tell me I did great because he would never want me to not feel good about myself. He wouldn't want me to worry about the upcoming tests. While I know he would never lie to me I do know that he wouldn't tell me everything freely either if it risked hurting or worrying me.

Lester on the other hand he pulls no punches when it comes to me. Feel good feel bad he tells me up straight. It is sort of like the difference between asking your husband 'does this dress make my ass look fat' versus asking your best friend. Husbands are afraid of that question and will avoid answering it however best friends now they are obligated by the laws of best friend to tell you the truth.

He doesn't allow me to tell him bullshit answers and get away with it. He doesn't allow me to avoid something bothering me. He has a way of pulling it out of me of making me admit whatever it is that I don't want to admit. Not that I am capable of lying to Carlos because I am not. Carlos just doesn't always push me for details so like him I can hang out in denial land by not offering everything freely.

Of course with the connection that has now formed between Carlos and me, I am not sure that those same tactics will work between Carlos and me. I have learned to ESP him pretty good and he has always been able to ESP me. Hell he probably always knew what I wasn't saying and only allowed me to hang out in denial land because that is what I wanted to do. The more I think about that the more I am sure that is more the truth than him not knowing. I was just living in denial land thinking he didn't.

Quickly showering and getting dressed in my Rangeman cargo pants and black Rangeman top I walk out to the kitchen area to grab something for lunch I find a note from Carlos on the counter.

_Babe – _

_I love you. I enjoyed watching you today during our training session. Seeing you hold and shoot those guns affected me in ways that I am going to enjoy showing you tonight. I am sorry that I am not going to be able to join you for lunch and get another glimpse of that naked ass of yours as you put it yesterday but I had to go meet with our latest client to finalize everything._

_I should be back in the office sometime later this afternoon and I will definitely be here to have dinner with you and hear all about your training sessions with my moron of a cousin. Remember if he gets out of hand I will be just upstairs so call me and I will come down and teach him a lesson. _

_Know how proud I am of you. You are excelling at all of your training. You are a beautiful amazing and a wonderful woman who I am thankful every day chose me. _

_Love you,_

_Carlos_

I had to tears in my eyes reading his note. Folding the note back up I went and placed it in the drawer of my nightstand beside the bed. That was a note worth saving.

I quickly ate a turkey wrap with veggies no mayonnaise and no cheese downed almost two bottles of water. I was ready for my afternoon training session. I still had a few minutes to spare so I packed my bag. Putting away my guns, yeah now plural next thing I knew I would be like Carlos carrying three guns and two knives now that thought made me laugh and put a smile on my face. Making sure I had my paper targets I made it out of our apartment headed to gym to meet Lester for my afternoon training session.

A/N : Information on the gun training sessions was found at the following websites:

Library(dot)enlisted(dot)info/field-manuals/series-2/FM23_35/CH1(dot)PDF

Library(dot)enlisted(dot)info/field-manuals/series-2/FM23_35/CH2(dot)PDF

Berettausa(dot)com

Glock(dot)com

Besafeguntraining(dot)com/womens-first-handgun-buy/ch7-semiautomatic-choices(dot)htm


	19. Chapter 18:Training Pt4 Lester FightSD

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

Chapter 18: Training Pt4: Lester Fighting / Self Defense

SPOV

Getting on the elevator I once again gave a finger wave to the guys in the control room. I briefly wondered who would be watching me today. This could get really embarrassing for me in the gym since I am not a fighter and I know nothing about self defense.

I found myself hoping it was Hal or Cal who was going to be watching the monitors they wouldn't say anything and with them being there would prevent any other guys from making fun of me.

I walk into the gym and Lester is there waiting for me. He is standing in the middle of the ring practicing martial arts. I stood there frozen I am sure my mouth gapped open looking at Lester. I was mesmerized for a second.

Watching him punch, kick, block, turning to the different sides. He would block then kick or punch turn block kick or punch it was beautiful to watch. There was rhythm, there was flow, and there was something I didn't expect to see grace. Every movement while crisp to the point that I could hear his clothing snap at his movements they were graceful.

It sort of had a feel of watching a ballerina in her element watching Lester. This was his, Lester was in his element. Commanding attention, commanding awe which left me feeling inspired and hoping that one day I would be able to do what he is doing now.

I knew he knew I was there. Lester was always aware of his surroundings. He may be a jokester and the Rangeman clown but foremost I knew he was solider that was always aware of his surroundings. Once he finished he turned to me smiling.

"Hey Beautiful, how did your training with bossman go this morning? Did you all train any or did you two just fool around in the gun range?" He was smiling and wagging his eyebrows up and down at me as he finished the sentence. Sometimes I just had to laugh at him.

"Les, wouldn't you just love to know?" I teased him back. He shook his head mumbling something about no idea as he made his way over to me. I hugged him and kissed him on the cheek as he hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. Reaching in my bag I pull out my targets to show him.

"Training this morning went well. Ranger seemed impressed with how well I shot." The excitement rising in my voice as I pulled out paper targets from my bag. "Here I saved some of the paper targets. I wanted to show them to you and the guys." Handing them to him he opens them up.

He smiles big and I see pride in his eyes as he was looking over the targets. "Beautiful these are great. You are one heck of a shot." I beam at his comments I couldn't help it. "We may have to come up with a new nickname for you maybe sharp shooter." Then he just shook his head wrapping his arm around my head pulling my head under his arm he started rubbing his knuckles over the top of my head as he started walking us towards the ring. "Nah you will always be my beautiful." I could do anything but smile and giggle.

DougPOV

I have been sitting here watching her. I watched her finish her workout and I watched her go out to the elevator. When she got on she sent me a finger wave. I knew she could tell I was watching her. Hell I hadn't been able to take my eyes off of her.

I saw her get off at seven and go into the big boss man's apartment. Well I guess they are fucking each other my bubble busted just a little at the thought. When she came back out smiling and once again giving me a finger wave my hope to have her fucking me raised some.

I watched as she went back down to the gym. I watched as she walked in and watched her staring at Lester in the ring. I watched him walk over and hug and kiss her as she hugged and kissed him back. My hope for her being the office whore was exciting me. I knew Lester's reputation with women if he was paying her any attention then she more than likely was the office whore and would spread her legs for all of us.

I was just going to make sure I was one of the men she spread them for.

LPOV

I had been waiting for Beautiful for about thirty minutes in the gym when I decided to loosen myself up by practicing my Kata. I am a 5th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and I am a 2nd degree black belt in Krav-Maga. Both are forms or martial arts Tae Kwon Do comes from Korea and Krav-Maga comes from Israel. Unlike Tae Kwon Do Krav-Maga has no rules, everything is game. It is street fighting at its ultimate.

Thinking about Beautiful's size I wanted to make sure she had several different forms of training when it came to fighting and self defense. I knew size would be a factor for her as she is small while she is tall she is small weighing in at about one ten one twenty tops.

I want her to be able to take Tank down when we are finished in order for her to be able to do that she will need to use her size to her benefit and she will need to learn to fight and keep fighting. These two forms I felt like were good choices for her. Size didn't matter with these two forms. You didn't have to be a big man it was about leverage, it was about thinking, and it was about attacking with enough force to incapacitate your attacker allowing you time to flee.

I saw her walk into the gym just before I was finished with my Kata. I continued allowing her to see some of the moves that she would learn in her training. The look on her face was adorable and it made my chest swell with pride that looking at me put that look on her face.

"Hey Beautiful, how did your training with bossman go this morning? Did you all train any or did you two just fool around in the gun range?" Wagging my eyebrows as I said that caused her to laugh.

"Les, wouldn't you just love to know?" She teased back. Shaking my head to clear the images that had been created, she had no idea. I gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek which she returned then she reached in her bag pulling out some rolled up paper.

"Training this morning went well. Ranger seemed impressed with how well I shot." I could hear the excitement rising in her voice. "Here I saved some of the paper targets. I wanted to show them to you and the guys." Handing them to me I couldn't wait to open them up.

I couldn't have prevented the smile on my face if I had wanted to. Seeing the paper targets and her shots I couldn't believe how good they were. I couldn't help feel a since of pride for her looking at them. "Beautiful these are great. You are one heck of a shot." She beamed at me.

"We may have to come up with a new nickname for you maybe sharp shooter." I told her but the more I thought about it I just had to shake my head wrapping my arm around her head pulling her into a chocker hold I started rubbing my knuckles over the top of her head as I started walking us towards the ring. "Nah you will always be my beautiful." She just started giggling.

Making it to the ring I first sat down and motioned for her to join me. I wanted to discuss a few things with her first so she would know what to expect.

"I want to take a moment to talk to you about what we are going to be doing and the test objectives before we get started with any training. What you will be learning is several different forms of martial arts. One is call Tae Kwon Do it originates in Korea and it means Hands, Feet, Mind as you will use all of those to defeat your attacker or opponent. The other is a form of street fighting that originated in Israel known as Krav-Maga. Krav-Maga there are no rules it is pure street fighting no holds barred full on dirty as it can get fighting."

I could see the initial shock of my explanation of what she would be learning flash across her face. Then I could see what appeared to be worry.

"Don't worry Beautiful we will teach you. Don't fear this training isn't going to make you into a killer. It isn't going to change you. The core of what I will teach you is to yes defend yourself, and be able to fight but at the core of all of it is the principle that you do as much harm as needed to incapacitate your attacker so that you can flee. It isn't so you can go in for the kill. I would never teach you that way."

She seemed a little more at ease after hearing that. "I am not going to lie to you. You will learn moves here that could end someone's life. You will learn a few moves that you will be able to severely wound if not kill your attacker if necessary but we will always hope that won't ever happen."

"Beautiful if it ever comes down to you or your attacker, please always and I mean always make sure it is your attacker and not you. Okay?" I couldn't help but say that. I can't ever imagine not having her in my life. She nodded.

"The test for the fighting/self defense consists of five objectives. The first objective is the ability to break out of basic holds. These holds consist of someone holding you from behind, in front, and by the throat. Most attackers attack their victims from behind. It gives them the advantage because of the element of surprise. We will work with you on that so that you are not taken by surprise." I look at her and see she is listening to every word I am saying.

"The second objective is takedown are you capable of taking someone down. Obviously you know in our line of business why this is important. You need to be able to takedown a skip, or someone attacking you. The third objective is handcuff an opponent again I shouldn't need to explain the importance of that one." I said smiling thinking of some of the 'fun' beautiful has had handcuffing her skips in the past. From the look on her face I can see she is thinking the same thing.

"Subdue an attacker is the fourth objective. This means to prevent the attacker from taking you, or further hurting you. To subdue an attacker doesn't mean kill him, or even knock him out it means to inflict enough harm that you can escape them. Finally the fifth objective is to perform basic knowledge of martial arts. Basic knowledge of a martial art is essential when fighting or defending yourself."

Standing up I offer my hand to her to help her up. "Okay Beautiful you ready to get started?" Nodding her head she says "Yeah Lester let's do this." I have to chuckle a little.

"First thing I want to talk you about is stance. When you are fighting your stance is very important you want to be centered equal weight on both feet but you want to be standing in such a way that you can shift weight from one foot to the other without any effort or really any tell to your body." I could tell she wasn't really following me.

"A tell is when your body gives away your moves before you do. Fighters learn how to read tells. That is why the great boxers and fighters know how to throw a fake punch because of the tell. Meaning they shift their weight one way so their opponent believes they are going to throw a certain punch from one arm only to at the last second change and throw a different punch or kick from the opposite arm or leg."

"If you watch boxers, martial art fighters you will see them shifting their weight from one foot to the next while they are sparring or fighting with their opponents. However you will notice that they are balanced the entire time. Balance is very important because you want to stay up off of the ground as much as possible. You don't want your attacker to be able to take you to the ground."

"You have the advantage because of your size but you also have the disadvantage because of your size. You are smaller there for you have less of a target area for an attacker and we can work with you to make your target area even smaller by the way you stand. However because of your size and depending upon your attacker if they get a hit in then they could do damage and they could knock you down with one blow if connected properly."

"Beautiful have her ever heard of Chi?" She nods "Chi is energy and energy is all around us. Everything has energy. In martial arts energy is a big deal. Not only will you use your energy within you but you will use your opponent's energy against them. For every time a punch or kick is spent without contact being made on an opponent twice as much energy is spent than if contact was made. Our goal is to have those punches and kicks miss or be blocked by you while your punches and kicks hit their intended target."

"The first things we are going to work on today are balance, punchd, kicks, and blocking. I want you to find a balanced stance. It should feel comfortable but one that you can hold sort of like at the range this morning when you found your shooting position. Typically feet shoulder width apart is a good place to start. Stand straight up your feet should be directly below your knees, your knees should be lined up with your hips your shoulders lined up with your hips you should not feel as though you are leaning either back or front." Watching her get in position she nodded.

"Okay you feel balanced equal weight on both feet. Make yourself strong. Don't lock your joints but engage your muscles feel them tighten keeping you in that spot." I could see her concentrating and trying to control her muscles.

"Now we are going to play a little game. I am going to attempt to get you to lose your balance by making you have to step back or forth to regain it. To do this we are going to play a little version of patty cake. Hold your hands up fingers spread in front of you hands about ten to twelve inches from your shoulders. Now for the final piece close your eyes." She put her hands up and closed her eyes no questions. She trusted me.

"Remember strong body but don't tense up don't lock your joints." I tap her hands pushing her away with a little bit of force. I could tell I sort of caught her off guard as she had to step back to keep from falling. "Remember hold your ground. You are strong you are balanced." I pushed again. This time she held her ground. I then placed my hands on the other side of her hands and pulled her towards me she stepped forward. "Be prepared for any direction keeping your balance means just that regardless of which direction you are pushed maintain your footing." We went several rounds until the point that I was really pushing and she wasn't budging the only way I was going to get her to budge would have to push hard enough to move her whole body at once. Of course I could but that wasn't the objective of this exercise.

"Very good, did you feel how that felt to hold your body like that? I could tell that in order for me to make you move I would have to push you hard enough to make your whole body move. That is a strong balanced body. That is the body that you want to use when facing an attacker or an opponent."

"To properly punch you first must make a proper fist. The proper fist is finger folded down to palm knuckles then curved back towards wrist and then place your thumb across your index and middle finger locking your fist in place." I showed her slow motion exactly how to form a proper fist with both hands. "Never put your thumb on the inside. With your thumb on the inside you could dislocate your thumb or break it when punching someone." She followed me fisting and un-fisting her hair several times.

"To deliver a proper kick you can use many areas of your foot. The ball of your foot, the side of your foot, the heel of your foot but the one area you never want to use is your toes. Typically you won't be barefoot when someone attacks but with you let's face it is possible. Regardless just kicking the punching back or sparring in the ring you want to make sure your toes are bent up and out of the way. If you kick with your toes you will end up jamming or breaking a toe." I demonstrated how to pull your toes back towards the top of your foot and delver I kick with the ball of my foot with a front kick, the side of my foot with a side kick and the heel of my foot with an ax kick.

"These are the three basic kicks we are going to do today." Moving to the punching bag that is on a base I adjust it for her height.

"The first kick is called Front Snap kick, with your hands in fists you will stand in what is called fighting position. Fighting position is where your shoulders are square to your opponent. Your feet are facing your opponent. Your fists are up in a blocking position one in front of your face the other in front of your chest. One foot is forward while the other foot is slightly behind." Demonstrating every aspect of the stance for her I show her both with my right and left foot being the forward foot.

"For right now whichever foot is the foot that is behind you is the foot you will use to kick with that isn't the case when it comes to sparring but for here we will let it be the case. The front Snap kick you will be in fighting stance you will then pull up the leg that is behind you bringing your thigh parallel with the floor once parallel you will then snap out our foot pulling your toes back and connect with the bag with the ball of your foot." Demonstrating as my foot made contacting pushing the bag back.

"Now your turn" She slowly got in position and followed thru with the kick. "Very good Beautiful now give me twenty on each leg." She briefly looked at me like she wanted me to be one of her paper targets but she started kicking the bag going thru the full motion with each kick.

"Good job. The second kick is known as the side kick it is an extremely powerful kick. This kick you will once again start in fighting position. This time you will raise your knee towards your body and shift your body at the same time ninety degrees either left or right depending on which foot your kick with. Once you are ninety degrees you will extend your leg making contact with the bag with the side of your foot." Once again I demonstrated slowly pointing to the various body parts and what they were doing.

"Your turn" She nodded got in position. She struggled getting the proper body alignment but eventually figured it out. "Good give me twenty both legs." I am not certain but I think I got the death glare at that one. I didn't explode so all was good. She did an awesome job. "Good Job Beautiful."

"The last basic kick we are going to work on today is the ax kick also known as a downward kick. This kick uses your whole leg and can deliver a blow capable of taking down the biggest of men. This kick can have the strength to break some ones collar bone or arm if properly connected. With the ax kick your leg extends up in the air above you as high as you can raise it and then you will bring it down with all the force you have connecting with your opponent with the heel of your foot." Once again I demonstrated coming down on the top of the bag in front of us with my heel.

"Your turn" she stepped in position and was successfully able to perform the kick and even get her leg to the top of the bag which was impressive considering she hadn't really been working out prior to yesterday. "Very good…again give me twenty each leg." I think she was expecting it this time as she just nodded.

"The two punches we are going to learn today are the jab and then just your standard punch. Like with the kicks there are many more but we are only going to focus on these two today. I want you to get in fighting position which ever leg is in front you will bring that arm up in front of you which ever leg is behind you, you will pull that arm back until your fist is tucked in at your side. Your fist should be turn so your palm is up on that hand. When you punch you will bring the arm forward as you do you will rotate the arm until the point when your fist connects with the bag your palm and fingers are down and your knuckles are up. By turning your arm you add additional energy or chi to your punch which translates to more force." I demonstrate slowly so she can see my arm turning snapping into place just before my fist makes contact with the bag.

"Now your turn" she demonstrates two punches for me I nod and she goes on and gives me twenty on each side without asking. I think I am impressed, did she just ESP me or was it out of pattern? "Good Job okay the Jab is the second one. This punch comes from the hand you have out front. Like your punch there is still a little rotation but not as much as your arm extends and makes contact." I demonstrate the jab and she follows thru with twenty on each side.

"Now Beautiful I am going to test you." Walking around behind the bag "I am going to call out different kicks and punches in random order and I want you to hit or kick he bag with each one as I call it. The key is I want you switch left and right with each call. To shift from fighting stance right and left you really only need to shift your legs and your arms why don't you practice that for twenty times before we begin." She nods and quickly changes position twenty times.

I started calling off various punches and kicks combinations. We did that for ten minutes nonstop her kicking and punching the bag I could see she was getting faster with her movements. "Good job Beautiful that was awesome." She smiled even though she was panting hard and sweating even harder.

"Blocking is the next thing we are going to work on. Blocks can be as effective as punches if executed properly. Not only do you block the punch or kick from your attacker but in blocking you can equally hurt your attacker."

Looking to see I still had her attention. I am not use to her being so quiet and not talking but I know it is because she is concentrating on what I am telling her and watching me the reason for her being so quiet. She is taking her training very seriously and for that I am happy.

"There are three blocks that we are going to work on today the first is an upper block, the second is a middle block, and finally the third is a down block." I demonstrate each of them. "Now get in fighting stance the first one I am going to walk you thru is the upper block. It can be done with either hand the move is your arm crosses your body then bring your arm comes up with it bent at the elbow so that when you raise it up over head your forearm is crossing your head you can see my arm twists slightly as I raise it. As you do this you will step forward towards your target one this gives you momentum second it lowers you and your center of gravity." She copied me a couple of times.

"Your arm should be above your head preventing an attacker from being able to strike you on the top of your head or shoulders. Remember the strong body exercise we did that is what you want a strong body so that when you block the hit or kick your arm doesn't just collapse down. That is true with every block you will want to keep a strong body."

She did a couple more of them "Okay now give me twenty upper blocks with both arms." She did them without any problems.

"The second block is the middle block with this block it is the same motion in that your arm will cross your body but this time your arm will rotate so that your elbow is down your forearm is parallel to your body with your palm and fingers of your fist facing you as you pull your arm across your body effectively blocking an attacker from kicking or hitting you midriff you rotate you arm so that your fist is then facing away from you in the end." I demonstrated them again and she followed me.

"Okay give me twenty of those with both arms." She did I was impressed her form was really looking good and I could see the concentration in her face. "Very good, Beautiful".

"The final block is the down block. Once again you will be moving into your attacker but your arm in this case starts at your shoulder and then extends down across your body effectively blocking any attack to your lower body." I demonstrate the movement and she copies me. She goes ahead and gives me twenty of them on both sides.

I smile at her "ready to have some fun?" I ask her. "I am going to in slow motion attempt to attack you I am going to do kicks and punches and you are to effectively block them with the appropriate block. If I make contact with you, you lose and I win. Ready?" She nodes her head and I can see concentration, determination in her eyes.

I start to deliver several punches and kicks just basic with no force behind it. If I were to make contact with her it wouldn't hurt her it would be no more than a touch. I was skilled at pulling punches and kicks I knew she was safe. I could tell she knew it as well as there was zero fear in her eyes only trust and determination that she was going to be the winner.

Sure enough she effectively blocked every single one of my punches and kicks. "Very good beautiful, now one more time only this time I am going to do it faster." We did this for a while me speeding up each round until finally I made contact. "Well I guess I won that game" I said pulling her chain laughing.

Looking at me she said "only because you cheated. You kept going getting faster and faster until you knew I wouldn't be able to block you. I won the first how many rounds?" Laughing at her "uh uh not how that game works. That game goes until you have a winner and I am clearly the winner" Squaring her shoulders at me and giving me a slight death glare "Lester it's so going to be on next time." I couldn't help but laugh.

"Okay this is a different game" we walk over to where the medicine balls are. I have her stand close to a wall behind her. "The name of this game is dodge ball. I am sure you played this as a kid, do you remember?" She nodded. "So I don't need to go over the rules. Basically you dodge the ball but this is slightly different in that you can use your hands or your blocks to knock the ball away from you. It is easier if you use your hands at first but try to remember move your hands across your body. Like I said before it gives you added momentum but it also adds energy to your block. Oh you can duck and lean from side to side to avoid the ball you can even take a step but nothing beyond that. The goal here is to avoid contact with the ball but remain engaged with me as if I was an attacker and the balls are my punches and kicks." With that I lightly tossed the medicine balls at her. A few of them hit but for the most part she did an excellent job in blocking them.

"Good Job Beautiful." She smiled. I put my arm around her shoulders pulled her in for a one arm hung and kissed the top of her head as we walked over and got a drink of water.

"The next thing we are going to work on are three basic holds. You will learn a whole lot more as your training continues but these three are the ones we are going to start with. The first one is someone grabbing you from behind." I grab her from behind and hold her body next time mine. I let go after a couple of seconds and circle her.

"The second is someone grabbing you from the front." I wrap my arms around her and pull into a bear hug. Again I let her go after a couple of seconds and a final squeeze.

"The third is a chock hold." I put my hands around her neck. Looking closely at her eyes I see no fear only trust.

"When someone grabs you from behind" I once again grab her from behind holding her against me "tell me how you think you can make me let go of my hold or better yet try to get away from me." She wiggles and struggles trying to turn her body but her force isn't near what it would need to be to break free not even from a normal man's size. "Don't hold back beautiful you aren't going to hurt me try to get away from me. Pretend I am one of the bad guys that have just grabbed you now try to get away." She struggles harder trying to wrench her body from mine but I can tell it is only going to end up with her hurting herself. "Nice try but let's talk about this for a minute."

Continuing to hold her from behind "okay think about where my arms are where my hands are where your arms are and hands are. Picture my body standing behind you. Keep the picture of my body in your mind. Now look at it as if you are looking for vulnerabilities where am I vulnerable? Once you figure out where I am vulnerable think about your body with the hold I have you in what are you capable of doing? Do you have enough motion in your arms to attack how about your legs? When it comes to self defense breaking out of a hold remember there are no rules. So walk me thru it tell me what you are thinking."

She shakes her head I can sense the uncertainty "Beautiful there are no wrong answers here don't worry about not knowing, that is why I am teaching you. I just want you to start thinking this way that way you can do it should someone ever grab you, you will have this thought process down and you will be able to act on it." I could tell that is what she needed to hear.

"I have a little movement of one of my arms. I have movement of my feet but you are so close I am not sure how effective they would be." "Good, what else. Picture my body where am I vulnerable. Where could you attack me that would give you the best ability to get me to break my hold of you even if I don't let go completely at first. The goal would be for me to break my grip so then you could continue your attack until I had let go completely and you would be able to successful escape."

"With your arms around my arms and you holding me to you, your ribs are exposed but since I don't have much motion of my arms I am not certain how that helps." Very good. "That's right my ribs are exposed. Regardless of how someone grabs you from behind unless they wrap their arms around you low on your waist which exposes other body parts to you like their head. They expose their ribs to you. Even with your limited motion you can deliver a powerful elbow to the ribs. Even if I didn't let go with the first hit it would force me to loosen my grip which would open me up for further attacks from you. Remember what I said when you attack you keep attacking until your attacker is in a position that he is unable to attack back and you are able to successfully flee."

"Beautiful when you defend yourself in an attack I said there are no rules and there are non whatever you need to do you do it. Poke them in the eye, stomp on their foot, scratch them hell bite them if you have to. Remember everything you have, everything you can reach, every part of you becomes a weapon against your attacker. When it comes to hits and kicks don't forget elbows and knees. You will find that you have more force behind a knee or an elbow blow than a kick or punch because your knee and elbow are closer to your core, your center. So don't forget to use them even with limited movement they can be powerful blows."

I let go of her. Then I drop down on my knees "I want you to grab me from behind. I am going to walk you thru the break." She grabbed me from behind I gently elbowed her in the ribs and she broke her hold. "Okay now my turn." Standing up I once again grabbed her "Be gentle Beautiful break out" she elbowed me to the ribs." I know from experience people starting out in martial arts do not know how to pull a punch or a kick and they will hurt you quicker than someone who has several degrees of black belts.

"Very good now remember one elbow typically isn't going to get anyone to completely let go so you continue elbowing. When the grip loosens you reevaluate the situation maybe you can then turn and deliver a punch or the heel of your hand, which you will learn later, to their nose. You keep evaluating your situation thinking what can I move, where are they vulnerable and what do I have to attack with and you keep attacking until you have subdued your attacker to the point that you can successfully get away."

"In some cases like the chocker hold you need to get them to break their grip faster. There are ways you can move that will use leverage that will force your attacker to release their hold because they couldn't continue to hold on if they tried." I grabbed her throat with both hands

"Now tell me what you think where is vulnerable and what do you have to attack with." I knew the answer the way I was holding her she couldn't hurt me. She couldn't force me to let her go. My arms were longer than hers so she couldn't reach me with a punch. She could kick but an attacker applying pressure to her throat would win out. Looking at me

"I could kick you, but I can't reach you with my arms." "Good. With a guy you already know kick to the family jewels is one way but when someone is applying pressure to your neck effectively cutting off your air supply sometimes you don't think about that. You need to get him to break his hold to do that this is what you can do." I let go of her neck and once again got down on my knees in front of her.

"Beautiful grab my neck with both hands" She did "now you can do two different things to force your attacker to break their hold. I will show you both of them. The first one, you can take both of your hands and come up between his arms and force them apart which will do either one of two things his hands will either break loose from your neck of he will be force to step closer. The faster you are at hitting his hands with as much force as possible and continuing the motion all the way down the more successful you will be at breaking out of the hold." I demonstrated showing her how she couldn't continue to hold on to me no matter how much she wanted to.

"Grab a hold again, The second way to make me break away is by taking your arm bringing up beside your head extended up and then bringing it down on top of mine forcing my hands down. When you do you grab my hands with the opposite hand and you can then deliver a powerful elbow to my face or whatever attack you are able to make." While on my knees I demonstrated how to break out.

Standing up I grabbed her neck and walked her thru both ways to break out of the hold. "Remember Beautiful always attack. When you block you then attack, when you break out you then attack. When someone attacks you, you attack back and you keep attacking even if you have to block, dodge, or break out of holds you keep attacking every chance you get until you are able to do what?" I wanted to drill this into her head. Looking at me funny like surprised I am quizzing her

"I keep attacking until my attacker is subdued and I am able successfully escape and flee." "That's right you keep attacking until you can safely get away."

I walk over to her and grab her in a bear hug holding her to me up off the ground. "Okay Beautiful tell me what you think." There are several parts of me exposed to her even though she has no use of her arms or hands. For one my head because I have her up off of the ground her head is close to my face. Second her legs are dangling while they won't have much force a knee to my crotch that would be very doable. Finally a kick to my shin would also be very doable and deliver a painful enough blow for me to loosen my hold on her.

"My arms are pinned beside me so I can't use them my legs are dangling." yeah nodding my head for her to go on. "I could kick you" "Good what else could you do?" I asked her "I could knee you." She was catching on nodding "But I am not certain how it would be effective enough to make you let me go." "Remember what I said beautiful there are no rules all is fair it isn't sometimes how hard as much as where. Now tell me again and keep going."

"I could knee you in …well…in your privates." I can't get enough of her sometimes she can cuss like a sailor hell out cuss a sailor I should know I knew plenty sailors but couldn't tell me she could knee me in the balls without blushing. "I could kick you in your leg." Nodding she was right. "That would be my shin and kicks to the shin hurt. Anything else remember everything you have is a weapon anything else you could use to attack me with?" I wanted her to think this thru I wanted her to come up with the answers. "The only other thing I have left is my head." Looking at me I couldn't help to smile. "That's right you have your head now what could you do with it to attack me?"

"I could head butt you." "That's right you could head butt me with where I have you right now I would say a nice head butt to the bridge of my nose would be pretty effective don't you think?" She smiled and nodded "or I could just do this" looking at her curious as to what that was

She leaned in and kissed the bridge of my nose laughing sitting her down on her feet "yeah Beautiful that is just as effective but don't try that on an attacker okay stick with the head butt. Okay?"

Laughing she nodded as we made our way back to the mats. "Beautiful to learn how to do something sometimes you just have to do it and keep doing it until you get good at it. That is the principle we are going to take when it comes to you fighting." Her eyes get about the size of saucers.

"Don't panic we will all pull punches and kicks just as I am going teach you to do when it comes to fighting with us. That is what we are going to work on now. I want you to punch at me but when you reach me you will pull it so that the movement is correct but when you make contact you only touch me instead of really punching me. You can do jabs and punches like I showed you earlier. Give me twenty." She did a good job with pulling them.

"Now your three kicks beautiful same thing proper movement only pull back at the last moment and only touch me twenty of each kick." She kicked me a few times hard but not hard enough to hurt me but eventually got the proper feel for it

"Very good. When we work with bags or the hand tethers you can punch and kick as hard as you want or can but when we spar we pull the punches. We are going to start this slow but I want you to remember block attack dodge attack. Whenever I come at you, you block or dodge and then you attack. My movements will be slow today but as your training progresses this will get faster and faster until the point that we are truly fighting each other as you would an attacker only pulling the punches and kicks." I wanted to keep reminding her to pull those punches and kicks. I didn't want to end up looking like a human punching bag it was bad enough having the bruises Ranger put on me already when he made an example out of me I didn't more.

SPOV  
Wow fighting with Lester was sort of fun. I mean I know he was moving in slow motion but I could really see why the guys liked it so much. Of course when they fought in the ring it was fast and from what I saw they didn't really pull punches or kicks or if they were I didn't know if I wanted to fight with them. But so far this was fun.

"Very good Beautiful" I loved hearing that. I was doing well! I was blocking him and attacking just like he said. I was very proud of myself. By the time we were done I was pouring sweat and my muscles were screaming at me damn this was a workout.

Lester walks over to me with my bottle of water and my towel. I am covered in sweat my t-shirt is even wet with it and he is dry as a bone I mean what the hell. Don't these men ever sweat?

"Yeah beautiful we sweat." When I am ever going to learn to keep my thoughts to myself? Well at least it wasn't an embarrassing thought.

Lester smiling looking at me I saw a twinkle in his eye just before he said "You did good today" and then proceeded to dump the bottle of water over my head. Normally this would have pissed me off and part of me wanted to be pissed but the other part of me felt like I was Rocky or Maggie when after a round in the ring their coaches would douse them with water and then dry their faces off. I could just hear the rocky theme song blasting in my ears. I felt like a million dollars. I was a million dollar baby!

"Wow Lester you just made me feel like I was Rocky." Laughing he picked me up and I threw my arms up in the air like the champion I was.

DougPOV

I was watching her and Lester wondering what was the deal with this woman. It looked like he was training her but why? I mean she was probably a secretary or something why the hell would he be wasting his time training her? I needed to find out.

We hadn't been sitting there too long when a man walked into the control room. I didn't remember him before when I was worked here but I am not sure that meant anything. Looking at him I nodded then offered him my hand "Hi my name is Douglas but my friends call me Doug" he took my hand shaking it "Manny" Mike from beside me extended his hand saying "Hi I am Mike" Manny shock his hand.

Manny paused and look at the screen of Lester and the girl in the gym that I had been watching and then just smiled. I thought I would ask him some questions concerning the mystery girl.

"We are new here contract workers sent in to help out for a little while. We both have worked here before in the past but it has been a little while. I don't remember a woman being here the last time I was here. Do you know who she is?"

He looked at me and smiled and then nodded "yeah she is my wifey." She is his wife? Then why the hell was she up on the seventh floor in the bossman's apartment and why is she acting like the building's whore? "She is your wife?" I question.

He shook his head no, now I am really confused. "Not really, she said she was once when I got shot so she could see me at the hospital so I call her my wifey." Oh okay for a minute there I was thinking I wouldn't get my chance at her. Not that I would probably let her being married have stopped me after seeing how she acted with Lester.

I wondered if I could get any more information from him. "What are they doing?" "Lester is training her to fight and be able to defend herself." I could see that much asshole "yeah but why?" He shrugged his shoulders he wasn't going to tell me. But then went on "But I just got back here today. I have been working at the Rangeman Miami on a forensic case down there for the past several weeks."

He then walked out of the control room. He could have least told me her name but no he wasn't offering up any information other than he called her wifey. Just great I tell you.

MannyPOV

What the fuck is up with that guy. I am going to let Lester know that he was watching them. He had that screen up on the larger monitor so I know he was watching them.

He wanted to know too much about wifey for my comfort level. I knew that he was new here and I know that she is beautiful and hard to take your eyes off of. But something wasn't right I could feel it. He had a weird vibe about him.

Walking down the hall I ran into Cal oh just the man to ask. "Cal hey me amigo" "Hey man when did you get back? You have missed all the excitement around here." "I just got back this morning. I have been working the forensic case in Miami." He nodded. He knew I was the best forensic and crime scene investigator in all of Rangeman and hell most of the Police Departments.

"They called you back up here to work on Angel's apartment didn't they?" I looked at him questioning, I didn't know why they wanted me back. I haven't even talked to anyone other than hearing they wanted me to fly back home. "What's up with wifey's apartment?"

I could see the look on Cal's face like he had just stepped in it. "Man I can't tell you, they will though I know that is why they asked you to come home. Go see one of the core team they will fill you in and give you all the stuff we collected. We were careful to dot every I and cross every t when it came to collecting that evidence we all want that sick son of a bitch who left that shit for her found." Damn just what he told me told me all I really needed to know she had another stalker. No wonder Lester was working with her on self defense.

"Hey Cal got a minute?" He nodded as I made my way to his office with him. I didn't want the new guy to hear me say anything to Cal.

"What's up Manny?" call asked.

"Cal, how well do we know these two new guys, the contract workers?" "They worked here before I don't know them I couldn't even tell you their names I refer to them as Dumb Fucker number one and Dumb Fucker number two. One of the guys said his name was Mike but I don't know what the other guys name is, why?"

"The other guys name is Douglas or Doug does that ring any bells with you?" I could see him thinking "I just walked into the control room and he had the camera from the gym pulled up on the large monitor in front of him. He was watching wifey and Lester in the gym. He then asked me some questions trying to get information on her but I didn't tell him anything other than I called her wifey."

I went on "I don't know but something just feels off with him. Maybe I am putting too much into it I mean she is beautiful and what man in his right mind setting in front of a bunch of cameras looking at nothing wouldn't choose to look at her but I still get a feeling something was off with him."

Cal looking at me I could see the wheels turning "okay Manny thanks for telling me let's keep an eye on him to see if anything else seems off." I nod my head walking out of his office to find Ranger or Tank.

DougPOV

I continued to watch them in the gym. I watched as Lester held her in the different holds and imagined her body next to mine. I could feel myself harden with the thought.

I saw them fighting and he was moving slow so she would have time to block and plan her attack watching her body move was intoxicating and it had me so on edge. I wondered how these other men could work this close to her and not just have to have her to take her.

I mean women were here for one purpose and that was to please us men when and where we wanted.

When they were finished he held her up in his arms while she threw her arms up in the air over her head like she had won something. She hadn't won anything other than the ability to make me hard at the sight of her.

I watched as they hugged each other kissing each other again and then he fluffed her hair as they made their way out of the gym with their arms around each other. I quickly switched cameras so I could see them in the hall way walking towards the elevator.

When they got on I once again switched cameras so I could see the one in the elevator and they were laughing about something but I wasn't sure what, as I didn't hear what made them laugh to begin with.

He started massaging her arms and shoulders and I even heard her let out a moan which made me harden even more. The next thing I knew I heard the ding of the elevator on the floor. The doors opened.

When the doors opened Lester scooped her up like a bag of potatoes and threw her over his shoulder her fine ass pointing up for all to see. She was screaming in laughter and pounding her fists against his backside while he was pretending to smack her on her on her ass. Oh yeah she liked it a little rough.

She picked her head up to look in the control room and started to wave but when she realized she didn't know us she dropped her hand and gave a funny look our way like she was trying to figure out why we were here.

They were laughing and playing as they made their way down the hall to Ranger's office. They didn't even knocked they just walked in since when did he get that lax around here that you could just walk into his office without knocking and waiting for permission? I wondered if he had gone soft.

SPOV

Lester walked into Carlos' office with me thrown over his shoulder we were laughing and play hitting each other. I couldn't see anything but I imagined Carlos' looking up to see who had just walked in unannounced. I know anyone else do that and he would have their asses on the mats so fast it would make their head roll but me now me he allowed to walk into his office without knocking or in this case be carried into his office. Yeah I was feeling pretty good.

Carlos spoke first "Santos, am I going to have to call you to the mats for touching my woman's ass?" Lester just froze in place. I on the other hand just giggled. "Ranger I wasn't touching her ass I was spanking it." Lester countered thinking that would get him off the hook.

I couldn't stop giggling suspended on Lester's shoulder. I could hear amusement in his voice so I knew he wasn't really mad. I could see him wanting to smile but holding it back. "Santos if you don't put my woman down right now you won't have to worry about the mats you will have to worry that I don't select a box too small when I ship your ass to a third world country."

I could feel Lester gulp as well as hear him. He gradually lowered me back to the ground. I was laughing but when my feet touched the ground I gave him a hug letting him know that I enjoyed the little bit of fun we had.

"Hey Babe did my no good cousin behave himself? How was your training?" "It was good Lester showed me a lot and I think I did pretty good."

Lester butted in "Rangeman she did great. I even had her fighting at the end."

Ranger looked at me for confirmation "yeah but he was going in really slow motion so I could keep up."

Ranger and Lester both smiling made me smile even bigger. I was proud of my hard work for the past two days. I could tell by the look in their face they were proud too.

"Guys I hope that look on your face means you are proud of me because I have to say you two are probably the two most important people in my life. I mean I love the other guys here and they are my brothers but Carlos you are my lover and soon to be husband." I couldn't help smiling at that part and I can't keep from saying it. Every time I say it just sends shivers down my spine. " Lester you are my brother but you are also my best friend and it is important to me that I make both of you proud." I had tears in my eyes when I finished.

Carlos was beside me faster than I knew he could move with his arms around me. "Babe you have made me so proud of you. I know how hard you have worked I know how hard this is and you have done an amazing job. I am so proud of you."

Lester wasn't going to be left out "Beautiful you have done an amazing job both days. I heard from Bobby, Tank and saw your targets from your training with Ranger and having spent the last four hours with you training you I know how hard you are working how serious you are and I am so proud of you. I can't wait for you to join us here full time."

I hugged Lester. "That means a lot to me. It isn't easy but I have been giving it all I have to give and more. It means a lot that you two are proud of me."

Hearing someone clear their throat I looked up and found Bobby and Tank standing in the door way

Tank was the first to speak "Little Girl we are all proud of you. You have blown us away with how well you have done and how amazing you have been the past two days. We couldn't be more proud." I walked over to him and hugged him. "Thanks big guy" The tears were welling up even more.

Bobby then spoke up "Bomber I know how difficult the workout alone is and you have done it without complaint then add on the additional training on top I know your muscles have to be screaming at you to stop. I know you must be beyond tired after the second full day but you aren't complaining if anything I see you are glowing with excitement. You do make me and all of us very proud. Always know we will be here for you whenever you need us."

I hugged Bobby unable to say anything because if I did the whole dam would break and I would end up a sobbing blubbering mess of happy tears.

RPOV

I had missed lunch with Babe as I had to meet a client. When I got back to Rangeman she was already in the gym working with Lester. I pulled up the camera every now and then to check on my crazy cousin. I knew he would take her training seriously but those two together were like putting two class clowns together.

They are all the time playing, laughing, joking with each other but none of that was happening during their training. They were both serious and from what little I watched Stephanie was working her ass off.

We are all proud of her the past two days she has more than shown us she more than capable of being a full time Rangeman. I have always known she belonged here I have always known what an amazing asset she would bring to Rangeman. Now I hope she will begin to know it.

My men all support her, they all love her. The knowledge of that is like a double edge sword. On one hand I am thrilled they support and love her because she needs it. She has never had that and I can see she is thriving on it. I wouldn't take it or them away from her for nothing in the world. On the other hand though I knew that if I fucked up with her not only would there be someone in line, hell lots of some ones in line, to take my place but there would be even more ready and more than willing to kick my ass. While I know individually I can probably kick all of the guy's asses collectively I wouldn't stand a chance. I knew if I hurt her in any way I would be answering to a large group of very pissed off highly trained men that could easily kick my ass, kill me, and hide my body where no one would ever find me.

It's a sobering acknowledgement but I never intend to hurt her. I will live the rest of my life trying to make her happy and feel fully loved and supported. I came close to losing her and I never want to be without her again. I think it is time to break up this little party of five and make it a party of two upstairs. I had a surprise for my Babe.

"Babe I am sure Ella has our dinner ready. Why don't we head upstairs and get some dinner?" I knew food would get her attention. "Ranger that sounds great, I am starving." When is she not hungry? I chuckled. "I know Babe."

As we made our way out of my office she gave Lester, Bobby, and Tank a hug and a kiss telling them that she would see them tomorrow as we made our way to the elevator. I noticed her looking in the control room.

"Carlos' who are those men in the control room I haven't seen them here before." Fuck now I am going to have to tell her about the contract workers. I was hoping she wouldn't see them but by them being in the control room of course she would see them. Oh well so much for that thought.

"We brought in some contract workers. We have a big install for a client that is pulling a few of the guys from their normal posts and so we brought them in to fill in. You haven't been here when we have done it in the past but it is common practice. The contract that I signed this morning will require a few extra hands as well so I am sure they will be for a little while." Whew thankfully that contract went thru with the two large contracts we would have hired them anyway so technically I am not lying or fudging the truth in what I said.

She looked at me "you didn't have to hire them because of my training, my taking the guys time away from their jobs because they were suppose to volunteer their time outside of their Rangeman hours." I shook my head no. "No Babe like I told you it was because of the large contracts. We were pretty certain the one today was going to sign so I wanted to bring them in a little ahead of time so they will get a feel for working here before the guys are actually pulled away for the installs."

"Okay so long as they weren't brought here because of me. I don't want my training to cost Rangeman."

Whew disaster averted. I had asked Ella to setup a romantic dinner for two in the dining room. When we reached the apartment I guided her to the bathroom. "Why don't we get a shower before dinner?" She smiled. Walking into the bathroom I turned on the shower. I walked over to my Babe and gently raised her shirt removing it. She pulled my shirt out from pants and ran her hands up my chest as she pulled the shirt off of me.

I undid her pants and pushed them down her hips and thighs they puddle at her feet as she unhooked my belt and set my utility belt on the counter being careful with my gun and knife she then unhooked my pants and pushed them down allowing my erection to spring forward. She dropped to her knees and removed my ankle holster giving the head of my dick a tiny little kiss as she rose to put my holster and gun on the counter with my utility belt.

I quickly stepped out of my pants that were at my feet. She was standing in front of me with her wonder woman under ware on that had Rangeman stamped across her ass and her sports bra and I was so turned on. My dick was jumping with anticipation.

Grabbing her sports bra I pulled it over her head. Releasing her beautiful breast, I had to taste them. Dropping my head down to about an inch of her puckered nipple my tongue darted out tasting her. I heard her moan. My hands made their way to her panties and I pushed them down her long legs.

My fingers trailing her legs back up as they made their way to her center finding her already dripping wet for me made me growl with need. God what this woman does to me, my intentions were to wait until after dinner to make love to her but I couldn't wait. I would make love to her now and then again after dinner a lot after dinner because we had something we would need to celebrate tonight.

Picking her up I stepped into the warm shower with her legs wrapped around me and my hands holding her ass to me. It didn't get much better than this.


	20. Chapter 19: Proposals and Partnerships

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

Chapter 19: Proposals and Partnerships 

SPOV

Carlos picked me up my legs went around his waist he grabbed my ass and pulled my core down to his hard erection rubbing me against him. I couldn't wait to have him inside me. I was aching for him as my lips met his a growl erupted from his chest. I love that I have this much affect on him. I love that he can't seem to get enough of me. I love to feel the need for me that he has the raw emotional power that it gives me is addictive.

Kissing him with a hunger I have never experienced in my life he responds with his own hunger. Our need for each other is beyond explosive. It shakes me to my core the way this man makes me feel. What this man can do to me to my body and how my body responds to his looks, his touch, his lips. It is the most hypnotic thing I have ever experienced.

It is intoxicating and it leaves me begging and pleading for more there is never enough with this man. I want him inside me pushing at my walls. I want him in my mouth tasting his delicious juices. God I just want him.

I gasp as my back hits the cooler tile of the shower wall. His hands on my ass kneading my checks with his fingers as he is pushing and grinding his erection into me he pulls back slightly and I immediately protest the lost of connection of his skin against mine.

I feel as the head of his erection plays with my entrance and I can't fight the desire to just impale myself on him. Feeling the frustration building as I just want him to thrust himself in me and fuck me hard against the shower wall. I need him and I need him like yesterday and he is just rubbing himself against me playing with me. "Carlos...Please…I need…"

He paused "What, tell me what you need, tell me what you want." He asked me the frustration for him had built to a point that I didn't think I could even think let alone function unless I have him. I needed him to fill me, I need him to make me scream his name. My core was aching and contracting so hard that I couldn't think straight I couldn't control my mouth. My mouth opened and out came words that under any other circumstance or situation I would have been blood red from embarrassment and probably wouldn't have been able to say period. "Carlos I need you to fuck me. I need you to fill me and fuck me harder than you have ever fucked me. Take me now and fuck me already." I was practically screaming when I finished demanding him now.

I watched his eyes turn black and sparkle as I watched him change from the man that is normally in control to the man that was lost in lust lost in his need for me. I felt his arms turn to steel around me as he pulled me down on to him completely filling me in a single thrust as he pressed my back firmly against the tiled wall and proceeded to drive himself in and out of me faster and harder than he has ever taken me.

I felt like I was going to explode I was hanging on the edge of my orgasm from the moment he entered me I needed to cum to so bad but I was grasping onto that edge for all I was worth I wanted to extend the way my body was convulsing for him. I wanted to extend the way my limbs felt like they were floating. I wanted to extend the feeling that I was flying that he was creating with each thrust into me. I know I was screaming because somewhere in my brain I recognized the sound I was hearing was me. I wasn't in pain, I was being hurt, I was being so satisfied so completely filled that I couldn't express the euphoria I was feeling any other way than screaming as the pleasure coursed its way thru my body.

I didn't want to let go of that edge I wanted to climb higher and higher I was struggling with all I had as he was driving himself in and out of me and I was holding on to him pulling him into me for all I was worth my legs and arms where locked around him as tight as I could get them. I felt the bite of his fingers into the soft flesh of my ass as he pulled me down on to him even harder crushing my body against his has he pushed his body tighter against me and held me there for a second before retreating and pounding himself into me harder.

My brain didn't even register the pain of the bite from his fingers I was too far gone in the pleasure he was creating in every ounce of my body, every fiber of my being was screaming in the ecstasy of the moment of him fully pressed inside me stretching me for all I was worth filling me completely from entrance to womb and I was lost in my love for this man.

I could feel his erection inside me twitching and convulsing with the need to cum. I knew he was holding on to the edge just as much as I was neither of us wanted it to end, neither of us was willing to let go, to let go of his moment to let go and allow ourselves to cum to fall from the edge. We both wanted to go higher and ride the wave longer and we were both driving each other more crazed the longer we held on. It is like sweat torture. You needed to cum so bad on one hand that you would just about do anything to cum and on the other hand the feeling was so euphoric to hold on to the edge and be driving higher that you weren't sure which was the more fulfilling feeling.

To know that you had the power to drive someone so completely crazed with desire is a sensual power that I can't describe. I have never felt this power or ability before but it is one that I never intend on giving up when it came to making love to Carlos, the man of my dreams my desires my love. When it came to him my body just screamed for him to take me, for him to make love to me, fuck me, my body just wanted him any and every way. I have never felt that kind of desire for a man. I have never wanted a man so bad in my life that I would just give myself to them no questions no restrictions until Carlos.

I knew whatever he wanted however he wanted me he would have me. There would never be restrictions any inhibitions when it came to him. I was his all of me every fiber of me was his. The answer would always be yes no matter how he wanted my body no matter how he wanted me the answer would always be yes. Normally the acknowledgement of that would scare me but with Carlos it didn't I wasn't afraid I wasn't scared I didn't feel enslaved to him rather I felt empowered by it because of it.

Feeling his body convulse at the feeling our lovemaking was causing was enough for me to know I was driving him just as crazy as he was driving me and that we were both lost in our love for one another in each other bodies as our bodies slammed together. Finally it was more than I could hold on to I tried to grasp harder but I could no longer hold on and I fell from the edge cumming all over him screaming his name as I felt him pull me into him hard and I felt him fall with me shooting his warm cum deep inside me as he was pressed against my womb.

His knees buckling we fell to the shower floor me on top of him, him still buried deep inside me as the water beat down on us from the shower head above. Neither of us able to move or talk just gaping for our own breath lost in the world of euphoria that rushes thru your body when you cum so fully. Each basking in the delight that you knew you completely filled your partner that you completely satisfied your partner.

RPOV

Jesus I don't think I have ever lost control like I just had with my Babe. When she demanded that I fuck her already saying she wanted it hard and fast I don't know what came over me. I was like an animal attacking her. I couldn't take her fast or hard enough no matter how fast or hard I went for her. The more I grabbed her and crushed her against me the more I wanted.

The faster I would move in and out of her the faster I wanted. Her body not only took the attack but it welcomed it and screamed for more. I could feel her delight her need her desire her want for more and I answered it every time.

Crushing her to me pounding in her she pushed me higher than I had ever been. I knew she was holding on to the edge of her orgasm feeling the wonderful feelings that it creates as it drove her higher. I was holding on to my own as my first push in feeling her tighten around me feeling her so wet and so hot for me almost pushed me over the edge. But I had better control than that. I held on to my own desires of cumming so I could push her further. Little did I realize how much she would push my own desire to cum.

Before we were done my body was screaming to cum and I was holding it back for all I was worth the sensation she had built in my body was beyond anything I had ever felt with any woman I had ever been with. It was primal in a way because I couldn't stop attacking her I couldn't stop pistoning in and out of her if my life had depended upon it. My whole body was screaming for release begging for release when I finally felt her let go of the edge and cave into her own orgasm which had me cumming in response in a matter of seconds. Her body was milking me dry as her walls were contracting around me.

I could no longer hold us up and we fell to the floor or the shower still connected as I held her ass to me as tight as I could hold her. I was sure she was going to have bruises there tomorrow as I knew my fingers had to have left marks. I just hoped in my primal need of having to have her I hadn't hurt her. I would never forgive myself for hurting her.

We lay there on the floor of the shower gasping for our breath. Lost in feelings of what my Babe could do to me how she could make me feel so complete so fulfilled. God she had me wanting to worship her body all the time. I could never be able to get enough of her no matter how much I had her there would never be enough for me.

I heard her moan which caused me to worry that I had hurt her "Babe are you okay? Did I hurt you?" She raised her head and looked at me and smiled "no Carlos you could never hurt me. I am fine. I just can't seem to get my body to move right now it feels like jello."

I chuckle at her confession "Yeah I know…Babe that…that was amazing." She looks up at me and blushes. "Why are you blushing?" I know why but I want her to tell me.

Looking at little sheepishly "I can't believe I said that to you I practically demanded…" and she used her hand to motion what she didn't want to say out loud. "Yeah and it was hotter than hell" I told her which caused her to blush even more.

"Babe there is no reason to be embarrassed with me. What we share when we make love whether it is hard and fast or slow and sensual or anywhere in between there is nothing to be embarrassed about. What our bodies give each other pleasure, excitement, fulfillment, ecstasy none of it should you be embarrassed about. It is okay for your body to want those things from me as it is okay for my body to want those things from you. There is no shame in you finding and exploring your sexuality I want you to. I want you to tell me when you need me how you need me what you want to experience. I don't want you to be embarrassed about telling me what you want or how I can satisfy you."

She looks up at me almost unsure of herself. "Really, you don't find this embarrassing? You wouldn't mind me telling you what I wanted? Or if I decided I wanted to try something new you wouldn't get upset with me? "

I can't believe she is asking me this "no Babe. I would never be embarrassed by our love making. I always want to know what you want. I want to please you every way you want to be pleased. As far as trying something new, no I would never be upset. So long as you know I don't share." Not that I thought she would want to try a threesome but I just wanted her to know that I wouldn't do that with her it wasn't that I found it embarrassing or repulsive because prior to her I have done it hell I have shared women with Lester and Tank hell even Lester and Tank at the same time and never thought twice about it but I wasn't sharing her with her anyone. She was mine and mine alone I didn't want anyone else touching her in a way that would make her cum like I did that was mine and mine alone.

She gasp "No I don't think I will ask you to share I am not really the sharing kind of girl either. I want my man all to myself." I looked at her smiling "Good to know Babe…Good to know." I sat up bringing her with me. Lifting her up to her feet I instantly felt the loss of our connection when I raised her up off of me. I stood up "let's finish up in the shower before we run out of the water." We both laughed at my comment.

We both finished our shower and stepped out into the well steamed up bathroom. I was so excited I was like a teenager. Quickly drying off and dressing I left her to finish up while I went into the dining room to finish getting everything ready.

Dinner smelled delicious and Ella had set the table. She had placed a beautiful vase of flowers in the table with votive candles around it There were two taper candles on each side of the centerpiece as well as rose petals placed all over the table cloth. There was champagne cooling in the ice bucket sitting just off from the table. She had our place settings all setup with crystal glasses and beautifully polished silver ware with china plates. I hit the button for the music and slow jazz filled the room.

I lit all of the candles and then turned the lights out. I got our food from the oven and placed it on our plates. Ella had gone all out with dinner tonight I couldn't wait until my Babe tastes what Ella had prepared. She had made all Cuban dishes and they smelled like home to me.

SPOV

God that was amazing. Carlos is such an amazing lover. I finished drying off and combing out my wet hair. I quickly decide to dry it and then I went in search of something to wear. I knew we weren't going anywhere we were just going to eat dinner so I decided to give Carlos a little surprise.

Ella is a godsend. I have noticed more clothing appears daily on my side of the closet. I have also noticed a few new negligees have appeared in my dresser. I think tonight I will wear one of those.

I open the drawer and find a nice black satiny with lace negligee. It cups my breast giving them the look of cleavage as it ends just south of my cheeks with a slight flair to the skirt. The area covering my breast is lacy as well as the bottom of the skirt has lace. I pull on a pair of black lacy thongs checking myself in the mirror one more time before walking out into the bed room.

I slowly make my way to the dining room. I wanted to surprise Carlos to see the look on his face when he saw me. I haven't done anything like this before and I wanted to see his initial reaction. I slowly stepped into the dining room he was busy fixing our plates. I wasn't sure what we were having but it smelled heavenly and I couldn't hold them moan that escaped from my mouth from the sheer smell.

Carlos turned to look at me and froze. Uh oh maybe I broke him. No way he doesn't break he is Batman after all. Looking at him his eyes went from warm brown to obsidian black. Oh he definitely likes. A smile plays across his lips as he pulls the chair out for me.

Reaching for my hand I place mine in his and he pulls me to him. "Babe" I am thinking that Babe means I want to tear your clothes off of you and take you right here on the dining room table because I can't make it out of this room before I have you. Or maybe I am just really hoping that is what it means.

Looking at him standing there in nothing but a pair of faded and well worn jeans riding low on his waist to the point I can see his beautiful eight pack as well as where his body starts to V around his hips heading to the promise land I am so turned on by him that I know these thongs won't make it thru dinner. Jesus what this man could do to me just by looking at me and saying Babe I swear I am on the verge of another orgasm and he hasn't even touched me except holding my hand.

Carlos has turned me into a sex fiend. I can't get enough, I can't have him enough, I can't touch him feel him have him inside me enough to ever not just practically beg him every time I am in the room with him alone and being off sugar only increases the need even more.

I do my best to get myself back under control by focusing on our dinner "Carlos what's for dinner it smells so delicious."

Never taking his eyes off of me he tells me "Babe Ella fixed a special dinner for us tonight. We have a little celebrating to do. Everything she fixed tonight is Cuban food and some of my very favorites. I hope you will enjoy them."

Oh boy I have loved everything Ella has ever fixed so I had no doubt that I would love these dishes they smelled heavenly. He pointed to the first dish "Our Appetizer is empanadas they are a beef mixture with cheese in dough that is baked." Pointing to the second dish "Our meal, is spicy mojo chicken with a warm mango-avocado salsa with rice. Mojo is a marinade that is made up of cumin, garlic, red chili, olive oil, orange and lime juice." Then he pointed to the third dish "Dessert Babe for our celebration we are going to have dessert of Flan de Coco y Ron or coconut rum flan with a side of grilled pineapple."

I believe I have died and gone to food heaven. Everything sounded so wonderful, smelled so wonderful I couldn't wait to taste to it. Pushing my chair up to the table for me I couldn't wait to grab my fork. The first thing I tasted was the empanadas and they were delicious but when I tasted the chicken with the salsa I just wanted to rub myself all in my plate. I mean it was so good. Have you ever ate something that was so good you just felt like you wanted to roll in it or you could just lick the plate clean. It was that good. I couldn't help the moans I didn't even try there was no way in hell I would hold back those moans that food was just way to good. It was orgasmic in itself.

I almost cried when I had finished everything on my plate. I looked over at Carlos' plate wondering if I could steal any from him but he had finished his plate as well damn of all the luck. "Carlos that was amazing. That was so good I honestly wanted to lick the plate. Ella is amazing is there anything she can't do?"

Shaking his head "No I am not sure how she does what she does but honestly I don't think there is anything she can't do." He answered me. "I agree, I also don't think you pay her enough. Do you know she has been filling my closet with cloths? Every day there is something new I have her to thank for this." I run my hand up the side of my negligee. Carlos' eyes turn dark again and his breathing hitched as he watches me.

He then shakes his head "No Babe I have her to thank for it." He tells me as he reaches for me pulling me in his lap. Kissing me for all he is worth. He finally pulled back so we could both catch some much needed air. He slowly sat me back down in my chair as he rose on his feet.

RPOV

Seeing her in her the black night gown was almost my undoing. She stepped into the dining room with the black satin and lace number and I just about said forget dinner and took her right there on the dining room table. She was so beautiful. It took everything I had to control myself.

Then hearing her moan thru every mouthful now that was beyond torture I swear the military could bottle that and use it against the enemies it would drive them crazy and make them talk faster than any pain we could ever inflict on them.

I almost collapsed to the pressure when I pulled her into my lap and kissed her for all I was worth but I managed to get myself back under control and put her back in her chair after all I had a surprise for her and I was determined to give it to her tonight.

Today when I went out to meet our client I stopped by a friends' place to pick up something that I had commissioned from him. When Stephanie told me that it would always be yes I called him and told him exactly what I wanted. I have to say I was very happy with his work. Of course I expected none the less he had been a long time customer of Rangeman and I knew the quality of his work.

Standing up I gently sat my Babe back in her chair. I saw confusion at first but when I lowered myself down on my knee I saw shock, disbelief flash in her eyes and then love. I smiled at her and opened the box in my hand but her eyes never left me.

"Babe, you are my life. You are my reason for breathing for the heart that beats in my chest. I have loved you from the moment I met you and I can only say I was a stubborn dumbass for not acting on it the first day I laid eyes on you. I have no excuse except to say that I always thought I was protecting you, keeping you safe, and that you deserved better than me. It isn't that I feel any different it is only that I have come to realize that I can't live without you. I will always protect you and keep you safe and while I still believe you deserve better I will work the rest of my life proving to you and to myself that I am the man worthy of your love. I have learned that together we are stronger, we are better, and we are happier than we would ever be apart. Babe if you will have me, it would be an honor for me to be your husband, to be your partner, to be the other half of you that gives your heart the ability to beat your lungs the ability to breath and your soul the ability to fly as you are the other half of me. Babe will you marry me?"

Tears are streaming down her beautiful face. I see love swimming in her eyes and I can tell that she at the moment is unable to even speak as she is trying but the words aren't coming. Finally she nods her head and then swallows. Gaining her voice she speaks the words that makes my heart soar.

"Carlos I told you it would always be yes. Whatever you asked it would be yes. Yes, I would love nothing more than to marry you. You are my other half without you I am not certain my life could go on. I have loved you for so long you complete me. I can't wait to become your wife, your partner."

Her eyes still haven't left me. "Care to see what's in the box?" I asked her wanting her to look at the surprise I had picked up for her. She looks at the box and gasps. "It's so beautiful." The ring is beautiful it is a three carat round diamond with one carat sapphires on each side in a platinum setting with diamonds going around the band. I take it out of the box holding it and show her the engraving inside the ring. Inside the ring reads _My Love, My Life, My Soul, My Babe. _More tears fell from her beautiful eyes. "The sapphires match the color of your eyes when I make love to you." I tell her.

Lifting her left hand I put the ring on her ring finger. It is a perfect fit. She throws herself at me her arms going around my neck as her body hits mine. Holding herself to me I quickly grab hold of her and pull her closer to me standing up with her in my arms I make our way back to the bedroom to properly celebrate our engagement.

SPOV

Oh my god Carlos just asked me to marry and he had a ring. Not just any ring. This ring is to die for beautiful. It's huge I am not a materialistic type of girl but this ring is beautiful. We spent the night making love. I would have thought I would have been tired when the alarm went off this morning but I am not. I am so excited Carlos and I are officially engaged. I was energized I was ready to tackle the day with renewed energy.

Today was the first day I was to start working with the guys on my training. Physical Fitness was first this morning and I was working with Hal, Zip, and Cal then to round out the fourth hour Bobby for my morning session. My afternoon session was Defensive Driving and I would be training with Vince, Woody, Binkie, and then the final hour with Tank. I was excited I loved all the guys I would be working with and I couldn't wait to tell them my news! Maybe I would just see how many people noticed the ring on my finger. Of course it would be a shame to sweat on this ring.

Getting dressed and gathering up my things I head down to the fifth floor to say good morning to my fiancé who I am sure has been working since the wee early hours of the morning.

MannyPOV

Yesterday I talked to Tank and he told me about wifey's new stalker. How he had left porn and notes with what he wanted to do with wifey. Just him telling me and me imagining her standing there in her bedroom with all of the stuff displayed on her bed made my blood boil. Someone's home is supposed to be their safe haven but that has never been the case with her. She doesn't know what it is like to have a safe haven until she stayed here at Rangeman.

She attracts stalkers like a moth to light I have never seen anything like it. She doesn't even have to do anything to attract them they manage to find her. How I will never know but they manage to find her. I however can't wait to find this sick son of a bitch and teach him a lesson for ever setting his sites on my wifey.

Even though Tank described the scene at her apartment when I started looking thru the collected evidence it was all I could do to control my rage.

I finally had to get up and leave the room. I just wanted to attack something anything hell I didn't even care. I was inhaling and exhaling deeply standing in the hallway trying to get my rage under control when I saw Ram.

"Hey Manny you okay man?" He asked me "No, I am far from okay. I just started looking at the evidence collected from wifey's apartment and just looking at it thinking about her finding it makes me want to kill the son of a bitch who left that shit for her."

Nodding his head in agreement he said. "Manny, you find out who this sick twisted son of a bitch is that left that shit for her. I know if anyone can find out who it is you. When you do, we will find him and we will bring him here so we can all get a piece of him trust me I know the rage you are feeling. When I saw that stuff on her bed I wanted to kill the son of a bitch. Hell I still do just thinking about it."

I nodded I knew I had to keep my focus to find this guy. I had to control my emotions and I had to remember my training. Typically when you are working forensics it is easy to stay unattached as it isn't personal but this was personal. I loved my wifey. She was like a sister to me and it was hard to stay unattached when you can just imagine how this shit made her feel.

Walking back into my lab I had a renewed since of my job, my capabilities, and my resolve to find this mother fucker before he had a chance to get his bastard hands on my wifey.

Last night I had run into Lester down in the hallway on four and he told me everything that has been happening around here. He told me about wifey's car blowing up, her walking in on Morelli banging that bitch Terry, the things that Joe said to her and how she stood up for us in Pinos'. He said he would send me the video he got but I haven't seen it yet. He told me how he had hit her. I wanted his head but she had filed charges against him which was probably the best plan of attack as it would affect his job. He also told me that she wanted to come and work here fulltime. That is why she was training so hard so that she could pass the tests required to become a full time Rangeman. I couldn't have been more proud of her.

He then went on to tell me about finding the items on her bed and her reaction of being totally humiliated in what the guys would think about her. She should know there are no judgments here especially judgments of her. Someone who accepts us with open arms no questions asked how could we judge her? It wouldn't happen. We all love her and want to protect her and keep her safe.

This is going to take me a while to process everything collected so I sat down at the lab table and started going thru the evidence.

CalPOV

Today was the first day I was going to get to train with Angel. I was excited. I had heard all about her training and how hard she was working.

I knew the wall was one of the obstacles that she was struggling with and I knew that one of the aspects of getting up over that wall was upper body strength she needed not only to be able to hold her weight up but she needed to be able to pull her weight up.

Walking up to her in the gym to begin our hour long training session I wrap my arms around her and give her a hug with a kiss to the top of her head. She smiles up at me and kisses me back on the cheek.

"You ready to do this?" I asked her and she nods.

"I know one of the obstacles that gave you trouble was the wall." She blew out a huff of air and nodded.

"Cal I tried no matter how hard I ran toward the wall how high I jumped I just couldn't seem to get all of the elements to flow together to get myself over the wall."

"We are going to work on that." I tell her. Walking over to the cable machine I adjust the cable arm so it is well above her head. It isn't quite as tall as the wall as it won't adjust that high but it is highest it goes which is over her head. I then set the weight somewhere around triple her body weight. Just guessing I say she weighs somewhere between one ten and one twenty so I sat the weight at three fifty that will hold her.

Having put the wide grip bar on the pull I instructed her to jump at grip grab it and pull herself up until her hands were at her waist and she was holding herself up with her arms extended down beside her. If she could get to that position then she would be in position to throw her leg over that wall.

She tried several times she never really made it to the point that her arms were extended and she was supporting herself against the bar but she did good. We would continue working on it and she would get it.

We finished out my hour with another fun exercise. I told her to imagine that I was the wall in front of her. Standing with my back to her I instructed her to run towards me jump and grab my shoulders and jump on my back. I told her if she could get in piggy back position without any help I would give her piggy back rides for a day.

Standing six foot seven I am a whole foot taller than Angel. I knew she would struggle to get in proper piggy back position but I knew it was doable if she set her mind to it she would be able to jump grab hold of my shoulders and pull her body into position.

She looked t me questioning "Are you sure Cal. You don't think I will hurt you?" I shook my head "No you aren't going to hurt me. Give it your best shot." I challenged her. What did she think her weight would hurt me? No way. She was chump change when it came to me and her weight. Hell I wasn't going to brag and tell her but I benched about three times her weight on a daily basis.

Hell I did dumbbell curls weighing almost as much as she did with one arm. Her weight was nothing to me.

"Go ahead Angel. Remember piggy back rides for a whole day." It took her several times of running and jumping hitting me and falling off before she actually got it right and remained on my back damn she didn't feel as heavy as my pack I carry when on missions.

"Way to go Angel I guess it is piggy back rides for a day." All too quickly our hour was over and Bobby was there to finish up her training. Giving her a kiss I left the gym.

DougPOV

It was twelve and I knew she would be working out. I thought I would go workout as well. Now that we are at Rangeman we are expected to work out just like the full time employees it is part of the contract we signed when we came here even as contract workers you have to work out and practice at the range.

I overheard Lester's conversation with Manny last night in the hall way. They didn't know I was there as I was about to round the corner when I heard them talking about her. I have found out a lot about her just by listening to the guys talking. They may not be willing to talk to me about her but they certainly talk to each other.

If I am sneaky enough I get to listen in. Like last night I heard about her finding her boyfriend having sex with another woman, her car exploding, I heard that she has a stalker that left her some porn stuff, now that sounds like it could be fun, and that she was training because she wanted to be a full time Rangeman and she wanted to pass the entrance test just like all of the other guys here.

Now I will have to say that pissed me off. I want to be the full time Rangeman and I am not going to let some split tail take that away from me. I will make sure when I am done she wants nothing to do with Rangeman or any of the men here. I just need to bide my time and keep my cool and work my magic. They won't know what hit them. They won't know why she doesn't want to be here and I will be able to step right in where I belong a full time Rangeman.

I am going to go to the gym and work out while she is there working out. I noticed that she usually works out alone which will give me time to make friends with her. One thing I have learned is that you keep your friends closer and your enemies closer she is definitely an enemy of mine as she threatens to take away the one thing I desire most.

Walking into the gym I run into Bobby who was leaving. He stops when he sees me enter the gym and looks at me. "I am sorry, you must be new here, but the gym is closed between the hours of twelve and one thirty. You can come back after one thirty if you would like."

"I didn't realize the gym was closed. I am a contract worker and was hoping to get my work out in over lunch since I missed getting here this morning." I told him. Looking around I saw her starting to work out. I motion to her "I guess it isn't closed to everyone?" I questioned him.

Glancing a look over his shoulder at her "No the gym is open to her from twelve to one thirty and only her. You will need to find another time to work out or come back at one thirty and work out but for you this gym is now closed you will have to leave."

I could tell he wasn't going to allow me to stay and I didn't want to push my luck with him so I turned around and walked out with him tailing me all the way back up to the control room. Since I couldn't work out I might as well go to lunch. Finding Mike in the break room looking thru the refrigerator I asked him "Hey man want to go to lunch with me?" He nods that he would go so we went down to the garage and headed out to the local hamburger joint.

Walking in we sat down at a booth towards the back and ordered lunch.

JPOV

I was sitting at the booth at the local burger joint fussing over my life. How Cupcake had wrecked havoc on my life with filing that damn complaint against me, and getting that fucking restraining order. Not to mention she had moved in with that fucking thug a killer for hire and left me.

I mean I was her future husband and she was fucking a bunch of mercenaries how was I supposed to just over look that. I mean it was one thing for me to have women on the side because she couldn't give me everything I wanted. She couldn't satisfy my boys in all the ways they wanted although after hearing what she does with those thugs she better damn well be willing to suck my dick now.

I saw two guys with Rangeman shirts on walk past me and sit at the booth in front of me. I started to just leave I mean I didn't need them ruining my lunch after all they had ruined my life, ruined my cupcake what more would they ruin for me. But then it struck me odd that they didn't recognize me I mean I didn't recognize them but let's face it they area always in black unless they have a tattoo on their forehead are Hispanic or black hell they all look alike.

I then heard the one guy start to talk.

"Mike have you heard anything about the girl that we saw yesterday training?" Hmmm so they must be knew there and trying to figure out who Cupcake is.

The guy named Mike answered him "No, I don't know who she is but I do know she is hot as hell, she seems close to the guys there." So he hasn't been introduced to the building whore yet. I am sure she will break him in nicely given time.

"Yeah she seems a little too close if you ask me. She seems like she is all over all of them. Hugging them kissing them and jumping on them." I briefly saw red. He just confirmed what I knew all along she is banging them all. She is fucking and sucking every one of those bastards. Like hell she wasn't going to fuck and suck me as well. I was better than all of those bastards put together. I as a cop for Christ sake not a hired killer a thug a heartless mercenary and she would fuck and suck their dick and not mine. I don't think so. Hell I bet she is taking on more than one at a time.

Maybe I will call Dave and let him have that fantasy of his of us both taking her at the same time if she wants to play like that. My mind gets lost for a few minutes in that fantasy of having Cupcake sucking me while being fucked and then having me fucking her ass while he is fucking her pussy and I missed some of what he was saying. Dave is a friend of mine that we have shared women in the past it really isn't my thing but the opportunity presented itself and let's face it I am not about turn down a nice piece of ass. Ever since he saw Cupcake at my house one night we were having a poker game he has asked me several times to share her with him.

The only reason I hadn't to date was that she was going to be my future wife and I knew she would never go for it now I am quite certain she would go for it and if I had my way I would set it up with him. He wouldn't care if we had to tie her down to do the deed he would just get off more on it and hell maybe I would too.

I go back listening in on their conversation.

"She is training because she wants to become a full time Rangeman employee she wants to pass the entrance test just like all of the other guys." The one guy says

"Really wow has a woman ever passed that test?" Mike asks the guy that I don't know the name of. He shakes his head no and laughs "She isn't going to pass it either if I have my way. I want to be the next full time Rangeman and I am not going to let her stand in my way. If you help me I will make sure we hire you next when a position comes available."

He is trying to get help from Mike to make Cupcake fail. Oh this couldn't be better. They don't want her there. They want her to fail. Oh how could fortune been looking down on me so well today. This couldn't get better if I had planned it.

I had wondered how her stalker was going to get to her now that she had moved into Rangeman and now I had two on the inside that I am sure would be willing to work with me to chase Cupcake away from there screaming and right into my awaiting arms.

Mike asks him "Man what you have in mind? How are you going to get her to fail?" The guy I haven't heard his name yet said "I am not sure yet but I will think of something. The first thing I am going to do is fuck her brains out like all of the rest of Rangeman then I will figure out a way to make her leave."

At first I have the urge to punch him but then I think it is just another mercenary why not have a run at her like the rest of them. After all if you are going to make her leave there it will be worth it in the long run.

Mike speaks up "I am not certain this is the smartest of ideas they seem mighty close to her but I do want to be a full time Rangeman. You realize if this comes out we are probably both dead men right?"

I see him shake his head "No one is going to find out. She will be too afraid to dare tell any of them besides she will be so embarrassed that she failed she won't want to show her face around them again. What do you say? Are you in?"

I can see hesitation in Mike and I think weak fucker but he finally agrees to help out the nameless fucker. I think it is time to make my move and help them both out. I think we can for a partnership that will be mutually beneficial for us all.

I stand up and walk up to their booth "Gentleman how are you today?" They nod their head and say "Fine" I push my way into the booth beside nameless dude.

"Let me introduce myself, my name is Joe. Joe Morelli and I think I can help you with your problem at Rangeman." They raised their eye brow to me questioning my statement. "I overheard you talking about a certain female who wants to be a full time Rangeman. That certain female happens to be Stephanie and she happens to be my future wife who has taken up with a bunch of thugs and from what I heard you say you believe she is fucking them all."

He winces. "Yeah man I am sorry from what I have seen I would say she is very close to all of them. I wouldn't doubt that they are passing her around."

"I figured as much. I don't know what you have planned for her but I won't begrudge you having a go at her provided you get her to leave there so I can get her back."

He looks at me "let me get this straight are you telling me I can have sex with your girlfriend?" Oh how to put this.

"She isn't my girlfriend right now. She is currently the Rangeman whore so while she is with them spreading her legs if you get a chance go for it but I want your plan to work. I have been looking for a way to get her out of that building and away from them. I think I just found that way and if you want a go at her I say go for it, think of it as gratitude for helping me."

Not sure to what point I could trust them I didn't want to tell them too much. "I know Stephanie has a stalker if some boxes were to be delivered to you would you be able to get the contents to Stephanie without anyone else finding out?"

"Yeah we could probably do that without too much trouble provided we didn't get too many packages too close together." I smiled now her stalker had a way in to attack where she felt she was the safest. I wondered how safe she would feel now.

"What do you say guys do we have an agreement?" The one guy I don't know his name is smiling and nodding the other guy I still see hesitation in his eyes he isn't sure what he wants to do. I hate to tell him he is either in or out and by out I mean way out like six feet under out because I am not going to let him go back to Rangeman and blab about this to anyone there and ruin my chance at crushing Rangeman in Cupcakes eyes.

Mike finally agrees and nods that we have an agreement. I look at the first guy "I don't know your name." He looks at me offers his hand to shake and says "Doug".

I pull out my card "Doug here is my card with my number. Get a burn phone and call me at that number I point to my office number leave a message of only your phone number. I will call you from another burn phone that way the calls won't be traced. Mike you do the same. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Really soon oh and guys this is going to fun." I got up and walked away from their booth smiling the biggest smile I have had in the past two days.

MikePOV

Damn what have I gotten myself into? I knew I should have never come to lunch with this stupid fucker.

Now the police officer wanted our help getting to Stephanie the girl at Rangeman. I mean I wanted to become a full time Rangeman but this path is a dangerous path. I could tell how important she was to all of the guys. I didn't think she was fucking them like Doug seemed to think but what the hell did I know? Furthermore I didn't really care. It was enough for me to know that she was important to them.

I should have stayed out of this. I should have walked away soon as he said something I knew this had disaster written all over it and now that the cop is involved I felt like if I have said no it would be the end of my life. It is going to be the end of my life if the guys at Rangeman catch on to what we are doing. If they catch us we are dead men walking. I don't know what is worse having the cop do it or a Rangeman do it.

Damn sometimes I can get myself into some stupid shit. Maybe I should just come clean when we get back to Rangeman. But if I did that my dream of becoming a Rangeman would definitely be down the drain not that it was going to withstand what I had gotten myself into anyway but maybe I could walk out with my life. Probably not the cop would see to it that that wouldn't happen. Shit.

I guess I am just going to have to ride this one out the best I can and pray like hell it doesn't blow up in my face and end up costing me my life.

VincePOV

It was my hour to train with Bomber on defensive driving. I was going to have her drive around Trenton and have her call out all of things she saw surrounding her teaching her to be aware of her surroundings while driving. It is something you need lots of practice doing. It sounds easy until you try it.

Meeting her in the garage we hop in one of the smaller SUVs. "Bomber I want you to just drive around Trenton and tell me what you see. I want to see how aware you are of your surroundings while driving. We will make it a little game the one that calls the most things out per street wins. Whoever wins the most rounds gets to buy the other one an ice cream cone. Deal?"

She looks at me smiling "Deal Vince. You are so going to owe me an ice cream cone when this is over. Oh and I am going to want to collect on that before we come back to Haywood."

I couldn't help but laugh at how excited she was. "You sound mighty sure of yourself there bomber just remember you will be driving this time. It changes the ball game." She was just smiling as she pulled out on to Haywood.

We had been several rounds of the game and I must admit she had won more than I had she was handing my ass to me when I heard the siren. Oh shit. Looking in my rear view mirror I saw the unmarked car with the hood light behind us.

Signaling she pulled over I couldn't imagine what we were being pulled over for because we weren't speeding, we weren't driving reckless and even if we were the cops here always let Rangeman pass they knew the emergencies we worked.

Looking back I saw Joe get out of the car. Fuck, double fuck. I saw Stephanie tense in the seat next to me when she saw him. Triple fuck. I quickly pushed the button to patch us into the control room. I knew the two new fuckers would be there this afternoon I only hoped they had the sense to know what to do in this situation. Hopefully they would record whatever the mike in the car picked up.

He walked up to the window and signaled for her to roll the window down. She cracked the window "Joe what do you want? I have a restraining order against you. You aren't supposed to come within a hundred feet of me and this is a whole lot closer than a hundred feet."

"May I see your license and registration please?" He said in a no playing no joking tone of voice. "Joe what are you pulling me over for. I have a right to know." Looking at her as though he was looking right thru her he once again stated "I need to see your license and registration if you don't have that or are refusing to show it to me you will need to step out of the vehicle with your hands raised above your head."

I leaned over and whispered give him the license and registration don't get out of the car unless there are no other options. I have tapped us into Rangeman.

She hands him her license and the vehicles' registration card from the glove box. He takes them thru the crack. He looks at them and then he tells her "Ma'am I need you to step out of the vehicle." I can see she is getting furious and I know this isn't going to go well for her.

"Stephanie calm yourself down you need to remain in control don't get mad that is what he wants. If you do something or say something in anger he is going to arrest you and he is going to end up putting you in the back of his police car handcuffed more than likely without me. Please don't do anything to get yourself arrested. I have activated the cameras everything should be recording. We can use it against him later."

Morelli placed his hand on his gun and preceded "Ma'am I am asking you one more time, you need to slowly step out of the vehicle with your arms up." She nodded her head.

She pulled the handle of the door causing it open. He stepped back so she could step out of the vehicle with her arms raised in front of her.

He guided her to the front of the vehicle and threw her face down on the hood. I started to exit the car when he drew his gun and pointed at me. "You, you stay in the vehicle with your arms up if you move your arms I shoot first and then ask questions do you understand me?" He asked me.

I nodded. Fuck Ranger is going to kill me for this. I watch as Joe places his hand down on the hood of the car with the gun pointing right at Stephanie's face. Shit.

I watch as he takes his other hand and pats her down I watch him grab her breast and I can tell he is grabbing her hard. I watch as he runs his hand down her sides towards the front of her jeans and then back of her jeans where his hand slips down the back I watch as she slams her eyes shut. The gun still pointing right at her face I can see the terror that is running through her. I know the feeling well because it has seized my heart and clamped it I can't even move my hands to do anything.

I watch as he spreads her legs further apart and steps up behind her pushing himself up against her while his hand goes for the front of her jeans again unbuttoning them and sliding his hand inside her pants.

The sick bastard is watching me just waiting for me to make a move so he can shoot me in front her or god forbid shoot her. I have never felt as helpless in my life as I do at this moment.

I see tears streaming down her face and I know what he is doing to her with his hand and I just want to rip his face off with my bare hands. But I am too afraid to move because I am afraid that he won't shoot me I am afraid if I move he will shoot her. He said if I move he would shoot but he didn't say who and the gun is pointing right at her face point blank range.

Finally after a few minutes of grinding into her back side and fingering her he steps back still holding his gun on her. He tells her "Get up, fix your clothing. This is just a warning the next time you drive around town with a broken taillight I will write you a ticket." What the fuck. As he walks back to his car he uses the butt of his gun to knock the taillight out.

I see him casually licking his fingers as he is walking back to his car. Stephanie jumps into the car closes the door locking it and starts hysterically crying. I gather her up in my arms holding her and all she can say is "Carlos, I need Carlos, I need Carlos now" between her gut wrenching sobs.

"I will get him for you I promise." I told her trying to calm her down holding her trying to calm me down I had never in my life been more afraid in all the times I had been in the Rangers, all of the missions combined, my whole time at Rangeman I had never been more afraid than right at that moment seeing that gun being held to her head. My heart literally stopped.

Grabbing my phone I called Ranger. Ranger answered on the first ring. He knew I was with Stephanie. Hearing her crying in the back ground when he answered he immediately went on defensive I could feel him as he yelled out "Report"

"Ranger Stephanie needs you. You need to come here now pull up our GPS you will find us just get here like fucking yesterday. I will tell you what happened when you get here. She is okay physically but she needs you."

He hung up I knew he would be racing his way to us, to her. If I was correct I knew Lester and Tank would be with him in my book there couldn't be too many in case that fucker decided to come back.

RPOV 

I was working in my office when my cell phone rang looking at it I noticed it was Vince calling. I knew he was training with my Babe. Something must have happened. I answered the phone and I immediately hear her screaming and crying in the back ground. What the fuck?

I immediately went on the defensive and barked "Report" before I even thought about what I was saying.

I then heard Vince and from his voice I knew it was bad. I could hear the panic and the fear in his voice whether he knew it was there or not I heard it. I sensed it. I then heard him say "Ranger Stephanie needs you. You need to come here now pull up our GPS you will find us just get here like fucking yesterday. I will tell you what happened when you get here. She is okay physically but she needs you."

What the fuck could have happened that had her that upset if she wasn't hurt physically? I quickly pulled up their location. I then stormed out my office yelling for Tank and Lester. They quickly came out of their offices running towards me. They knew by my voice that something was wrong.

We ran down to my car and got in. I told them what I knew "I don't know what is going on but Vince just called me and Stephanie was screaming and crying in the back ground. He said that physically she was fine but that she needed me and he said for me to get there like it was fucking yesterday." I didn't want to tell them about the fear and panic I heard in his voice. I have known Vince for a long time and I know he doesn't do fear and panic.

Racing to their location no one said anything. We pull up behind them and I can see her clinging to Vince like he was the last man on earth and he was her savor. I quickly ran up to her side of the car the door was locked. I tapped on the window which only elicited a scream from Stephanie that I don't think many of us have heard before. It was a scream of pure terror. I motion for Vince to unlock the car he reaches back to unlock the car and Stephanie screams for him to leave the car locked.

What could have happened? I wonder.

I yell "Babe it's me Carlos please let me open the door so I can see what's got you so upset." She pauses I hear her repeat "Carlos?" I am getting thru to her "Yeah Babe it's me whatever happened you are safe. Babe help me open the door, Okay." She pauses again I thought I would give her some further encouragement. "Babe Lester is here and so is Tank. We aren't going to let anything happen to you. Please for us open the door so we can see that you are alright."

She rushes the door grabbing the handle throwing the door open and throwing herself in my arms. Barely able to talk thru the tears she says "Oh Carlos I am so not alright" as the tears rack her body. I pick her up in arms and looking at her I briefly note the torn button on her shirt as well as the button on her pants were undone. What the hell happened to my Babe?

Rubbing her and sshing her I try to get her to calm down when that doesn't work I start whispering Spanish in her ear to calm her. Vince got out of the car and came around to me.

"Ranger let's get her back to Rangeman now. I will fill you all in on what happened when we get there. She isn't safe out here." I nod my head. I would never question my men when it came to her safety they knew it was my top priority and they knew I would never question them when they felt she was unsafe.

I could tell by the death grip she had on me that she wasn't going to let go and I had no intentions of letting go of her. I crawled into the backseat with her in my lap as Tank drove us back to Haywood. Vince following in the SUV they were driving.

I could see the look of worry on both Tank and Lester's face. I wish I had answers for them hell I wish I had answers for me but I didn't have any answers. She was just holding on to me as if her life depended upon it and for the all the hell I knew it could. She was still crying but it had slowed.

When we made it back to Haywood she was sleep from all her crying. Not knowing what happened that upset her and seeing her clothes the way they were I needed answers. Getting out of the car with her in my arms I told Lester.

"You get brown and come up to seven. I am going to take her up there now." Looking at Vince I told him "You come up with us I want to hear what happened."

Getting on the elevator we made our way to seven. I didn't want to leave her so I went to the couch and lay down and laid her out on top of me. Me holding her rubbing calming circles on her back while she slept truth be told it was calming and grounding me as much as I was hoping it was comforting her in her sleep.

I didn't give a shit what the other guys thought they could think what the fuck they wanted. I needed her with me and deep down inside I knew she needed me not to leave her alone.

It was only a few minutes later when Bobby and Lester walked into the room. I looked at Vince "Now tell us what happened that upset her so much."

VPOV

Oh shit where do I begin. He is going to fucking kill me when he hears this and hears that I did nothing but sit there and watch that fucker. I am a fucking dead man. Between him and Santos I don't stand a fucking chance then add Tank and Bobby into the mix. Fuck Bobby would know how to keep me alive even longer so they could continue to torture me for not doing anything. In some ways I would deserve every bit of what they were capable of dishing out.

Then I thought about Hector and thought holy fuck I hope they do torture and kill me here because I don't want to face him. If they let me live he wasn't so it doesn't really matter. I am a fucking dead man.

Suck it up solider taking a deep breath. "We were driving around Trenton just like her and Tank did on Monday only today I was letting her drive. We were playing a game out of being aware of your surroundings naming off things you saw with each street there was a winner and let me tell you she was handing me my ass."

They were smiling at that, that's a good thing right? Lester then just had to ask "Okay so how did it go from you playing a game where she was beating you to her crying hysterically and not responding to us when we got there?" Wow he doesn't beat around the bush.

I took a deep breath. "We were pulled over by Joe Morelli." I heard them all take a breath did I just hear that? "He was in an undercover cop car. He walked up to her window she only cracked it for him. He asked to see her license and registration. At first she didn't want to give it to him but I told her to do it that I didn't want him getting her out of the vehicle. So she did. When he had it he asked that she put her hands up and step out of the vehicle. I activated the sound and the recorders in the vehicle to connect us with the control room." I had to take a breath.

"She didn't want to she wanted to fight him. I could see it in her but I told her to do as he asked because if she gave him any reason whatsoever he would arrest her and then he would have her at his mercy in the back of his car handcuffed. Now I am not so sure that was the smartest advice but at the time I didn't want him to be able to get her alone. I just didn't imagine he would do what he did next."

Taking an even bigger breathe "She opened the door and stepped out of the car with her hands raised in front of her. He stepped back so she could step out of the vehicle. He then guided her to the front of the vehicle."

Another deep breath maybe I will cause myself to hyperventilate and then I won't have to tell them this. They are so going to fucking kill me. I know bad asses don't worry but in this case when you are facing four guys who are bigger bad asses than you are four guys who you know are very capable of killing you in matter of seconds yet are acknowledgeable enough to torture you for days on end if necessary you find yourself fucking worrying I don't care how big of a bad ass you are.

How do you look at the man whose woman is laying on top of him sleeping that she was molested by a fucking cop that was her x boyfriend while she was under your care your watch I mean how exactly do you fucking say that? What the fuck do you say? Stick to the facts solider that is all you can do. Now I am officially fucking crazy because I am answering myself.

"When he had her at the front of the vehicle he threw her face down on the hood. I started to exit the car when he drew his gun and pointed at me. He told me to stay in the vehicle with my arms. He said if I moved my arms he would shoot first and then ask questions."

I could feel the tension in the room raise oh this was not good but I sucked it up and continued. "He then put the gun on the hood of the car pointing right at Stephanie's face point blank." I heard growls erupt from those around me but Carlos was just stroking her back but his eyes said murder his demeanor was soft and caring with her. I wasn't sure how he was able to control it.

"I saw him start to pat her down but he took liberties with her. He grabbed her breast I know he grabbed them hard she probably has bruises on them. He then ran his hand down the front of her jeans and the back. I could see the terror in her face and she slammed her eyes shut when he went down the back of her jeans. He had the gun pointing right at her face and I was just frozen in place. Scared for what she was going thru and yet too afraid to move that he would have killed her or shot me in front of her. With the gun point black range of her face I wasn't going to take any chances."

The room got extremely quiet I mean eerie quiet like you could hear a pin if it dropped it didn't sound as though anyone was breathing. "He then proceeded to spread her legs further apart and he stepped up behind her pushing himself up against her. He then moved his hands to the front of her jeans and unbuttoned them. He then slid his hand into her pants. His eyes never left me so I wasn't able to make a grab for my gun."

Taking a calming breath because the memory makes me just want to tear something apart or rather someone apart I finish telling them about our encounter with the son of a bitch. "Tears were streaming down her face while his hand was roaming around in her pants while he was grinding into her back side. After a few minutes he stepped back but continued to hold his gun on her. He told her to get up, fix her clothing, and the proceeded to tell her that he was going to give her a warning that the next time she drove around town with a broken taillight he would write her a ticket. While he was walking back to his car he proceeded to break the taillight with the butt of his gun. As soon as she could she locked us in the SUV and was in my arms screaming and crying that is when I called you. Tell you the truth I was hoping you all would come when I patched us into the control room. But when you didn't she was screaming she needed you so I called you to come to us instead of making her switch seats with me so I could drive us back her."

I have to add "I have always known he was a son of bitch but I didn't realize he was this sick of a son of a bitch. He is mentally unstable at best. I have no doubt had I moved he would have shot one of us I just wasn't sure which one I wasn't about to do anything to risk her life."

RPOV  
I laid their listening to Vince tell us what had happened to my Babe. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I knew Morelli was pissed, I knew he was more than upset with her over us, over her standing up for herself, for my men but I never thought that he would do something like this. But then again I never thought he would have hit her either and he did that.

There were moments when Vince was telling me the events that I wanted to just grab my gun and put a bullet between his eyes for not protecting her. I wanted to kill him for him allowing her to get out of the car with him, for leaving her vulnerable, for not trying to kill that son of a bitch while he was violating my Babe.

But when he said that he would never risk her life I put myself in his place and I am not sure I would have been able to do much different with the gun on her point blank range. I would like to think that I would be fast enough to kill him before he had the chance but would I risk her life to prove I was the faster man the better man. I know the answer to that no. I could never risk her life. I could never risk the chance of losing her have her taken away from me.

I wanted to blame Vince but in the end I knew he wasn't to blame. He was only one person with her he had no backup no way defending her under the circumstances. He did what only he could do and that was sit there and watch to protect her life. He ultimately did his job and she was safely in my arms again because of it. We would deal with that son of a bitch Morelli obviously her having the restraining order and her having filed the charges wasn't enough. Maybe a little visit from Rangeman would be more along the lines of what he needs to understand how this is going to work.

"Vince you said you patched the car into the control room? Both voice and video?" Looking at me he nodded. "Yes soon as he walked up to the car I cut on the voice and when he asked her to exit the vehicle I cut on the video." I nodded my head "Good, I want you to go down to the control room and bring me both the video and the voice recordings up here. Provided they got what he did we will be able to take those to the police department." He walked out of the apartment.

The rest of the core team haven't spoken I can see they are upset about what happened as I am. Torn between wanting Vince's head and knowing they would have done the same thing he did. I knew the helpless feeling that left you.

Looking at the guys "We need to form a plan of how we need to proceed but we need to wait until Stephanie is awake and able to make the decisions. This is her decision. He did this to her not us even though we are all taking it as a personal attack. He did this to her. We are to support her and her decisions. Again we will give her options and suggestions but ultimately how he is handled will be her decision."

God it has been less than twenty-four fucking hours since I asked her to marry me and I wasn't able to keep her safe. My men weren't able to keep her safe. I knew there was no turning back I needed her like air to breath but I wondered if giving in to those needs wasn't a mistake that would end up costing the love of my life her life, our life. I pull her close to me practically crushing her into me to help calm me in the acknowledgement that she is still here unharmed and in my arms.


	21. Chapter 20: Dumb Fucker 1 and 2

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

Chapter 20: Dumb Fucker #1 and 2

SPOV

I feel hands on me rubbing circles on my back. I smelled bulgari, Ranger is close. I am laying on something hard. Gradually waking up my eyes flutter open and I see Lester sitting in front of me. He smiles at me and I smile back at him. The hard thing I am laying on is Carlos. My head is on his chest while his arms are around me.

I look up at him and the minute my eyes connect with his and I see the concern and love he has for me the tears start to fall again. My mind quickly snaps thru pictures of what happened earlier with Joe and I grab a hold of Carlos for all I am worth plastering myself to him even tighter.

How am I going to tell him what happened? How am I going to ever be able to look at him again what will he think of me? Here it hasn't been twenty four hours since he asked me to marry him and I have managed to get myself in trouble. Not that Carlos would be mad at me I wasn't in trouble in with him. I just meant that I wasn't safe. I wasn't prepared to protect myself. How is he ever going to let me into his life if I can't protect myself from my x-boyfriend? What would happen if one of Carlos' enemies were to come here how the fuck would he ever believe I was capable of protecting myself then when I couldn't even protect myself against Joe?

Fresh tears started rolling down my face and I was working myself into a full blown out frenzy.

I could feel his hands rubbing my back and him sshing me along with Lester rubbing my hair and trying his best to calm me but there was no calming me. There was no calm for me. I felt like I was on the verge of losing the man my life depended on. The man my body depended on in order to breath. The man my soul depended on to exist within in me. There was no calm for me at that moment there was only heart break there was only desperation and there was only gut wrenching embarrassment to have to tell the man that you love more than life that another man had his hands on your body, his fingers probing inside of you.

I quickly scanned the room to see who else was there with us. I saw it was only Tank and Bobby and let out a sigh of relief. I briefly wondered where Vince was but I couldn't hold on to any thoughts other than the terror that was running thru me that I may lose Carlos because of this.

I pull myself to him burying my head in his chest clinching his t-shirt in my hands "Oh god Carlos I am so sorry. I am so sorry." I sobbed into his already wet t-shirt. I heard him sshing me whispering Spanish in my ear. Damn I need to start learning Spanish so I will know what he is saying. He could be reading me the menu of taco bell but coming from his lips it calms me, it excites me, depending on when and where he does it he can elicit the desired effect.

My crying calms as I take several deep breaths. I open my eyes again and see Lester still sitting in front of me. He is sitting on the floor between the couch and the coffee table facing me. He speaks first

"Hey Beautiful don't cry everything is okay, everything is going to be okay." I wanted to shake my head no that it wasn't going to be okay but the look in his eyes made me nod my head instead. I trust him, I trusted these guys if they said it was going to be okay then it was going to be okay. None of them would lie to me especially Lester.

My eyes dart to Ranger who is looking down at me he nods his head and says "Babe trust me everything is going to be okay. We are going to take care of this, we are a team there is no longer an I in this. I meant what I said last night when I asked you to marry me. I want you to be with me my wife, my lover, my partner. You are the other half of me. Trust me."

I wasn't sure what to say what I would be able to say but I had to let him know that I trusted him. "Carlos know I trust you. I trust you completely I trust you with my life, my love, my heart. I will always trust you. This was never about me not trusting you, that isn't why I am so upset." I had to tell him why I was so upset.

"I am upset because of what happened. I am upset because I allowed myself to be in a situation where I was unable to protect myself. I allowed myself to get into a compromising situation with another man who had his hands on me Carlos in embarrassing ways in humiliating ways and I was unable to stop him I was unable to prevent it and I was just afraid that you would decide to re think us if I wasn't able to protect myself to keep myself out of trouble. I am just so afraid that I disappointed, humiliated, and embarrassed you."

He rubbed my back and kept sshing me until the latest wave of sobs at my confession worked their way to calm.

"Babe please don't get upset. You don't need to be this upset. No one is disappointed humiliated or embarrassed by you. Babe this isn't your fault. You were driving down a road with one of my men and you were singled out. You were singled out, you were attacked, and you were put in a position that you wouldn't have been able to free yourself from. Vince told us about the gun being pointed at your face. He told us what Morelli did to you how he violated you. None of that is on you Babe. None of that is your fault. You are the victim here this isn't your fault and there isn't anything to be embarrassed or disappointed in you for. If anything I failed you by not being able to protect you from him. I didn't realize he was capable of doing that to you but I promise you now I will not fail to protect you in the future. You will be protected."

I looked at him hearing what he was saying oh god Vince told him. "He told you all what happened?" I was in shock. Vince had told him what happened. I briefly wondered if he told him what Joe had done to me. Then I knew the answer to that of course he told him. He would have told him everything. He was still holding me that was a good thing right? He said I was violated a victim that it wasn't my fault that is all good things right. What was that about failing to protect me? He thought he had failed to protect me?

"Carlos what do you mean by you failed to protect me? You didn't fail me Carlos you have never failed me. You have always protected me and I know you will always protect me. I am never more protected when I am here at Rangeman and here in your arms. You could never fail me. You would never fail me. I love you with all of my being."

I looked at Lester. "Lester, Tank, and Bobby you have never failed me either. I know you would never fail me. You have always been here for me. You have supported me from day one and I love you all for it. Lester, you are my best friend. I hope you know that means the world to me. I hope you know that I trust you with my life and I know you would never let me down."

I continued talking to them all "Carlos and guys I want you to know that I will do my best to always be here for you, to always support you, to protect you and to do my best to protect myself. I just can't help but feel that I failed to protect myself and in turn I failed to protect you. I didn't mean to scare you today. I will do my best not to allow myself to be unprotected again. I love you all."

I heard a chorus of I love you too from the guys Carlos kissed me and Lester kissed the top of my head standing up and taking his seat back in the chair. Okay so now that we have that understanding what the hell am I going to do about Joe?

Pushing myself up off of Carlos and us taking a seat on the couch Carlos wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him while I asked the million dollar question. "What are we going to do about Joe? I was hoping the complaint I filed and restraining order would be enough for him to leave me alone. Obviously that backfired and I have only managed to piss him off more and now he is going to find ways to pay me back for it." See I can take the bull by the horns maybe my training and my new life was changing me for the better.

Ranger spoke up first "What we do about Joe is going to be your decision. He did this to you, he violated you. While we are all pissed off and we all feel that this was an attack on us as well as you it wasn't it was an attack on you. What do you want to do?"

I looked at the guys I wasn't sure what I wanted. One part of me wanted his head on a stick not that I would tell them that because they may be more than willing to make that wish come true another part of me was starting to fear Joe. I wondered if maybe I had agitated the snake one too many times and now he was striking back at me.

"I am not certain what I can do. I don't want this to continue to escalate. I filed the complaint and the restraining order to keep him away but obviously that didn't work. I don't want Joe gunning for me every time I leave the building. I want him to leave me alone. Maybe if I leave him alone he will do the same."

I looked at the guys and I could see that they weren't all in agreement with me. Bobby was the first to speak up "You know we all support you right? You know that whatever you decide we will support but don't make a decision based on fear. Are you afraid that if you do anything that Joe will retaliate against you?"

I nodded my head hating to admit it that I was beginning to fear Joe that he had really scared me today when he held the gun in front of my face, threatened Vince, and then proceeded to violate me the way he did. It made me feel extremely dirty but more than that it really had scared me. I was terrified.

Bobby nodded and continued "The decision is yours and we will support your decision but I am not certain not doing anything is the way to go. You were violated you were terrorized he sought you out to do this to you. I am not certain that he is going to stop even if you do nothing. If anything I wouldn't be surprised if his behavior doesn't continue to escalate. In my professional opinion looking at his behavior and hearing what he did today I would say it already has escalated. I would pretty much be willing to bet that he has suffered some form of a psychotic break. If that is the case not only will he continue the attacks they are going to keep coming and they are going to get more and more brutal and violent with each one."

Holy shit Bobby was literally scaring the shit out of me with every word that was coming out of his mouth. Could it be true? Was Joe suffering from a psychotic break? That sounded so Criminal Minds, that couldn't be Joe could it? I couldn't wrap my head around it. The fear for what had happened. The possibilities for what could happen sent a tremor thru my body that shook me to the core. I wanted Bobby to be wrong but deep down inside I couldn't deny what he was saying. I could see truth in his words and I felt the ice cold terror run thru my veins. I was in trouble, I could just feel it.

LPOV

That mother fucker! I wanted so bad to run out of that room hunt his worthless piece of shit of a life down and do him and the world around us the biggest fucking favor ever by ending his life and hiding him where no one would ever find him. I can't tell you how much the monster inside me was roaring to be let free. It was all I could do to sit there.

Hearing Vince tell us what happened to her, hearing the fear in her voice, sensing how terrified she had been today and now seeing the fear in her eyes woke the monster within me. I believe it woke the monster in all of us looking around at the guys I could see the monsters within them just below the surface.

These are the monsters that come out when we are on missions. These monsters are the reasons we are still alive after walking thru some of the most dangerous and deadliest areas of the world. These monsters were what our enemies feared and legends were born. The monster within me was awake and was roaring to be turned loose it wouldn't take much for him to bust loose. Seeing her the way she was today hearing what happened just about did it I was holding it back but by just threads.

Normally when I need a release from the pressure I would spar with one of the guys or find me a lady for the night to calm myself in other ways. But I couldn't do that tonight. I was too dangerous, it was too dangerous for me to fight with anyone and I would never put any woman in a situation where I wasn't a hundred percent in control of the monster within. I knew what I was capable of and I knew right at this moment tonight I had the potential to really hurt someone if not kill them without even totally realizing it.

So for right now I sat there with the monster within roaring and raging against the bars that held him within. I only hope that Beautiful can help me put him back to sleep. Like Ranger she has the capability of calming me just by her presence her being here in the room with me was the only reason I was able to hold on to the threads I was holding.

I got up out of the chair and moved to sit beside on her other side of couch. Needing to touch her I pulled her feet into my lap and started to rub her feet. Touching her was helping calm the monster within me.

She was looking at Bobby processing what he had told her his thoughts were towards that piece of shit cop. I could tell she didn't want to believe him she wanted to deny it but I could also see her fighting with herself because she couldn't. She finally spoke up.

"Bobby I don't know if you are right or not. I want you to be wrong for lots of reasons but deep down inside I can't deny what you said. What you said sounds right and I am not sure what to do. If I do anything he is just going to retaliate and from what you said even if I don't do anything he is going to keep coming after me and with each time his efforts are going to increase. I don't know what to do?" Tears welled up her eyes again threatening to fall down her beautiful face.

She felt helpless hell we all felt helpless. I heard the roar inside as I found the words I wanted to say. "Beautiful know that we are here for you. You are not helpless in this. We will figure out something. We will all be with you and we will figure out a way to handle Joe. Please know that we are here with you thru this. You aren't alone, you will never be alone. You may not know what to do right now but you will. You will decide what it is that you want to do and we will support you. We will be by your side. Whatever he decides to do we will be there to stop him. He won't hurt you again."

She was looking at me and smiled. I could see trust in her eyes I could see love in her eyes. I knew she was going to be okay. The monster inside me gladly retreated back from where he had come from happy to go back to sleep until he was once again needed. I was back in control.

Ranger spoke up "I sent Vince down to the control room to retrieve the video and audio recordings from the SUV. He said that when he pulled over he turned on the audio feed to the control room first and then the video feed. He should have been back with those by now but when he gets here we will be able to watch and listen to them to see what we have. Depending what we have on the recordings we may have something to work with." He told her.

He then looked at Tank and asked him "Tank call down to the control room and tell Vince to get his ass up here pronto." Tank took out his cell phone to make the call about the time there was a knock on the door.

VPOV

This was so not good. I am not even sure how the fuck I am going to tell him this. If earlier wasn't bad enough this was going to be impossible. I left to go to the control room to retrieve the recordings from the SUV. When I walked in there were two new guys working the control room.

I believe they said their names were Mike and Doug but I was so focused on retrieving the recordings I didn't really pay attention to them. When I was unable to find the recordings I questioned them about it.

I told them that at fourteen thirty I was riding in SUV number thirty one and I had patched in audio and video to them. I explained they were supposed to press the record button to get a recording of the video and audio. I knew they would be able to hear and see it in the control room but they were supposed to record it. It was standard operating procedure if a Rangeman vehicle was connected to the control room at anytime it was supposed to be recorded.

They told me that they heard and saw when I connected the SUV but that they didn't realize they were supposed to record anything. I asked them what they saw on the video and they said nothing. That they weren't able to see anything and that the audio was silent after the point she stepped out of the vehicle. I found that extremely hard to believe as I know how sensitive the recording equipment was in each vehicle.

At least the control room guys confirmed that I patched the audio and video in it was their fuck up that they didn't record it. Hopefully if someone was going to be called to the mats for a ass beating of all ass beatings probably by the whole core team and not just Ranger it would be the new dumb fucks working the control room and not me.

I slowly made my way back up to seven to deliver the bad news to a bunch of very pissed off over protective highly lethal men that make up Rangeman's core team and to say that my balls were sweating well that would be putting how I felt lightly.

Knocking on the door I waited for someone to answer. Tank opened the door and I took a brave step forward into the apartment. I just hope they couldn't smell the fear on me after all I would like to be able to retain my bad ass card after all of this was over with provided I made it out with my life.

Stepping into the living room I see Stephanie sitting back against Ranger with his arms around her and her feet was in Lester's lap. I was glad to see that she was awake. Looking up seeing me walk in the room she jumped up to her feet and rushed towards me hugging me. I quickly hugged her. Well it didn't seem that she held any bad feelings toward me for not being able to protect her better. I still felt like shit but at least she wasn't blaming me.

She started talking "Vince I am so sorry." I stopped her "Bombshell you have nothing to be sorry for. If anything I am the one that is sorry for not being able to protect you better. For not being able to stop what he did to you." She shook her head. "It wasn't your fault there was nothing you could have done he held a gun on you and then on me I know there was nothing you could have done had you done anything one of us would have been killed today." Whew she knew he would have killed one of us.

"I still feel guilty that I wasn't able to prevent it." I told her. She looked at me "Don't feel guilty let's see what's on those tapes and let's see if we can't nail his ass to the wall with it." Now I felt even worse. Sighing as she went back to the couch this time sitting on Ranger's lap. I hated to tell them this.

"I have bad news guys. There are no recordings to use against him. I went to the control room to find them and wasn't able to find them. I questioned the two new guys about them. They confirmed at fourteen thirty I activated the audio and shortly thereafter activated the video feed to the control room but they didn't record anything. They said that they heard what happened up until the point that Stephanie got out of the car after that they couldn't hear or see anything. But they didn't know they were supposed to activate the recordings so we have nothing."

I watched the disappointment wash over Stephanie's face and I felt even more like shit than I did before walking into the room. I saw anger in Ranger's and the other guy's faces and only hoped it was directed at the guys in the control room and not me.

RPOV

What the fuck? I knew the guys were new here but they had worked here in the past. They should have been familiar with standard operating procedures.

Looking at Tank "Tank I want you to go down there to the control room and I want you to familiarize dumb fucker one and two with our standard operating procedures. It is now sixteen hundred I want you to tell those fuckers that I want to see them on the mats at eighteen hundred. If you have to you find someone to cover the control room I want them on the mats. Between you and me I don't want to ever hear again that they didn't know what the fuck standard operating procedures are because if I do they will only hope to be fucking fired. If we didn't need them to cover for the installs we have coming up they would be fucking gone today."

Tank got up to go and my Babe spoke up "Tank are we still on for training at five?" she asked him. He looked at her "Little girl you up for it? You have had a tough day I thought maybe you would want to call it a day and get some more rest." Looking at him "Tank if you are willing and able I want to train. I need to learn this stuff so I can pass those tests. I am not going to be able to do that sitting on my ass up here. Besides sitting here by myself will only allow me to think about what happened so the training will be a good distraction."

He nodded "I will see you in the garage at seventeen hundred" and headed out of the room. I turned to my Babe. "Babe, do you feel like you need Bobby to look you over, did he hurt you in anyway?" She shook her head "No Bobby doesn't need to look me over. He humiliated me and violated me but he didn't physically hurt me. I may have a couple of bruises but nothing more than that. I may get you to take pictures of them if they are bad enough when you get a chance. I am not sure it will even matter since we have no proof of what he did to me other than what I say and what Vince saw."

Standing up I reached for her hand. Turning back to Lester, Bobby and Vince I told them "Okay guys get back to work. Lester if you want to stay with Stephanie until her training with Tank you can." I figured she would want to spend a little time with her best friend. I know that sometimes you can talk easier to your best friend than you can to your fiancé or husband so I thought I would give them some time together.

Walking into the bedroom I shut the door and then helped my Babe with her top and bra. When I saw the bruises my rage was back but careful not to scare her I gently guided her to stand by the wall while I got the camera. I took pictures the bruises weren't bad but you could definitely see finger prints where he grabbed her hard.

I doubted that we would ever be able to use them and I tried to get extremely close so you couldn't really tell what part of the body it was at least I did my best to protect her privacy. Finishing up she went into the bathroom for a quick shower she said she felt dirty but I doubt it was the type of dirty that water washes away and then she quickly got dressed again.

Walking out I gave her a kiss to let her know that she was still the love of my life. Nothing would ever happen that would change the way I felt about her. I also sent a prayer up that I would be able to protect her that my men would be able to protect her and more than anything I prayed me being selfish with needing her in my life wasn't going to be the end hers.

TPOV

As I walked down to the control room rage was all I was feeling. Hell with them meeting Ranger on the mats at eighteen hundred they might not be living by eighteen hundred I asked them if they were familiar with standard operating procedure when I hired them and they assured me they were and then when it was most important for them to follow standard protocol those dumb fuckers failed to follow. Failed to flip a fucking record switch I mean how fucking hard was that to remember and do it.

If they didn't know to do that what else are those two good for nothing worthless fucking assholes not doing?

I busted in the control room not caring that the door just slammed into the wall. Those two fuck ups jumped like a school girls when you would throw a bug on them. The only thing they didn't do was scream like the pussy ass whimps I know them to be.

I know I have made grown men piss their pants in the past maybe it was time I practiced to hone that skill in a little more and these two fucking pansy pricks were going to be my test subjects. It wasn't hard to give them my I will kill you with a single look as I was full of rage anyway. I watched as both men paled before me. I saw guilt briefly flash over the one guys face and I wondered what the fuck he had to feel guilty about. I would get down to the bottom of that later but right now it was time to scare the newbies. Maybe I should call Cal in for a little fun. I know he hates newbies he hates having to deal with them maybe he would enjoy this way of dealing with them.

Yeah I think I will let him have a little bit of fun. Reaching on my waste I take my phone out of the holder and punch Cals number in. He picked up on the second ring. "Yo" he said answering.

"Cal, control room now" was all I said that was all that was needed before I disconnected the call. Never taking my eyes off of the two in front of me I had them in my sites. They may not have known to hit the record button but I would be willing to bet their left nuts after tonight they would never not know to hit that record button again.

Cal stepped into the control room and I saw the gleam in his eye when he took in the scene in the control room. He didn't know what had happened today he didn't know what Stephanie had gone thru had he I would probably be holding him back. Not that these two were responsible for what happened they were just responsible for not getting it on record so we could use it against that asshole of a fucking cop and that was almost as bad as the act itself. Because they failed to do their job we aren't able to get Morelli where we need him to further protect my little girl and that is almost worse than hurting her because that is leaving her vulnerable.

Fucking newbies I think as my rage level increases with those thoughts and just looking at them. I had an avenue to release my rage and it had the newbies names all over it.

"Cal I wanted to inform you that the newbies here fucked up standard operating procedure." Cal looked at me and then looked at them but only said one word "really" it wasn't the word he said it was the tone. He knew what I was after he knew what I wanted and he was playing along. It was time to literally scare the piss out of the newbies and I could tell that he wanted to be a part of it. He was going to have fun.

Cal widens his stance crosses his arms across his chest he tells me. "Well now you can show them what happens when standard protocol isn't followed." And sneers at them I see the glimmer in his eye oh yeah he is having fun.

"Do I tell them that it is mat time or do I just tell them that I first beat the shit out of them then I tattoo their forehead and in their case it won't be a cool flaming skull in their case I will tattoo loser number one and loser number two on their foreheads and I get decide who is one and who is two. From this day forward they will never look in a mirror and not be reminded that they fucked up standard operating procedures."

He looks at me "I like option number two. I think it would be a nice reminder for them after all we don't tolerate fuck ups."

"No we don't, we don't tolerate fuckups and because you didn't do your jobs you left one of ours vulnerable out on the streets. First we are going to punish you for not following protocol but leaving Vince and her vulnerable on the streets well that will come with a whole different set of reprimands and punishments."

Cal looked at me freezing and said "Her?" "Yeah you heard me right her. Step outside and I will fill you in on what their fuck up actually did." He stepped outside of the control room with me trailing him.

Outside of the door I told him "Long story short Morelli pulled Stephanie and Vince over he got her out of the car held a gun point blank to her face molested her while threatening to shoot if Vince moved. Vince had connected the vehicle to the control room with both voice and video but those two dumb fuckers didn't hit the record button. So basically we have nothing to use against that fucking cop."

Just repeating that made the rage course thru me and I could see Cal barely able to hold it back. Cal asked me "He molested her?" I nodded telling him "He put his hands down the back and front of her jeans even undid the button on her jeans and then ground himself into her back side." Yeah Cal is pissed. Good now time to scare the newbies. The thought almost brought me joy.

Walking back in the room slamming the door open again we both stepped into the room. I am sure we looked like two bulls walking into an arena but in this case the bulls were going to be victors not the matadors. We were definitely seeing red and they were our targets.

MikePOV

Holy shit both Cal and Tank busted into the control room and if I wasn't scared shitless before I am now. I am definitely scared shitless. I am not sure what I was supposed to do that I didn't do but I knew there was no getting out of this. We were going to have to face these two extremely pissed off men and we weren't going to come out of this unscathed.

Cal looking at us just point blanks asked "Which one of you fuckers want to volunteer to learn your lesson first." I wasn't exactly sure how we were going to learn our lesson but I knew enough not to want to volunteer for that. Tank then added "it doesn't matter which one is first because it is going to happen. Both of you are going to know from now on that you follow standard operating procedure or you won't be fucking walking for an extremely long time if ever and I can promise if you do walk you won't be walking the same way were."

Damn they were this mad because we didn't have a recording what the hell would they do to us if they discovered that we were in cahoots with that cop. I knew I should never have gone to lunch with that fucker. What have a gotten myself into?

Cal pointing to Doug said "I think that fucker just volunteered what do you think, Tank didn't he just volunteer to go first?" Tank nodded and stepped forward towards Doug. I could see him gulping trying to swallow trying to come up with something to say to defend himself but he had nothing anything he would say wouldn't change anything anyway.

Tank reached out and grabbed Doug by the shoulder. I could see him clamping down on his shoulder and I could see Doug almost crumbling below his grip. Tank then slammed his head down on the control panel in front of him his nose right at the record button. Holding his head in place Tank said "Do you know what that button is?" Doug nodded. "Do you know how to press a button dumb fuck?" Tank said in a voice that was low and lethal that sent fear running down my spine. He was going to fucking kill us or worse make us wish we were dead for not pushing a fucking button.

I didn't want to watch but like a car wreck on the side of the road I couldn't take my eyes away even though I know I would go thru the exact same thing I didn't know what was worse seeing it happen and know what was going to happen to me ahead of time or being the recipient for the first time and not know what was coming.

Cal grabbed his hand bending it backwards until he grabbed his pinkie finger. I then heard it snap as he broke his finger. "That will teach you for not pushing the button. Next time you will be sure to push the fucking button if you have to do it with your fucking nose." At least he broke his left pinkie finger.

Tank grabbed the back of Doug's neck and jerked him back in the chair to the point that the chair was leaning backwards. Holding him place Cal grabbed a permanent sharpie marker and wrote Dumb Fucker #1 right across his forehead. Once he was finished Tank slammed the chair further back causing it to crash to the ground with Doug still in it as they set their sites on me and advanced on me.

CalPOV

I will hear more about what happened with Angel but I can't believe these two newbies not doing their fucking job. Tank and I were teaching them a lesson and let me tell you it has been a long time since I have had this much fun with newbies.

Grabbing that Doug guy breaking his finger and writing across his forehead was so rewarding. It was fun and one can never have enough fun especially if it is fucking with the newbies. I broke their pinkie fingers I could have been a cruel son of a bitch and broke their index fingers but I chose their pinkies it would still hurt but in the end it wouldn't affect them being about to defend themselves or affect their jobs here at Rangeman.

By the time I had written dumb fucker # 2 on the second's guy forehead and gave him a matching broken pinkie I was getting bored.

"Tank you taking these two fuckers to the mats?" He looks at me and smiles but the smile isn't an I am happy person and I am just happy to see you smile. No this smile is sinister and leering he looks down at the two men laying on the ground neither of them have bothered to get back up and rightfully so we haven't allowed them to get up. We haven't given them permission.

Tank shook his head no. "Nope I am not taking them to the mats. Ranger is taking them to the mats at eighteen hundred. Boys you better be ready and you better be on time. Because he is already pissed and you definitely don't want him anymore pissed than he already is. Besides I think Lester and I will join him we will see how they stand up to three against one or should I say how long they stand up." He laughs but it is an evil laugh and one I join in with.

"I think I may want a little piece of that action four to one sounds like it would be pretty fun Bobby can probably keep them alive long enough to allow all of us to get a couple of rounds in each. What do you say is it okay if I join in on the party?" I questioned Tank.

Tank reached down and grabbed Doug bringing him up on his feet by his collar. "Yeah Cal be sure to join us the more the merrier maybe we should spread the word and see how they stand up against all of Rangeman. See how many of us it takes to take them out. Now that could be fun."

I can smell the fear the panic rolling off of them. Tank reached down and picked up Mike placing him on his feet. Leering closer to him he adds "Yeah Cal I think that would actually be a lot of fun go make it happen."

"Yes Sir" Smiling I turn and walk out of the control room. So long fuckers I think as I head to let the guys know all about our fun with the newbies tonight at eighteen hundred.

TPOV

I could smell the fear and the terror rolling off of them like the smell of shit on a pig the smell was so thick in the air you almost chocked on it and it made me smile inward. They would never again fail follow standard operating protocol at least if they were smart they wouldn't.

I was fucking with them more than anything but hell I was having fun. "Ranger wants his round with you first but I will go second if you survive us then we will let Lester have some fun. Oh and I will call Bobby down here to fix those pinkies for you but you better come up with a damn good excuse as to how you both managed to break your pinkie fingers at the same time."

They nodded I gave them another look that I could see made them quake in their boots. What cowards they were. I bet they wouldn't make it past Ranger that is why I had my fun while I could. Pushing them back down in their chairs I left them one word of advice "I suggest you do your fucking jobs from now until eighteen hundred and I suggest you fucking follow protocol by dotting every I and crossing every t because if I have to come back in here today neither of you will make it out of this building alive."

With that I walked out of the control room once again slamming the door against the wall when I opened it. I had to stop by my office before heading to the garage to meet my little girl. Smiling as I rounded the corner I saw Stephanie step off of the elevator with Lester. Like usual they were laughing. The sound of her laughter was the calming balm my soul needed at the moment.

"Little girl I just need to stop by my office for a minute then we will be ready to roll." I told her. She nodded and then turned to look in the control room. Seeing the two guys her mouth fell open then she put her hand over her mouth I am not sure if it was to stifle a laugh or if it was to just cover her mouth to keep the flies out until she could recover from the shock.

LPOV

I stayed with Beautiful when Ranger and the rest of the guys left. I knew she may be willing to talk to me about what happened.

She walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch. She leaned over against my arm and sighed. "Lester thanks for staying with me."

"No problem Beautiful I have no place I would rather be than here with you. You know that BFFs have to stick together." I thought me saying that would cheer her up.

She giggled a little "Yeah I guess we do." Then she got a serious look and tone "Lester, I have never been more scared in my life than I was today. Why would Joe act like that? Why would he do that to me? I mean this man previously told me that he loved me, that he wanted to marry me, and wanted me to have his kids. Not that I wanted any of those things with him, but I did love him in a way. It wasn't the forever kind of love I have for Ranger but I did love him. How can he go from that to doing what he did today? What did I do too make him like that?"

I was afraid that she would end up blaming herself for his actions today so I said the only thing I could think of. "It isn't your fault. You didn't do anything to cause this. I don't know how he felt about you I know what he said but I don't know how true those feelings were or are. I think he needs help, I think he has possibly figured out what he has lost and he doesn't know how to deal with that loss. I don't think he is ready to let go of you or wants to let go of you so that makes him do stupid shit like today. Unfortunately I am afraid with his current mental status he is going to end up really hurting you."

I had to tell her my fears. I was afraid that he would end up hurting her. A shiver went down her spine at the thought. "Lester I have never been afraid of Joe until today. Even when I confronted him at my parent's house and he slapped me I wasn't afraid of him. I knew what he was going to do I knew I was pushing him to do it because I wanted him to leave me alone I wanted to be able to get the restraining order against him. I just didn't know that it was going to cause him to act this way. Now I really am afraid of him. What am I going to do?"

Oh shit she is asking me what to do. Wonder if I should tell her what I would like to see her do, which is shove her gun up his ass and pull the trigger but not before she shot both of his balls and dick off. No I can't tell her that, I say the only thing left to say.

"I don't know. Continue your training make sure you have backup when you leave the building and do your best to avoid him as much as you can. I know today he sought you out I am just not sure how he found you. He must have just gotten lucky and you must have just driven by him." She froze.

"No I didn't. I didn't drive by him. She sprang up from the couch and started pacing back and forth. "Vince and I were playing the game about being aware of our surroundings I know I didn't pass him. I would have seen him had I passed him I would have known he was there."

Looking at her pace back and forth in front of me I could see the wheels turning. "So you are saying that he just came up behind you and turned on the siren?"

"Yes that is what happened. I remember thinking what the hell am I being pulled over for I wasn't speeding or driving reckless. Then I saw him get out of the car. He was driving a different undercover car than the one he normally drives but I know I didn't pass him he wasn't running radar." Her head popped up and she looked at me. "Oh my god he singled me out. He sought me out and when he found me he pulled me over. But how did he know I was out? I mean I have been spending almost all of my time here. Did he just get lucky?"

She had a good point he would have had to have been very lucky. But then how else would he have known? There would have been no other way. They just happened to cross paths somewhere along her drive around town. She may not have seen him but he saw her. "Beautiful I think somewhere along your drive around town he saw you. He just got extremely lucky."

"Yeah I guess you are right I mean nothing else makes any sense. Shame he couldn't have spent his getting extremely lucky at Atlantic City instead of finding me on the streets."

Aint that the truth I thought. She came back over and flopped down on the couch beside me. "I am just sorry that Vince had to witness what he did to me. He made me feel cheap and dirty but making Vince watch it well that was just humiliating."

Putting my arm around her to give her comfort "You only feel cheap and dirty if you allow him to make you feel cheap and dirty. By you feeling that way because of what happened today you are giving him power over you. Never allow anyone to make you feel cheap or dirty because you are none of those things and could never be any of those things in our eyes, in my eyes. Don't allow Joe to have any power over you. As far as humiliating there is no reason to feel that way. I have it on good authority that Vince was scared shitless for your life. I have it on good authority that he wanted to rip that cop to pieces with his bare hands but he wouldn't risk your life to do it. I also have it on good authority that you have nothing to be humiliated by again don't give Joe power over you. Allow Ranger, me, and your brothers to give you strength to give you a shoulder to protect you when we can and to love you always. Don't let Joe take you away from us by making you feel less than the person you are."

She turned around and hugged me. Wrapping my arms around her I hugged her back. With a tearful voice she said "You always know what I need to hear. I love you too Lester. I would never let Joe take me away from Ranger, away from you or the rest of my brothers. I love you all so much. Lester, I hope I am as good of a best friend to you as you are to me."

I smiled and kissed her on top of her head "You are better" I tell her. Standing up I reached for her hand. "Come on what do you say we go hang out on five for a little while before your training with Tank? Maybe we can find someone to tease or play a joke on." She smiles big and nods her head.

Standing up making our way out of the apartment she says. "I need a little bit of happy let's go see who our next victim will be." I laugh at her comment.

Whispering low enough so the control room won't hear us I tell her "Hal is always fun but he is sort of easy. Binkie is fun to play a joke on too. Oh Manny is back maybe that would be a way to welcome him home. Whose is it going to be Beautiful?" I would let her decide then we could come up with the perfect prank to pull.

She whispers back at me "let's see who isn't at their desk. Then we will figure out what we are going to do. We could crazy glue their phone together, or crazy glue their mouse to the mouse pad, we could rearrange the letters on their keyboards so when they type they type the wrong letters will type, or hell we could do all three." We were both laughing at her suggestions when the elevator doors opened on five.

Stepping out Tank saw us first and smiled he was happy that she was laughing again. She got to the control room window and froze her mouth gapping open and she quickly covered it with her hand. I looked to see what had surprised her and I couldn't hold it back. Looking at those two dumb fuckers in the control room with Dumb Fucker #1 and Dumb Fucker #2 written across their foreheads I lost it.

I started laughing at them. After all it was those two dumb fuckers that cost us any evidence to help Stephanie with the problem she was facing with that fucking cop. Served them right, I only wished it was tattooed on their forehead. Maybe I would get them drunk and call in Cal's tattoo artist to help make it more permanent now that would be one hell of a prank.

Beautiful joins in laughing she tells me "I shouldn't be laughing it isn't really funny those poor men but seeing it and hearing you laugh I just can't help it. It is sort of like laughing at someone who falls down you just can't help it no matter how much you hope they haven't hurt themselves it is just too funny not to laugh. I am probably going to hell for it but I can't stop." I can tell the guys in the control room aren't happy about us laughing but fuck they better get used to it because when the rest of the building sees them they are going to laugh too.

Grabbing her hand I pull her along with me she is still laughing. "Come on we have to find an empty desk. We don't have but a few minutes to pull this off before Tank will be ready." She picks up her pace as we come to the row of cubicles I have an idea.

Finding what would be Dumb Fucker's #1 and 2 cubicles why not I think. "Hey Beautiful, you up for pulling this prank on two cubicles we won't even have to pull lookout for these two cubicles" I ask her. She gives me a nod and a smile. I hand her a bottle of crazy glue that I picked up from my desk on the way. We both set out gluing the phone handset to the base, gluing mouse to the mouse pad and rearranging the keys on the keyboard we left numbers the same but all the letters have been rearranged lord help them if they actually try to type something on those keyboards.

Snickering we made our way back to Tank's office just as he was walking out.

TPOV

I saw Lester and Stephanie walk out from around the area with cubicles snickering I know they have been up to no good. I can see the gleam in their eyes. But I can't do anything but smile. My little girl had a rough day and if he can make her smile then it is so much the better I didn't give a shit what they have done.

"Little Girl you ready?" I ask her she nods her head and walks over to me. Ranger steps out of his office and puts his arms around her and gives her a kiss.

Ranger looking at Stephanie tells her "When you get back I will be down in the gym. I have an appointment on the mats at eighteen hundred. You can either come down there and watch or you can go up to seven and rest. It won't take me long and then we can have dinner together." She smiles at him. "Okay I will se e you either in the gym or upstairs." He gave her a quick kiss whispered something in her ear and turned and went back into his office.

"Alright little girl let's do this." I tell her. Lester walked her to the elevator and we got on leaving Lester on five.

"Tank what happened to the men in the control room?" I looked at her shrugging my shoulders. "Tank someone wrote on those men's foreheads who did that? And why?" Wasn't it obvious why they were dumb fuckers. Again I just shrugged my shoulders I was pleading the fifth after all that was one of our rights in America and I was invoking my right to not incriminate myself.

She looked at me and narrowed her eyes "You know I will find out, someone will tell me what happened. You know that right?" She was trying to get me to crack but I am tougher than that. She then giggled which surprised me. I sent her a questioning look by raising my eyebrow. "Well just thinking about them makes me laugh I know I shouldn't but I can't help myself." About that time the elevator opens and we step out in the garage.

I was going to take her to the Rangeman compound for training that way we won't have to deal with running into that fucking cop again. I didn't want her to run in to him twice within the same day.

Normally I am quite in the zone while I drive but I wanted to tell her about Lula. If I didn't then Lula would kill me tonight when she saw me and I didn't want that to happen I had other plans for Lula and I.

"Little girl Lula said that she would like for you to call her sometime. She has been worried about you and I will tell you a little upset that you haven't called to talk to her."

She looked at me shocked at first "oh my god I can't believe I haven't thought to call her. So much has been going on I haven't had a chance to really think. Normally everyone would be calling me but since I haven't had a phone since my car exploded and it exploded with it I just never thought about it."

Oh shit I had forgotten to get her a phone. "Its okay I told her a little about what has been happening and she understands she just would like to talk to you and know that you are okay. When we get back I will get you a replacement cell phone I forgot all about it. I am sorry."

She smiles "no worries big guy whenever. I will call her and plan something with her soon. Maybe a girl's night out on Friday." I then go back to my zone as we make our way to the compound. I decide to test the boys back in the control room and press the buttons to link audio and video back to the control room. There had better be recorded video and audio when I get back there or heads would definitely roll tonight.

RPOV

When I came downstairs to my office Tank and Cal were in the control room having a little conversation with the two new guys. I wanted to join them but they looked like they were handling it and I had my appointment with them on the mats at eighteen hundred I could wait until then.

To think of how this afternoon could have turned out makes my blood run cold. I just thank God she is with me unharmed. For a man that doesn't really feel worthy of praying I certainly have been doing a lot of praying and thanking God lately.

Sitting at my desk I am reviewing the security layout for the new client we signed when I heard the elevator and then I heard Lester and Stephanie laughing. I knew he would be good for her. They are good for each other. It is hard to step back and allow others to be there for her and with her when it is all I want to do. But I am smart enough to know that I can't be all things to her. I can't give her everything and I have a building here full of her family that together we can.

I watch as my Babe and Lester head down to the cubicles and I pull up the feeds to see what they are up to. I watched as they pulled a prank on two empty cubicles those would be the cubicles that the newbies would be using. I saw them change the keys on their keyboards, I watched as they glued the mouse to the mouse pad, and I watched as they glued the phone handset to the receiver. I was already planning the perfect revenge for those guys.

After I was finished with them on the mats I would send them to their cubicles and demand that they each write a document spelling out all standard operating procedures for Rangeman on their computers. They wouldn't be allowed to change keyboards or mouse. I would also require that they use their desk phones to call me when they were done unless they called me from their desk phones they would remain on duty until I decided to go and release them.

I walked out to say bye to my Babe before she left with Tank for her training. I put my arms around her and pulled her to me giving her a kiss. Then I told her "When you get back I will be down in the gym. I have an appointment on the mats at eighteen hundred. You can either come down there and watch or you can go up to seven and rest. It won't take me long and then we can have dinner together." She smiles at me. "Okay I will se e you either in the gym or upstairs." I pulled her to me giving her a kiss and whispered I love you in her ear before turning and going back in my office to finish up some work and wait until eighteen hundred.

DougPOV

When Mike and I left lunch the first thing we did was go purchase two burn phones and called Joe to give him our numbers. He had called us back with the number of his burn phone so we would have each other burn phone numbers. I had called Joe not long after Stephanie had first left the building with Vince. I had given him their current location. He wanted us to report when Stephanie was out of the building so I did.

When the audio and video feed came in from their SUV I enjoyed the show but purposefully didn't hit the record button. I figured we could claim that we didn't know to turn it on since we were new here. I thought they would go easier on us and just give us a warning.

All I have to say is this is some kind of warning. Tank and Cal came in here and smashed our faces into the control panel, broke our pinkie finger, then wrote on our foreheads and finally slammed us down on the ground only to follow it up with saying that we had to met the big boss on the mats at eighteen hundred.

We would have to fight Ranger who was a legend in the Rangers he was even feared and respected by the men in the other armed forces. Marines feared and respected him, Seals feared and respected him, Delta force you name it they all feared and respected Ranger he was a legend and here I was suppose to met him on the mats.

I wouldn't let them know I am afraid. I will stand up to him. I want to be a full time Rangeman and if I have to steam roll over top of a split tail bitch to get it then so be it. I will pull her down from her high and mighty ladder in a heartbeat to be the one on top. I don't care what I have to do to make it happen. Far as I was concerned she was toast.

I saw her laughing at us along with Lester. As far as I am concerned they can both suck my dick. I saw them walk back to the cubicle area and wondered what they were doing but I wasn't able to see them. I heard them as they walked back into the hall way snickering.

I watched her get on the elevator with Tank and I heard her conversation with him, her asking who wrote on our foreheads and why. It was interesting that he wouldn't tell her only shrugging but then she started laughing at us again. I don't like it when bitches laugh at me.

She will learn not to laugh at me because I will find a way to laugh back only she won't think it is so fucking funny and I have a feeling his name will be Joe.

Well it is almost eighteen hundred it is time to head to the gym for my ass beating. I look at Mike and he knows it is time. We both silently get up and walk out of the control room as two guys I didn't know came in to take our places. I could see them trying their best to hold their laughter after seeing us and knew they would be laughing their ass off as soon as the door closed. I am sure their eyes would be glued to the gym monitor. Everyone wanted to see the newbies get the shit kicked out of them.

RPOV

At eighteen hundred the doors to the gym open and in walk dumb fucker number 1 and 2. Seeing what they had on their foreheads made everyone in the gym laugh. There was quite a crowd waiting for the show. I wasn't sure why they were there but I really didn't care.

I noticed when Tank walked in Stephanie wasn't with him and part of me just wanted to go be with her but I needed to teach these dumb asses a lesson. Maybe I would just make it quick so I could get to my Babe.

Tank gave me a nod which told me that she was okay that I could take my time giving him a slight nod I gave those two dumb fuckers a sneer of a grin. I was letting the beast come out they were going to get a little taste of what my enemies get. I wasn't going to kill them I wasn't even going to seriously hurt them but they weren't going to know that. If they got so scared that they pissed on my mat though they would be licking the shit up before cloroxing the entire mat.

I didn't bother to ask them if they knew why I asked them to the mats. They knew. I didn't bother to ask them to fight me one at time I just took them both on. As it was it was like a UFC champion fighting that kid from the movie dairies of a wimpy kid you know the one with the hairy mole in the commercial. I had never seen the movie bad asses don't watch movies like that but I had seen the commercial.

My Babe could do a better job at fighting me with no training than these two fuckers. I hadn't even gotten my heart rate up before I just became bored for what they had to offer. Delivering two staggering blows that resulted in both of them face planting on the mat I called it over.

Tank walked up to me "I was going to go a round with them but after seeing that pitiful display on their part it sort of sucks the fun out of it. It's like beating up a helpless grandma or grandpa there is just no fun in it. Where the fuck did they learn to fight kindergarten?" I looked at him shaking my head

"The question is did they ever learn to fight? My Babe could give me a better round than those two dumb fuckers."

Lester then chose to speak up "After I am done with Beautiful, Rangeman you better watch your back because she will be able to take you down. Now these two fuckers I am not sure I could help that was pitiful very anticlimactic. Watching Beautiful go after Joyce is better than this pitiful display of fighting." Shaking his head in utter disbelief and disappointment at their pitiful lack of skills he says. "I think Beautiful could take them both now."

I waited for the fuckers to come around then I gave them their assignments. "You two are to report to your cubicles. There you are to type a document that spells out all of Rangeman's standard operating procedures. When you are done you are to call me using your desk phone I don't want to hear that you used anything other than what is currently at your desk to do this. If you call me on any other phone you will be fired. If you use any other computer or components of any other computer you will be fired do I make myself clear?" They nodded. "Good because I don't like to repeat myself. Once I hear from you on your desk phones that the document is completed I will then tell you what to do next. Until you get released from me consider yourselves on duty without pay."

Lester looks at me and I can tell he wants to burst out laughing. I give him a look that has him getting himself back under control. "Very well men carry on" I tell them as I leave the gym heading up to find my Babe.

SPOV  
When I got back with Tank I was tired so I decided to just go upstairs and relax. I changed into something that I thought Carlos would appreciate a soft pink and black nightie. I had our dinner waiting for him and I was sitting at the dining table in my nightie my four inch FMPs I heard the door open and close.

I felt the tingle that let me know Carlos was near. As he stepped into the room he spotted me and froze. "Babe I need to take a shower. I don't even want to get near you until I have showered and changed clothes."

"Okay Carlos go ahead I will be waiting for you when you get out." I told him seductively. I had plans for tonight. I needed to erase the bad memories from today and I needed to get back that wonderful feeling from last night when he asked me to marry him and I knew just what to do.

When he joined me at the table after his shower he looked so amazing. His bare chiseled chest his eight pack abs on display for me to devour with my eyes. He was wearing a pair of lounge pants that was hanging low on his hips oh what a way to distract a girl Batman.

He kissed me and I instantly deepened the kiss pressing myself into him. His arms wrapped around me and pulled me to him lifting me up off of the chair. Continuing to kiss me he moved us closer to the table and then he gently sat me down on the table. I instantly froze I haven't had good memories when it comes to dining room tables.

Carlos reading my mind says. "Babe this is about you and me and only me and you. Our memories what we give each other no one else what do you say let's make a good memory." Then he proceeded to kiss me and I became lost in his words, in his kiss. Oh god yes was all I could think as I felt him step between my legs.


	22. Chapter 21: Repercussions

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

Chapter 21: Repercussions

SPOV  
I woke up early much earlier than normal. Carlos was still sleep with me half laying on him and half off. How he could sleep with me practically laying on top of him was far beyond what I could imagine. You would think with my weight on his chest it would make it hard for him to breath but this seem to be the way he preferred for us to sleep as every time I woke up we were in this position.

Looking down I could see his morning wood and it made my hormones come to life. Last night had been amazing. We made love in the dining room on the dining room table. Smiling at the memory I couldn't help but think I no longer had bad memories when it came to dining room tables. Actually quite the opposite I now wondered if I would ever be able to look at them and not blush with the memory of Carlos and I making love to each other on one.

I thought I would wake Carlos up a little differently this morning. Instead of his normal alarm clock going off I would give him a way better wake up call.

Being very careful not to wake him I retreat off of his chest and lower myself until my head is even with his groin. I knew the minute I touched him he would be wake up so I had to spring fairly quickly because I wanted his waking image to be of me tasting him of me taking him in my mouth.

I briefly wondered if he would like it, if he would want me to do this. This would definitely be something new for me sort of like the dining room table last night. I have never woken up and done something like this. I mean I have had morning sex but it has always been started by the guy not me. See I told you Carlos was turning me into a sex fiend.

Before I talked myself out of it I moved in and placed my lips around his enlarged cock. He immediately came awake with a jerk and then a gasp as he felt what I was doing to him.

I heard "Babe" in a sort of breathy voice. I took that to mean holy fuck that feels great please don't stop. I am not really sure what it meant but when his hand fisted in my curls I knew I was pretty close. With a smile and a moan from me I continued to give my lover his wake up call until I had him screaming my name and shooting his juices down the back of my throat.

I raised up smiling into his beautiful face "Morning Batman, I thought I would be your morning wakeup call this morning." He smiled back at me reaching for me pulling me to him

"Morning Babe you can be my morning wakeup call any morning you would like if that is how you are planning on waking me up." Then his lips crashed down on mine as he turned us on the bed me on the bottom and him on top coming up for air he said "so long as you don't mind if I repay you the favor." As he was slinking his way down my body leaving scorched marks behind in the wake of his tongue. I couldn't help but think mind? Did I have mind? How could I mind if I didn't have a mind? Now that was definitely something to ponder on a rainy day.

Damn what this man could do to me with a single touch it should be illegal.

RPOV

My wakeup call was mind blowing. My Babe never stopped surprising me and this morning when I felt her lips on me when I woke up it was pure pleasure. Last night had been wonderful from her waiting for me in her nightie to making love to her on the dining room table to the several times we made love before caving into sleep. I thought she would be tired that she would want to sleep and even feared it would interfere with her training today but nothing could be further from the truth she was energized this morning.

Whatever it was I would take it. I loved it when she came on to me. It made me know that she wanted me as bad as I wanted her. That she could no more keep her hands and mouth off of me than I could keep my hands and mouth off of her and it made me feel like a God.

Quickly showering and getting dressed I headed down to my office. I had to take care of the newbies. They should still be at their desks. They hadn't figured out how to call me from their desk phones I briefly wondered if they even finished the document I requested. I am sure it wasn't without an extreme headache if they had.

I walked out onto the fifth floor and made my way back to the cubicles. I went straight to the newbies cubicles to see what their status was. I walked up behind them neither of them were aware I was even there. I just stand and observe them for a few minutes.

Doug was still struggling with the document cussing under his breath because he has to go searching for each and every letter. It appears that Mike has completed his document or has just given up and is sitting there waiting for further instructions.

Lester walked up and stood beside me smiling as he was watching Doug struggle to type a word. Neither of the guys were aware that Lester has joined me or even aware that I have been standing here. One would think eventually they would get a feeling that someone was watching them and turn and look but that hasn't happened yet. They are definitely not Rangeman material.

I can't help but to mess with them. So in my no nonsense voice I loudly bark "Report". Both men jump. Holy shit did we just hire a bunch of fucking school girls? They look at me wide eyed as if they don't know what to say or do.

Leave it up to Lester to have something to say "Uh guys when Ranger asks you to report he means for you to tell him your status. You need to speak not stand there staring at him with bug eyes and opened mouths. Besides neither of you have brushed your teeth today so nobody wants to smell your morning breath." Sometimes I wonder how small of a box I could get away with when I ship his ass.

Their mouths snap shut but they still aren't talking. What the fuck am I waiting on? I am not going to ask them again. I raise my eyebrow I am slowly losing my patients with these dumb fuckers. Lester can tell my patients is getting thin I have been standing here now waiting for them to talk I didn't break their fucking jaw last night they are able to talk. I see the fear in their eyes and I can smell the fear rolling off of their body they wrecked with it.

Tank walked up seeing our little party he decided to join in. I saw the two swallow hard.

Lester spoke up again "I suggest you two dumb fuckers start talking or you will be back on the mats and we don't need to see another round of your pitiful display of fighting skills again this morning." Leave it to my cousin. I knew he was excited to hear how they worked at their desk with all the stuff Stephanie and him had done to their desk.

Mike spoke up first after swallowing so hard I thought he was going to swallow his own tongue. "I have finished the document you request sir. I tried calling you at zero three hundred to inform you I had finished but someone glued my phone so I was unable to use the handset."

Too fucking bad I thought. Had he called me at zero three hundred and woke up my Babe to tell me that he had finished a fucking document, I would have fucking killed him. No one calls me at that time of morning and wakes me up not to mention my Babe unless it is an emergency that needs my immediate attention. He should already know that you don't call me at that hour unless it is an emergency it is standard operating procedure.

I couldn't help myself. "You wrote the document listing the standard operating procedures, correct?" He nodded. "Do you remember writing the standard operating procedure for calling me after hours?" He nodded. "Can you tell me what that procedure says?" Again he nodded. Dumb fucker number two don't make me ask you to tell me.

Mike finally speaks up "It states that you are not to be called after hours unless there is an emergency involving one of your employees, or there has been a break in at one of the accounts that you have flagged for your special attention." Very good, now why the fuck weren't you following procedures. Here we go again.

"Is zero three hundred after hours?" He nodded. Fuck I felt like I was in grade school talking to a fucking kindergartener they wouldn't make me pull this information out of them. They would be smart enough just to tell me what I wanted to know.

"Okay then can you tell me why you were going to attempt to call me at zero three hundred to tell me that you had finished writing a fucking document? It wasn't an emergency with one of my men. It wasn't a break in at a client. You were writing a document detailing out standard operating procedures yet you weren't going to follow them. I want to know why?"

Mike was sweating at this point. Beads of sweat had popped out on his forehead oh this was too much fun. Lester and Tank were standing there with their arms crossed over their chest staring down at the two dumb fuckers.

Finally Mike found his balls and gave an answer "You said to call you when we were finished. You said to use our desk phones to call you. I was following your orders, Sir." Yes I had told him to call me but did I tell him to not follow SOP? I don't remember saying that.

"Did I tell you to not follow SOP when I told you to call me?" He shook his head no. "Again I ask you, you wrote the document is there anything in there about when you are not to follow SOP?" He nodded.

"Yes Sir, we are to follow standard operating procedure unless we are told to bypass SOP." Very good, this is like pulling fucking eye teeth but finally I had my answer.

"So I ask you again why were you going to call me at zero three hundred to tell me that you had finished writing a fucking document?" I was going to let them get some sleep but now I was pissed he had wrote the fucking document and yet still wasn't following procedure. I knew I threw them a curve ball when I told them to call me. But he knew the procedures and wasn't following them. There would be no sleep for them today and they would be assigned to work the front desk which is the most boring job in the building and If they fell asleep they would be wishing they were dead before I was done with them.

He just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders he had nothing to say. Good because there weren't any excuses I would take from him. I set my sights on Doug.

He spoke up "Someone changed the letters on my keyboard around so I haven't been able to finish the document but I am close." Like I was going to accept that excuse, you don't make excuses solider you improvise, adapt, and overcome. You get the fucking job done no matter what without fucking excuses. Excuses were for fucking pussies and school girls.

"Mike here finished why were you so slow?" He shook his head. "So dumb fucker number two is actually smarter than dumb fucker number one." Lester snickers. I give him a look to silence him.

"From my calculations you have had roughly twelve hours to type a document outlining standard operating procedures for Rangeman. Probably all together a ten page document and you weren't able to finish it?"

"But the letters on the keyboard are wrong. Try typing on it and you will see why it has taken so long." So unimaginative, how the hell had we gotten these two contract workers? One that didn't know how to follow a document he had just typed and the other didn't know how to fix a fucking key board.

"You telling me you have been struggling with a messed up keyboard for twelve hours?" He nodded.

"Did it ever occur to you to fix the keyboard?" his eyes got bigger and his mouth gapped for a second before he thought up a way to defend himself by stating "I don't know the keypad by heart if I pop off the keys I wouldn't know where to put them back on at." Oh how stupid.

"I am not going to tell you how you could have figured that out I will let it be something you ponder the rest of the day. You will finish that fucking document. Then you will report to the front desk along with Mike here and you will pull a twelve hour shift on the front desk from the time you reach the desk. You will get two fifteen minute breaks and you will get one hour for lunch I suggest you use them wisely as you both will remain there until your twelve hour shift ends there will be no additional bathroom breaks or you getting up to go anywhere. Enjoy. Oh and guys fuck it up and you will be leaving here." I left it in the air as to how they would be leaving here. Either under their own accord of walking out or being carried out. They can ponder that.

With that I headed to my office to get a little work done before training with my Babe. She was training with Cal, Ram, and Junior today and I would be training her during the last hour of her session.

LPOV

Soon as we walked away from the dumb fuckers I couldn't wait to call Beautiful. Calling the apartment phone she answered. "Hi Beautiful you up and ready for the day?" I asked her.

"Yeah Lester, why? I just finished getting ready. I was going to go over some documents I found on guns and shooting before I start my training this morning." So she was researching her training.

"I have got something funny to tell you. I am going to come up okay? I will help you with that document and answer any questions you may have as well. Even though I am training you on fighting you know one of my first loves is my gun." She laughs.

Stephanie says "Okay I will tell Ella that you will be joining me for Breakfast, you want breakfast right?" Hell yeah I wanted breakfast. "Of course beautiful see you in five." I made a bee line to the stairwell heading to seven.

I get to seven I knock on the door. She answers it "Morning." I tell her she smiles and hugs me telling me morning.

"Lester I found this document online that is for enlisted people and it is about guns, and shooting, etc. I am reading it to try to learn more so that my training will go easier with the guys. I don't want them to know how really bad I am when it comes to guns."

I couldn't tell her we already knew how bad she was. Besides her and Rockford who else do you know who keeps her gun in a cookie jar. Today I notice that her gun is sitting beside her utility belt on the table beside the door. At least she is remembering to take it with her to training.

"Who are you training with today?" I ask her. She says "eight o'clock is Cal, nine it's Ram, ten is Junior and finally Ranger at eleven. I am nervous Ranger knows how I am with guns and is patient with me and goes slow with me and points everything out to me I am not sure the others will do that. I am afraid they will assume I know more than I do and get frustrated with me when I can't do what they want."

"Beautiful you are worrying for nothing. They will be patient with you and there are no assumptions being made about how much you do or don't know. You will be trained as you don't know and if you know something then it will progress that much faster. It's the only way to train someone or you end up with holes in their training."

That seemed to settle her a little bit. She looked at me "So what do I owe for having the pleasure of your company for breakfast?" I smiled and her and laughed.

"I wish you had come down this morning with Ranger. It was priceless." She looked at me smiling

"What was priceless?"

"You know the newbies in the control room Dumb Fucker number one and two?" I asked her. she laughed and nodded.

Catching herself she said "I am so going to hell for laughing at those two men...but every time I think about it I can't help but laugh." Well she is about to laugh more.

"Well you know the cubicles we pulled the prank on yesterday?" she nodded. "Well those cubicles are the ones that those guys will be using. Last night after Ranger was done schooling them on the mats he sent them to their cubicles to type a document. Told them that they weren't to move until they called him from their desk phones to tell him they were finished. Well needless to say that couldn't happen." Damn I was about to burst from wanting to laugh.

Acknowledgement dawning on her eyes got big "Oh god Lester we are in trouble…you came up here to tell me that Ranger is pissed at us for messing with their desks and keeping them from doing what he told them." She couldn't be more off if she tried.

"No Beautiful that isn't why I am here. Ranger knew what we did, he must have been watching us on his computer thru the cameras that only he has access to. He knew they were going to have trouble because he specifically told them they couldn't swap out their computer or any part of it and they had to only use their desk phones to call him."

Smiling at me she continued. "So he just wanted to mess with the newbies, huh? Those poor men I feel sorry for them. Maybe I should bring them some coffee this morning…It would be a small token for me to say sorry for fucking with your desks."

She is always so thoughtful is there any doubt why we love her. Here we are all giving the new guys a hard time for making her life difficult or more difficult by not being able to press charges because we had no proof so it wouldn't make a bit of difference and here she is wanting to buy them coffee to make amends for messing with their desk.

"Beautiful I don't think it would matter one way or another but remember these guys are the reason you don't have tapped evidence against Morelli. Ranger went down there this morning to find them still working they had worked all night but when they responded so badly. One guy still wasn't finished typing the document and tried to blame it on the keyboard and whoever it was that messed with it…of course he has no idea. The other guy was finished but then failed to once again follow protocol when he tried to call Ranger at three o'clock this morning to tell him he was done."

She looked at me "He was going to call Ranger at three o'clock this morning? But we were sleeping and that wouldn't have been an emergency." Now she was getting it.

"Exactly. Ranger got pissed and put them on twelve hour front desk duty. He is only giving them two fifteen minute breaks and a one hour lunch he told them they couldn't get up at any other time." I started laughing remembering their faces.

"Beautiful you should have seen their faces. They didn't know whether to shit or get off of the pot." We both started laughing.

SPOV

Lester and I laughed as he continued to tell me about the faces those two men kept making with each comment from Carlos. I had to admit it was funny but in a way I felt sorry for them. They were new after all and had it not been for me being in the car then they probably would have gotten a firm talking to but at this point they were being singled out, picked on, and threatened. While what they were doing to them was funny it was sort of like laughing at the school nerd at some point you just start feeling sorry for them and want to help them.

I would take them coffee at some point today and at least introduce myself to them. Maybe if I threw them a bone the guys would lighten up on them and give them a chance.

All too soon it was time for my training. Cal was up first and if memory served me correct I already had a day of piggy back rides coming to me I wondered if he would be willing to make another deal? Maybe I could get something sweet from the deal.

Heading to the elevator with Lester he reminded me of my fighting training I had this afternoon. "Beautiful this afternoon you will be working with Cal, Hector, Zip, and then I will be working with you for the final hour." Two sessions with Cal today…maybe I could get him to promise me ice cream this afternoon.

DougPOV

I know the guys are laughing at Mike and me. It pisses me off but I don't want to make too big of a splash right now. I need to play my cards right so I can stick around and take down the split tail. Even if I don't get the full time job I be damn if I am going to just sit back and let her take it.

Last night going to the mats I told Mike that we should not give it our all just take what he had to dish out it would probably go a lot lighter on us. I was right. The other guys didn't even bother to want to fight us because we basically didn't fight back. I mean we did a little but nothing compared to what either of us are capable of. Not only had it kept us from getting our asses kicked this time around but it had given the others a false sense of what we were capable of.

I heard the comments how that split tail having more fight and could take us down I would like to see her try. For her I wouldn't hold back if the opportunity ever arose they would then know what I was capable of.

Here I am sitting at the front desk with Mike. We have to sit here for twelve hours. This job is about the most boring because unless there is a delivery or something hardly anyone just walks in. I mean people come here for appointments on occasions but there are no onsite appointments scheduled for today so it was going be a long boring day at the front desk. Not that working the control room is any better but at least there I could pull up the camera on her and watch her as she trained or worked out.

RAMPOV

I walk into the firing range. Stephanie has been working with Cal this morning. I was going to show her how to shoot different guns than just her hand gun. I notice that she is using a different handgun a Glock 19 it's a good choice for her better than the thirty-eight. Holds more rounds it isn't huge, safe, very reliable, and not bad on accuracy either.

Today we were going to have fun. I was excited I love guns. I enjoy breaking them down, I enjoy putting them back together, I enjoy loading them but most of all I enjoy firing them. I love the smell of gun oil and a freshly fired gun. Men have their passions such as cars, women, bikes, mine was guns.

I went over the case and retrieved an AK-47 assault rifle, a shot gun, a couple of fully automatic guns that I thought she would have fun with and then I got the baby of all babies when it came to guns. I retrieved the metal storm. Metal storm is a gun that fires completely using electromagnetism it is awesome it is one of the fastest firing firearms in the world and the technology can be put in anything that fires a projectile. They have some awesome weapons for the military and now the technology is in a handgun.

I begin putting the firearms on the table along with their ammunition. I couldn't wait to start firing all of these weapons with Stephanie.

Cal finishes up with her and as he leaves he looks at me "She did really good today, we have been working on breathing exercises. I was working on her with controlling her breath and shooting between breaths."

"Well Steph and I will be just shooting the shit out of these firearms. We are going to have fun this hour." I look at her and wink. She smiles back at me but I can see she is a little nervous and intimidated by the firearms I have laid out on the table.

She gives Cal a hug and a kiss on his tattoo then reminds him that he owes her piggy back ride for a day, and lunch at Pino's. Cal nods his head and he and I bump fists as he heads out of the room.

"Hey Bombshell how was training with the flaming skull?" She giggled at my reference to Cal. "It's good but I swear out of all of my training I am most intimidated by this one. I don't really like guns." I would have her loving guns before her training is complete.

"You don't have to like them but you do have to respect them, you have to know how to handle them, and you have to know how to accurately fire them. But keep working with me and I will have you loving them."

She looks at me almost in shock. "Really you are going to teach me to love guns? You are going to teach me to be comfortable with my gun?" I nod

"Yep, when I am done training you, you will not only be comfortable with your gun you will love it, you will find comfort in having it with you." I then smiled at her then tell her "But that isn't all you will love firing your gun and all other forms of firearms as well." She looks like she doesn't believe me but she doesn't say anything.

I told her about the weapons I had laid out, I explained when and where they would most likely be seen and used. I explained advantages and disadvantages of all of them and what situation she may be in that one would be a better choice to select than others.

Then we headed into the range for some fun. I look at her "You ready to mow down some paper men?" I ask her and she just nods putting on her protective eye gear and inserting the earplugs.

"Some of these weapons I selected today have a little kick to them so it is important you hold them as I instruct you so they won't hurt you. But most importantly it is important that in your stance you brace yourself that you are balanced so you can absorb the recoil from the weapon so it doesn't throw you backwards. For the first couple of shots from the higher powered weapons I will stand behind you so you won't be able to fall backwards. Okay?" She just nods in understanding.

I have to say seeing Stephanie standing there holding those weapons well that was a wet dream come true. I Loved women and I loved weapons and anytime they two could come together well let's just say it was a good day for me.

I know Stephanie is the boss' but she is beautiful and we are all about half in love with her and those that aren't still can appreciate her body. She has a beautiful body and face but her personality and soul make it even more so. Seeing her holding those weapons and firing them was doing me in. I was on one part glad I only had to spend an hour with her and the other part cussing because I only had an hour and this was nirvana. The only thing that would have made it perfect was if Stephanie was mine but there came the rub she wasn't mine she belonged to the boss and unless I never wanted to be able to have sex again I needed to control the monster in my pants but damn the picture she presented wasn't making it easy.

Distract I thought "So how did flaming skull come to owe you piggy back rides and Pino's?"

"Well the piggy back rides were from yesterday when he was working with me in the gym. He said that if I could jump up on his back and get in place for a piggy back ride without any help he would give me piggy back rides for a day. It took me several tries but I did it. Pino's came today when we could see who could hold their breath the longest and I won, so I won lunch at Pino's."

I was shocked. "You held your breath longer than flaming skull?" She nodded "Impressive you know Cal is a Navy seal and they are trained to hold their breath for an exceptional amount of time. It is impressive that you beat him. I bet you he was shocked as well. No one has been able to beat him at that. He has pulled that on all of us and all of us have ended up owing him something. Way to go Bombshell you finally took him down."

I could tell by the smile on her face that Cal hadn't told her how impressive her beating him was. He didn't share with her that she was the only one in the building he has ever challenged that actually beat him.

She told me "Well it wasn't easy to beat him. I thought I was going to pass out but I wasn't going to give in. It was either pass out and lose or win but I wasn't going to take a breath at least not until he did." I just shook my head at how stubborn she could really be at times while the whole time thinking way to go bombshell. Ranger was a lucky prick.

As I was showing her how to hold each weapon and fire it I couldn't help but be reminded of times in my life. I remembered being a little boy growing up in the one horse town of Hardin, Montana working on my parent's ranch. My dad taught me how to fire my very first firearm a bolt action twenty two rifle. Once I was able to shoot it and knew how to safely carry and handle a firearm he took me hunting with him. Those were some good memories.

My parent's and I didn't always see eye to eye as I grew up and they didn't want me to join the army. But I had wanted to be a Ranger since I was a little boy and I had made it. They eventually came to accept my choice of the Ranger's but they were glad when I decided I wasn't going to re-enlist. Of course when I told them that I was going to stay in New Jersey and not come home to work the ranch they weren't thrilled but they accepted my decision and loved me in spite of it.

Switching guns, I couldn't help but remember my training in the military when they taught us about the AK-47 how it was the weapon of choice of our enemies and how it had a distinctive sound of pop pop pop. How they would shoot it above our heads as we crawled thru the obstacle course.

I can still remember the fear of god my drill sergeant put in me the first day of basic training and how he managed to beat the fear out of me throughout the rest of basic training. He was one hard son of a bitch but he turned a wet behind the ear teenage boy from a ranch in Montana into a solider that was good enough to become a Ranger.

Picking up the Metal Storm I can't help but remember the firepower in the military how the guns looked and how they operated remotely. They could effectively mow down anything coming in their direction. It was totally awesome to watch what that weapon was capable of.

All too soon our hour was up and Junior was coming into the range to take over. "So Bombshell did you have fun this hour shooting the different weapons?" She nodded. "Good I had fun too." I told her and hugged her kissed the top of her head and proceeded to put the firearms and unused ammunition away while her and Junior got started on what he wanted to work with her on.

I bumped fists with Junior and headed out of the gun range. It was time to go meet up with Binkie and pick up some skips. Some days I love my job, being able to spend time with Stephanie, fire all kinds of weapons, and then get to take some aggression out on criminals who don't want to go back into the system well it doesn't get any better than that. Not that I would admit that out loud after all I like my bad ass card.

JPOV

Yesterday couldn't have been a better day. I was able to get two guys from Rangeman to work with me, and they called me and led me right to Cupcake. I wasn't going to shoot her but I didn't want her to know that. Had she known that then I wouldn't have been able to have my little bit of fun with her. Of course that little bit of fun left me needing and wanting more. That wasn't enough it only got me excited. The boys wanted her servicing them but they would take anyone at that point.

When I left her I called Momma on the phone and had her meet me at the hotel. I needed someone to take care of my situation and at least she was a Plum and she could service the boys.

I put together another little package to be delivered to Rangeman for Cupcake last night a little present from her stalker. I haven't heard from Doug or Mike but hopefully they will be able to intercept the package and make sure it reaches Cupcake before anyone else has a chance to open it I wouldn't want for her to not get her little surprise after all.

I picked up my burn phone and call Doug. He answers on the second ring "Hey" I wanted to know if he could talk without anyone hearing "You free to talk?" I asked him. "Yeah" he responded.

Wanting to keep the call short as possible I cut to the chase "I have a package that needs to get to Stephanie do you think you will be able to get it to her?" He paused for a few seconds then said "Yeah I should be able to. I am working the front desk so if you have a currier send it they will bring it to the front desk and I will accept it. Then I will figure out how to get it to her." "Good" and I hung up.

I steer my car to Stark Street. I will have one of the local drug dealers deliver it for me. I am sure I can find one and bust them. Then I will have them deliver the package for me for a get out of jail free card so long as they keep their mouths shut about who asked them to deliver the package if they are asked.

If I find out they told who asked them to deliver the package well let's just say I won't need to take them to prison. They will be going downtown alright but not to lockup. There trip would be one way.

SPOV

I just finished training with Carlos on the gun range. I can't believe how much better I have gotten. Once again I saved the paper targets to show Lester my improvements. I wrote the day on them so I would be able to see my progress. It was the one part of my training where I could physically hold the evidence that I was improving, I was learning.

I rode up on the elevator with Carlos my back to his front. Leaning into him allowing his warmth, his presence to relax me he was massaging my arms. My biggest complaint with four hours of range training was how bad my arms hurt for holding the weapons up and out in front of me the whole time.

Ram had me using all kind of different weapons and some of them were heavy so he had them hurting before I was even half way thru my training. Standing there with them down beside me they felt like I was hold lead and didn't want to bend or move. Carlos seemed to sense that and started massaging them as soon as I leaned into him.

When we got the apartment Ella had our lunch ready for us. Today was turkey wraps with grilled vegetables and some sort of dressing sauce that I was sure was sugar free fat free taste free but I have to give it Ella she amazes me it tasted delicious and I found it very filling.

All too soon it was work out time for me in gym. I decided why work out and then shower to only get hot and sweaty training with the guys. It isn't like they aren't going to smell me sweaty so I would work out and then rest for a little bit before my training. I still wanted to take the new guys working the front desk some coffee before my afternoon training session.

"Carlos I heard what you did to those two new guys who were working the front desk." I told him. He looked at me. "Babe if you think I wrote on their foreheads then you are wrong." I shook my head he wasn't going to get off that easy. "No, I know you had them typing all night long and then you have them pulling a twelve hour shift in the lobby." He smiled. "Babe"

"Was that because they failed to record the audio and video feed from the car? Are they being treated like that because it was me in the car? Would they be treated the same way had it been any of the other guys in the car?"

He looked at me. "Well they are being treated like that for different reasons. Someone writing on their foreheads was probably more because it involved you and it was a good way to get back at them and for the guys to have a little fun in the process. Me taking them to mats well you know if standard operating procedures aren't followed you meet me on the mat that is just the way Rangeman has always been run and always will be that has nothing to do with it affecting you. Of course I may have swung a little harder and kicked a little harder than normal but they weren't hurt if you were wondering. The front desk assignment was given to them because they once again weren't going to following standard operating procedure so since the mats didn't get thru to them I thought an extended twelve hours of work would and I picked the most boring job in the building because they pissed me off again not because you were involved."

I smiled I felt better that the guys weren't being singled out because of me. Well maybe they had a little bit but not for all of it. "Carlos I am glad to hear it I just felt sorry for them when Lester told me this morning." He looked at me "Lester told you about this morning?" I nodded "Yeah he couldn't wait he thought it was so funny you made them work at their desks that we had pranked yesterday. He came up this morning had breakfast with me and told me all about it."

He just shook his head "I am going to have to give that cousin of mine more work to do obviously he doesn't have enough to do." I giggled knowing he wouldn't do that.

I walked over wrapped my arms around his shoulders put my head on his shoulder giving him a kiss "I have to go get ready to work out. I will see you later for dinner?" He nodded his head. "Yeah Babe I will be in the office all day so if you need me call me. I will be doing paper work and you know anything that gets me out of doing paper work is welcomed." I shook my head and tsked "Carlos trying to get out of paper work what happened to the controlled no nonsense wall street all business man Ranger that dots every I and crosses every t? " I asked him laughing. I get a "Babe" in return which I think means you are now fucking with the boss and you need to stop. But I am not really sure.

He kisses me and I turn to get my work out clothing on and pack my gym bag with everything I need. I carefully packed my paper targets to show Lester. Heading out of the apartment first stop was to grab coffee and deliver it to the front desk in the lobby.

I get off of the elevator with two cups of coffee in my hand and my bag on my shoulder. I walk up to the front desk and notice the two new guys sitting there. I have to school myself not to laugh at them when I look at them. I wanted to throw them a bone not laugh at them.

I walked up to the desk and they both looked up looking at me. I smiled at them. "Hi, I wanted to introduce myself to you. I didn't get a chance yesterday with my four hour training sessions I don't get a whole lot of time for anything." I sat their coffee down on the desk and extended my hand "Hi my name is Stephanie Plum."

Mike stood up first and took my hand "Mike" shaking it. Doug followed telling me his name was "Doug" "Nice to meet you guys. I brought you coffee." Motioning to the coffee I had sat down. "I heard you two have been pulling an extended shift and thought maybe you could use a little caffeine about right now." They both nodded and said "Thanks".

Now is when the awkwardness started to sit in as no one knew what to say so I just jumped in there "well I got to go, I need to get o the gym to get my work out in before my next training session. Have a good one." I went to turn when Doug stopped me.

"Wait a minute Stephanie a package was delivered for you a little earlier would you like it now or would you like me to have it delivered to your desk?" "Oh I don't really have a desk here. I mean I have a cubicle that was mine when I worked here part time but right now I don't work here. I will just take the package you can give it to me."

Mike started to protest but I stopped him. "Mike don't worry if someone asks I will tell them that I just picked it up when I was down here. It will be okay. Besides it probably isn't anything anyway. I can't imagine what would come here with my name on it."

I threw the box in my bag and headed to the gym for my workout.

HectorPOV

I headed to the gym to train with my Angelito. I was looking forward to working with her. The guys were all talking about how well she was doing with her training. I couldn't wait to teach her a few moves. I was going to help her hone in on her sixth sense to feel when someone is close to you even when you can't see them. It was going to be fun provided she trusted me enough.

Walking into the gym I see her up on Cal's shoulders celebrating something. She hops down and comes over and gives me a hug. Running her thumb across the tear drops on my cheek like she could wipe them away. In away her doing that sort of did wipe them away.

In order to do her training I was going to have to let her in on my little secret. I hope she would be able to keep my secret to herself.

Cal and I bumped fists as he headed out of the gym. I looked at Angelito and she was waiting looking a little unsure about what was going to happen. I gave her a smile to hopefully reassure her that everything was going to be okay.

"Angelito, I have a secret that I need to tell you but I need to know you can keep my secret." She looked at me in shock. Her eyes wide her mouth opened it took her a few minutes to get her voice "Y…You…just spoke English…you know how to speak English?" I nodded "Angelito that is my secret but you have to keep it between us. None of the other guys know. I don't want them to know. Not that I don't trust them but when people don't know I speak English they say stuff they think I don't understand. Because of that I can protect myself and I can protect you better."

She looks at me "Protect me?" I nod "You my sister, I protect you." She smiled. "Thanks Hector, you are my brother and I will protect you too." I just shook my head. "So you will keep my secret?" "She nods I will keep it, your secret is safe with me I won't tell anyone including Carlos." She looked at me like she wanted to ask me something. "What Angelito?" I asked her "Hector" Then she paused. "Hector would you be willing to teach me Spanish? I mean I would like to learn would you be willing?" "Yeah Angelito I would be honored to teach you Spanish." She smiled at me beaming.

We made our way over to the mat. "Angelito I want to work on honing in your sixth sense. You may find yourself in a position where you are unable to see or maybe you will just want to fake being asleep to gain the edge in a fight using the element of surprise. So I want to work with you in sensing me. We are going to start by having you close your eyes and then we will finish up with turning all of the lights out in here." She nods her head.

I don't see any signs of distress. I walk over and pick up one of the hand held pads. I instruct her to close her eyes and first I start by circling her and moving noisily around her having her follow me with her head even though her eyes are closed. I step away and back up to her and her head turns to me every time. Very good.

"Okay now I am going to be quieter and when you feel this bag touch you I want you to immediately attack hitting it, kneeing it, kicking it even depending on where on your body it touches you. You can open your eyes at the point you are attacking but keep them closed until it touches you. Depending on how fast you start attacking it will tell me if you were able to track where I was even though you couldn't see me."

I walk around her quietly and touch her several times with the bag and she immediately attacks the bag. Then I step back and walk around her and step up towards her again and touch her immediately and again she has tracked my movements. Even touching her on the back she immediately sprang turning around attacking the bag. "Very Good Angelito" I tell her.

"You don't know much about my history hell most people here don't but I wasn't always one of the good guys. I was a member of one of the deadliest gangs in the country, the name isn't important. Just know there were a lot of deaths at the hands of my gang." She looks at me at my confession.

"I got out a while back and trust me they came after me. No one had ever walked away from that gang and lived to tell about it. Well not until me at least. But I learned to have a sixth sense to sense when I was in danger, when someone was watching me, and when someone was close to me even though I may not be able to see. That is what I want to teach you. It will save your life I promise you."

She nodded and then just touched my arm in understanding what it had cost me just admitting that to her. I was private I didn't tell my business. Now she didn't just know my secret she knew a little of my background and knew that my hands were not blood free. Unlike most of the guys here the blood on my hands wasn't there because I had defended this country, or for any heroism. No the blood on my hands was because I choose to join a gang why I joined it didn't really matter the fact I had was all that really mattered. But regardless of all of that she accepted me and offered me comfort. Is there any question as to why I would guard her with my life now?

I walked over and turned off the lights and the gym went totally black. I made my way back over to her silently and touched her with the bag she was at first taken off guard but she recovered quickly and attacked. I then backed up and circled her. We did that several times in a row and with each time she tracked me better and better.

"Good Angelito, I am going to go turn the lights on." Soon as I said that the lights turned on Zip had stepped into the gym. I knew someone was there I felt them but it surprised Angelito and she yelped from being startled.

Grabbing her chest she said "Damn Zip why don't you just scare the shit out of a girl?" I had to chuckle. I bumped fists with Zip and Angelito gave me a hug whispering in my ear "Your secret safe with me I will see you later." I hugged her back kissed her cheek I went to leave the gym. When she grabbed my arm and motioned for me to follow her.

Zip and I followed her to the bench that her bag was on. She opened her bag and I noticed a package in her bag but I hadn't heard of any package being scanned for her It was procedure that packages coming to Rangeman for her were to be scanned before given to her. Since I am the one who does the scanning I knew I hadn't scanned it. She pulled out the paper targets and pointed to herself and to the targets to let me know that she had shot those targets.

Zip and I took them and started looking at them impressive. I smiled at her and nodded my head "Bueno, muy bueno Angelito". Zip speaks up "Bombshell he said "Good, Very Good and I have to agree these are great. I bet Ranger and Ram are excited to see these. You look like a natural to me."

She looks at us "I brought them to show to Lester I wanted him to see my improvement from last time."

Zip looked at her and said "I am sure he will be excited to see them as well." I couldn't let it go. I touched her shoulder to get her attention and then motioned to the box in her bag. She shrugged her shoulders.

"I took the guys at the front desk coffee and they told me that a package had been delivered for me and I just took it and put in my bag. I haven't had a chance to open it yet." I looked to Zip to wait for him to translate it for me. This is the problem with my secret when I wanted to act fast I had to be patient and wait but the benefits outweighed the consequences most days at least.

Zip turned to me and said "Tomé los chicos en el café recepción y me dijeron que el paquete había sido entregado por mí y me lo tomó y lo puso en mi bolsa. No he tenido la oportunidad de abrir aún" Translating what she had said for me.

Holy shit she had taken the newbies coffee. Probably feeling sorry for how they have been treated and in turned they had let her carry away a package that could have exploded. The thought made me want to take their heads off. Did they not understand from how they had already been treated that they are to protect Angelito from anything and everything that could potentially harm her?

Maybe it was time I had a little talk with them one on one. Looking at Zip I said "Pregunte a Angelito si estaba esperando un paquete, de haber pedido nada? Si no, le pregunto si podía tomar el paquete y escanearlo para asegurarse de que no representa ninguna amenaza. No he escaneado un paquete para ella y saber que debo hacer eso con todos los paquetes enviados aquí por ella. Los dos trabajan en la recepción no me lo dijo un paquete había sido entregado por ella." (Ask Angelito if she was expecting a package, had she ordered anything? If not, ask her if I could take the package and scan it to make sure it does not pose any threats. I haven't scanned any package for her and you know I am supposed to do that with all packages sent here for her. The two working the front desk didn't tell me a package had been delivered for her.)

Before he had a chance to respond Stephanie spoke up "I don't know what he just said but it sounded like Pregnant Angelito and before any rumors can get started I want to set the record straight I AM NOT PREGNANT!" I almost lost it. I had to school myself not to laugh out loud had I laughed I would have given away my secret but I can't believe she thought I would say she was pregnant.

Zip laughing shook his head laughing he said "No he didn't say you were pregnant." He looked at me and said "pensó que usted dijo que estaba embarazada" (she thought you said she was pregnant) whew now I could laugh because I had been holding it back for all I was worth. Zip looked shocked I guess he had never seen me laugh before it happens every now and then about once every ten years or so. Angelito just joined in blushing from jumping to conclusions. I just shook my head.

Zip then looked at her and asked "Bombshell did you order anything, were you expecting a package?" She shook her head no. "Hector wanted to know, since you weren't expecting a package is it okay if Hector takes it and scans it and makes sure there is nothing inside that could pose a threat to you or anyone else in the building." She thought about it for a minute and then nodded.

She reached into the bag and handed me the package. I kissed her on the cheek and she rubbed the tears again. I loved when she did that. Most people would be repulsed by them she just acts if she wanted to just be able to wipe them away. I turned heading out of the gym to my office to scan the package and figure out what I was going to do about the guys at the front desk. Obviously punishment from Tank and Cal and Ranger weren't enough maybe it was time for me to step in and let them know the consequences of their actions. If their failure to follow procedure hurt my Angelito there would be no place for them to hide.

LPOV

I had just finished training with Beautiful and she was standing by the bench with her bag once again pulling out her paper target for me to see. She was excited to show them to me. She handed them to me rolled up as if me unrolling them was a present all in and of its self.

I opened them and I have to say I was impressed. I could clearly see where she had improved. She was clearly a natural when it came to firing a firearm even though she hated them.

"I tell you Beautiful that is impressive. I have said you were a natural and this is just further proof."

She looked at me and I could see the excitement in her eyes. "Really you think they are that good? I know I have improved and wanted to show you." I nodded my head. "These are awesome." She smiled at me just beaming with excitement and happiness. I loved seeing her excited and I knew it was doing good in her gaining confidence in herself.

We were ready to walk out of the gym when Hector walked back in carrying a package. She walked up to Hector and he handed her the package only saying okay to her. He didn't know much English but he did understand what OK meant. She nodded her head and hugged him then he headed out of the gym nodding his head towards me.

She put the package back in her bag. Hector must have scanned the package for her to let her know that it posed no threat to her. I briefly wondered what she would have ordered or what someone would have sent her.

Looking at me she said "I don't know what it is, I didn't order anything and I can't imagine who would send a package to me here. Not many people know that I even live here now." Who says she didn't have ESP?

"Beautiful did you just ESP me?" I asked her smiling. She looked at me and I saw shock register thru her. then she squealed "Oh My God Lester…I just ESPed you. I did it the other day to Ranger as well…Oh My God I can ESP, I am learning ESP….I mean I know ESP…I know ESP…YAY ME."

I just shook my head laughing "Yeah YAY You" putting emphasis on the yay you part. She stop looked at me her cheeks turning pink "out loud?" she questioned. I nodded "Yeah Out loud" and then we both laughed and her cheering herself for being able to ESP.

The box had me a little concerned, I had a feeling this wasn't going to be the good kind of box. I knew that it was safe in the fact that it wouldn't explode or posed no immediate threat to her health but I wasn't so sure about the emotional part. I wanted to be there when she opened the box. I wasn't going to let her open it alone.

"So what are you going to do now?" I asked her. She looked at me like she wasn't sure what to say "Well like every night I am going up to seven take a shower, then have dinner with Ranger, and then hang out. What are you going to do tonight?" she asked me.

"Hang out. Thought maybe I could hang out with you guys. That is if you don't mind." She looked at me as if she was trying to size me up and see the real reason I wanted to hang out with her before answering.

"Yeah I am always fine with you hanging out with us but you will have to have to ask Ranger if he is fine with it." Smiling her eyes twinkling with the fun she was having at my expense. She could be cruel at times. Of course my no good cousin will give me grief but I will take whatever to be with her when she opens that box because I have a feeling it is going to be bad.

"I saw Hector hand you a box? Did you order something for me?" I asked her joking trying to get more information on the box. She shook her head. "I am disappointed and here I thought I was your favorite." I pouted.

She smiled and told me "Actually I didn't order anything for you, Ranger, or myself. I have no idea what it is. I delivered coffee to the guys on the front desk as sort of a peace offering and they told me it had arrived. I picked up from them and Hector saw it in my bag when I showed him my paper targets and he asked me if he could scan the box to see if it posed any threat to me or anyone else in the building so I let him scan it."

Mother fuckers gave her a box that had been delivered before it was scanned for hazards. What are we going to have to do those two dumb fuckers before they catch on that you protect Stephanie with your life, you protect her above and beyond anything and everyone else in this building and they just hand her a potentially unsafe package that could have had a bomb in. Where they ever going to learn that they need to follow fucking protocol? Are they that fucking dumb that Ranger has to take them to the mats again. When he finds out about this they will be lucky to be able to walk off of the mat. I guess they didn't learn their lesson well enough last night.

I put my arm around her "Well let's head up to your apartment and tell my no good cousin the good news that I will be hanging out with you all tonight." She giggled and I smiled at her as we made it out of the gym and into the elevator.

We arrived on the seventh floor and Ranger was already in the apartment waiting on her. He raised his eyebrow when he saw us walk in the door with my arm around her shoulder and us laughing about how when she was training with Zip that she had tripped him by accident and taken him down on the mat but then while he was down she just jumped on him like Rock in a wrestling match while yelling do you smell what the rock is cooking. Knowing what a big fan Zip is of wrestling I am sure he was about to burst out laughing at her pitiful reference to one of his idols. Anyone else he would be probably pissed but he wouldn't get pissed at her doing it he would think she was funny.

"Yo cus thought I would hang out with you all tonight, after all Beautiful here said she would like her best friend to hang out with her tonight." Thought I would have a little fun at her expense. She started shaking her head no.

"I don't remember saying that." She said I looked at her "of course you did don't you remember? Or did we work you too hard on the mats and you just forgot. I clearly remember hearing those words." She just laughed and shook her head.

Ranger just shook his head from side to side and sighed he knew he couldn't do anything with us together we were just too much for him.

Stephanie gave him a kiss and told him "I am going to take a quick shower I will be back out in a few minutes." A few minutes my ass. I knew and Ranger knew we wouldn't see her for at least thirty minutes or more. Hell she would probably be in the shower for thirty minutes alone. Soon as she was in the bathroom and we could hear the water running he turned to me.

"Okay why are you here? What's going on that I need to know about that you felt like you needed to impose yourself on us for the evening?" Damn couldn't a guy just want to hang out with his best friend and cousin? Guess not. But he had me there was a reason so I told him.

"Actually she received a package today. She picked it up from the guys at the front desk when she carried them coffee as a peace offering. Luckily Hector saw it in her bag and asked if he could scan it to see if it posses any threats and it didn't. But I have a bad feeling about it. She says she didn't order anything and doesn't know who would send her a package. The only person I can think of would be her stalker but I am not sure how he would know she was here unless he had been watching her or found out from someone close to her that knows she is here. I wanted to be here when she opened the package just in case it was bad."

He looked at me I could see several emotions cross his face then I saw anger. "Did you just tell me they gave her the package at the front desk before it was scanned by hector?" I nodded my head. From the look in his eyes this was going to fun and I already knew I wanted to see what he was going to do to dumb fucker number one and two.

It wasn't long before she joined us but it wasn't a few minutes either. I thought let's get the ball rolling "Hey Beautiful don't you have a package you need to open?" She nodded "I almost forgot about it." Looking at Ranger she told him "I took the guys at the front desk coffee and they told me a package came for me. I had them give it to me. They didn't want to at first but I told them it was fine that I didn't mind and threw it in my bag. Hector saw it and asked if he could scan it for safety reasons and I told him sure so he scanned it and then gave it back." She looked at me "I swear Lester I didn't order you anything so don't get all excited only to be disappointed when you see what's in the box. Because I didn't order anything I can't imagine who would send me something here."

RPOV

I am going to kill those two. They just couldn't seem to grasp the concept that you follow standard operating procedures. Depending on what is in the box and how upset my Babe gets will determine how hard I punish them but they will be punished for once again not following procedures this was getting old and it seemed no matter what job I gave them they were constantly in a position to put my Babe in danger and that is unacceptable.

In this building she is supposed to be safe at all times. I have 30 men here in total all lethal in their own right if we aren't able to protect her within these four walls how the hell would we be able to protect her outside of these walls? How the hell were we competent to protect anyone if we couldn't protect her here in our own house?

She grabs the box and walks back over to us. Grabbing a knife from the kitchen she cuts the tape and opens the box. Looking in she gasps and drops the box and takes off for the bathroom. Oh shit this is not good. I follow her I don't even bother looking. I know she is going to puke or at least dry heave.

Those fuckers were going to be dead for giving her that box. Not that anyone other than her would have opened it but had my men not been as protective of her as they were she could have opened that box when no one else was around and had to deal with whatever it was in the box on her own.

Like I thought she dry heaves nothing is coming up. I hold her hair just in case and put a cool rag on the back of her neck as she heaved and heaved until the point that it brought her down to her knees.

I finally pulled her back against me holding her to me when I knew nothing was coming out so her stomach would settle down and stop contracting.

It took a few minutes but she finally nodded and I released her. She walked to the sink and brushed her teeth. I just wait for her. She looked at me "Well I guess it is time to go face the music and let you see what's in the box. I guess Lester has already looked. I will warn you it isn't pretty."

When we walked back in the room I noticed Lester had picked the box up and had placed it on the counter. I knew he had looked but he had his blank face in place and it wasn't budging. She walked up to the box picked it up and handed it to me.

I looked at Lester "did you touch anything in the box? I asked him" he shook his head no "the box landed on its bottom so the contents stayed within the box. I didn't touch anything."

Good he knew better to touch anything and contaminate it. I looked at him "Call Manny and have him come up here in thirty minutes. I the mean time call Tank and Bobby let them know they need to get up here ASAP."

He took his phone out to make the necessary calls.


	23. Chapter 22: Stalker

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**Sorry for the slow update. Real life has been kicking my ass this week. I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

Chapter 22: Stalker

LPOV

I took my phone off my hip and called Tank. He answered on the second ring "Yo" I didn't have time for pleasantries he just needed to get his ass up here so we could deal with that fucking box. I knew that box was no good. "Grab Bobby and get up to seven ASAP. Stephanie received a box today." I ended the call that was all I had time for.

I then dialed Manny he answered "Yo" I wanted to already be done and comforting my best friend. "Come up to seven in thirty minutes with your bag and bring Hector with you." I thought maybe Hector would like to know what was in the box he scanned that those fuckers at the front desk had given her.

I walked over to Stephanie and put my arms around her. "Beautiful, you okay?" I asked her I know it was stupid. I knew she was far from fucking okay. Having a sick perverted stalker after her and having an x boyfriend that was practically stalking her and had molested her she was far from okay.

She laid her head on my shoulder "Les, why is that all of the crazies have to come after me? I mean what do I do to attract them? Do I lead them on? Do I do something that causes them to seek me out? You are my best friend if I was doing something that was causing this you would tell me right?"

I looked at Ranger and I could tell his heart was breaking just as mine. We didn't have an answer for her. Hell we didn't know why she attracted so many sick fucks. We have been trying to figure it out so we could prevent it.

I said the only thing I could think of "Beautiful you aren't doing anything other than being yourself. You draw people to you it is the light they see within you, the good, and they are drawn to it. It is the reason you have so many people in your life that love you. However it also draws the people that have a warped sense of the world as well as those that are mentally challenged and they form a different type of relationship with you because they are incapable of forming a healthy relationship."

I don't know if she bought that line of bull shit but it was better than telling her that she attracted sick fucks as well as all of the people who loved her.

She pulled away and walked over to Ranger. He put his arms around her and part of me missed her touch her feel of her in my arms. I know she belongs to Ranger but there are times when I am more aware of it than others and that awareness stings. I love her. I want to be the one comforting her and holding her and days like this it stings to see her in his arms.

I love my cousin and I love beautiful and I know they belong together they have something that she and I would never have even if we were together. I know that but there are still days my heart ache to see them together. I know I will always be her best friend and she will always be mine and I am glad we have that. It is something I will cherish until the day I die but there are times I find myself wishing I were in Ranger's shoes. Not because of his money, not because of his status, not because of his cars hell none of that mattered I had all I wanted when it came to those things. It was because of his woman. She was truly an amazing woman.

I heard Tank and Bobby open the apartment door. Ranger wrapped Stephanie in his arms and I picked up the box and we all headed into the living room.

BPOV

I was working on quarterly physical evaluations when Tank stepped into my office and said "we are needed on seven ASAP." Fuck. Something must be wrong with Bomber.

I looked at him "what happened? Do I need my bag?" he shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know Santos just called me said to grab you and get up to seven. That is all I know." Damn shit fuck. Lester called down and said we were needed. I assume Ranger is up there with them. What the fuck could have happened.

She had training with Lester this afternoon, I briefly wondered if she got hurt. I thought about the schedule and realized it was Cal, Hector, and Zip as well as Lester who were working with her. I would have thought had she been hurt earlier I would have been notified so did something happen with her session with Lester?

I grabbed my medic bag just in case. It's always good to be prepared when it comes to Bomber. With her she could be completely fine or she could be injured to the point of being on her death bed and she would still do her best to cover it up. She hated appearing weak in front of us.

We get to the apartment and walk in we don't bother knocking. They knew we would be right up so no need to announce our presence before entering. Walking into the living room they joined us. Ranger had Stephanie wrapped in his arms and Lester was holding a box. Stephanie was purposefully trying to not look at us. Oh this wasn't going to be good.

Lester put the box on the coffee table as we all took our places. This was becoming sort of a ritual Ranger Stephanie and Lester on the couch Tank and I in the chairs across from the couch.

Lester spoke up first. "Beautiful received a box today from her stalker." I knew that box had bad written all over it, Fuck.

Ranger took the floor looking at Tank "Those dumb fuckers you hired gave her the box when she took them coffee this afternoon. I don't know what we are going to do to beat it into their heads that they follow standard operating procedure but so help me god if they want to be able to walk out of this building on their own accord they better get it thru their fucking hard heads that they follow it or else." Oh he was seething below the surface. He wanted their hide he was just wording it as nice as he was able to do at the moment because of Bomber.

Speaking of Bomber she was shaking her head at his statement and spoke up saying. "It isn't their fault, Ranger you can't blame them. They told me a package had been delivered but I insisted on taking it. They tried to protest but I told them it was okay and I threw it in my bag. So if you are mad at someone be mad at me for taking the box. It isn't their fault. I didn't know or trust me I wouldn't have touched that box." He looked at her and ran his fingers through her hair caressing her face.

"It's okay, no one is upset that you took the box Babe. There are procedures that when boxes arrive that they be scanned for any potential threat or hazard. When they told you about the box and then allowed you to take the box they failed to have it scanned. They put you in danger because they didn't follow protocol. Granted they couldn't have protected you from what was inside the box but it could have been a bomb, or hazardous materials in which case they would have failed to protect you. That is unacceptable in this building." Ranger told her.

Damn straight that was unacceptable those dumb fuckers were slowly alienating themselves from everyone here. If they let her get hurt because of something they didn't do or did do god help them. They would have a building full of men ready to torture and kill them provided Ranger and Lester didn't just lose it and kill them before they realized it. I would probably be one of the first in line and I definitely would help keep them alive long enough so everyone that wanted a piece of their ass could take a piece before I would finally allow them to burn in hell for eternity.

Everyone was looking at the box like it was the eight hundred pound gorilla in the room. No one wanted to touch it, no one wanted to look in it, and no one wanted to ask the question that was on all of our minds 'what's in the box'. Finally Bomber huffed and reached for the box.

Ranger stopped her. "Babe Manny is coming up we want him to collect the evidence from the box before we touch anything in there. Once he has bagged and tagged it we can touch it and see if we can get any clues as to who this guy is." She looked relieved that she got a reprieve from the box at least for a little bit. Hell I was relieved for her.

Ranger looked at us and said "I want this sick fuck found. Once we have gone thru the contents of this box I want to know who brought it here, I want to know who sent it here, and I want that fucker found do I make myself clear?" He had that don't fuck with me look and sound in his voice. He was using the voice that we had heard for years on missions. There was no no, there was no can't do, there was no I don't know, there was no excuses for not doing or getting the information he requested. It was only do. How the guys at the front desk didn't understand that was beyond anything I could fathom. They would learn or they would pay the consequences.

Hell every guy in this building were bad asses on our own accord but we were all smart enough to fear Ranger and all smart enough to know that we followed his orders no questions asked. There wasn't room for failure, or non compliance.

Hearing a knock at the door I got up to answer it seen as I was the closest. I open the door and as suspected there stood Manny and Hector. I let them in and motioned for them to follow me to the living room. Well I won't have to worry about the two new fuckers now. With Hector here all I would be doing now would be signing their death certificates. In some way that would take the fun out of it but it definitely would solve the problem.

MannyPOV

Lester called me and told me to grab Hector and come up to the seventh floor in a half hour. I had no idea what he wanted but we got up there on time.

We walked into the living room and I saw a box sitting on the coffee table and everyone else was staring at it.

"Boss you wanted to see us?" I asked Ranger. He nodded his head. "Earlier today Stephanie received this package. Just from having looked in it we know it is from her stalker so I wanted you to bag and tag everything before we handle it. That way we won't contaminate the evidence." I nodded my head in understanding.

I really didn't want to be the first one to take the objects out of the box but since this was part of my job and normally it would be no big deal but since this stuff was directed at my wifey it was a big deal. It was hard to remain focused on my job and not focus on finding and killing some stupid fucker that was stalking her.

I was already frustrated. I had been processing the stuff left at her apartment and there was nothing. No fingerprints, no DNA, nothing to get us closer to who this fucker was. The condoms that appeared to be used was nothing more than watered down lotion and it was such a generic lotion that it offered no further clues. I was hoping that this would be a break that the sick fuck made a mistake.

I walked over to the coffee table and sat my bag down taking out the camera I took pictures of the box opened with the items inside. I pulled bags out and labeled them date, my name, and then gave the bag a number. Putting gloves on my hands I then took the first item out of the box. It was a picture. This one wasn't a picture from a magazine like the others this was actually a picture that someone had taken. Well this was a step in the right direction after all. The picture was a picture of a woman that had her legs spread with a man's hard cock sitting at her entrance. It was really close up.

I placed it in the bag and handed the offending picture to Ranger. I reached in the box and took out the next thing which was another picture. Again a picture someone had taken this time it was the man's dick at the entrance of a woman's ass you could tell her cheeks were being held opened for the picture. Again it was really up close so you couldn't see anything identifiable no tattoos or markings. I placed the picture in the bag and once again handed it to Ranger.

I can't even bring myself to look at wifey I am certain she is embarrassed beyond all belief. While the pictures are similar to the ones left on her bed they are a lot different. One they are not magazine pictures and two they are a lot more involved since the others were the women alone in the picture here they show a man's penis at the ready point for penetration.

I reach back in the box and pull out yet a third picture this one is a picture of a woman's lips at the head of a man's penis you would think you would see more of her face but the way the picture was taken and the close up of the picture you really only see lips and penis. Again I bag it and hand it to Ranger.

I could see Hector's fists clenched at his side yeah he recognized the box and he could see the things I was taking out of it and he was pissed. I could see the look in his eyes and nothing good came from that look.

I reached in the box and pulled out what looked to be a used condom but I knew it was more than likely the same lotion mixed with water. I bagged it and placed it on the coffee table. Reaching back in the bag I pull out a pair of women's under ware. They appear to be brand new. I place them in a bag and sit them on the coffee table.

Finally I reach in the bag and pull out a note. I didn't take the time to read it. I just bag it and hand it to Ranger.

I looked at him "That's all that was in the box." I take a bigger bag out of my bag and bag the box labeling it and putting my name on the bag. I pull off the gloves and stand back up.

Before looking at the things I handed him Ranger looks at me and asks me. "Did you find anything on the evidence that was collected at Stephanie's apartment?" I shook my head no.

Answering I said. "Whoever this is knows what they are doing or at least up until this point. There were no finger prints, no DNA, nothing. What appeared to be used condoms were nothing more than new condoms with watered down lotion in them. The brand of condoms is Trojan that are sold everywhere from convenience markets, grocery stores, to the mega stores so no way to trace where they came from. All of the toys there were brand new no traces of finger prints, body fluids, or DNA on any of them. The pictures all came from various magazines again sold at book stores, or some area convenience stores. The only thing we can tell from the notes is that they are typed using computer the script is Arial the font size is twelve and it was printed on a generic or rather basic home printer. The paper used is generic paper cut to size of note card using a bladed device and not scissors."

Ranger looked at Hector in Spanish he thank him for convincing Stephanie to have him scan the package to make sure there was nothing harmful in the box. He told him that while the contents aren't good at least it wasn't a bomb or some other hazardous material. And he finally thanked him for protecting her.

Hector just shook his head and told him in Spanish that thanks weren't needed. That he would guard Stephanie regardless against anyone and everyone that it didn't matter who or what. That she was his little angel and that he would protect her at all times.

Ranger just nodded his head. Wifey looked a little confused she knew they were talking about her but you could tell that she had no idea what they were saying. Ranger didn't tell her anything other than pulled her close to him and kissed her forehead.

He then turned the pictures over that he had sitting in his lap and showed them to her. You could see the embarrassment and how uncomfortable she was looking at those pictures in a room full of guys so I excused myself "Boss I am going to step out when you are done call me and I will come up and collect the evidence and take it back to my lab." He nodded his head.

Hector decided to leave with me. I figured I could guess where Hector was heading but I wasn't about to be the one to say anything. I didn't need Hector's anger directed at me. I enjoyed living and breathing most days.

As I suspected when I went to exit the stair well on the second floor where the crime lab was Hector kept on going. He was going to the front desk.

SPOV

Carlos turned over the pictures in his lap and I could feel myself getting red from embarrassment. These pictures were so much more than the magazine pictures. They were pictures of actual people not that the magazines aren't but these are pictures of people like you and me. I know it sounds crazy but it seemed more personal and sicker than just the magazine pictures to me.

I was dreading the note. I knew it was under all of the pictures that were being passed around from Ranger to Lester then Tank and finally Bobby who then laid them on the coffee table next to the condom and underpants at least this time it wasn't my own underpants. That was at least one good thing right? To think of poor Manny down at his lab having to process my under ware and personal items wasn't a very pleasant thought.

Finally Carlos turned over the note. He took a minute to read the note and I could feel the tension rolling off of him. I looked at him and his eyes softened and when I touched him he seemed to calm a little bit. I am glad that I have the same affect on him as he has on me. He has the ability to calm me just with a look or a touch. I am glad I can see I do the same for him.

I take the note from him and read it.

_Stephanie I see you have moved in Rangeman with a bunch of questionable men. I hope you aren't so busy fucking all of them that you forgot about me. I am after all still looking forward to having you. I sent you some pictures of me with another woman. I hope you don't mind I figured it was only fair since you are fucking all of those men. I hope seeing my dick hard makes you want me as bad as I want you. I want you in all of the ways pictured, don't worry It is going to happen. Just like in all of the pictures I sent you I will have you in all of those positions when we are together so hopefully seeing the pictures excited you. Now that I am certain you have had experience with all of the positions I have no reason to believe you won't satisfy me because I like for my woman to take care of me. It will go easier and better for you if you just do it and don't fight me on it because it is going to happen the difference is if you will enjoy it or not._

_Know that all of the guys of Rangeman can't protect you, they won't protect you. I will have you when I am ready I will take you. You staying in Rangeman or not won't matter when I am ready I will come and take you it doesn't matter how many you have guarding you they won't be able to stop me from taking you with me and they won't stop me from having my time with you._

_Until we are together can I ask that you keep your legs together and save some for me? I don't want my woman all used up and that is all they are doing is using you up. You won't be any good to me used up and that I promise you will end very badly for you._

_Know that until I come for you I will be thinking about you, I will be hard for you and while I may be with other women physically know that I am thinking about you. It won't be long I am growing impatient with waiting. Until later._

Oh my god I wanted to throw up. He had sent me pictures of himself with another woman. I was afraid of that when I saw the pictures but I was hoping it wasn't true. Thankfully there was nothing in my stomach at the time because I really wanted to heave.

I put my hand over my mouth just to be on the safe side. Tears welled up in my eyes as I kept hearing that he would come and take me when he was ready, when he was ready. I was basically a sitting duck until then. He said that my brothers wouldn't be able to stop him, wouldn't be able to protect me that they won't protect me. That he could just come here and take me when he was ready. Was that true, that wasn't true my brothers would protect me they would fight for me. How would he get me with them around? How could he get to me with them around?

I briefly looked at Lester, Tank and Bobby then at Carlos. These guys wouldn't let someone come in here and just take me. I know that. I trust them. But this guy sounded so sure of himself. He said that he was going to force me to do all the things in those pictures and that I should just go along with it and it would go easier on me. What did that mean? If I fought him I would be sorry that he would force me or kill me? I am not sure all I know is that I am scared and I can't breathe right now.

Sucking in air for all I was worth and not feeling like I could get any in I was fighting for air I could feel myself getting light headed and I could feel the panic of not getting air start in. Carlos put his hand at the base of my head cupping my neck and gently pushed my head down between my knees. "Breathe Babe breathe slowly in and out, in and out." Matching my breaths to his words and his breath I was able to get myself back in control.

As the guys read the note I could feel tensions rising in the room. They were pissed. Who was this guy that was stalking me? You know the unknown is the scariest part. It is bad enough and scary enough when you know like with Joe. I know Joe is gunning for me and that is scary but at least I know to look out for Joe and stay away from him. This guy I don't know who he is. He could be anyone. He could be anyone I pass on the street and I would never know. I wouldn't know until it was too late and that really raised the whole fear factor for me. How do you fight someone you don't know? How do you protect yourself against an unknown?

Carlos put his arms around me and pulled me close to him. "Babe don't believe what that note said. We can and we will protect you with our lives if that is what it takes. He won't be able to just take you without us stopping him. I don't care if he is the president of the United States we will stop him. Whoever he is he won't be able to just take you without us protect you." I nod against him I want to believe him. I mean I do believe him. I trust him and them to protect me.

I am safe here in Rangeman I know that. I know I am safe with the guys of Rangeman my brothers they would never allow for someone to hurt me. Every man in this building would protect me if needed. I am safe. I am safe. I tell myself a couple of times until I am able to once again center myself.

HectorPOV

I left the apartment and went straight to the front desk. Their twelve hour shifts would be ending soon and I wanted to be there when they were relieved from duty because I needed to have a little one on one time with the dumb fuckers.

I stepped up to the desk and I saw them assess me. I saw them scan me I am not a large man but that doesn't mean shit. Don't under estimate and don't ever fucking bet against me because you will lose.

I watch them as I see them take in all of my gang tattoos I have on my arms, and neck. Hell if they could see more they would be in even more in shock. I have Tattoos over most of my upper body. I don't have many on the lower half of my body because the thing about getting Tattoos for me was the ability to show them off.

On my back I have angel wings yeah not the white peaceful angels you are thinking about. I have angel of death wings because that is what I use to consider myself the angel of death. More times than not if you saw me then you were going to die just like the angel of death. So I thought it was appropriate. My chest is covered as well as my abdomen, my arms, my neck, only a few have any significance anymore the wings on my back, my sister's name, and the name of a friend a brother to me that died in a gang shoot out.

Revenging his death accounted for the first tear drop under my eye. The second tear drop I got when I took down the leader of my gang that came after me when I got out. Once I had taken down all of the members that choose to seek me out I took out the leader so I marked that kill with a tear drop. The third tear drop didn't come until years later when I assisted Ranger with a problem that my Angelito was having. If I had a tear drop for every kill my face wouldn't hold them all so I just get them when the kill is significant or it was somehow important to me I would mark it with a tear drop.

I looked at the guys at the front desk and I could see they were nervous. They understood innately to fear me good that would make my job so much easier.

I spoke first "¿Hablas Inglés? ¿Puedes entender lo que estoy diciendo hijos de puta tonto?" (Do you speak English? Can you understand what I am saying dumb fuckers?). Watching them closely I wanted to see if they were going to lie to me. They both nodded their heads that they understood what I was saying. Good.

I had some questions they were going to answer for me. "El día de hoy se dio a Stephanie un paquete antes de que me había escanearlo. Usted entiende que no es un protocolo de funcionamiento estándar? Quiero que me digas todo lo que recuerdo sobre el hombre o la mujer que entregó el paquete." (Earlier today you gave Stephanie a package before you had me scan it. You do understand that is not standard operating protocol? I want you to tell me everything you remember about the man or woman who delivered that package.)

I didn't bother to learn their names dumb fucker one and two was good enough for me. Hell they wouldn't be here long enough at the rate they were going to bother to get know their names and if they put my Angelito in danger again they won't have to worry about getting fired.

I could tell that dumb fucker number one didn't want to say anything but dumb fuck number two was sweating bullets. Interesting I noted to bring it up to Ranger and Tank to see if they had noted similar behavior. I was an expert at reading people and I could tell number one wasn't at all what he was pretending to be something was off with him. Just being there I felt that electric pulse shoot thru my body telling me to watch him.

Finally number two spoke up "Él era un hombre negro me dicen que alrededor de seis pies de altura, realmente no veo mucho de su cara como lo había en grandes gafas de sol y una gorra de béisbol, pero no creo que él era demasiado viejo yo diría a la edad de los primeros veinte años de media. Él también tenía tatuajes similares a algunos de los que usted tiene en su cuello. Él nos entregó la caja y se volvió y salió ni siquiera hablar." (He was a black man I would say around six feet tall, I didn't really see much of his face as he had on large sunglasses and a baseball cap but I don't believe that he was too old I would say around the age of early to mid twenties. He also had tattoos similar to some of the ones you have on your neck. He handed us the box and turned and walked out he didn't even speak.)

So the man that delivered the package was black, young, had gang tattoos and they just let my Angelito walk away with the package not knowing if it could cause her harm. Jesus fucking Christ how stupid could they be.

I looked at them and in my most deadly voice I told them "Así que deje a un tipo que cree que era un miembro de la pandilla le dan el paquete de Stephanie y que acaba de decidir que parte de ella sin tener que escanear primero. Te das cuenta de que he matado a gente por menos? Que ponen en peligro su vida una vez más de mierda y yo juro por la vida de mi madre que te mato. ¿Entiendes?" (So you let a guy who you believe was a gang member give you package for Stephanie and you just decided to hand it to her without having it scanned first. You do realize I have killed people for less? You endanger her life one more fucking time and I swear on my mother's life that I will kill you. Do you understand?)

They both nodded they couldn't speak they were trying to swallow the big ball of fear that had built up in their throat without swallowing their tongue in the process. While turning to walk away I reached down grabbed one of my many knives one in both hands as I stepped to walk away I quickly turned and threw both knives at the same time. Both of them met their target there was never a question they sunk deep into the chair cushion just to the right of their heads right at eye level. I was pretty certain those chairs were going to have to be replaced anyway after they finished pissing themselves .

I needed to talk to Ranger about the two new men. I wanted to request that they be assigned to me that away I could watch them closer and I could keep them away from Angelito. It would give me better access to number one and I could figure out what was going on with him. He didn't know I knew English so he may slip and say something in front of me. I walked back up the stairs to seven hoping that I wouldn't be interrupting. I was hoping the core team was still there with Angelito. I wanted to tell them what I learned about the delivery person. I had a feeling that Start Street would need our attention to get more information and we knew exactly how to extract information from Stark Street.

Ranger, Tank, Lester, and I had no problems dealing with the scum and trash of Stark street after all we spoke their language I guess you could say we had a symbiotic relationship we wanted them dead and they wanted to live so in order to keep their life they had to tell us what we wanted. It was truly a win win situation in my eyes. Hell even if they didn't agree then it was still a win in my book because we got to rid the world of one more fucking drug dealing, gun running, good for nothing fucking gang member.

Knocking on the door I waited for someone to answer.

RPOV

I had held Stephanie, Lester had held Stephanie, Tank and Bobby had tried to reassure her but the note from the stalker had really unglued her. She knew she was safe here safe with us but because he wrote that he could get her anywhere and no one would be able t stop him it had her rattled. I partly understood why but I also worried that she didn't trust us enough to keep her safe.

She should know that there is no length I wouldn't go to keep her safe. No matter what happened I would always come for her. I would always be there for her I would always fight for her. She was my life without her I wouldn't be able to breathe.

I was also thinking what I could do to those fuckers at the front desk. Nothing seemed to work nothing seemed to get thru to them. If it wasn't for the fact I needed them for those damn jobs I would just fire their asses. I didn't have time to get new guys in at this point and get them trained although I seriously questioned their training at this point.

There was a knock at the door and I briefly wondered who the fuck was that. Bobby got up to answer the door. He came walking back into the living room with Hector on his heels.

I could tell that Hector wanted to speak to me privately for a minute so I picked my Babe up off my lap. She had crawled up in my lap and was holding on to me like I was going to disappear any moment. "Babe Hector has something he wants to tell me. I am just going to step in the other room right now I won't leave without telling you okay?" She nodded.

I handed her to Lester on the end of the couch and she crawled up in his lap. I understood that she needed to know we were there she needed to understand and feel us there feel us protecting her. The stalker's note had really affected her deep down. I had never seen a note have such an effect on her. I thought the pictures would have more effect but it seemed that she had sort of forgotten about the pictures for the moment and was replaying each line of the note over and over in her head.

I got up to follow Hector into the other room with Tank following me.

TPOV 

I knew Hector had something he wanted to tell Ranger and I wanted to hear what was going on. So when Ranger got up I went with him.

We stopped in the Kitchen when Hector turned and started speaking in Spanish. He told us that he had visited the dumb fuckers down at the lobby. He said that he felt like something was off with dumb fucker number one. I believe that was Doug he was referring to. He said that he had put the fear of Hector into them for not following protocol. I almost chuckled at that. Most people would say the fear of God but in this case Hector was scarier than God.

It was what he requested that actually had me questioning what the fuck was going on. Hector always worked alone he never wanted anyone working with him. We never assigned anyone to work with him for fear he would kill them if they fucked up. He had requested from Ranger that Doug and Mike be assigned to work with him.

In a way this would be good because they could do a lot of the grunt work Hector does with running cables, doing the not so technical stuff that goes along with the technical aspects of installing, configuring a security system. Hector's talents would be better spent on the technology side of things this could be good for everyone involved including Rangeman. I just wasn't sure why he would want dumb fucker one and two to be the two. I mean he could pick any of the guys in Rangeman why pick those two when it was pretty clear that they couldn't seem to not fuck up a wet dream.

Something else motivated Hector to ask for them. Maybe he wanted to keep a better eye on them, or keep them from having access to my little girl. I am not sure but I knew enough to know it wasn't because he just all of sudden needed the additional help and wanted partners.

Ranger agreed to allow the two guys to work with him.

Hector told us that he was able to find out from the two men that a black man young to mid twenties with gang tattoos dropped off the box for my little girl. He said that they really didn't see his face because he had a baseball cap on and big glasses. We would pull it up on the security tapes and see what we could get from them along with what type of car he was driving.

Hector said that he thought we needed to make a trip to Stark Street and I could not have agreed more it was time to see what the streets were saying. Ranger agreed. Ranger signed the evidence bags and then had Hector sign them before taking them to the crime lab on the second floor. They did this to keep proper chain of evidence just in case something was found on the items.

He left telling us that we needed to replace the two chairs at the front desk. He told us about the guys pissing their pants and how he had sunk a knife into each of the chairs at head level. I would be willing to bet he did that while those two were sitting in the chairs. No wonder they pissed themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't give them a little shave on one side as well.

I chuckled thinking about the past twenty four hours those two have had. Their pinkie finger broken, dumb fucker written across their forehead, threatened by Cal and I, taken to the mats by Ranger, would have been more but they fight like girls and we took pity on them, then working at the desks that Lester and Stephanie had pranked, pulling a twelve hour shift at the lobby after working all night, and now Hector 'talking' to them and just wait until their learn their new assignments. I couldn't wait to tell them.

I turned and looked at Ranger. "Rangeman we need to find this fucking nut that is after my little girl. I have never seen her like she is. She has too much on her right now. With what's going on with that fucker Morelli, her parent's, and now this stalker, not to mention the stress of just her training I am afraid it is more than she can handle." He nodded.

"Tank do you think we should postpone her training? That is the one thing we can control in all of that. Not much we can do about Morelli or her parent's other than just be there for her." No one wanted to stop her training and while it was stressful it was also a way to work the stress out and it was teaching her to be aware of her surroundings as well as to better protect herself which is something we all wanted.

I shook my head "no man the more I think about it I think that is probably good for her not to mention it is keeping her in the building more and she isn't going crazy." He nodded his head in agreement.

Looking at me he said "We are going to go down to Stark Street and find out who that fucker was that delivered that box and who paid him to deliver it." I looked at him and smiled saying "now that sounds like a good plan." Maybe I would be able to take a little of my frustration out on some fucking gang members. Maybe I would get lucky and they would decide to not work with us.

He looked at me "I need to go talk to Stephanie for a minute then I want you, Lester, Bobby, Hector and I to pay a little visit to Stark Street and I don't care if we have to tear that fucking place apart we aren't leaving until we have the answers we want. Have clean up on speed dial just in case we need it."

RPOV

I walked into the living room Stephanie is still sitting on Lester's lap. He looks up at me and I can see the heart break in his eyes that I feel in my chest. He will be happy to go tonight and let out a little aggression. Like me when Stephanie is in danger his inner beast roars to life with the need to protect her. I can feel the beast within me just wanting to come out. I could hear it roaring within me I could feel it's desire to seek revenge, pass judgment, and deliver a proper execution. I was a one man show judge, jury, and executioner. I would hold it in until we got to Stark Street but there would be no promises there.

I walk up to my Babe and sat beside her and Lester. She crawls off of Lester's lap and onto mine.

She looks up at me "Carlos I don't know why those words have me so rattled. It's something about them that is just eating at me. They keep replaying in my head over and over. I know I am safe here. I know I am safe with you and my brothers but it is something about those words that just shake me to my core and I can't get them out of my head. I am sorry if I am being too clingy."

Clingy what the fuck? What would make her think that? I loved when she seeks comfort from my arms. I loved it when she seeks protection from my ability as a soldier, and I loved when I was able to hold her.

"Babe you aren't clingy. I love it when I get to hold you, comfort you, reassure you, and when I am able to protect you. Never apologize for those things." She looked up and kissed my lips gently and I returned the kiss gently.

Looking at her I told her "Tank, Lester, Bobby, Hector and I need to go out for a little while this evening. We are going to see if there is any word on the street about who delivered the package to Rangeman. Maybe if we can find out who delivered it we can figure out who it is that is stalking you." She didn't know how we were going to extract the information we wanted, she didn't need to know that we would tear Stark Street up if necessary. She would only worry and there was nothing for her to worry about.

She looked up at me and asked. "You think you will be able to find out who my stalker is?" I nodded my head "it is a good possibility yes." She smiled and then said. "I hope you do because if he had a name he would be a lot less scary to me than just being someone anyone out there." I could understand that. The unknown was always scarier than the known.

I asked her "We will probably leave here around twenty three hundred but we need to meet first and prepare ourselves. Would you like for me to send Cal up to sit with you would it make you feel better?" She hesitated. I could tell she wanted someone here but I could also see that she thought it made her appear weak or helpless. Not that she would ever be judged here or by any of my men especially Cal she didn't want to appear as the helpless scared weak woman.

"Babe I am sure Cal would love to hang out with you and watch some TV or maybe you could play some cards. Hell Maybe Hal or one of the other guys would like to join him and you all could have a little party watching movies or playing cards. I am sure they would love the downtime."

She smiled and nodded. "That sounds like fun maybe I will call him and see what he wants to do. I will leave it up to him if he wants to invite anyone else. Maybe he could invite the guys from the front desk they have had a tough couple of days. Maybe it would give them a chance to bond with the guys."

She is always so forgiving and trusting but I don't trust those fuckers and I don't want them in our apartment or that close to my Babe and I wanted my Babe to stay in our apartment. It was just an added layer of security. There was no seven button in the elevator you had to have the special fob to get it to go to the seventh floor. In order to open the door to the flight of stairs to the seventh floor you had to have the fob, and in order to open my apartment door you had to have another special fob which only the core team and Stephanie possessed. But the kicker is that you better have the fob for the elevator or stairway with you or the fob for the apartment door would never activate.

Without those fobs the door would not open the only way to get that door to open would be to blow it. It was a solid steel door that was five inches thick. A door's week spot is where the lock of the door connects with the jamb in my door case the jamb of the door was reinforced steel the bolt for the lock was multiple rods that came out of the door at three points one high, one low, and one in center that went a foot into the wall bolting into reinforced steel so there would be no kicking that door down. Hell that door was strong enough to stop a vehicle from bursting thru it not to mention a human.

"Babe I doubt if any of the men want to socialize with the new guys tonight. They are a little upset that they just gave you a package that could have harmed you. Maybe the bonding should wait until another night." I didn't want to tell her no and I didn't want to say they weren't welcomed here after all this was her home now as well as mine. I was just hoping that I could change her mind.

She looked at me and smiled. "Yeah I guess you are right, I doubt Cal would care much for having to be nice to them. You know he doesn't warm up to new people easily. I will leave it up to Cal if he wants to ask anyone." Whew I know Cal will be much happier about that.

I look at her and smile "Good plan Babe." I tell her giving her a kiss. "We have to go down to five and start planning I will call Cal and tell him to come up. Just remember when someone knocks on the door look at the screen to see who it is before you open the door." I remind her. That way she will feel even more secure as she will be able to see who is at the door before she opens it.

She nods. I look at the guys "I will meet you in the conference room in ten minutes. Go gear up." I tell them. I stand up picking Stephanie up with me she starts to protest but I silent her with a kiss as I make my way back to the bed room with her in my arms. It's time for Stark Street Ranger as my Babe refers to me when I dress a certain way to make an appearance.

In the bedroom I sit my Babe on the bed. I give her another quick kiss part of me doesn't want to leave her side but I put that thought out of my mind. I turn and walk into the closet. I put on my black cargo pants, black t-shirt, pull on my Kevlar vest. I put my knives on my side in my boot and one in my vest. I put my guns on one on the ankle, one in the holster on my side, one at my back. I pull on my gold chains and I put my diamond earring in my ear. I pull my hair back and tie it with a leather tie at the base of my skull. Lastly I pull on a black hooded sweatshirt.

I picked up my cell phone and wallet. Stepping out of the closet into the bedroom I see her laying on her stomach with her feet up in the air her hands propping up her head. She was waiting on me. When I stepped into the bedroom her eyes slightly widen when she took in my dress. I saw worry in her eyes when she realized I was wearing a Kevlar vest.

"Babe it's going to be okay. Nothing is going to happen to me it is just for precautions and safety that I am wearing this. I am not anticipating any problems. We are just going to be asking a few questions." I tell her. I silently hope she won't further question what we are going to do because I don't want to have to further explain what we are going to do to her.

She looks at me and I can tell she is sizing up what I am telling her trying to decide if she buys what I am trying to sell her. I forget sometimes how intuitive she is. She probably knows I am handing her a bunch of bull shit but she is allowing it because she doesn't want to know.

I walk over and open my arms she raises up on the on the bed and launches herself towards me. I catch her, I will always catch her. My lips crash on hers and now I definitely don't want to leave her. I will be anxious to get back to my Babe tonight to hold her, to make love to her. To feel that once again everything is right with the world.

But right now I have to keep her safe. That is my number one priority. Love her is something I can't not do and will always do but keep her safe and protect her that overrides everything else in my life. With renewed conviction I release her and let her slide down my body until her feet touch the floor.

Refusing to let go of her I put my arm around her as we make our way out of the bedroom. I grab my cell phone and hand it to her. "Want to call Cal and ask him to come up?" I ask her. She nods and takes the phone. Dialing his number she waits for him to answer.

"Hey Cal" I hear her say. She pauses "I am okay" she says kind of weakly. "I…I was wondering if you wanted to come up and hang out with me. Ranger has to leave for a little bit and I thought maybe if you would like….if you would like you could come up we could watch a movie….or…play some cards. You….You want to?" She was nervous about asking him. I wondered if she thought he would say no. I knew he would jump at the opportunity to spend some time with her. "Good. I will see you in a little bit." I could hear the happy in her voice and it made me smile. I knew she didn't want to be alone.

Cal would be a good distraction it would keep her from going over and over what that son of a bitch had written in the note. I then heard her "If you want you could ask some of the other guys to join us. I am going to leave it up to you. I will see you later." She hung up and handed me the phone.

I looked at her and smiled "I take it that he said yes." I ask her chuckling a little. She nodded. "Yeah he said that he would be up in a little bit." Good. I kiss her again before heading to the door. She follows me.

"Carlos, be careful tonight. Know I love you more than life. Please take care of that life for me when I am not there to care for it and protect it." I take her in my arms. "Babe" it was all I was able to say at the moment and then I kissed her for all I was worth, all my love, all my desire, all my breath and all my life.

"Have fun with Cal and any of the guys he brings up with him. I will see you when I get home. If it gets to late go ahead and go to bed so you can get your rest. I promise I will wake you up when I get home." I look at her straight in the eyes so she can the truth in what I am about to tell her. "I promise you I will be careful tonight and I promise you I will come back to you. I will always come back to you." With that said I gave her a final kiss and turned to go down the stairs to the fifth floor to meet the guys.

CALPOV

Angel called me asking me if I wanted to come up and watch TV with her or play cards. I could tell when she was on the phone she was uncertain about asking me. Of course I would do it. I would never say no to her. I enjoyed spending time with her. It was good for my soul.

I thought about asking some of the guys but then decided that I would like to just spend the evening with her. I figured we would watch a movie maybe play a hand or two of cards. Just hang out and talk. I wasn't much of a talker but I could talk to her. With her it came easy.

I grabbed my iPod and laptop just in case we got bored we could listen to some music or play on the computer and I headed up to the seventh floor.

I knocked on the door and a few minutes later she opened the door. I could see worry in her eyes. "Hey Angel how are you doing?" She looks at me and half way smiles "I am okay" she says. I think yeah but barely. I briefly wondered what had happened since I left her this afternoon. She seemed fine in the gym.

We walk into the living room and I sat down on the far end of the couch and she sat down on the other end. She looked at me "You want to watch a movie?" She asked me I would watch a movie but it didn't really matter what we did. I did want to know why she seemed a little off.

"Sure we can watch a movie, but can I ask you something? If it is too personal just tell me to shut up and I won't say any more." She looks at me and nods.

"May I ask you what happened today after our training session? You seemed happier then than you do now. I was just wondering if something happened that I wasn't aware of."

She looked at me first like she wasn't quite certain what to say or even think. "Well I got a package today from my stalker. That is where Ranger, Tank, Lester, Bobby and I believe Hector are going now. They are going to Stark Street to see if they can find any information out on who delivered the package. According to the new guys who were on the front desk, a guy with gang tattoos delivered the package but they weren't really able to see his face because of sunglasses and a baseball cap."

She turns on the sofa to face me with her feet in the cushion between us. She wrapped her arms around her knees and hugged them close to her body laying her head on the top of knees.

God I just wanted to pull her in my arms and comfort her. Being around Stephanie just came natural to me which was so unnatural to me that I had to sometimes school myself not to just reach for her. I don't warm up to people easily. It takes me time. It isn't that I am stuck up or feel like I am too good it's more that I have to make my mind up about the person first.

I have to decide if I like the person for who that person is really is. So I tend to watch and evaluate people actions, the way they treat other people, the way they treat me, their actions. I have to take time to figure out if I can trust that person. If I can and I don't see them act in some way that goes against my moral code then I can let my guard down and consider them a friend. Usually it takes time.

It's nothing for me not to speak to a new recruit for a year or more before I decide if he is someone I can trust and be friends with and often times I discover that they aren't for one or another reason. Most assume I am an asshole but I really don't give a fuck the ones that are worth calling a friend in the end are the ones that don't make assumptions and they are still there when my decision is made.

With Angel it came easy. She immediately wormed her way into my heart. I remember the day I first saw her. I was at the bar and her and Ranger came in and sat down in a booth. I don't know what he said to her but I saw him point to me and she looked at me and her eyes widened when she took me in.

My size is intimidating at six seven and then I have a flaming skull tattoo on my forehead. Her eyes widened in fear at first and then the longer those blue eyes bored into me the more I unraveled before her. She then gave me a slight smile and turned back to Ranger continuing her conversation.

I remember wondering who she was. I remember thinking that I wanted to get to know her. I remember the desire to walk up and introduce myself but Ranger would have had my ass on the mats for sure.

I knew he was laying claim when he didn't ask me over or come over and introduce her to me. Hell any other time he would have had me join him and his guests but not that time. Nope he barely even acted as though he knew me.

Well I was right about her. I instantly knew I could trust her. I instantly knew that she was someone that I could and would consider a friend. What I didn't know was that I would come to love her as family and consider her a sister the sister I never had.

I was an only child. My parents were different than most. No one knew this but my mother was an actress on Broadway. My dad wasn't anyone famous but he played a trumpet for some famous people like Barry Manilow and was CEO of a company called replay solutions but most of all he had supported and loved my mom from the very beginning. They had an ageless love one that I would love to find one of these days if the truth be told. One that I never thought would be possible for me until I met Stephanie.

I realized that people could see past my size, my tattoo, and even my outward standoffish appearance and see me for who I was one who was able to overlook and forgive me of my past sins. That knowledge allowed that hope that someday I would find a woman who could love me as much as I have the potential to love them. My Angel gave me that hope that light that maybe my decisions in life wouldn't lead me down the dark lonely path I once believed I was on. Was there any doubt now why I loved her and why I called her Angel? She was my saving grace my Angel.

Watching her just hugging her legs to her I watched as a tear slides down her cheek. Oh shit. I hated when she cried. I don't know what to do when women cry in front of me. Fuck.

I do the only thing I know to do cringing I asked her "want to talk about it?" She first just shakes her head no. But then after a minute I hear her say.

"He said that he could just come and take me, that they wouldn't protect me, they couldn't protect me. That he could just take me and make me. Force me. Things would go easier on me if I just let him meaning not fight him that I should just let him. That when he was ready he would come and take me wherever I was." I wasn't really following her as the words were a little jumbled and mumbled. I wasn't sure if she was talking to me or just talking out loud.

Who the fuck was going to take her and who wouldn't protect her? "Angel what are you talking about? Who is going to take you, force you? What are they going to force you to do honey? Who can't protect you? Talk to me, tell me what's going on in that head of yours."

She looked up at me and she appeared so small so sad that it almost broke my heart seeing her like that. I would do what I could to take that look off of her face. "I told you my stalker sent me a box today. Well he wrote me another note along with pictures. The pictures this time were pictures that he had taken of himself with another woman. Of course the only parts in the picture were non identifying body parts. You know personal….private… parts." She took a breath.

I was going to have to take a breath as well because I could tell where this was going with what she had already said and what I was hearing and some fucker out there better be finding a very big, very deep hole in some foreign fucking country to hide in for a very long time if he wanted to retain his life for any length of time. He won't be around long if I get my hands on him.

She continued "Well his note said that he would come get me and no one would stop him. That you all couldn't protect me and that you wouldn't protect me. He said it didn't matter how many he could just take me when he was ready. He said that I would be with him in the positions that he sent me in the pictures and that I better just go with it or it wouldn't be good for me." Another tear feel down her cheek.

I reached for her and pulled her towards me holding her while she cried. "Angel, listen to me. I know for a fact that everyone in this building would lay down their life to protect you. No one is going to come here and just take you. I don't give a shit who they are it doesn't matter. We would protect you at all cost. Ranger, Lester, Tank, Bobby, Hector, Me, and all of the rest of the guys we will all protect you trust me no one is going to take you. It would be over all of their dead bodies my dead body and that isn't going to happen."

She nods. "I know that."

"Then why are you so upset. Why are you crying?"

She looks up at me "I keep hearing the words over and over and even though I trust you all and I know they aren't true I can't shake them. I can't stop thinking about them. It's like they are haunting me replaying them over and over in my head like a record stuck. I know you ,Ranger, and the guys think I am questioning you and them and your ability to keep me safe and that isn't true I trust you all with my life, I trust you all will keep me safe, and protect me but those words just won't stop ringing in my ears. Like a bad dream you know it isn't true but for those first few moments when you first wake up you aren't quite sure if it is or was real or if you were actually just dreaming. It's like that only it hasn't gone away. No matter what they said you say I can still hear the words that were written. I hate it because I feel like you all think I don't trust you and I do but it is just something about those words that has me coming unglued."

"Angel it's okay. We all know you trust us just as we trust you. Sometimes we feel ways we can't always explain. It's okay. No one is judging you for how you feel. We know you trust us. We would never doubt that. We are just trying to reassure you so you won't be afraid."

She turns so her back is against the side of my arm her head is resting on my bicep her feet are stretched out in front of her. She looks back over her head at me "Cal, have you ever been afraid? I mean like really afraid." Oh shit bad asses didn't do afraid at least not admittedly.

I try to skirt the issue "Everyone has been afraid at one point in their life." I tell her. She shakes her head. "No I know that. But I want to know if you have ever been afraid. I mean really afraid like you didn't know what to do afraid."

Oh shit I was sunk. "I don't know about not knowing what to do but yes I have been afraid many times in fact." She looks up again at me

"Can you tell me about one time when you were afraid? If it is too personal or classified I understand you don't have to tell me."

I let out a breath. "Angel, I have been scared on missions that I can't tell you about. I have been afraid, afraid that I wouldn't make it out. Afraid that I would fuck up something and get one of the men I was responsible for killed. It is natural to be afraid. Only a stupid man wouldn't be afraid."

She interrupted me "Ranger is never afraid." She told me.

"Angel, Ranger is a man like all of us. Granted he is a legend in the field and the best of the best but he is a man. He has fears, he gets scared, and he has been afraid before he just does a damn good job of hiding it from the rest of the world." Ranger is so going to kick my ass for telling her that.

I don't know what got into me but all of sudden I didn't know when to shut the fuck up. "I know that I have been afraid several times since I have been at Rangeman. Most of them have involved you." I told her while I nudged her with my arm that she was leaning against. She looks up at me "me" she says. I nod.

"Yeah you. I know a couple of times I was afraid we were too late to save you. I know a couple of times I was afraid you were too close to one of your cars that exploded. I also know I wasn't the only man in this building afraid. I have seen almost every man in this building afraid because of you."

She nudges me back pushing her back into my arm. "I wasn't talking about being afraid for someone else. I mean being afraid for yourself. Have you ever been afraid for you? Ever been afraid that something would happen to you or could happen to you that you wouldn't be able to stop?"

"Yeah I have been afraid for me before." She looks up at me "tell me about it." She asks me.

"Well when I was a kid one time I was afraid I wouldn't live to see my next birthday when my mom and dad caught me." I was going to have to tell her what no one in this building new. "My Mom and Dad are different in some ways. My mom is a Broadway star and my dad well he use to play the trumpet he still does but now he is the CEO of a company in California."

She looks at me with widen eyes. I can see the questions behind those baby blues. "I guess I was somewhere around ten or so when this happened. My mom was performing in Guys and Dolls a musical on Broadway. She was rehearsing one day and brought me with her to her theater. Well I heard someone call the dice lucky so I went around and stole all the dice including the special ones that were faceless. I was so nervous that I thought if they caught me they would kill me because it cost them a day of rehearsals looking for the dice and finally having to get new ones."

"Did they catch you?" she asked me I shook my head no and I reached into my pocket and took one of the faceless die out and showed it to her. "You carry that around all the time?" She asked me.

I shrugged "Yeah it reminds me of my mom. I told her years later that I was the one that took them. She said she knew all along and laughed about it." I tell her. Its official because of Stephanie Plum I am going to have to cash in my bad ass card.

She looks at me "I wish I had a relationship where I would want to carry something to remind me of my mom. I have always wanted that kind of relationship with my mom. Instead I get the relationship that unless I do what she says she wants nothing to do with me." Damn sometimes she just couldn't catch a fucking break.

I take her hand and turn it over. I place the die in her hand and I close her fingers around it holding her fist closed with my hand. "Here take it and keep it. Next time my mom is in New York I will take you and introduce you to her. I am sure she will love you she has always wanted a daughter. Just don't be surprised if she drags us to a Broadway Show she usually does when I go. I think it is a way for her to share her world with me when I see her."

She turns and looks at me. "Really? You want me to have this? Don't you want to keep it I mean it reminds you of your mom." I reach back into my pocket and take out the other one and show it to her.

"You have one and I have the other. I already consider you my sister so why not give you something from me to remind you that you have family. Me. Now not only when I look at my die will I think of my mom but now I will also think of my sister who has the matching die. I can't think of anything that would make happier or mean more to me."

She grabbed me in a crushing hug. "I will keep it forever and treasure it for even longer." She tells me. I can't help but smile.

Now that I have gone this far fuck it I might as well just flush my bad ass card completely down the toilet. I grab my laptop. The last time I visited my mom in New York she took me to a musical called Wicked. There was a song I heard during the musical that made me think about my Angel.

"Angel, there is a song I want you to hear. I first heard it last time I visited my mom and she forced me to go see the musical Wicked. It reminded me of you. The song is called "For Good" and once you hear it you will understand why it reminded me of you. But I will tell you. Because I know you I have been changed for good."

I pull the song up on youtube and play it for her. When it got to the point that it said who can say if I've been changed for the better but I believe I have been changed for the better I started singing along. Most people didn't know that I could sing. It was a gift from my mom. My mom loved to sing with me and often tried to get me to sing with her whenever I visited.

Her mouth dropped open in shock. Yeah I guess looking at me I would be in shock too. It isn't what you expect from someone of my stature. She smiled big. "Oh My God Cal. You can sing. I mean really sing. Like star quality sing. Sing something else for me. Please." Oh hell I didn't think she would ask me to sing her something. I am going to have to make her promise me that she won't repeat this evening. I might even end up having to threaten her. If this gets out I am sunk with these guys.

I will have to do something horrendous to get my man card back let alone bad ass card. Luckily I am bigger than most of them so I can at least beat most of their asses but a few of them have me there. Lester is smaller but he can take me on most days. Tank and Ranger I have no chance with. I probably don't have much of a chance with Bobby. Hal is the only one close in size but I think I could take him. So it may not be so bad but Lester, and Tank won't let me live this down. Ranger will get his digs in when Stephanie isn't around. Shit.

I just hit replay and started singing the song from the beginning. The whole time I am singing Stephanie is sitting there with her eyes glazed over listening to me. Maybe my torment will be worth it. It isn't like those fuckers wouldn't do anything to make her smile, or make her feel better. But because they are out being total bad asses and tearing up Stark Street I am here doing whatever it takes to take Angel's mind off of it and her stalker.

When I see her smile and tear appear on her chin I can't help but feel like I somehow got the better end of that deal.


	24. Chapter 23: Stark Street Ranger

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**I want to thank everyone who writes a review for my story. I enjoy reading them and I love ideas they give me so keep them coming! You do my soul good!**

Chapter 23: Stark Street Ranger

RPOV

I left my Babe in the apartment and headed down to the conference room. I wanted to briefly meet with the guys and give them the plan. The plan is a very basic plan. We load up on firepower and we head down to Stark Street and we start ripping the street apart until we get the information that we want.

The plan couldn't be any simpler but I always like going over the plan prior to doing anything. It is all about being prepared and knowing what to expect. That way we would all be on the same page.

Walking into the conference room the other men were already there. Tank, Bobby, Lester, and Hector were sitting around the table with smiles on their faces. They already knew what the plan was going to be and they were going to have a little fun.

"Men really quickly before we head out I just want to make it clear that we are going to obtain information on who delivered that fucking box here today. We are going to find that son of a bitch and we are going to make him talk. I want to know who this fucker is and I when I do it will be us that puts a stop to him. I look at each man individually. This will be taken care of by Rangeman I don't want the fucking cops involved do I make myself clear?"

They all nod. "We are going to make quite the scene on Stark Street. Not that they don't already know who we are and fear us but tonight if they don't answer our questions there will be no mercy. If you sense that trouble is about to happen you take care of the situation before it has a chance to. Don't wait to be shot at if you get even the inkling that they are going to fire on you, you kill that fucker before he has the chance to even make a move."

They all nod. "I want them to fear us so fucking bad that they would never again in a million years deliver a package to Rangeman. Fuck I want them so afraid that they wouldn't even touch a package designated for Rangeman, do I make myself clear?"

Once again they all nodded. "Good. I don't want to have to repeat myself and fucking up isn't an option tonight consider this a mission just as you would if we were in some god forsaken foreign fucking country because it is more important. We are going to find this fucker or we are going to tear Stark Street apart."

I was fucking serious. I had no intention of leaving there without the information I was seeking. I didn't care if I left all of Stark Street in ruins that would make the streets of Bagdad during the height of the war look like Disney world.

"I will have cleaners on standby if needed but I want to put the fear of God in them to the point that should the police decide to respond to that area that they would be too afraid to say who we were, and what happened because I will promise them if they do we will come back and it will be worse the second time around."

Yes, I wanted blood. The beast inside me was roaring and the only way to settle him would be to find this fucker and it didn't matter what I had to do to find him. It didn't matter if I had to go thru someone to find him. I was going to find him and the better cooperation I got the better treatment they would receive from me.

All of the men nodded I stood up and they stood up and we headed out of the room. We went down to garage and walked into the weapons room. This was a room where we housed all of the big weapons. The weapons that you couldn't fire in the firing range we had grenades, rocket launchers, sniper rifles, smoke bombs, c4 bombs, .50 caliber machine guns, flash bangs, you name it we had it. We all loaded up grenades, smoke and c4 bombs, flash bangs, and even the rocket launcher. We were going to hurt the drug dealers, gun runners, and pimps where it hurt their wallets. They would talk fast enough. If not their businesses would suffer when there would be no place for their women, their guns, or to process their drugs. They would be screaming like the fucking pussies they were.

LPOV

I watched as Ranger loaded his belt, and pack and I knew he meant business. I started doing the same packing the things that I thought might be fun to play with on Stark Street.

I was worried about Beautiful I didn't really like the idea that she was going to be waiting for us alone in the Penthouse. I knew she would be safe but the whole core team and Hector would be away from the building. I know it was stupid that there were other men in the building more than capable of protecting her but she had been so upset earlier.

That thought fueled my anger more and I could once again hear the monster within roaring to be let free. I would let him free soon enough. I just needed to hold himin until we got to Stark Street. There he could come out and appease himself even reveal in the destruction we will cause. I just hoped it would be enough to appease him and settle him.

While I was packing my bag I looked at Ranger I could see had some of the same thoughts going thru his head. He was on edge about leaving Stephanie and yet the monster in him was barely below the surface. Looking closely you could see it in his eyes as he was packing his bag. You could see him thinking thru the capture and revenge of this fucker.

Looking at Ranger "Ranger how was she when you left? Was she still upset?" He stopped and looked at me. The other guys paused we were all waiting to hear what Ranger had to say.

"Santos, she was still rattled. She tried to put on a big show that she was fine and was just worried about us and to some extent I think she was but she was still rattled." I knew it.

"Do you think she will be okay by herself until we get back?" I asked him.

"She isn't by herself. She called Cal and asked him if he wanted to watch a movie with her or play some cards. I suspect he is up there already with her. He will take care of her while we are gone." I nodded my head. He would watch over her and let her know that he was there for her. He would protect her with his life.

I felt good that he was with her. He would have been my choice of the men left here to sit with her had she been my girlfriend or wife so I am not surprised he was Ranger's choice. Looking at Tank, Bobby and Hector I could see they also agreed. I could see they were a little more relaxed about leaving especially Hector.

I hadn't really realized how protective he was over Stephanie until recently. I swear I think he would kill even us if we somehow managed to hurt her. Not that anyone in this building would intentionally hurt her it simply would not happen. Everyone in this building loves her and everyone in this building would gladly give their life for her no questions asked.

I finish loading my bag with enough firepower to take down two Stark Streets. Together we have enough firepower that we could do damage to a small country not to mention Start Street. We all start to head out to the SUV. We pile in one. We are going to make a big enough scene we don't need to be too conspicuous out there.

RPOV

I still wasn't sure about leaving Stephanie. She seemed so shook up concerning the letter her stalker had left her. But I needed to find the person who delivered that damn box. It was our biggest lead to her stalker so far and I knew we waited we lose him.

I wanted to find the son of a bitch and make sure he was never able to harm Stephanie. To say that I was pissed well that doesn't even come close to what I am feeling seething, raging , furious even those don't do it justice.

I am glad Stephanie had called Cal and asked him if he would want to watch a movie with her or play cards with her. I knew he would keep her safe not that she needed additional protection in my building but I knew he would help her with what she was going thru over that fucking letter. I knew him being there would reassure her that the letter was just a bunch of bullshit that was meant to scare her. It had unfortunately succeeded she was very shaken up by it.

Cal had agreed I didn't doubt for a second that he wouldn't say yes. He loved spending time with Stephanie. He considered her a sister one he never had and he enjoyed hanging out with her. I suspect part of that was because she was a beautiful woman who didn't judge him because of his flaming skull tattoo but I wasn't jealous.

I never got jealous of my men. I knew she would always be faithful to me, like I would always be to her and I knew that none of the men in my building would ever take liberties with her. I did however know that if I fucked up this relationship with her I would have a long line of men ready to kick my ass and they would all line up to take her from me.

Sometimes I am not sure what is the worst the ass kicking or the knowing they would be right there viding for her attention.

We pull up to the corner or Stark Street looking around only renewed my feelings about getting the information we wanted. I didn't care if I had to tear this whole street apart we wouldn't stop until we got the information.

I looked at Tank and Bobby "you two go to the other end and you work your way back toward us. If you find something you hold that person I want to talk to them. Blow everything in sight until we have the information we want. Watch your back" I tell them.

Stepping out of the SUV I decided to make our presence known to all around. I reached down grabbed one of the grenades pulling the pin I launched it into one of the bangers cars and watched as the car was blown to hell. I knew this was the busier end of Stark Street Tank and Bobby wouldn't have any problem on the other end.

Just as I expected and wanted people came out of the cracks and crevices of the street like cockroaches or rats in the sewer when light hits them.

They knew better than to advance on us or pull their weapons. They knew if they did they would be dead before they had the ability to aim let alone pull the trigger.

Granted we were outnumbered and out gunned but we didn't need to kill them all we just needed to kill them, one, no one wanted to be that one and they knew without a doubt that we would kill them that wasn't a question.

Once I had their attention I yelled so they could all hear me. "Someone delivered a package to Rangeman earlier today. I want to know who delivered it. I want to know where the man is." I gave them a minute for someone to step forward or to speak but no one did.

They were going to make me do this the hard way so it seemed. I looked at Lester and smiled. It was a smile that said let's have some fun and let's light these fucker's world up.

Nodding back he pulls the pin on another grenade and launches it into another one of the vehicles on the street.

I then looked at Hector and he launched a smoke bomb into one of the crack slash whore houses in front of him. Once all of the people ran out coughing and chocking he launched one of the c4 bombs into the window and we all watched as the house blew.

I yelled again "I want the name and location of the man who delivered a package to Rangeman." Waiting again for an answer I watched as they looked at each other questioning whether to say something whether to tell me anything, big mistake.

I look at Hector and he launched a grenade into a meth house soon as it exploded the fumes from the drying process of making the drug ignited and the house went up engulfed in flames.

Obviously these people were willing to lose a lot tonight to keep that information but what they didn't know was I didn't give a fuck I would destroy their whole fucking street and everyone on it if they kept fucking with me.

I looked back at the group that had now huddled together. I didn't repeat myself I just paused looking at them watching them to see if one of them would start talking.

One fucker made the mistake of stepping forward and attempted to raise his weapon I shot him between the eyes before he had even raised his weapon. He was dead before he even realized what hit him. The only thing left for him at this point was his fall to the hard pavement which he wouldn't feel anyway.

The others jumped back further and raised their hands to me in surrender I didn't want them to surrender I wanted information.

I took a step closer and I could smell the fear I wouldn't doubt that half of them had pissed themselves. Scanning the crowd I picked my victim. No it wasn't the weakest it was the strongest. If I broke the strongest then I owned the weakest.

That is the mentality of a gang. Grabbing him I tossed him in the middle of us. I deliberately turned my back on the gang members and crowd that had huddled together. They wouldn't try anything not until they saw what happened with the guy I had selected.

They wanted to live after all so they would watch and see what happened then they would decide if they would want to fight or sit this one out. They were after all about self preservation. They were selfish and greedy they wouldn't consider giving their life for someone else and right now making a move to protect this fucker in front of me would be them giving their life.

I looked at the guy and asked him "What's your name?" he looked at me I could see him sizing me up. Wisely he answered stuttering with fear "T…they call…call me.. ttt…T".

Seriously T I think. "Well T I want information, are you going to help me get the information I want?" I ask him. He was looking at us and I could tell that he didn't want to but I also knew before I was done with him he would be singing like a canary.

Looking at him I sneered "So T what do you do here? What do you push women, guns, drugs or a combination? Which gang are you a member of?"

I already knew I understand the gang tats and the colors worn but I wanted to see how he would answer me. If he lied to me I would make sure he would never make that stupid mistake again. T shaking in his shoes answered "I…d..don't be..belong to…toa g..g..gang. ButI..havvee woomeen. H…how about I h..have one of…ofthem…serv..service you…forfree man?"

Jesus fucking spit it out I felt like slapping it out of him. "Spit it out already damn it I don't have time for your stuttering shit." I tell him. All that trouble talking and the fucker lies to me as for his offer I don't think so.

I like my dick attached and god only knows what one of his women has not to mention there will never be another woman now that I have my Babe.

I look at him and I glare at him and say "wrong answer" I swing hitting him in the ribs breaking at least two of them as my fist makes contact. He screams in pain, what a fucking pussy.

Looking at him again "One more chance, answer the fucking question truthfully this time." I tell him.

He nodded and caved. "I am with the slayers and we push drugs you already blew up one of the houses we use to produce the drugs. The others are up the street further." He pointed. I thought you are giving information to the enemy.

I nodded to Hector and he walked up the street a little ways until he was standing in front of the houses.

I focus my attention back on T in front of me. "Do you know who it was that delivered the package?" I asked him again and he shook his head no. I smiled oh this is too much fun. Some days I loved my job.

I gave Hector the signal and another meth house bit the dust T yelled when it exploded, he was getting pissed and all I could think was bring it on mother fucker because this was going to be fun. The beast was just itching for a fight.

Circling him in my most lethal voice I command him "Answer me" I give him a minute. "I know there is talk on the street unless you want to be out of business I suggest you fucking answer me."

Half begging and half crying now he says "I ssswear I haaaven't heard any..anything. I..I don't kkknow."

I look up at Hector and give him another signal and the drug dealer's third house goes up in flames. I looked at him my voice cold as ice "Well you are no good to me if you don't know anything."

I swing and my fist breaks his nose, blood splattering all over his face and my knuckles. I then give him a quick kick to the ribs and then a kick to the leg effectively breaking more ribs and his leg. Before I deliver the final blow I tell him "you better come up with a damn good excuse for what happened to you tonight. If I hear you mentioned me or Rangeman as the cause you won't have to worry about making up any other excuses." With that I delivered the final block effectively knocking him out. Hey I cut him some slack he had his life the fucker should be thankful.

I turned my attention back to the crowd "Anyone ready to fucking talk?" I asked them while I was searching for my next victim. I could see them all cower back from me. I gave Lester the sign and he effectively blew up three more of their vehicles.

LPOV

Ranger was truly tearing up Stark Street. I knew he was pissed and I knew the beast within him wanted revenge but I honestly thought he would more scare them than actually tear it up. But he wasn't shitting when he said he was going to get information or Stark Street would never be the same.

Some mother fucker better start talking because they have no idea what is about to be unleashed on their sorry asses. I have seen him on missions I know what he is capable of I know what he can do and I know this is a third of his ability. H e is holding back.

I can also see that he is losing control that the beast is coming more and more out of its cage and in a way seeing that was awakening the monster in me more. We are brothers in arms. We fight for each other and we fight together. The monster and beasts that lie within us feed off of each other. They depend on each other and they are there for each other.

Seeing the beast within Ranger coming out calls the monster within me. After all we have each other's back.

Ranger signals me and the monster within me responds. I launch grenades into three more cars blowing them to hell. I set my sites on a shop that chops cars. I hate car choppers. I am a classic car buff I have a nineteen sixty four Mustang GT. a nineteen sixty three Corvette Sting Ray convertible, a nineteen sixty seven Mustang Shelby GT500, and a nineteen sixty Corvette all are fully restored and I know what they would do to those cars if they got their hands on any of them. Most of those cars are valued more than a hundred thousand so they wouldn't think twice chopping them for the parts or selling them on the black market.

I pull the rocket launcher out take aim and blow the chop shop to hell along with whatever cars they were currently "working on" I didn't give a shit.

I walked up to the crowd "Someone asked you mother fuckers a question and I suggest someone answer it." I searched the crowd starring at each one until they coward in fear. No one wanted to come forward with anything. I just reach into the crowd and grab some stupid mother fucker by the hair and pull him forward.

I wasn't fucking with these people I wasn't going to waste time. I was going to find out what we wanted to know before I was done. I threw the guy down on the pavement on his knees. Still holding his hair in my hands I pulled his head back until he was looking at me. I could see the fear in his eyes.

Looking at him "you have one minute to tell me what the fuck I want to know if you don't tell me then I cut something off do I make myself clear?" I ask him. Sweat breaks out across his forehead but he nods.

Holding his hands up in a surrender suggestion which doesn't mean shit to me so long as the fucker starts telling me what I want to know. He doesn't start talking soon enough and I grab my knife and run it across his eye brow effectively shaving off his eye brow. He is lucky it wasn't his fucking ear in foreign countries I didn't fuck with eyebrows I went for ears, then fingers, you get the picture. This fucker had on those ugly ass fucking guy sandals that no man alive should ever wear maybe I would start with his toes if it came it to actually removing body parts.

While I was waiting Ranger and the guys were effectively blowing up everything around us. Cars, buildings, houses, it didn't fucking matter they were going up faster than fireworks on the fourth of July.

Just guessing I would say that more than half of the people standing around had pissed themselves and I bet a few had even shit themselves.

I looked down at the guy this time I was up sneering at him "your time is up." I tell him as he tries to violently shake his head against my hand and beg me to stop. I quickly shaved the other eyebrow off letting the knife slip a little I gave him a nice little gash on the side of his head…it wasn't deep and it wasn't big but it would effectively bleed all face wounds bleed bad so I knew it would be enough blood for him to think I shaved his skin off this time. Like a pussy he screamed.

While I was holding him a gang banger came running out of a dark alley screaming with his gun drawn as if he was going to fire on us. Before the scream left his body he was dead and falling to the pavement.

I put the blade to his forehead as if I was going to scalp him but he started talking so I paused.

"I don't know who…all I know is that someone got busted…by a cop…earlier today for dealing drugs…but then was back on the streets within a couple of hours. I know he had enough drugs on him when he was busted to pull hard time. I don't know anything more than that. I don't know who, and I don't know the cop. Okay?"

I froze when I heard cop. I looked at Ranger and I could see rage behind his eyes even more than originally. I knew hearing that only made my desire for more information grow and I am sure it was the case for him. It also made me want to get closer to Stephanie because if it was Joe behind this then we had a problem. I am sure Ranger was fighting the same feelings. I have known him long enough to know he would want to get to her quickly as well. The whole core team was down on Stark Street while Stephanie was at Rangeman.

The knowledge of this and what we had heard was all it took for the beast in Ranger and the Monster in me to come to play. The people of Stark Street had no idea what was about to hit them.

I delivered a quick blow effectively knocking the man out. I noticed Ranger standing facing the crowd with both guns drawn one in each hand. I knew what he was going to do and I was going to join in. The more the merrier as they say. In this case the more, the more intimidating and intimidation is what we wanted. I looked at the crowd as I pulled out both of my guns with a gun in each hand I pointed them at the crowd in front of me.

Ready to fire if someone didn't start fucking talking.

HectorPOV

I had walked down the street blowing up meth houses, crack houses, business that fronted for gun runners. I keep my eyes on the Core team making sure no one was able to sneak up on them. I saw the gang banger coming out the alley before his scream ended I had effectively put a knife thru his jugular.

I had found a gang banger hiding out waiting for an opportunity for a surprise attack but the surprise was on him when I slit his throat before he even knew I was there. Stupid fucker needed to be more aware of his surroundings.

As I made my way down the street I came across a guy that fit the picture from the video. He had the baseball cap on, he had the same jacket, and he had aviator glasses hanging on his t-shirt. I briefly thought what a stupid fucker.

I walked around behind him and grabbed him by the back of his neck. He tried to fight but when my blade met his neck he decided to give in and walked with me back towards the crowd and the core team.

I felt a pulse run thru me and I knew danger was close. I grabbed my knife and without letting go of the fucker I was guiding I quickly spun and sent another gang banger to hell. They should have known better. They know me down here and they know that I bring death with me but there is always one dumb ass in the bunch that thinks they can get one over on me.

They should know that while I am not a member of their gangs I am the big fucking fish down here not even the heads of the gangs fuck with me because they know they won't be head for long. Oh well I guess in some ways you have to respect them for even having the balls to try.

As I make my way back to the core team I see Lester with a guy on his knees. As I step closer I hear what the guy is saying and I hear him say something about a cop. A pulse ran thru me at his words and I had to remind myself they didn't know I knew English.

I would be checking one cop out thoroughly when I returned. I had placed trackers on his car but I hadn't pulled up any information but I would now. I would see if I could coordinate anything with him. If it was him he would pay for scaring her the way he had. He would pay for doing this to her.

I threw the guy in front of Ranger with is guns drawn aimed at the crowd. Ranger raised his eyebrow at me.

RPOV

Who the fuck was this? I stood there with my gun still drawn on the crowd and now this fucker that Hector had shoved in front of me. I gave Hector a questioning look.

He looked at me and told me in Spanish that this was the dude that delivered the package. I turned my attention to the guy.

Looking at him I asked him "Did you deliver a package to Rangeman today?" I could see him take a big gulp and I had my answer. I clicked my phone signaling Tank that we had what we came for. It wasn't but a couple of minutes later that Tank and Bobby pulled up. Throwing the guy in the back of the SUV we got in and sped away.

I never looked back at Stark Street but I knew it would never be the same. The cops should be fucking thanking us because we effectively put a damper on the drug, gun running and prostitution in Trenton. The prostitution would be the only one that would continue the gun running and drug industry was severely crippled after our little trip.

I had what I had come for and we would take him back to Rangeman and put him in a holding cell where we would get the information we wanted from him. I would let him just chill for the night as I was anxious to get back to my Babe. After hearing a cop may be involved I had been itching to get back to her.

I didn't want the prisoner to hear about the cop so I didn't want to tell Tank and Bobby what we discovered until he was out of ear shot. I wanted to know if he would lie to me. I wanted to know if he would try and cover up anything. I wanted to know exactly his involvement before I would allow him to hear anything that would give him an edge over us.

It wasn't long before we were pulling back into Rangeman. We quickly grabbed the prisoner and took him to the basement where the holding cells are. We threw him in one and shut and locked the door. I didn't have to worry about posting guards there was no way he could get out. The door didn't even have a handle on the inside it opened by fob and he sure as fuck didn't have one of those. Other than that it wasn't opening.

He could bang all he wanted and be as loud as he wanted the room was completely sound proof and you couldn't see in the room unless you knew the code for the camera or knew the code that would clear the glass which was a two way mirror. Without those you couldn't see in or out from the room. He was in there in the dark where he would stay until we were ready to interrogate him.

I looked at the guys walking back to the elevator, it's the only way to access the basement floors and yes you need a fob or you wouldn't know they were there. Plans of the building didn't include a basement so without the fob for the basement access you would never know it exists.

I looked at Bobby and Tank saying "we found out that a cop may be involved. The guy we are holding was busted this morning for dealing drugs. According to the guy Santos interrogated he had enough to go away for a while but was free this afternoon. And he delivered a package to Rangeman." I saw them pause for a second. Yep they had the same feeling I had.

I told Hector the same thing in Spanish and I could see he was thinking the same thing. If it was Joe he would be dead, cop or no cop. If it was him and he thought because he was a fucking cop he could come into Rangeman and take her out of this building and we wouldn't stop him then he had another fucking thing coming.

TPOV

When we pulled up on Stark Street Ranger looked at me and Bobby and told us to go to the other end and start working our way back towards them. I wasn't sure if that was the best plan or not. I knew he had no intentions of leaving Stark Street without the information he was seeking but leaving him and Santos together may not be the best of plans.

If they lost control we wouldn't even be able to bring in cleaners for that fucking mess. There would be no one left on Stark Street and then someone would have to account for that shit. However, I knew better than to question him especially tonight. So I got behind the wheel and Bobby and I drove to the other end of Stark.

Looking at Bobby "You know this probably isn't the best idea for us to be that far away from Ranger and Santos" He nodded I could see he was in full agreement. "Here is the plan" I told him.

"We are going to go to the end and just start blowing shit up. We will see what information we can get but we will just keep blowing shit up working our way back as quickly as we can. I have no doubt that Ranger and Santos won't extract the needed information we need to focus on getting back there before they get out of control and wipe out the whole fucking street."

He nodded. Soon as I stopped the vehicle we both started launching grenades at the cars blowing them up while the people started crowding the streets in fear of what is going on.

Looking at the crowd that has gathered I asked them "Anyone know who delivered a package to Rangeman today?" No one spoke up or stepped forward. So be it I thought and Bobby and I proceeded to destroy whatever property we could. I didn't bother asking again.

We were steadily destroying whatever was before us when my phone chirped it was Ranger telling us to pick them up that they had what we came for. Signaling Bobby we jumped in the SUV and sped down the road to pick up the rest of the guys.

When we got there Ranger had a guy on the ground on his knees in both hands were his hand guns pointed at the crowd in front of him, Santos had both of his pointed at the crowd as well. Holy fuck they had come so close to completely wiping out everyone. They would have been like sitting ducks with those two firing at them.

Whoever the dude was knelling in front of Ranger the rest of the people on the street should be kissing his ass because he had affectively saved their lives. I noticed a few dead bodies and a couple that were just knocked out. Our cleaners would take care of them without any problems. I tapped my phone to alert them to be in route to our location.

Ranger loaded the guy in the back of SUV and everyone jumped in as we sped off heading to Haywood. Ranger, Santos, and Hector were quiet so I didn't say anything. I figured they would tell me when they were ready but I could sense an edge to all of them.

When we pulled into the garage we immediately went to the basement and locked the prisoner in the holding cell. Once the door was closed and he was unable to hear us Ranger filled Bobby and I in while we walked back to the elevator.

Looking at us Ranger said. "We found out that a cop may be involved. The guy we are holding was busted this morning for dealing drugs. According to the guy he had enough to go away for a while but was free this afternoon. And he delivered a package to Rangeman."

Holy fuck if Morelli is behind this he will fucking pay for this. What will that do to my little girl? I mean she was already upset that he could say those things to her and do what he had done when he had at one point said he loved her. To think that he may be responsible for the scenes in her apartment and the box she received that would devastate her. I even thought that would be a little farfetched for Morelli. But if we discovered it was him god help him because he wouldn't have to worry about breathing another day. We would rid the world of one seriously fucked up dude and a cop at that.

There is no way we can tell Stephanie this it would devastate her. We needed to be sure we needed to make sure it was in fact a cop and that it was Morelli beyond a shadow of a doubt before we said anything to her. If we fucked up and told her it was him and it turned out not to be him she would never forgive us.

The last note had her shaken to her core we had to be certain who this person was before we told Stephanie anything before we eluded to anyone. Know I understood why the men were so edgy in the car. They were just as upset as I was. One the rage at the thought it could and probably was him, and then the fear for what it would do to Stephanie to discover it was him. The knowledge of those two different but equally disturbing thoughts elicited feelings in me that for the first time I wasn't sure which was more powerful or what I needed to do more find Morelli and wipe him from the face of the earth or hold and protect Stephanie from the news of this to support her and help her thru what was going to be a devastating blow.

Stephanie had a heart of gold. She always saw the good in people she didn't tend to see the bad. That is why we loved her. She never saw the evil in people but we all knew that people are evil and sometimes it happens to be people we have loved and trusted that turn out to be most evil of all. We have all been let down by a brother in arms, a commanding officer, even a handler that thought the money they received was worth the tipoff that we were coming, was worth selling us out. Of course they soon regretted their decision and they were all burning in hell now paying for it but we were trained. We were trained to understand and deal with those emotions Stephanie wasn't.

My little girl is vulnerable because of her trusting ways and if this was Morelli he had violated her in ways that would be devastating. That could impact her emotional health not mention her physical well being. The more I thought about it the madder I became. I just wanted to pound the shit out of someone or something.

The more I thought about the scenes on her bed, the pictures in the box today the letters, the words that Morelli had said to her. The things he had done that we knew about from her past and while we knew her it seemed to fit into him possibly being her stalker.

Fuck she can't ever catch a break. I am still not going to say anything until we have more proof but I will be keeping a better eye on Morelli to see what the fuck he is up to.

RPOV

After I heard that a cop may be involved I wanted nothing more than to get back to Haywood. I needed to be here I wanted my core team here and Hector here. I knew the other men would guard her but if Morelli was involved and he came in with an arrest warrant they may allow him to take her from the building without knowing all of the facts.

That wasn't going to happen. He wasn't going to come in and arrest her and remove her from this building or anywhere else. I guess if he is her stalker we are lucky he didn't arrest her the day he pulled her over. The thought of him having the ability to take her sent a wave of rage and a shot of terror down my spine.

We didn't say anything further when we got on the elevator each of us were in our own world of thoughts over what we had potentially discovered tonight. I think part of all of us didn't want to believe that Morelli was capable of something so heinous but deep down inside I knew it fit. I knew it made sense for him to be her stalker. I just prayed that there was some other answer because telling her this would be pure torture on us. It would destroy her.

Not that she loved him or hell at this point even liked him really. I knew she was partially afraid of him after what he pulled with her when he pulled her over. But she always believed he loved her and in her mind when someone loved you they didn't treat you that way. She was already having a tough time coming to grips with what he had already done. How the fuck was she going to take this news?

I made the decision not to say anything. I wouldn't say anything to her until we knew for sure until we had some evidence linking him as her stalker. I feared that evidence was sitting down the holding cell of Rangeman as I made my way to my Babe.

I wouldn't be able to get her in my arms fast enough, but I knew I had to play it cool or she would pick up on something being wrong and then I would be forced to tell her more than I planned. I wasn't sure what I was going to tell her at this point I guess I would figure it out before I reached our apartment.

I got to the door and decided before I just walked in that I would let Cal know I was here. I clicked my cell phone to send a chirp to his phone to alert him. I didn't want to walk thru my door only to be greeted by some lead.

I knew with the way my Babe was when I left her that if she continued to be that unglued while Cal was here with her then he would become very protective of her. I suspected anyone walk in this apartment unannounced would be a dead man and personally I wouldn't want it any other way.

Just as I suspected when I opened the door Cal was standing there in the entry way of the living room with his gun in his hand making sure it was me that was coming thru the door and not someone else. Even though the likely hood of that happening would be slim to none I was proud to see his diligence at protecting my Babe.

I motioned for him to follow me to the kitchen. Peeking in I saw my Babe stretched out on the couch fast asleep. I couldn't help but feeling relief seeing her laying there asleep.

We make our way to the kitchen I wanted to let him know what we found out tonight and I wanted to tell him about the guy in the holding cell in the basement. I walked up to the sink and washed the dried blood from my hands and then reached into the refrigerator and got out two waters. Handing him one I opened the other.

Cal spoke first "how did things go tonight?" I nodded my head then I told him good. "We have the man that delivered the package in the holding cell downstairs. I will talk to him tomorrow but we heard some rumors about him being arrested today for dealing, then getting out of jail this afternoon when he had enough drugs on him to put him away for a while. There was some suggestion that a cop may have been behind him getting his get out of jail free card."

I saw Cal shake his head then he said "You don't think…could be that son of a bitch mother fucking cock sucking dick licking good for nothing cop that is her fucking x do you?" I briefly think tell me how you really feel there Cal. I see the rage boiling in his eyes.

I shrug "right now we don't know. There is no proof only a rumor of what someone told Santos. Before I say anything to Stephanie I want proof." He nodded in agreement.

"You know if it is true it is going to devastate her." He said and all I could do was nod in agreement I knew it would and I didn't know how to stop it. Everything in me was screaming it was him and yet I had no proof.

I was about to take another swallow of water when my Babe let out a blood curdling scream that had both of us dropping our waters and running towards her. I reached her first and grabbed her in my arms and held her against my chest.

She was crying and trying to talk at the same time. "ssshhh querida" I told her while I was rocking her in my arms. "It's okay I am here. Nothing is going to happen to you. Sshhh…it's okay Babe I promise you, you are safe here. It was just a dream Babe. You are safe." I tell her over and over until I could feel her start to calm down and take some calming breaths.

She was clinging to me like I was the last safe refuge on the planet. Not that I minded it actually felt great to have her so close but I just wished it wasn't because something had haunted her in her sleep. I had no doubt what it was that was haunting her.

I look at Cal and I can see the pained look in his eyes of wanting to be able to comfort her but not knowing how. I think welcome to the club.

Finally gaining control of her voice to the point that I could understand what she was saying. She said "Ranger I am sorry, I know I am safe here but I can't get the words from that letter out of my head. I dreamt that he just walked into Range and took me and no one was able to stop him. He just took me and he and when I looked at the man he was faceless. So screamed I guess that is what woke me up me screaming. I am sorry."

"Babe, there is nothing to be sorry for. I promise you no one is going to ever come in Rangeman and take you. That would never happen regardless of who this person is regardless if he is faceless or not me nor any of my men would ever allow someone to take you from this building. It would or could never happen. Trust me Babe I mean never." It was the only thing I could think to tell her.

Seeing her like this only further confirmed not to tell her the possibility of her stalker being a cop that would only cause her to worry even further and then like us she would assume it was Morreli. I know firsthand what assumption s like that will cost you. I wasn't going to just say it was Morelli and stop looking we were going to keep looking until we had more proof. I didn't want to make the mistake of assuming it was him and then possibly miss the real stalker. Everything in my body said it was Morelli but I couldn't risk my Babe just because my gut said it was him. I had to be sure.

She nodded her head against my shoulder. "Ranger I know, I really do know. I know you and the guys would all protect me. I know none of you would let someone just take me away from here. I know that I really do and I am not questioning your ability to protect me I trust you all know that. But for some reason I can't get those words out of my head. They are haunting me and while I was sleeping they just took over." She said as tears slid down her cheek, shit.

"sshhh Babe it's okay it's just a bad dream that is all. It was just a dream please don't cry." I tell her.

She is sitting on the couch her legs stretched out in front of her, I am kneeling down in front of couch with her arms around my neck and Cal is standing behind me. She looks up at Cal I pull back enough to see her face smile as she looks at him. Then she asks him something I will never forget. "Cal, will you sing my song for me?" I briefly think her song. Since when did she have a song? And since when did Cal fucking sing? I never knew him to sing.

I looked at him over the shoulder and raised my eyebrow. What the fuck? He nodded grabbed his laptop pushed a few buttons and music filled the air. Then Cal started singing to my Babe. I don't know the name of the song. I have to admit it was a pretty song and in some ways perfectly described the relationship between my Babe and all my men including Cal. We were better because we knew her we had all been changed for good because we knew her. Apparently Cal can also sing and sing well. I had no idea.

I briefly wonder what the guys will think when they find out that Stephanie had Cal singing to her. That is when I knew she had all of us wrapped around her finger. It isn't that I didn't know it already I knew I would do anything for her but I didn't realize that so would my men. They would tell her their secrets and share parts of themselves that they shared with no one else. I realized then that not only did she trust them, but they trusted her with more than just their physical lives they trusted her enough to let down their shields, to let down their defenses, to just be themselves around her and share parts of themselves that they shared with no one else not even their brothers in arms.

I am not sure she fully understood the truly deep meaning of that because she was always so freely giving of herself and open to everyone, but what my men were giving her was a something special because they weren't so freely giving and open not to no one even each other.

Hearing Cal sing and being in my arms she immediately calmed down. When Cal was done she let go of me and stood up on the couch which made her slightly taller than Cal he walked up to her and she gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek which he returned. "Thanks Cal I love that song." She told him.

He nodded at her and gave me a look that said please don't tell the rest of the guys. I shook my head I wouldn't say anything but I had no control over Stephanie not telling them.

She reached in her pocket and then opened her hand to him with a faceless die in it saying "Brother" he did the same with the matching die and said "Sister" they both nodded and hugged again. This time he lifted her off the couch and swung her in the air causing her to squeal in laughter. I couldn't help but smile hearing her laughter fill the room, it was so much better than her crying.

I don't know when it started or when it happened but Stephanie had changed us all. We were no longer just boss and employees. We were no longer just commanding officer and subordinates we had become a family of brothers and one sister. Well in my case she will be my wife but we were a family and it was all because one little curly brown hair white bread girl from the burg. She had pulled us all together and gave us all something in common. Regardless of how different we all were we all now had one thing in common it was to support, to protect, and to love one Stephanie Michele soon to be Manoso.

I looked at Cal as he was gathering up his things "so you sing?" I asked him. He nodded his head. He turned to me "It's a gift from my mother. My mother is a Broadway star. So from an early age she taught me how to sing. It isn't something I normally do unless I am around my mom and she cons me into singing with her but she was so upset tonight and we started talking and it just sort of came out that I sing." I nodded my head in understanding.

"Well you are very good." I told him "Thank you for helping to calm her and being with her while I was out. Keep what I told you to yourself for now I don't want rumors started that will get to her until we have proof." He nodded and headed out of the door and I turned to go back into the living room to find my Babe.

Finding my Babe I wrapped my arms around her and my lips met hers. My body calmed for the first time since I had left her in our apartment earlier.

I broke the kiss "Babe what do you say to a shower before bed?" She nodded and then pulled me back down to her crushing her lips against mine. I lifted her and her legs went around me as I made our way to the bathroom.

SPOV

I didn't know exactly what he had done tonight but I could feel the tightness in his shoulders and chest I could feel him calm when we kissed. I love that I have that affect on him. I also love that I have this affect on him feeling his hard erection sitting at my core as my legs encased him and held me right up against him.

Feeling him hard against me knowing that I was responsible for that made me want to rip his clothes off and take him hard. I wanted control I wanted to be the one in the driver's seat tonight and I briefly wondered if he would let me without taking over. I had demons to chase out of my head and I knew exactly how I was going to chase them away.

When he sat me down on the tile floor I immediately started stripping him out of his clothes. Pulling his shirt off undoing his belt and then his cargos and yes he was going commando. Dropping to my knees in front of him to take off his shoes and socks and pull his cargos completely off.

Looking up at him standing in front of me hard and naked it was a beautiful sight to behold. He was chiseled to perfection he was beautiful. Men like him are what make angels cry, its men like him that inspired Michelangelo's statue of David only David's penis was a little bit of a disappointment I mean if you are going to make a statue of man that is supposed to be representative of a beautiful young man give him a penis that is worthy. Carlos definitely had a penis that was worthy of his looks.

He had the whole package he was a god. Zeus would have been made to cower in his presence if Carlos was alive then. Hell for all I knew Carlos was Zeus reincarnate. I don't know but that man was something to behold, and he was mine. This god of men wanted me and only me how in the fuck was I that worthy I briefly wondered because I was no Hera, Aphrodite, or even Athena for that matter.

I watched him looking at me. Standing there waiting for me to make my move. How did he instantly know what I needed? How did he know that I needed and wanted to be in control tonight? I don't know how he knew it but he did and he was giving it to me. I may not be a Greek goddess but Carlos giving me control and giving me the power made me feel like wonder woman.

As I felt the power he was giving me shoot thru me a shot of bold ran down my spine and I decided to do something that I had never done and never in a million years would have ever felt comfortable doing but I was going to try it with Carlos. Hell I would try anything with him and with the way he was making me feel right now I would have done anything there was no fear only love and only what I could do to him with my body that mattered.

I raised myself until I was standing in front of him. I had on gym shorts, his t-shirt from earlier, a bra and thong it wasn't the dress I would prefer but it was what it was so I went with it. There was no music but I didn't want to interrupt the moment to go turn on the music and pipe it into the bathroom speakers.

I just picked one of my favorite songs that had a good beat Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" besides it made me feel great about myself even if I wasn't a beautiful Greek Goddess I was beautiful the way I was because I was born this way! Getting the beat in my head I turn my back to my own personal sex god. When I rolled my hips making sure my ass stuck out in the process I heard his voice hitch. Oh yeah Batman that is what I needed you are going to like this.

Flipping my hair back so it trails down my body I drop down in a deep knee bend and gently raise up with my ass in the air first and then gently roll my upper body. My hands at my waist gently raising and playing with hem of his shirt showing him a little bit of skin as I rock to the beat in my heat. I abruptly turn around facing him my hands on my stomach I rake them up my body across my lace clad breast they pebbled as my hands touched them. I quickly jerked the shirt off and threw it across the room as I bend down at the waist giving him a good view of my cleavage. Then I rose up and drop down bending my knees but opening my legs open to him. The way Gaga does in her video.

I could see that he was smiling but was also showing a little bit of shock but looking at his erection jumping with my every move I could tell he was enjoying the show. I turned again with my back to him as I looked over my shoulder grabbing the hem of my shorts I shimmed them down and then I bent again at the waist to pull them down my legs. When I slipped my foot out of the leg I let my legs separate wide until I could see him thru my legs. My ass up in the air and I watched as his cock jumped.

I hear him moan and whisper "Babe". Man this working out is working I can move in ways I didn't know I could. Bobby making me do all those stretches after our training and Lester stretching me after the Martial arts sessions is really making me flexible. I rolled my back up until I was watching him over my shoulder. I let my hands play up my sides and stomach. When they reached my bra I spun around facing him. My hands ghosted over my breast cupping them eliciting a moan from me which caused him to inhale deeply and his eyes flutter. Oh he was enjoying this. It made my heart smile on the inside.

I was a little worried that I would look stupid and scare him off. Guess not from looking at his body he was coiled ready to prance and was only holding on because he was giving me the power, giving me control. That was the only reason he was still standing there leaning against the counter.

My hands rubbing over my nipples I grabbed the front clasp and each hand holding one side I closed my eyes and turned my head as I jerked my bra open with my arms extending to the side of me both holding one side of my bra as it stretched across my back and my back arched out sending my breast forward toward Carlos moving from side to side at the waist. My eyes locked back on his as I dropped the bar and continued to dance bending at the knee spreading my knees open moving my hand over the front of my panties and then rocking myself back up I only had on my thong at this point.

My hands ghosted down my stomach until a finger looped in the sides of my under pants. I rocked back and forth playing with them moving them up and down I was so wet so turned on by my own movements and watching Carlos. I was so ready for him to just be slamming his hard cock in me. The more I thought about it the more I wanted it the more I needed it and I needed it now.

I was expecting to turn him on that is what I was hoping when I decided to do this, I didn't realize how much I would turn myself on. Holy hell I was ready to combust and I still had my thongs on. I grabbed them and jerked them down bending at the knees when the thongs were at my feet I spread my knees for him showing him my very hot and extremely wet center and he moaned as I moved my hand over it.

I stood up and stalked closer to him he pushed off of the counter the closer I got. When we were almost touching I put my hand around his neck and I lifted my right leg up and wrapped it around his thigh pushing my hot center into this thigh where I gyrated a little to give me some pleasure from the friction of his skin touching mine.

We both moaned and I felt his cock jump against my skin in anticipation. I looked at him I had wanted the power when this started but now I just wanted him to fuck me. I want him to fuck me hard, fuck me stupid, and fuck me blind. I didn't want to remember my name or be able to see when he was done fucking me.

He wasn't going to make the first move the control was still mine. Looking at him I said the only thing I could think the only thing I was thinking about in that big brain of mine. "Carlos fuck me hard, fuck me until I don't know my own name, fuck me until I can't even see, fuck me until I don't know I am in this world. Just fuck me already."

He growled and lifted me in his arms sitting me first on the counter he started to pound his way in and out of me and I cried out when the pleasure of his assault on my body left me breathless. His control was gone, my control was gone and we were like rabid animals filled with need to feel each other to fill each other to quench each other's souls until we could no longer move, until we could no longer speak, until we could no longer think, until we couldn't have told you our names and we damn sure couldn't have seen anything, until we could no longer hold on to consciousness.

When my eyes fluttered open Carlos was laying on top of me with all his weight he was still inside of me and my legs were still wrapped around his waist holding on for dear life. When I moved he startled awake. "Oh Shit Babe, did I hurt you?" he questioned me. I took inventory to make sure because at the moment I wasn't sure what the fuck had happened. I shook my head no I looked at his shoulder and saw bite marks, and scratches "Oh My God Carlos are you okay? Did I hurt you?" I asked him. I knew I had blood was pooling around the bite mark and the scratches. Holy shit I don't even remember doing that. He shook his head no. "No my love you didn't hurt me. I think you fucked me until I passed out hell I think we both passed out when we came that time but you didn't hurt me." I pointed to his shoulder "Carlos I drew blood, I don't remember even doing it I am sorry." He shook his head.

"Babe what just happened between us don't be sorry for not a single second. It was the hottest thing I have ever experienced in my lifetime. Never apologize for that." Holy shit it was hot.

I then opened my mouth and said the stupidest comment "it was hot wasn't it?" he looked at me and just nodded "yeah Babe it was hot. To say that was hot well that would be saying that Mt. Saint Helens is just a little warm when the lava erupts from it."

I could not agree more and before I said any more stupid shit I just closed my mouth and my eyes and held on to my own personal sex god that made me feel like I was wonder woman and while I may not look like a Greek Goddess I am sure that performance was worthy of Greek Goddess status. Zeus would definitely want a piece of this ass if he ever was able to watch that action. Not that I would give him any after all this ass was for my own personal Greek God, Carlos which Zeus had nothing on Carlos.

Sometime a little later we decided to get up and take that shower. Getting up we were able to see the path of destruction we had left in our wake of trying to get to each other.

Somehow in our attack of each other we had managed to knock everything off of the counter we had then managed to knock open the medicine cabinet and dump everything in it, we had managed to break a towel bar. I am not sure how that happened I don't remember. We did at some point make it to the bed but I don't know how in the bed we had managed to completely destroy every shred of cover and the sheets.

We would need to change the bed before going to bed and it was already early morning. Tomorrows training session was going to be hell but I would worry about that tomorrow right now I was feeling too good revealing in the feeling of what had happened between us.

JPOV  
I wondered if the box had been delivered to Rangeman. Again nothing was reported to the police department. Fuck. I called Doug he answered on the second ring "Yeah"

"Hey Doug it's Joe. Do you know if a package was delivered there today?" I asked him. "Yeah the split tail got a package today and we gave it to her. We are working the front desk so we were able to accept the package and then she happened to come down so I told her about it and like I thought she took it an put it in her bag." He told me.

"Thanks I will talk to you later" I told him and hung up. Well I wonder why they haven't reported her having a stalker to the police. I briefly wondered if they thought it was me. I didn't see how.

I was covering my trail pretty well. I didn't even arrest the fucker on stark street. I found him and I call officer Gaspick he is always searching for a collar so I let him pinch him. I told Gaspick that I was helping him get that promotion he so well deserved. He didn't really deserve the promotion he was a fucking joke but I may need him to be on my side. So I figure start now by getting him on my side by doing something nice for him. So I let him collar a fairly large drug bust.

Of course I had a note slipped to the perp telling him information on a rather large gang deal going down which I knew would earn him a get out of jail free card. He would have no idea who gave that to him other than some girl visiting one of the other cell mates. I would fuck her later to thank her for helping me.

When the perp was released I followed him home. Where he later found a package on his door step with a note that said deliver this package to Rangeman in exchange for the get out of jail free card. If you fail to deliver it you will go back to jail. If you open it you are a dead man. Burn this letter after reading. I watched him as he looked around to see if he could see anyone would have left the package but he did as told and burned the note good. He wasn't just a stupid fucking drug dealer after all. I watched him as he put the package in his car and he took off heading to Haywood. I didn't follow him.

I had borrowed another's detective car after telling them that mine had a flat and I needed to check on an informant. I didn't want anyone on Stark Street being able to identify my car near here. I wore a baseball cap and glasses and I made out like I was looking for a girl. Hell if I found one I wanted I wouldn't pass up the opportunity after all I was practically undercover and it would be good for my cover.

But I didn't find anyone, so I guess it will be that sweet little honey that came into the station to visit one of the rejects in our holding cells. Oh well she filled the need at the time it is the least I can do to let her get a little taste of the Italian Stallion.

I wanted to know Cupcakes response to the items within the box. I wish I had a way to find that out. I wanted to know if she liked the photos I sent her. After all they were pictures of me and her mother. I had taken them with my camera phone and then printed them out after first editing them to only show what I wanted. I smiled at the symmetry of that inside joke.

I wondered how she liked my note. I wanted her to know that I could take her anytime I wanted and I wanted her to know what I was intending to do to her. I was going to have her the way I should have been allowed to have her all along and I wasn't going to take no for an answer. She was going to perform that was all there was to it.

I wasn't listening to excuses or likes and dislikes because I know she has been fucking and sucking every man in that building and she was going to fuck and suck me if it was the last thing she did. I wasn't going to be left out. No one turned down the Italian Stallion when I set my sights on you and Cupcake had always been mine since she was six and I was eight.

No one had turned me down and Cupcake wasn't going to be the first.


	25. Chapter 24: Training with the Guys

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**I want to thank everyone who writes a review for my story. I enjoy reading them and I love ideas they give me so keep them coming! You do my soul good!**

**This is a nice long chapter because tomorrow I go for knee surgery. I am not sure when I will be able to sit at my desk and type out the next chapter so I changed my plan a little because I didn't want you hanging with a big cliff hanger.**

**I have a website that I have created to give you all you to explore deeper into the story "What does it mean to trust" You can go to the following website and see Stephanie's training schedule, Lester's personal vehicles, Cars trucks, and bikes that are in the Rangeman Compound. I will continue to add additional information to this website. **

**www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com **

**You will then click on the tab that says "What does it mean to" I hope you enjoy it. Please sign the guest book so I know you have been there.**

Chapter 24: Training with the Guys

RPOV

Holy shit last night was hot. Just thinking about it makes me hard as a rock. Watching my Babe dance and strip for me was the hottest thing I had ever seen. It was all I could do to keep myself in one place and watch. I gave her control and that is what she chose to do for me.

I would have been on her faster than Lester's Eleanor could hit sixty if it wasn't for I had relinquished control to her and I was so fucking glad I had. Because what she did blew my mind.

Later looking at the damage we had done I couldn't help but chuckle. I didn't remember doing any of it. All I remembered was her in my arms, her warm hot body pulling me inside tighter and tighter. I remember not being able to get enough. I remember needing her in a way I had never needed anyone and I remembered her clawing at me to get to me as her need mimicked that of mine.

Boy whoever can say that Stephanie is bad in bed, or boring in bed doesn't know the real Stephanie at least not the one I know and it would suit me just fine if they never knew the real Stephanie the way I do.

What we shared was private it was personal so much so that I would never tell anyone about anything that happens between her and I when it comes to making love to her. Well not unless she asks me to share something like she has done in the past. But it would never come from my lips first.

I am selfish when it comes to her and that part of our lives. I will never share that part of her with anyone.

I left my Babe sleeping soundly in our bed as I made my way down to the gym. A few of the guys and me were going for a morning run but I wouldn't be able to take off my shirt like I did on most days when we ran ten miles.

If I took the shirt off they would see the scratches on my back and the bite on my shoulder. They would never leave me alone with wanting to know the detail and teasing me about them. She was right she had drawn blood. I didn't feel it at the time but they were making their presence known now and I am certain once I started sweating they would burn but I would gladly take any level of pain for a repeat of last night.

I had never passed out while coming. Stephanie had before when I made her come to the point that she lost consciousness but I had never experienced it. I couldn't believe it when I woke up lying on top of her all of my body weight pressing down on her. I don't know how I didn't manage to crush her but she said I hadn't hurt her.

I mean she weighs around one ten to one twenty tops and I weigh in at two twenty five I am more than a hundred pounds heavier not to mention just all around bigger than her.

Walking into the gym I see Tank, Bobby, Lester, Hal and Cal are ready to go for the run. Walking up to the guys I start to speak to them.

"Hey guys. We are going to make a slight change of plans today." They look at me questioning what I am going to change. We have run together like this every other day since well since before I can really remember.

Today however I didn't want Stephanie left alone in the building without at least one person from the core team. We all knew to keep Morelli away from her even if he came here with the proper search warrants and arrest warrant which he wouldn't get under normal and legal channels but we always knew there was a way to get what you wanted if you wanted it bad enough.

"I don't want Stephanie to be without a member of a core team even if she is in the building." I look at Bobby she has physical fitness training today. "She has Physical Fitness training with you this morning you can get your ten mile run in with her and you can have two other men go with you. If you don't mind I would prefer if you would remain in the building while she is here this morning. I left her sleeping in our bed so you won't have to do anything."

He nodded and I continued. "We all know that a cop may be behind that box she received yesterday and the scenes on her bed. We all know that it could be Morelli and I want someone from the core team to be here because I don't want him walking in this building with proper documentation and being able to walk out with her. It doesn't matter what he has it could be a decree from the fucking president he nor anyone else is to leave here with her without her consent do I make myself clear?" I looked at each man and they all nodded in understanding.

"Good let everyone here know with the exception of those two new dumb fuckers I don't want them knowing anything. I don't know if we can trust them yet and as usual you know they won't be placed on any of Stephanie's protection details. If one of my men lets Morelli take her out of this building or any other fucking cop for that matter they are dead. There will be no questions asked, there will be no leniency or forgiveness, there will also be no regret they would have just signed their own fucking death certificates if they allow her to be taken." I looked at each man standing before me so they would see how serious I was. They all nodded their understanding.

Normally I wasn't this forceful and demanding of my men but there was no room for error or I am sorry or I didn't know when it came to my Babe and her safety. I had promised I would protect her that we would protect her and that no one could come in here and take her without it being her choice. She was safe here and if my men fucked it up and broke my promise to her it would be their last fuck up.

I could see that they understood me but I could see that they were questioning why I would say that why I would take it to that extreme. I mean these were their brothers in arms and they protected each other. We protected and covered each other's asses. We didn't threaten each other.

"I know that is not something you have ever heard me say before and under any other circumstances I wouldn't be saying it now. But we know that somewhere a cop is linked to her stalker we know what her stalker has left for her and the threats he has made to her. I can't let that happen to her. It would destroy her for someone to force her to steal from her in the most vicious way a man could steal from a woman. I won't let that happen to her. The letter she got yesterday really had her rattled we all know that. She had nightmares because of it, she was upset when Cal was there sitting with her last night. It has shaken her. I promised her, hell I think we all promised her that those things in that letter wouldn't happen. She trusts that we won't allow it to happen, that we will keep our promise to her and that we will keep her safe and that is what we are fucking going to do or it will be hell to pay. Those promises were made before we knew that a cop is potentially behind it. He could have come in here with proper paperwork and the guys would have let him take her unknowingly. Potentially in so doing they would be handing her over to her stalker. I promised her she was safe, we promised her that those threats wouldn't and couldn't happen to her and it isn't it will be over my dead body before it happens. If someone breaks my promise to her, your promise to her and she is taken from this building then there will only be hell to pay because I will be sending whoever it is that didn't keep my promise, our promise to her straight to hell."

There was no doubt now how serious I was about this and why. I now think the guys understood why I was saying this and I think if left to think about it more they would agree with me. There was no room for failure when it came to my Babe. These guys may have come to feel like part of my family but it was because of my Babe and she came first. Her safety was above that, above everything else everyone else regardless of status or rank or family ties she came first.

BPOV  
Fuck Ranger was serious. I didn't think any of the guys would fuck up with Bomber. I mean this is Bomber we wouldn't allow for her to be harmed not in our own house on our own turf. It simply would not happen ever.

Ranger was taking it to a whole new level. He basically threatened everyone if we are the reason she gets taken from Rangeman without her consent to leave then we are fucking dead. Who the fuck is going to be responsible for telling them men this? I may be a core team member but fuck if I am going to tell them that.

I will leave it for Ranger or his second in command, Tank, that is what they get the big fucking dollars for. Not that I didn't get paid very well. All Rangeman got paid very well and had one hell of a benefits package but I wasn't going to tell the men that Ranger basically threatened if they fuck up with Bomber they are dead men.

Not that they probably didn't already know that with Hector proclaiming to be her guardian hell the reaming I got for letting her fall off of that rope. I was wondering if I wasn't going to be a dead man. I will say this I will never again let her fall from anything. Let's just say I like my head attached to my neck and on top of my body rather than what Hector was going to do with it and put it if I allowed her to fall again.

I headed up to my office since I wasn't going to be running this morning and decided to do some more work on the quarterly evaluations while I waited for Stephanie to meet me in the gym. I quickly sent email to Ram and Manny letting them know that they would be running with me this morning. I copied Hector to see if he wanted to go with us as well. I thought it would do good to get Stephanie out of the building for some fresh air but I wanted plenty of back up out there on the streets just in case Joe was gunning for her. I knew if Manny and Ram went it would be adequate but if Hector went as well she would be just as safe as if she was in this building.

Hector wouldn't hesitate for a second cop or no cop he wouldn't give a shit. He wouldn't second guess he would just act and do whatever it was necessary to eliminate the threat against Stephanie.

I sent Hal an email to let him know that I was going to switch Stephanie's training schedule around. He was suppose to do training with her at zero eight hundred for an hour I was going to take that time slot since we were going to go running outside. I didn't want it to get too hot. Hal would take the eleven hundred time slot I had as more than likely they would be working out in the gym.

I sent Tank and email to let him know that he could fill the guys in on Ranger's new statement. I knew Tank would come up with a way to pay me back for that but I didn't give a fuck at the moment. Maybe I would come to regret that decision but right now I would let him have all the honor of spilling the beans to the guys.

It wasn't long before I saw the guys returning to their stations and I knew Stephanie would be down soon so I headed down to the gym where I ran into Ram, Manny and Hector all of them were waiting to go running with Stephanie.

"Hey guys, Manny will you tell Hector what I am saying in a minute? I want to say this before Bomber comes down here." Manny nodes, I know he can tell Hector in Spanish while Bomber is down here and she won't understand what he is saying but I don't want her to hear me.

"I don't know if you have heard the news but we have a lead on her stalker and there are some rumors that a cop may be directly or indirectly linked to her stalker. We aren't telling her any of this until we have further proof. We are going outside running and I need you to keep your eyes open and be diligent with her safety. I take it you all came dressed?" I asked them and they nodded.

"Good because her safety is first. If you spot Morelli I just want to have her surrounded and I don't want him to be able to get his hands on her should he come up to her." They all nod.

I no more finished before the gym doors opened and Stephanie walked in. She paused when she saw us and then smiled. "Hey guys what are you all doing down here and where is Hal? I am supposed to have training with Hal at zero eight hundred." She is starting to talk military time.

I look at her and smile. I see her questioning look I smile even bigger. She lets out a puff of air then looks at us and says "I am not going to like this am I?" She questions. The guys just smile at her.

I answer her "well it depends Bomber you may like it." I tell her quickly thinking how Lester would have taken that to the gutter, but I couldn't say things like that to her. I know she would just laugh them off but she was my sister and I would really rather not think about my sister having sex or talking sex innuendo with her. I shiver at the thought.

"Bomber we are going running today." I tell her. Manny and Hector join the group. Manny sweeps Bomber up in a big hug. He has missed her since he was away. "Hey wifey how you doing?" he asked her.

She smiles at him and says "okay just training hard and trying to keep from going crazy." I could understand that everything happening to her it would be easy to go crazy.

He ruffled her hair "Chica you need something or someone to talk to you let me know. I will be there." She smiled at him and hugged him again.

She walked over to Hector and rubbed her fingers across her tattoo and I swear I thought I saw Hector almost purr at her touch but I know I was seeing things because I know for a fact that Hector ain't ever fucking purred in his life. She hugged and kissed his cheek and then she went over to Ram.

I watched as she ran her fingers thru his crew cut playing with the hair standing up on top of his head. It seemed that she had a little special greeting for some of the guys. Ram she would play with his hair, Hector she would rub his tear drops, Cal she would kiss his flaming skull.

I would have to pay attention if she had other greetings for other guys. I tried to think about what she did different with me and couldn't really come up with anything. I mean she would hug and kiss my cheek but I couldn't think of anything beyond that. Seeing it and realizing it made me want my own special Bomber greeting.

After she greeted all of them she walked over to me grabbed me hugged me looking into my eyes she smiled as if she knew what I was thinking she reached up and pulled on my braids beside my face before kissing each cheek. Why the fuck would she think she doesn't know ESP? She just ESPed me as good as any of the men probably better because they probably had no idea what I was just thinking at least I hope they didn't know what I was thinking. I wouldn't want to have my bad ass card revoked.

She leaned her head back at me smiling, I couldn't help but smile I was beaming I had my own special greeting. I couldn't wait to rub it in Santos face. He was always bragging how she liked him the most, how he was her favorite. Wait when I tell him I have my own special Bomber greeting. He will flip if he doesn't have one and I can't wait to rub it in. Oh this was going to be fun to watch him squirm.

I looked at her and the guys "Ready" I asked them and they all nodded. We headed out of the gym and started pounding the pavement.

RAMPOV

We head out on the streets for our run. I wasn't really sure how far we were running today I know Bobby normally runs ten miles but I knew today's run would be tailored to Bombshell. I wasn't sure how far she was able to run. It didn't matter I had no fear that we couldn't keep up and run as far as she did.

We would never leave her. We set our pace to hers and I have to say I am impressed. A week ago she wasn't a runner, she didn't work out, and she would have done anything told you anything to still be in bed at this hour of the morning. Not that it was really early I mean it was zero eight hundred when most of the world went to work but as far as Bombshell is concerned it may as well be the middle of the night.

I remember one time when Tank and Ranger sent me to pick her up at her apartment for a Monday morning meeting at nine. They told me to get there at zero seven thirty. I remember thinking why the fuck would I need to get there so early to pick her up after all it is a fifteen minute fucking drive back to Haywood. They just smiled at me but didn't tell me anything further.

I had been introduced to her and seen her around Haywood a few times but I hadn't really talked to her or gotten to know her. The guys weren't really sure how to take her but we all knew she was Ranger's and we all knew that we took care of her or it would be our asses. It was an honor when Ranger asked you to watch her or do something for her because he only asked those he trusted the most we all knew that. So I was determined I wasn't going to fuck up this one. He had asked me to get her and bring her to the meeting by nine.

When I got there I knocked, I pounded, I called her phone nothing no response. I almost went into full panic mode. I called Lester on the phone panicked because there was no response. I remembered being stunned when he laughed at me. I told him she is your best friend fucker and you are going to laugh when I tell you she isn't home and unreachable what the fuck is wrong with you man?

He assured me everything was fine and told me to pick her lock. I picked the lock and opened her apartment door and everything was calm but with my excellent hearing I could hear a slight snoring coming from her bedroom. Most people wouldn't have been able to hear it but I could. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Lester on the phone laughed again and then said all cool now Ram. I wanted to shove my fist down his throat but all I said was alls good she is asleep. He laughed again. His laugh is going to have to go before I kill his dumb fucking ass. His laughter at this point it is getting so fucking annoying sort of like those mechanical laughing clowns at amusement parks that make you want to shoot them just to get them to shut the fuck up. Why anyone would find that amusing I have no fucking clue well that was Santos that day. It was a good thing he was on the phone and not standing here with me because I would have probably just shot him.

I remember before he hung up wishing me good luck in getting back to Haywood on time for the meeting and yes once again laughing that insanely annoying laugh. I just hung up on his stupid ass it was zero seven thirty and the meeting didn't start until zero nine hundred I had plenty of time or so I thought.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by a scream. I turned in time so see Stephanie go down on her hands and knees she had tripped over an uneven sidewalk. Shit. We were running, Bobby and I were up front Stephanie behind us and Manny and Hector were pulling up the rear.

I would rather not be running with a hard on and I knew watching her ass bounce along the street would be all it would take. I know she is spoken for and I would never make a move on her but she is hot as hell and well my body reacts sometimes even if I don't want it to. If the boss ever caught me I would be dead meat at least the big head knew that but I couldn't get the little head to cooperate at times. So it is best for me to be up front.

Bobby had her sit on the sidewalk so he could assess her and see if she hurt herself. Other than a couple of scraps on her knees and hands she was fine. Whew. Hector was about to go ballistic it is a good thing it was the side walk that tripped her had it been a person I seriously doubted that they would be living at this moment.

In a few minutes we were back to running. She wasn't hobbling so that was good. My mind started to wonder back to that day. Me walking into her apartment hearing her lightly snoring I can remember smiling just hearing her. It wasn't sawing logs snoring it was actually sort of cute as snoring goes.

I called her name but she didn't hear me. I knocked on the inside of the door after I closed it and locked it still got no response. I remember thinking damn she sleeps soundly. Good thing no one chose to break in her place in the middle of the night because she would never hear them.

I gradually stepped closer and closer to her room calling her name with each step and no response. Finally I was practically standing beside her bed. Now looking back at that it scares the shit out of me how sound of a sleeper she is. I could have been anyone there to harm her. I don't even want to think about it because it gives me chills thinking about what could have happened to her.

I will never forget what happened when I finally was able to get her to wake up. It almost makes me chuckle just thinking about it. I called her name again and nudged her she started to stir a little so I called her name again and reached to nudge her again well I guess I must have startled her because she screamed so loud that it shocked me and then grabbed her pillow and started hitting me with it like that would have hurt anyone.

When she finally realized she was safe she was standing on her bed in her panties and t-shirt with her pillow raised above her head screaming at me. She dropped the pillow then asked me what the fuck I was doing there and why the fuck did I have to scare her. She said some other things too but finally she laid back down and pulled the covers over her head mumbling that it was still night time.

I tried to pull the covers off of her but she grabbed them and told me she would go to the kitchen and get her gun out of the cookie jar and shot me where I stood if I touched those covers again. I explained she needed to get up and get ready for our meeting at Rangeman. But she wasn't hearing it. Her only response is that they needed to change their meetings to a more decent time of the day. The more I tried the more she resisted.

She finally stuck her head out from the covers and told me to shut the fuck up and either lay down on the bed or get the fuck out that me standing over her was making her nervous. Who was I to deny her? So I laid down on top of the covers. She snuggled back against me her back to my side and propped her head on my arm that was bent up with my hand behind my head since she was hogging all of the pillows.

It was a good thing she was turned away from me because I was hard as a rock. I just prayed no one else would walk into her apartment because I had no fucking idea how the fuck I would explain this one and I was sort of enjoying having her laying there with me but it was doing nothing for getting us to that meeting on time.

Needless to say we were late to the meeting earning me another chance to hear Lester's annoying laugh. I coaxed her out of bed with the promise of buying her breakfast at McDonalds. But by the time she got up, got herself ready and we went to McDonalds we were late. I remember Ranger and Tank both trying to hide the fact that they found it funny we were late.

I also remembering not really giving a shit because I found when I was laying there beside her and she was snuggled up against my side with her head on my arm she had made me want to stay there just like that all day and just say fuck the meeting and for that it was worth all the laughs and humor those fuckers could through at me.

That was also the day she started running her fingers thru my spiked hair. I am not sure what brought that on but I liked it so I never said anything about it. I just know she is going to do it and I love every minute of it. She has become a sister to me who I love and I would protect until the day I die. Scanning the streets one more time to make sure all was safe in her world I keep on pounding the sidewalk.

HALPOV

Shit my time with Bomber got moved from zero eight hundred to eleven hundred not that I cared but I was looking forward to my time with her. After she zapped me with my own stun gun I was a little leery of her. I still am a little but it is getting better. I sort of like having backup when she is around me. But I have come with the training sessions to realize that she was sorry for that.

I also understood why even though I didn't really want to admit it. That little incident had caused me quit the teasing from the guys. Not to mention Ranger just about literally handed me my ass on the mats after all because she got away from me she was kidnapped by the slayers and well let's say came really close to some really bad shit happening to her.

I felt terrible and I know I deserved to have my ass kicked so I took my punishment like a man and I let Ranger hand me my ass. I will never forget that night the fury in him it is a good thing I am a big man and can take a beating because a lesser man would have lost his life. As it was Bobby put me on restricted duty for three weeks and made me take one week off on bed rest.

I never complained I just took my punishment. I will have to say that was before some of the guys had formed the close bond to her they had now. If I did that same thing now I wouldn't live. Ranger, Hector, Lester one of them would fucking kill me. Hell they would probably kill my ass, bury my ass, dig my ass up and fucking kill me again repeatedly until they were all satisfied.

I have come to love Stephanie she is family to me. I only had my dad growing up. My mom left us when I was just a kid. Her reasons well it doesn't really matter only that she didn't want my dad and I reminded her too much of my dad so she didn't want me either.

Fucking nice when your own mother doesn't want you huh? Well my dad was military he was a Marine and he ran our house like we were in the Marines. He was a drill sergeant for the Marines and I will have to say he could be a mean mother fucker at times. I guess that is why the military life came so easy for me because it was all I knew.

I had girlfriends growing up at least I guess you can call them that but they weren't really serious I was probably the only newly enlisted service man that was a virgin. I just had no experience with women. My dad was such a strict man that I couldn't bring girls home and I had to much respect for girls and women in general to just fuck them in some sank of a rent by the hour kind of hotel and leave them.

I also felt like it was being disrespectful to fuck them in their parent's house. I knew that I wanted to take my time. I wanted to actually love the woman I wanted to have feelings for her beyond that of just fucking them so it just didn't happen before I left for the service.

I was eighteen years old when I joined the Navy to become a Navy Seal. My dad was a little disappointed that I didn't join the Marines like him but I needed to rebel a little so I joined the Navy instead. Not that I have regretted one day of it. I loved everything about being a seal. I loved kicking ass, I loved the missions, and I loved the life I had.

When I reached thirty after twelve years of service my dad became sick and I decided to get out so I could be there to help him and take care of him. Little did I know that he wouldn't survive his cancer and it was about three months after I got out that he passed away.

Part of me wanted to resent him for that. I leave the life a love to help him and he dies three months later but I couldn't. I couldn't resent the time spent with him it was probably the most enjoyable time spent with my dad in my whole life. He was no longer a drill sergeant in the Marines he was just my dad and I was just his son. Besides he didn't know he only had three months left. No one knew that.

He did tell me though before he died that he was proud of my choices and that he thought I made one hell of a seal. He also reminded me once a seal always a seal. For those words I would forever love my dad.

It wasn't long after my dad past away that Ranger contacted me wanting to know if I wanted to come to Rangeman and work for him full time. I jumped at the opportunity to work with one of the best men I knew a legend among elite military men across all branches. To work at one of the most prestigious security firms in the world let alone the country.

That is how I came to know Trenton's own Bombshell Bounty Hunter. Ranger brought her around and introduced her to us. We guarded her a few times but my real encounter with her came with the "Incident" as I refer to it. I just saw her as this adorable beautiful little girl that had a heart of gold. When she asked me to see my stun gun I never imagined she would turn it on me let alone use it.

I learned a valuable lesson that day we don't always know what form our enemies will take in my case she was this one ten sexy as hell beautiful woman that could smile at you and melt your heart. I was sunk before I got started fuck she had me at hello. The more I got to know her the more I knew that I would do anything for her. Hell she was a sister to me. I loved her and I would protect her.

I had something fun planned for our training session today. One of her test requirements were sit ups and pushups so today was going to be sit up and push up day. It was time to build that core and upper body strength so she could pass the test.

I walked into the Gym a few minutes before eleven and Stephanie was down there working with Ram. Ram had her jumping, grabbing a hold to the rope and then climbing it. When he saw me he reached out and pushed her causing her swing on the rope. She giggled a little

He then reached up and just grabbed her picking her up. "Good Job Steph. See ya later" He told her. He bumped fists with me and then walked out the gym. "Hey Steph how has your day been?" I asked her. She looked at me and smiled.

"Well Hal, I thought I was going to die this morning running with the guys. Then Zip has me doing wind sprints to the point that I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Ram had me climbing this rope until my hands feel like they are going to fall off. Other than that I am doing well."

Damn she isn't going to like what I have in store for her so I try to candy coat it. "Well I have planned to work you hard but you do it lying down." I tell her. She looks at me and smirks and says "really? I do it lying down?" She asks me and blushes while giggling. I realized how what I said sounded like and I blushed even redder than she was. Damn sometimes I could put my foot in my mouth.

"Stephanie I didn't mean anything like that. I am sorry." He shook her head. "I know Hal it was just funny." She said giggling. Well at least she didn't get upset or offended. I would never want to offend her I had too much respect and love for her.

She looked at me and asked. "So what are we doing today?" I sat down with my back against the wall and my feet out in front of me. Bending at the knees and putting my feet flat against the floor I told her to lie down and lock her legs with mine.

"We are going to do sit ups and pushups today. First the sit ups, I want you to fully sit up with each rep and slap my hands I put my hands up in front of me. If you can do fifty slaps then I will give you a surprise." I told her. I should have known better not to say surprise. She is so curious.

She immediately asked "A surprise? What is it?" I had to smile and chuckle at her enthusiasm. I couldn't help myself "if I told you it wouldn't be a surprise now let's do those sit ups." I said chuckling. She huffed but she started doing them and much to my surprise she did all fifty.

Before I knew it was twelve hundred and our time was up. She said she was going to go ahead and get her workout in before heading upstairs for lunch. I nodded telling her that I would have her surprise for her later I started to head out of the gym so she could do her workout.

She still chose to do her work out from twelve hundred to thirteen hundred in the gym alone. We knew she felt intimidated working out beside us because she felt like she was lifting baby weights compared to us. We would have never judged her like that. If anything would do all we could do to help her but we all gave her an empty gym during her workout time.

As I was walking out of the gym the new guy dumb fucker number one I believe or Doug whatever you want to call him came waltzing in the gym like he owned the fucking place. What the fuck? I thought. I stopped him at the door. "Buddy this gym is closed from twelve hundred to thirteen hundred. You need to leave." I told him in a no nonsense voice. He looked at me as if he was going to size me up.

I thought I will tell you my size, big, that is my size mother fucker. If you are filling froggy then you fucking leap because I will wipe this floor with your ass before I throw your ass out of the doors. I'll be damn if I am leaving you and bombshell down here together. I don't know you fucker.

He nodded towards Stephanie. Don't even look at her fucker I thought. He spoke "She is in the gym, why isn't it closed to her as well?" He stated. He is a dumb fucker if he has to ask that stupid fucking question. I looked at him "Gym is closed so she can work out, you can work out with the rest of the guys when it opens back up. You need to leave now." I emphasized now letting him know there was no other course of action without ending in his ass hitting those doors as I threw him out of them.

He realized he wasn't going to win. So he gave in and turned and walked out of the gym doors. I headed toward Tanks office to let him know about my run in with Doug. Something is off with him. I felt it. Was he really just that anxious to work out? I hadn't seen him in the gym any other time well other than when he was getting his ass kicked by Ranger.

Doug POV

Shit. I was hoping since Hal was working with her last that I would be able to sneak into the gym with her while she was working out but he wasn't going to let me stay. He said the same thing Bobby had told me that the gym was closed and then he hung back to make sure that I left. Fuck when was I going to get my chance to get her alone? I had some things I wanted to teach her. I wanted to feel that hot body pressed against mine. The more I watched her and saw her the more I wanted her. I could just hear her body calling me, needing me to satisfy her. I already had permission from Joe that I could have a taste before she went running back to him and I wanted to make sure I got my taste. After all I wasn't doing all of this just to get rid of her so I could get the full time Rangeman position. I was going to get me a piece of that ass in the process.

Well Hal wasn't going to let me stay so I retreated back to my new office. Hector the guy with the tear drop tattoos had requested that Mike and me work with him. He could see what a good asset we were to Rangeman and while after our first meeting at the front desk didn't go as smoothly as I would like he must have seen something about us he liked to request us to be partnered with him.

He had us working on video equipment for surveillance and security systems. Sitting at my desk watching her in the gym on the camera I started to form a plan to get her all to myself without any of the other guys knowing.

I watched as Lester walked into the gym and went right up to her while she was on the treadmill and hopped on the treadmill beside her and started running with her. So it wasn't closed to all Rangeman men I see. Bitch. What made him better than me?

I watched as they worked out together laughing and joking. I saw her reach out and smack him at times but I could tell it wouldn't hurt it was more of her just playing and joking with him. He spotted her when she was lifting the heavier weights.

I watched as he helped her correct her form here and there and I wished I could have heard what was so funny that had them laughing at times. Every time I saw them together they were laughing, joking, horse playing with each other or up to no good as Mike and I discovered with what they did to our workstations. That would be another thing I would "thank" her for when I got the opportunity.

She had a lot of making up to me to she needed to do. I watched him help stretch her out and I imagined it was me I would help her stretch alright but it wouldn't be her legs, or her back, it would be that nice little pussy of hers. Damn I wanted to stroke myself so fucking bad. I discreetly ran my hand over my hardened dick and thought yeah I would stretch her nicely with the dick I sported. I watched them walk out of there with their arms around each other probably going to fuck each other somewhere. I could tell she was fucking them all and before long she would be fucking me.

SPOV

I hadn't been long started my workout routine when Lester came into the gym. He hopped on the Treadmill beside me and started running with me. "Hey Beautiful you having a good day today?" he asked me. I nodded my head.

"Yeah Lester it is okay the guys have worked me hard today but I survived but Hal said the funniest thing. He asked me how I was and well I had just finished climbing that fucking rope over there for like the millionth time so I was a little short." She smiled. He knew this was going to be good.

"Anyway I told him that I was okay but this morning I thought I was going to die running with the guys, and then Zip had me running fucking wind sprints. You ever run wind sprints? Of course you have. You probably fucking love them but I thought I was going to have a god damn heart attack. So I told Hal I thought I was going to have a heart attack running wind sprints. Then I told him about my hands hurting because of climbing the rope Ram had me climbing." I took a breath to push out a couple of reps.

"Well Hal speaks up and tells me that he had planned to work me hard but I will do it lying down." I couldn't help the blush. Lester busts out laughing. "He said that Beautiful just like that." Laughing I nodded. "Yeah basically word for word." I told Lester laughing.

He shakes his head laughing. "What did you say or he do after that." I blush a little more "I asked him really I do it lying down? And I giggled when he caught on how it sounded he turned redder than me. He was so cute you should have seen him." I told him. We both laughed even harder.

Lester looks at me and tells me "well you should have asked him where he wanted you" I smacked Lester in the arm. He could be crude sometimes. I knew it embarrassed Hal when he realized what he said I didn't want to further embarrass him by taking it to the next level. Lester yes, Hal no.

"I wouldn't do that to Hal. He was already embarrassed enough and apologized for it sounding the way it did." I told him.

Lester just shook his head. "So beautiful what did he have you doing that allowed you to do it lying down?" He wagged his eyebrows at me. I told him "Sit ups and Pushups and he owes me a surprise too because I did all fifty sit ups and he told me if I did fifty of them he would give me a surprise. I hope he doesn't forget because I want my fucking surprise. You know I love surprises but I can't wait to get them."

I wasn't sure I would like working out with the guys and I am still not but I have to admit working out with Lester was fun. I didn't feel subconscious because I was lifting baby weights compared to the weights that I knew he lifted. I felt no judgment from him and he actually helped me a couple of times with my form and even spotted me when my weights were heavier. He also swapped out my weights for me so it made my workout time less which is always a bonus.

I mean I may be working my ass off, literally I am working my ass off you should see my ass I have room in my jeans now so you know what that means? Smaller size here I come because jeans are not meant to have extra room in the ass. They need to hug this ass hey I am girl after all.

Anyway before I got side tracked I am working hard but it doesn't mean that I love it I do it because it is an evil necessity and I have come to grips with it being a daily thing which I am cool with. I would do anything to become a full time Rangeman and spend the day with my brothers and lover. This is where I belong.

"Lester now that my work out is done will you help stretch me out like you do when we train?" I asked him. It was really helping with my flexibility and that was helping in other aspects of my life with Carlos and I wanted to continue being flexible when it came to making love to him. I was addicted. Yes to the point of almost needing to stand up among a circle of strangers and let them all know that my name is Stephanie Michele and I am addicted to sex with my soon to be husband.

Lester helped hold my legs as I placed my foot on his shoulder keeping my knee straight he walked closer to me forcing my leg higher until I felt the stretch and he held it. Then I changed legs and he did the same thing.

I could imagine how erotic this would be with Carlos but I had to stop those thoughts before they got out of control. I then sat down and put my feet together in front of me and from behind he pressed my knees to the ground and held them.

I then laid flat on the ground and he grabbed my foot as I raised it and pushed it back towards my head. I then sat up and reached for my toes laying my head on my legs while holding my feet. Wow I haven't been able to do that. "Lester look I can put my head on my legs while I grab my feet." "I see Beautiful looking good." He told me.

It wasn't too long and Lester and I were walking out of the gym hand in hand or I should say his arm slung over my shoulder and mine around his waist. I told him I was probably gross and stinky but he said the smell of me all sweaty was anything but gross and stinky. So out we walked out and got on the elevator.

I activated my fob for the seventh floor and Lester pushed the button for the fifth floor. I hugged and gave him a kiss on the cheek thanking him for working out with me before he stepped off of the elevator.

I walked in the apartment door and I could tell Carlos was there. His utility belt was on the console table beside the door along with his boots and his keys. I threw my keys in the bowl toed off my tennis shoes and walked into the room. I didn't see him in the living room or dining room so I thought maybe he was in the kitchen. I went around to the kitchen but no Carlos.

I headed toward the bedroom to go take a shower so I could get ready for defensive driving this afternoon. I was scheduled to work with Vince, Woody, Binkie and then Tank.

When I reached the bedroom door Carlos was sitting on the bed naked with his hand on his hard erection stroking himself. It was so hot I nearly combusted into an orgasm just looking at him. Holy hot hell that was sexy.

I forgot all about my shower as I took in the beauty of what laid before me. His mocha late skin, his large hands stroking his beautiful hard yet silky soft hardened to perfection dick. I know I moaned and I know I licked my lips. I want him so bad at that moment I wasn't sure which part of my body was screaming louder for him.

I looked at him "what do I owe for this amount of pleasure?" I asked him knowing I would be screaming his name in less than two point two seconds because I was almost at the point and I hadn't even touched him yet. He looked at me and smiled. "I saw you in the gym stretching out with Lester and I have to say seeing you in those positions and thinking of me being there with you made me so rock hard I had to come up here and wait for you."

I smiled. "Funny you should say that because I couldn't help but think of having you in those positions while I was stretching. I kept thinking of your hard dick being at my entrance as you stepped closer to me stretching my leg up in the air. I kept thinking of your hard dick being at my back as I bent over and wrapped my hands around my ankles." With each statement Carlos would stroke himself and briefly close his eyes. Damn this was hot. I have ruined my panties they are so wet with my juices. I can feel them drip down on to the inside of my thigh.

I step closer to him to the point that I can reach out and touch him but I don't want to interrupt him I want to watch him stroke himself. I wanted to hear him talk. I grabbed the edge of my shorts and I pulled them down along with my ruined panties. Standing in front of him bare from the waist down I quickly dipped a finger down between my folds to feel exactly how wet I was. God I was soaking.

I jerked off my t-shirt and sports bra exposing my hardened nipples to him. One of my hands started playing with my nipples while the other one was circling my clit. God I could feel the need growing inside me. "Carlos what were you thinking?" I asked him but I wasn't prepared for the answer.

"I was thinking I wanted to take you right there. I wanted to push my hard cock into you and I wanted to fuck you so hard, I wanted to fuck you so bad that I couldn't think straight. I wanted to bury my dick inside you. I wanted to be in your mouth feeling you sucking me dry, I wanted to be in your tight pussy having it milk me, I wanted to be in your luscious ass feeling how tight you would be around me." He told me groaning at the thought.

Holy hot hell I orgasmed just at the sound of his beautiful voice, watching him stroke himself, seeing the precum that had turned his silk cock to that of glistening. I couldn't wait any longer I wanted all of it. I wanted it all. I knew we didn't have a lot of time but I wasn't leaving this room until I had Carlos. I wasn't leaving this room until I had screamed his name for all I was worth and I wasn't leaving this room until I heard him scream my name.

Crawling on the bed I immediately swatted his hands away from him and took him in my hands and my mouth. Opening my throat so I could take as much of him as I could fit, it would never be enough for me no matter how much I could fit. His hands now being free of himself found me. Pulling my legs up to him so he could get his mouth on my core had my writhing above him.

"Babe you taste so sweet so wet and so warm." I heard and felt the vibration of his voice run thru me and I felt the gush of new fluids as an orgasm riddled thru me he moaned in delight under me. I was sucking him and moaning my hands working him. I could feel him begin to tighten up when he lifted me off of him. Placing me on the bed he pulled my leg up in the air as he snuggled himself between my legs. With one leg up and one leg laying flat he entered me the angle caused us both to hiss at the feel of being connected. I could feel how tight I was around him and how he was pushing himself in slowly as to not to hurt me. Working his way in and then pulling back to work his way further in until he was fully sheathed inside me. He stilled to let my body adjust to his size in this position it wasn't long before I was begging him to start moving. I grounded my pelvis into him and he moaned and started moving faster. God I was climbing to the edge so fast his lips found my nipple and he sucked it in playing with it with his tongue nibbling on it with his teeth.

My hands were clasped in his hair holding him to my breast encouraging him to feast on them. He raised his head and looked into my eyes. "Babe you trust me?" He asked me. I thought why would he ask me that but I answered as honestly as I could. "Yes Carlos I trust you with my life, I trust you with my body, I trust you with my heart. I have always trusted you Carlos and I will always trust you." He smiled and kissed me then went back to feeding on my nipples alternating between them.

God the sensations that he had running thru my body was so electrifying. I felt him reach between us getting his fingers wet but what happened next I wasn't prepared for. Nothing would have prepared me for that nothing would have prepared me for the onslaught of feelings that I couldn't contain within my body.

His fingers brushed lightly over my tight bud. He circled it and I thought I was going to shoot off of the bed. He gently pushed the tip of his finger in and the pleasure that coursed thru my body was something that I couldn't explain. Jesus I had the urge to just ride his finger it was so strong it almost over powered the need to ride his hard cock inside of me. I wanted to push my ass down on his finger and ride it for all I was worth. My body was humming with the sensations he was creating with his fingers and his dick.

"Oh my god Carlos that feels so fucking good. I want to push myself down on you and ride your finger. I want to feel you fucking me while I ride your finger." I don't know when my mouth became so daring so risqué but Carlos certainly liked it as he groaned and then moaned as he pushed both himself and his finger deep inside me.

"Babe when you talk like that and feel this way it drives me almost insane with desire. I love to hear you tell me what you feel and what you want and how you want it. I love to hear how I make you feel. I love it when you talk dirty to me it makes me so hard with need. Even being inside of you and fucking you I can feel myself grow harder and bigger just hearing those words come out of your mouth. It is so erotic."

I smiled. I loved it when I gave him any amount of pleasure. When my body fulfilled his needs it made me feel like a goddess and right now I was all about filling his needs. Making his desire and fantasy he had of me come true.

"Carlos I want you every way I can have you. I want your dick in my mouth, I want your dick in my tight and wet pussy, and I want your dick in my tight hole. I trust you I know you would never hurt me or do anything that wasn't pure pleasure to me I want to give you every inch of my body to do with as you want. I am yours Carlos all yours for the taking any way and every way you want me." He growled and slowly added a second finger and I thought I would lose my mind with the orgasm that flowed thru my body. I could feel his hard dick and his fingers rubbing against each other creating friction that was wonderful.

"Babe I can feel my hard dick inside of you fucking your pussy while my fingers fuck your ass you have no idea how wonderful that feels from my perspective. I want to be filling you every aspect of you all the time." Looking at him I smiled "oh trust me I think I know how wonderful it feels. I tell him. I want you filling me, every aspect of me all the time. Fill me Carlos." I tell him practically begging.

He picks up his assault on me until the point that both of us are clawing at the edge to maintain control to fight off the mother of all orgasms that will leave us gasping for breath and exhausted. Just as I can no longer hold on and am about to fall he pulls out of my pussy and enters my ass in one push. The sensation is more than either of us can take and we both lose it and fall from the edge in an orgasm that has control of both of our bodies to the point that we are gasping for air and grasping to the light that is threatening to leave as the darkness tries to descend upon us.

Carlos collapsed down on top of me as he screamed my name but I was so busy screaming his name I barely heard my own. He quickly pulled himself out of me before I got sore. He rolled over and brought me with him. Holding me to him for a few minutes as I slowly drifted back down to earth.

RPOV

That was fucking mind blowing and I couldn't believe that she would want me to do that let alone just let me. I wouldn't have done it had it been that she was just allowing me to do it because it was something I wanted. I knew what pleasure it would bring her and it was all about her pleasure with me. I got my pleasure by pleasuring her body. I could have gone the rest of my life without it had she not wanted it.

My Babe is all I will ever need regardless of positions hell she could tell me only missionary style and she would still be enough for me for the rest of my life. Hearing her scream my name because she can no longer control the feelings is so erotic so sensual so fulfilling that I truly believe it would sustain me for life.

Her allowing me to show her how good that position could feel what it could do to her body spoke volumes to how much she trusted me how much she loved me how much of herself she freely gave to me and it was humbling.

I have never had a woman that gave so much. Yes, I have had sex every way possible in the past with one night stands and some women would beg for me to fuck their ass but it was never this giving this open this honest and trusting. It was never like this and I never remembered it where as with Stephanie I would never forget. Those women were just another faceless fuck to get my rocks off to have a release. Yeah I made sure they had their release and they felt good but there was no love, no trust, no giving it was just taking on both parts. Just filling a need I never knew how much that lacked compared to what Stephanie and I had and shared with each other.

As her confidence grows she is becoming more comfortable with her sexuality with her sensuality and her needs sexually and she is becoming confident in telling me what needs and desires she has. I can't wait for her to continue to get stronger to see the person she will become sexually. I have no doubt that I won't be able to satisfy her. That will never be a problem.

Seeing her happy, more confident, seeing her become a sensual woman who is becoming comfortable with her sexuality and trusts me enough to want to experiment with her sexual desires and wants with me just humbles me in some ways but it makes me so damn proud of her. It makes my heart grow to see her and watch her become the woman I knew she's wanted to be all of these years and was only being held back by narrow minded and selfish people.

Holding my Babe close to me kissing her hair line, her forehead, her eye lids and finally her mouth I regretfully said "Babe I have to get cleaned up for a meeting this afternoon. There is nothing I want more than to lay here and hold you and make love to you the rest of the day and night but I can't." She nodded.

"Carlos I love you, I want you know that but I have to get ready my defensive driving training is this afternoon and the guys are going to be waiting on me if I don't get up now." Damn more defensive driving. I can't help but remember what happened during her last session. I wanted to know who was going to be with her today.

"Babe who is scheduled to train with you today?" I asked her. She looked at me and said "Vince, Woody, Binkie, and Tank." I made a quick mental note to speak to Tank as soon as possible to make sure someone from the core team was with her throughout her entire training that way if something happened she would have backup she needed. Of course if he held a gun on her head again my men would do what Vince did regardless of the number but I would feel better if she had two of my men instead of one with her.

She started to raise up off of me. "I got to get a shower and get ready or I am going to be late and we can't have that." She smiled as she headed into the bathroom with me hot on her heals.

She stopped me at the shower. "You can shower with me if you can keep your hands to yourself we don't have any more time for your funny business in the shower." She said giggling. "Babe these are my men and you are my woman they can fucking wait." I told her. She laughed again but then got serious.

"Ranger your men, my brothers, volunteered time without pay to train me and I am not going to have them not getting paid for an hour while I am up here making love to you. Even though there is nothing I enjoy more than making love to you I can't do that to them. It wouldn't be right." She had me there. They had volunteered their time without pay. Damn it. I would pay them to sit in the garage and wait for all day long and not even think twice about it. Hell I would consider myself money ahead and if any of my men questioned it I would take their ass to the mat and set an example that everyone would understand to never question waiting on her again.

WoodyPOV

Steph had just finished her training with Vince. I had heard about what happened the last time she had trained with Vince and I knew he was on edge. I knew he was nervous that someone else would happen while she was with him.

Thankfully looking at the smile she had on her face and the way they were all laughing things must have gone smoothly. I noticed Lester was with her and when they are together they are always laughing. She walks up to me I open my arms waiting for my hug. "Hey darling how are you today?" I ask her.

She looks up at me and smiles jus t glowing "I am good Woody." She tells me jus t smiling. Looking at her I asked her "You ready to have some fun Darling?" She nodded.

I walk over to one of the SUVs with my arm around her shoulder and I notice Lester is following us. I look at him and I can tell from the way he looks at me that he is tagging along for backup but I decide to have a little fun.

"Darling can't you dump your pit bull here for us to have a little fun?" I motion back to Lester she laughs. Lester pips up "Hey, I am not a dog." She just shakes her head "Lester everyone has heard you growl, it is a good thing he didn't say my Chinese crested or I might have to buy a big Gucci bag and put a rhinestone collar on you so I can just carry you with me everywhere." She said laughing.

Lester just shook his head saying "Beautiful sometimes you aren't right. You know I could never be a Chinese Crested. Hector maybe yes, but not me I am your Pit Bull, your Rottweiler, your Great Dane, but I can't be a fucking fru fru dog." He tells her.

She looks at him laughing then says the funniest thing I heard that sobered Lester right up. "Ohhh…I am so going to tell Hector that you said he could be a Chinese Crested a "fru fru" dog as you called it. Ohhh…someone's going to be in trouble" she emphasized trouble. Oh shit Hector has probably killed people for less.

Lester looking at Steph said "you love me right Beautiful? You wouldn't want me killed would you?" She just laughed and said "well I wasn't the one that said Hector could be a fru fru dog." I could no longer hold it back and just busted out laughing joining in with Stephanie's laughter.

Lester just shook his head "Damn Beautiful I didn't know you could be cold." She grabbed him hugging him and told him "don't worry, I will protect you. Spot. Now heal I have training to do." I swear I laughed even harder to the point that I had to hold my side and wipe the tears out of my eyes.

Watching them she took off for the SUV and he was following right behind her I swear seeing it just added to the statement and I started laughing all over again even though I doubted that I really stopped laughing from the beginning.

Getting in the vehicle we head out to the Rangeman Compound. We are going to have some fun on the high speed track that circles the compound. It is almost like a race track just not with the banking. We were going to get out the fast cars and we were going to take them for a spin around the track. I would leave it up to her if we drove the muscle cars of the sixty's and seventy's or the fast cars of today.

Rangeman had a full garage of all kind of fun vehicles there to play with on the tracks, or to take out on the town when you wanted something a little flashier, faster or more fun than the average black SUV.

We pull up to the compound and I do the whole security at the gate to get us in. We go around to one of the large hangers it is the garage that has all of the cars. I push the button and the garage door goes up. We pull in and park.

I look over at Stephanie and her mouth is hanging open. She is looking at all the cars in the garage in disbelief. Hey we are guys full of testosterone we need to get our adrenaline rushes and this is where we came to do that. She had no idea the pure playground this compound was for us but she would before her training was over and if not then she would come to find out while working here.

This is where we came when we needed to just hang out and have fun, train yes, but mostly we used it for fun. We had fun while training at least most of the time. When we needed to blow of extra steam or needed to just have some fun we came here.

I love driving cars, riding horses, riding bulls. Growing up in Texas I was raised on a horse. Hell I think I could ride a horse before I could walk. As a young child I started training for bull riding by riding sheep. My brother and I would ride the sheep and try to stay on for eight seconds. My sister went straight to barrel racing that seemed what most of the girls did. While my brother and I went for the bulls. We wanted our eight seconds of glory.

As a teenager I started riding the bulls talking about adrenaline rush you get a two thousand pound animal pissed and then try to ride it. When that bull wants nothing more than shove your face and ass in to the ground and spear you with his horns and you want nothing more than to stay on their backs it becomes a challenge of wills as to who is going to win. Sometimes you won and sometimes the bull won.

I guess you are wondering why I left that life for the military. Well long story short my brother and I had a disagreement. We were contenders for the national championship actually we were a shoe in no one could beat us. We were the best. It would have paid a large amount of prize money. My share would have been enough money that would have allowed me to buy a ranch of my own, my dream at the time. Long story short my brother got drunk the night before and didn't show up so we weren't able to compete.

I never really forgave him for that. I want nothing more to do with the rodeo circuit and I wanted to be as far away from my brother as possible so I joined the Army and from the army I continued to Ranger training where I met many of the men I work with now. I met Ranger, Tank, and Lester almost from the first day.

When I heard that Ranger had started Rangeman and wanted me to come work for him I retired from the Army and joined the Rangeman team and never have had one regret about my decisions. I love my life now.

Stephanie came into our lives sometime after that when Ranger brought her to work with us when she needed to hide out from a stalker. We all knew he had a female bounty hunter that had him tied around her finger, not that we would have or for that matter neither today would we tell him that at least not if we valued our lives we wouldn't.

We watched him race out of the building burning rubber off of the tires of his Porsche to go to her whenever she needed him, we watched him beat our asses when we fucked up and didn't protect her, we watched him go ballistic when some fucker kidnapped her or threatened her. We had all pulled a security detail shift watching her trying our best to keep her safe. I will never forget the first time I pulled security for her.

Stephanie was going after a skip named Eddie Dechooch and Ranger told us to just keep an eye on her and watch her make sure that she didn't get in over her head. We were to be her backup but only if she needed it else we were to remain out of sight.

I remember that night I had taken one of the cars from the compound because we knew she would recognize the black SUVs. That night I had selected the nineteen sixty eight Chevy Camaro to follow her. Its dark green with black racing strips up the front no way would she expect it to be a Rangeman vehicle.

I went into the bar keeping my distance so she wouldn't see me. I was dressed in street clothes and we had only really met one time before so I was pretty confident she wouldn't recognize me. I sat there nursing a beer watching her.

I saw Maggie grab her and pull her in the mud pit and started wrestling with her. I know I should have intervened but it was fucking hot so I just sat back and watched the show. Besides she wasn't in mortal damage the worst thing that happened to her was she lost her shoe. I think that night my heart grew founder of her. I will tell you other body parts grew too but if I want to keep my dick attached I will keep that to myself.

Stephanie mouth gaps open when her eyes focus on the cars, trucks, and motorcycles around us. This is where the fun is and where the money is too. I hear her barely above a whisper "holy fucking shit" I chuckle. She is speechless. I look at Lester and he is just smiling like Chester cheese watching her face.

SPOV 

Holy fucking shit I thought to myself as I started to look around the garage. I didn't know what to look at first. There were so many vehicles all different colors. Holy shit Rangeman knew how to have cars that weren't black but they didn't know how to have cheap cars.

I don't know much about cars but I knew these cars were fucking expensive. I knew some of them were classics while others I could tell where practically brand new.

There were sleek cars with the doors that open towards the sky. There were the older muscle cars as I believe they were referred to. Holy shit, picturing these guys in these cars they would make a nun cry for vowing a life of celibacy.

Picturing Carlos in these cars holy hot hell I am having a hot flash, we cannot be left alone in this garage all of these cars sparkle and shine like diamonds. If we were in here my ass print would be all over them. Because I swear I wouldn't stop until he had fucked me on the hood of every one of them.

I heard chocking around me and a ground out "Beautiful" Woody was just coughing trying to stop the chocking. I looked at them "out loud?" I squeaked. Lester and Woody both just nodded their heads.

I didn't know what to say so I just stayed silent giving them a chance to recoup while I tried to calm my hormones. I can't believe I had those thoughts and then spoke them out loud. When the fuck am I going to stop doing that? These thoughts are thoughts that I typically saved for my shower massager I swear I think Ranger has broken me.

Again Lester speaks up "Not broken Beautiful and you can share your fantasies with me anytime so long as I get to act them out with you." I smack him in the arm. "You need to stop listening into my private conversations. Besides there will only be one star performer in my fantasies and it's not you." I tell him and we started laughing.

Once Woody and Lester had recovered from my talking out loud I asked them "So you guys get to drive these cars?" They nodded their heads Woody spoke up "Darling these cars are for us if we want to use them they just stay here as they aren't all practical for every day work." I can understand that but damn I think if I would drive them I would never want to drive anything else.

"So you can drive all of these vehicles?" I asked woody thinking I would never be able to drive a monster truck or some of those bikes. Even some of the cars would intimidate me. These were cars that screamed testosterone.

Woody smiled and said "Darling if it has wheels, I can drive. If it has hair, I can ride. And if it has a beat I can dance to it." Damn. I briefly wondered if it was including women in that statement but once again when I heard him say "Darling when it comes to women I like it when my women ride me." It was my turn to start chocking and turn blood red. Of course this caused Lester and Woody to both burst out laughing at me. Guess they thought they would take the opportunity to pay me back.

Woody told me to pick a car, any car he said that we were going to head out to the track and do a little racing. Holy shit, I am going to get to race a car. "Who will I be racing?" I asked him. Woody responded "Well I will be riding with you so you will be racing Lester."

Smiling I looked at Lester and he was grinning and looking all smug. "Lester what's the reward going to be when I beat your ass?" I asked him. He laughed "Beautiful I love you know that right? But you aren't going to be beat me. So you better come up with the reward when I beat you and the wood man there." He said smiling.

I looked at him "Really?" I questioned him then added "Well you better bring it out there." He smiled and laughed while adding "oh I will bring it don't you worry Beautiful. You know that I have a need for speed." I smiled "well when it comes to cars I have one motto" I told him. "Drive it like you stole it." Thank you very much Ricky Bobby see it was worth watching Talladega Nights.

We both nodded to each other as we got into our cars. I selected the light blue Mustang Mach I it was the only one I recognized out of the group and it matched my eyes. What can I say am I girl after all. Lester got in a Red car with SS on the front I have no idea what kind of car it was. Firing it up and feeling those horses rumbling under me I could only think one thing.

When you turn your car on does it return the favor and I can tell you this car returned the favor in spades. It definitely turned me on where the fuck was Carlos when I needed him? Woody just groaned beside me damn I swear I am broken. I followed Lester to the track and we lined up.

I sort of was expecting the woman in the bikini to come out and drop the cloth but I should have known Rangeman doesn't skimp on anything. They had a countdown lighting system that went from red to green.

When the green light turned on I floored it. Woody told me three times around the track is usually what they did to determine the winner of a race.

The first round Lester was in front but I was trailing only by the hood of the car. I knew I had two more loops and I had never driven a car quiet as powerful as this car. But I wasn't going to let that deter me from giving it my all.

"Woody help me here tell me how can I make this car go faster? How can I beat him?" I asked him. "Woody laughed. Darling you are doing great. Lester is good but we can beat him. You have a lot of power in this car you just need to relax and let those horses go." He told me. Great what the fuck was that supposed to mean.

"Okay Woody so what are you saying in layman terms here because I don't know anything about letting a fucking horse go while driving a car. If we were at a stable yeah but I am behind the fucking wheel of a car."

He laughed again. Damn I have never seen a merry man laugh so much beside Lester and let's face it Lester may be a merry man on one hand but on the other hand he doesn't really act like a Merry Man. After all he talks to me, laughs with me, jokes with me even from the first day while the others were quiet reserved and even to this day for some of them I have to go out of my way to make them laugh. Hell there are even some I haven't been able to break it has sort of a contest now who will break first.

"Stephanie you need to trust yourself that you can handle this car. You need to open it up and don't back down. Shift those gears tight to get every ounce of power you can. Feel yourself in the turn feel when you need to apply the break and when you need to apply the gas. Trust your instincts because they will be right. Go for it Stephanie. This car can beat his car, the question is can you beat Spot?" He laughed

Oh shit Woody wasn't going to let Lester leave down the nickname Spot. Oh well I couldn't think about that right now I needed to kick Lester's ass on the track. I needed to let these horses loose laughing to myself as I said it.

With each turn and curve I felt what Woody was saying and I was learning how to shift faster and was gunning it. The second lap I was leading by about half a car. This was it. The final lap the chips are all in and I am going for it. Looking at Lester I gave him a wave and I opened it up. Slamming the gas pedal to the floor as the car lurched forward. YAY I was leading.

By the time we had made the third lap Lester had gained a little but when we cross the finished line I had him by a nose. I was half a hood length in front of him.

Hell Yeah! I won! I slammed on the breaks jumped out of the car and started my I won happy dance. Woody joined in and even Lester was smiling and joined in. Then they both grabbed me and hoisted me up their shoulders and ran around the cars yelling and cheering for me.

I know Lester would have probably beaten me if he had pulled any of his fancy driving I have seen him do in the past out but he didn't. He just drove with speed and I won. YAY ME!

Lester swung me around the air saying "that was amazing Beautiful. You did a great job of driving." I blushed at the onslaught of praise and thanked him. I was so happy.

LPOV

I can't believe she beat me. Granted I just drove I didn't pull any of tricks or special moves that I do on the other guys when we come out here and race. Had I, I would have won. But I wanted to give her a chance to win. I am so fucking glad she won even though I know the other guys are going to give me a row of shit for it but I don't care.

I would like to see one of those mother fuckers come out here on the track and beat her. Hell I would be willing to bet my next fuck that some of them would even throw the race to let her win just to see her this excited and this happy. At least I didn't throw the race. I actually made her push herself to beat me and she stepped up to the plate and she pushed herself.

We picked her up cheering for putting her on our shoulders as we ran around the car. I then swung her in the air and she giggled. She blushed a little when I complimented her. She wasn't one that was easy to compliment. It embarrassed her I guess she just wasn't use to someone complimenting her so she really didn't know how to take them.

If I had my way that problem will be resolved in no time at all. I loved her, and personally I think she is simply amazing just the way she is and I intend on telling her that every chance I get.

She looked up at me laughing "Lester tomorrow night I am putting together a girls night out with Connie, Lula, and Mary Lou if she can come. I want you to be there. You are my best friend now and it wouldn't feel right for you not to be there with me. Will you come?" She asked me.

"Beautiful I would love to be there with you all." I tell her. I wouldn't have turned down the opportunity to be with her but I wish she wouldn't have advertised it was going to be girl's night out and she wanted me to come. Because let's face it I already had enough things to live down and be teased for one day and I had only been with her an hour. Her calling me Spot, which I am sure Woody is just dying to tell the guys, her beating me on the track, and now being invited to girl's night out.

She then turns to woody and says "Woody would you like to come to girl's night out? After all you said if it had a beat you could dance to it and that sort of sounded like a challenge to me." I couldn't help but laugh. Woody told her would come although I would be willing to bet he was thinking the same thing I was.

I could just see Stephanie asking me to be her Man of Honor at her wedding. Hell if she did I would say yes with honor even though every man at Rangeman would tease me about wearing taffeta. Yeah bad asses know about taffeta well those that have sisters that have weddings do at least. Don't make a big deal about it. But I know deep down inside I know those fuckers would just be jealous it was me and not them.

If she asked them half those fuckers would flush their bad ass cards and their man card and stand up beside her. Hell if she asked them they would probably even where a fucking taffeta dress. Not that she would ask that of us. At least I hope she wouldn't.

I could see a difference in Stephanie today, she was gaining her self confidence she was letting the real Stephanie that we only got glimpses and glimmers of to step out of her shell and I loved what I was seeing. I wondered if Ranger had noticed the same thing.

**I have a website that I have created to give you all you to explore deeper into the story "What does it mean to trust" You can go to the following website and see Stephanie's training schedule, Lester's personal vehicles, Cars trucks, and bikes that are in the Rangeman Compound. I will continue to add additional information to this website. **

**www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com **

**You will then click on the tab that says "What does it mean to" I hope you enjoy it. Please sign the guest book so I know you have been there.**


	26. Chapter 25: Leading to Girl's Night Out

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**I want to thank everyone who writes a review for my story. I enjoy reading them and I love ideas they give me so keep them coming! You do my soul good!**

**I would like to thank all the fans of "What does it mean to Trust" I know it has been a while since my last update. The good news though surgery on my knee went well I am now doing my physical therapy and things are going good. I had difficulty sitting at my computer for lengths of time after the surgery so that is the cause for the delay in the story being updated. I hope that will be getting better and better allowing me more writing time which means faster updates. This is a nice long chapter because I have been keeping you all waiting so long again no cliffhanger at the end as I am not sure how long until the next chapter only hope it won't be as long as this one took.**

**I have a website that I have created to give you all you to explore deeper into the story "What does it mean to trust" You can go to the following website and see character bios, ask questions, give suggestions, see Stephanie's training schedule, Lester's personal vehicles, Cars trucks, and bikes that are in the Rangeman Compound, Rangeman test requirements. I will continue to add additional information to this website so continue to check out the website.**

**www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com **

**You will then click on the tab that says "What does it mean to" I hope you enjoy it. Please sign the guest book so I know you have been there.**

Chapter 25: Leading up to Girls Night Out

SPOV

YAY Lester and Woody were both going to come hang out with us on "Girls Night Out" I know that girls night out usually mean that it was just the girls but hey sue me. We needed some guys to dance with and let's face it these are the most gorgeous men of Trenton hell probably all of New Jersey why the fuck wouldn't I want them there? Lester is after all my best friend I can't help it that he happens a have a P where we have a V he is still my best friend and I want him there for girls night out.

After our celebration and my invitation to the guys we got back in our cars and took them back to the garage where we parked them in their respective parking spaces. I took another look around garage and I was still in awe of the number of vehicles and the types of vehicles parked in the garage.

I recognized some of the bikes but then others I had no idea they look fast, one looked huge like the bike in the Batman movie. Then there was this black sleek Harley Davidson that I could just picture Ranger on. Man on man this garage is dangerous to me. I could really lose control in here and I have no doubt that the control room is monitoring every inch of this room with the vehicles in here.

I turned when I heard a vehicle coming into the garage recognizing the mountain of a man driving I waved him over.

Tank got out of the car and I gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek hardly waiting to tell him "Tank, guess what I just did?" I asked him. He shook his head. I looked at Woody and Lester and I could see their smiles they were going to let me tell it.

Partially laughing I said "I just kicked Lester's ass out on the track." Tank smiled and started Laughing "Really little girl? You beat him?" I nodded my head. He picked me up and swung me around celebrating with me.

This past week I have felt more like Wonder Woman than I had in my entire life. Training with the guys was giving me such a high feeling. I felt like I could fly. I could feel them believing in me, them pushing me because they knew I could do it. I felt their love for me and enjoyed it when they celebrated my successes with me.

"You guys are the greatest. I don't know if I tell you enough or if I have said it at all but know that I love you all and you all are the friends, the family, the brothers that I have always wanted always needed and I am so glad that I have you all."

Tank just hugged me again and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Lester walked over put his arm around me "Beautiful can I hang out with you and Tank? You know I would much rather hang out with you than sit behind my desk and pretend like I am fucking working." I had to laugh so typical Lester.

I nodded but told him "If it is okay with Tank you can stay, I don't care." He looked to Tank and turned on the begging puppy dog eyes. Woody walked over gave me a hug "Darling I will see you tomorrow night." He gave me a kiss on the cheek and then turned to get in the SUV and go back to Haywood.

I turned to Tank. "So big guy what do you have for me his afternoon? What are we going to learn?" he just smiled and shook his head.

TPOV

Lester has been sticking beside her since we found out about a possible cop being involved. Ranger wanted someone from the core team with her at all times and when she was away from Rangeman he wanted at least two guys with her.

Of course we haven't told her yet, Lester is just playing it up as wanting to spend time with his best friend and goof off from work. While we all know he is a hard worker he can pull off the image of being a goof off pretty well.

Somehow I believe we are going to have to tell her soon because she is going to catch on and then she is going to feel like we withheld information from her. Which we are, but it isn't to keep her out of the loop as much as it is just to protect her to make sure we have our facts before we go setting off alarms and upsetting her.

We don't want her to think that we would accuse a cop just to drive a further wedge between Morelli and her. Not that he hasn't done enough on his own because he has all on his own maybe we should just tell her what we know and where we are. I don't know which the better approach is at this point.

I am going to talk to Ranger when we get back to Rangeman this evening.

"Little girl what do you say to more training with stopping the SUV to pick up clients on the curb, we can use Santos here as the client." I joked. She giggled. "Do you think that would be safe for Lester?" She questioned. I laughed even more looking at the worried look on Lester's face. I just shook my head.

"Come on let's load up and head down to the training area I told her." We all got in the SUV with her driving me in the passenger seat and Lester in the back.

"Tank before we get started can I use your phone and call Lula? I wanted to ask her to go with me tomorrow night for a girl's night out." I nodded and handed her my phone. She quickly dialed Lula.

"Lula hey it's Stephanie. I am using Tank's phone he is fine." I hear her tell Lula. "Lula I am in training and only have a minute to talk to you but I wanted to call and ask you if you were available tomorrow night for a girl's night out?" I saw my little girl light up Lula must have told her she was available. "Good. Hey ask Connie if she wants to come I am going to ask Mary Lou as well. Lula I don't have time right now to answer all of your questions but I will tomorrow night I promise you. I have to go now. But I will tell you all everything tomorrow okay?" Oh boy I don't know if she realized what she just got herself into with that promise. "Bye" I heard Stephanie say as she hung up the phone and then handed it back to me.

We went over to the far end of the compound where the driving training was setup with cones, and the curbs to pull up to and stop at without taking the pedestrians out was all setup and waiting for Stephanie to just wipe them out.

I was determined this time she was going to do it if it took us a whole hour of working on nothing but this one exercise. Hell I was joking but I might just put Santos out there to up the incentive for her to get it right and make Santos sweat a little yeah I could be evil at times.

RPOV

Tomorrow morning was my training session with my Babe and I had something special I was going to give her. Tomorrows training session was going to be in sniper training. I was going to teach her how to scope in and fire a sniper rifle.

I was going to give her a hog tooth necklace as her reward for the training. I had no doubt that she would hit what she scoped in she was a born natural when it came to aiming a gun. She was doing amazing during our training sessions. I knew the guys training with her tomorrow would all work on some aspect of sniper training we had already discussed this.

A hogs tooth is something that every sniper worth his weight in salt has. Some may wear them at all times while others may not but even if they don't wear them they have them.

A hog's tooth is chambered round of an enemy sniper. When you kill the enemy sniper you take the chambered round that had your name on it you disable the bullet then drill a hole thru it and make it into a necklace with a leather tie.

I know Stephanie hasn't killed an enemy sniper and if I have my say I hope she never has to. But I want her to have one as she will be a trained sniper when we are done. Yes, it will take longer than the two weeks we have set aside but who says her training will end at the end of those two weeks. That is just to get her to the point that she can pass the Rangeman entrance test.

The hog's tooth that I am giving her is from my first kill of an enemy sniper. I wore it for a long time when I was in the Army and Rangers but I haven't for several years now. Not since I started Rangeman and became a business man full time and only run missions when I am needed. Speaking of missions with the government I am hoping to ride out the remainder of my contract without being needed.

My contract ends this year and I have no intentions of renegotiating the contract. Of course I am not dumb enough to tell them that ahead of time. I will wait until the day it comes up for renewal to let them know my decision. That way they can't send me off on the "one last mission" as they have done to many of my friends and brothers in arms where they just so happened to not make it back. Yes, it is a cruel world out there. But I love this country and have sacrificed a lot for this country but I don't love the bureaucrats and the suits that like to play with our lives nor do I care to sacrifice my life with my Babe for them either.

I hear her and Santos' laughter as they make their way down the hall. I quickly shut my laptop and went to the door to meet them. Pulling my Babe into my arms giving her a quick kiss on her luscious lips was the best part of my afternoon. She looked up at me with her eyes twinkling.

"Guess what I did today?" She asked me "What?" "I beat Lester here on the fast track." I looked at him for confirmation and he nodded putting his hands in his pockets leaning back on his heels. "Way to go Babe. Which car did you select to drive?" Asking her curious as to her choices.

"Carlos those cars are amazing. They are beautiful I had no idea you had anything like that." I corrected her "Rangeman has them. They aren't my personal cars. They are for everyone to train with, have fun with or borrow when they would like." I told her. "So which one did you choose?"

She looked at me "I chose a blue mustang" I knew exactly which car she had selected. I had picked that one because the color reminded me of her eyes. Looking at Lester I asked him "Which one did you chose?" I probably could have told him. Lester would go for one of the Red ones. But since he was one of the ones that picked the cars for the garage we had several Red cars.

"I drove the Chevy SS". I nodded good selection but it didn't hold a candle to that Mach I and my Babe had beat him. I pull her to me squeezing her tighter. "Proud of you, Babe" I tell her she just beams.

I can tell that Tank and Lester want to talk to me about something so I turn her to me and kiss her gently on the lips before telling her "go on up I will be up in a little while and we can have dinner." She nods hugs and kisses both Lester and Tank and heads for elevator as we retreat into my office.

I sat down on the couch and put my feet on the coffee table while the guys grab chairs across from me, Tank calling Bobby to see if he could join us.

Tank started first "Rangeman, I have been thinking about keeping what we found out from Stephanie and I think we should just lay it on the line to her. I know it will upset her to think that he would be capable of doing this to her but I think it is better that we tell her. I think she has a right to know and I think keeping it from her is a mistake. Letting her know will also help her better protect herself if he is behind it. I know she has started to fear him you can see it in her eyes but if he is behind this that puts him on a whole different playing field one that she isn't capable of understanding or protecting herself from. "

I could not agree more "Tank I have said from the beginning of all of this, well since you opened my eyes, that we are to support her and that she is a partner in all of this and needs to be able to make decisions for herself so I agree we need to tell her. I was wrong when I said that we wouldn't tell her I just want to protect her so much that I default sometimes to what I think will protect her more than what will make her feel like a partner. I guess it is a work in progress." I shrugged my shoulders.

Truth was also initially worried that she would think I was trying to drive Morelli further from her. Granted I wanted him far away from her but I trusted her enough to know that she would never think that I would fabricate information to try to separate her from anyone. She knew I wasn't that type of person.

Looking at the guys I asked them "You want to go tell her first or go interview our prisoner and see if we can learn any more from him?" They looked at me smiling I knew what they wanted to do. They wanted to have a little fun before breaking the news to Stephanie. None of us were looking forward to that conversation. Not only were we all going to have to apologize for keeping it from her but we were going to have to tell her something that we knew was going to upset her if not devastate her. She already had so much on her already.

As we made our way to the holding cell to talk to our prisoner thinking about what we had yet to do and who could be behind all of this had my blood boiling. It would be nice to take some of my frustrations out on that fucker in the cell. If he was smart he would answer our fucking questions truthfully the first time we ask because my patience is running out. I want this fucker found and dealt with.

Clicking the fob for the cell door to open I turned on the lights. The fucker was curled up in the corner of the room. Blinking his eyes as they tried to adjust to the sudden light he sat up looking at us when the four of us completely stepped into the room I could see the fear in his eyes. Good.

Tank walked over and picked the scared fucker up by the collar of his shirt. Pushing him towards the chair in the room he wisely took a seat and then looked at all of us.

He was scared you could see the white of his eyes. His eyes were bulging so much from fear as he was taking us all in. Good. I was looking at him as if he was my number one enemy and my knife had his name written on it in his blood.

Depending on how he answered my questions before tonight was over my knife very well may have his blood on it. I glared at him and you could see him shake with fear in my most lethal and low voice I asked him.

"Do you know who I am?" he nodded his head. Good he knew to fear me. "Do you know my men, my company?" I asked him. He once again nodded his head.

Good I wouldn't have to instill more fear in him he knew enough to fear us hell he was practically falling to pieces in fear in front of me.

"You delivered a package here yesterday?" I asked him and he just nodded I continued my questioning. "Did you know what was in the box you delivered? Did you open the box prior to delivering it?" He shook his head no rapidly. He finally spoke up and softly said "no".

He continued to talk "I don't know what was in the box. When I stepped out my door yesterday morning there was a package on the front door with instructions to deliver the package here. That is all I know." Really that is all you know.

I sneered at him "So you have a habit of just delivering strange packages to places without questioning what you are delivering or who you are delivering it for?" I asked him.

He once again shook his head hearing a growl from Santos he began to talk again. "The instructions said to deliver it here and to burn the note so that is what I did. I don't know who it was that left the box or the note."

I knew he wasn't telling me everything not to mention he hadn't told me about being arrested.

"What else did the note say? What else aren't you telling us?" I stared into his widened eyes "Trust me when I tell you things will be much better for you if you answer my questions and you tell me the truth. We have our ways of gathering the information we want and trust me we will get it. The only question you need to ask yourself is what kind of shape you want to be in afterwards. The choice is yours."

I leered at him almost smiling to let him know I didn't care which way he chose. He could tell me what I wanted or I could spill his blood until he told me what he wanted. Either way I would be okay. My conscious was clean.

He nodded and began talking. "This started two days ago. I was picked up for dealing drugs. I was arrested and while I was in the holding cell waiting for my case to be brought to a judge I received a note that told me about some other gang and drug happenings. I told my attorney and they were able to work a trade what I knew for a free walk. So I took it. I told them what was on the note."

Now we are getting somewhere. I asked him "Who gave you the note with the information?" He shook his head. I stepped closer shaking his head again he said.

"I don't know it was some girl she passed the note to me. I don't know who she is I had never seen her in my life. She handed me the note and then kept walking by until she got to the person she was there to see."

Raising my head, this was getting us no where closer which was really starting to piss me off. "Go on and tell us the rest." I told him.

He nodded his head and started talking. "Like I said I got a free walk so I went home. When I came back out of my door there was a package on the ground in front of my door. There was a note on the package that basically said to deliver this package here if I wanted to stay out of jail. The note said if I opened it they would kill me. So I did what the note said I burned the note and then delivered the package because I didn't want to go back to jail."

Drawing air in deep in my lungs thru my nose I was trying to talk myself out of not killing this fucker for being so stupid. I was trying to talk myself out of not killing him because if I were his age I would have more than likely done the same thing to have stayed out of jail. I was pissed for Stephanie that she had to deal with this but honestly this dumb fucking drug dealer was a puppet in someone else's twisted play. Was he fucking stupid? Yes. Did he deserve to die for it? Probably not or at least that is what I was using to try to convince the beast within me to spare his life.

Looking at him "What's your name?" I asked him. He looked up at me "Quin" he said. I raised my eyebrow he continue "Quin is short for Quinton last name is James." I nodded.

Turning I met each of the guys eyes and they proceeded to leave the room. Turning back to the man sitting in front of me I leaned across the table. "Quin I don't think I really need to say this but just so we are clear this conversation didn't happen, you never were here, and outside of you bringing a package here you don't know anything. Do I make myself clear? You are getting another free walk this time with your life so if I were you I would choose wisely how you spend it. Don't revoke it by doing something fucking stupid like talking about this experience."

He nodded. I got up and followed the guys out hit the switch on the wall plunging the room into total darkness. Closing the door behind me I looked to Bobby and Lester.

"You two make sure he gets back home. Let's put a tracker on him and see if we can get a bug or camera somewhere around his place. I wanted to see if he has anymore visitors we need to know about."

They nodded and went in search of the supplies they would need to get him wired. I turned toward Tank. "I am going to run a search on Quinton James I have a feeling it won't tell us who is behind this because they seem to be covering their tracks but it will be worth a shot. When they get back we will go up and have dinner with Stephanie and talk to her and tell her what we know." That was a conversation that I really wasn't looking forward to.

SPOV

I got up to the apartment and decided to take a shower and get comfortable for the night. Pulling on one of Carlos' t-shirt and a pair of my comfortable cotton shorts. I went into the living room turned on the TV and made myself comfortable on the couch.

The phone rang answering it, it was Carlos. "Yo" I said. He chucked "Babe that's my line" he tells me. "I know but I like it." I told him. He just chuckled again. "Babe I wanted to let you know what Tank, Lester, and Bobby will be joining us for dinner. We should be up in about hour or so is that okay?" YAY I get to eat with my brothers and best friend. "Yeah it will be fine. Do you want me to call Ella or have you done it already?" I asked him. "Already done Babe, just relax and I will be up soon." "okay" I tell him. I hear him say "Love you." and then he hung up before I had a chance to respond well at least he said he loved me.

I sat back on the couch losing myself in the television for a little while until Carlos and my brothers come for dinner.

MPPOV

That bitch daughter of mine thinks she is so fucking smart. Well she should know that she isn't as smart as she thinks she is. She thinks she can just go live with those thugs and criminals and no one would care. Boy is she wrong. Joe is just this close to never wanting to touch her again and what happens if he decides that? She would never get married, never have children, never become the burg woman that she should be proving to everyone that I am a failure as a mother.

Not to mention if Joe decides he no longer wants her then he will probably no longer want to meet me and I wasn't about to give that up. I was enjoying myself. Here I am a woman in her fifties and I was keeping up with a man young enough to be my son. Not to mention when I got home I would drag Frank up to our bed room and fuck his brains out to cover up the glow I was sporting.

I didn't think that Frank would notice it but I knew that my mother would and I knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't think twice about broadcasting to everyone.

I called Valerie I need to bring in additional troops. She answered the phone "Hello mom" now that was a proper greeting instead of that dreaded Yo. "Valerie, this is your mother how are you today?" I asked her. "Fine mom, how are you?" See I could raise a girl with manners who could get married, have babies, and be a stay at home mom that would make the burg proud why the fuck can't Stephanie just do the same?

"Valerie I am fine but your sister well she has gone off of the deep end. I don't know what has gotten into her, but I am really worried about her." I tell Valerie. "Mom what's wrong with Stephanie? What has happened?"

I smile I can hear the sincerity in Valerie's voice now I just need to convince her that she needs to help me swing Stephanie to see that my way is the right way she needs to live her life in order for her to be happy. I know Valerie agrees with me but she tries to stay out of Stephanie's life I know Albert encourages her to leave Stephanie alone or she would be right here with me seeing it my way and trying to convince Stephanie of the mistakes she is making.

"Valerie Stephanie came here a few nights ago screamed at us, told Joe off and then proceeded to push him with saying horrible disgusting things that she had been doing with that thug and criminal. She yelled at me, and her father saying horrible things like she was no longer a Plum and that she wanted nothing to do with us." Turning on the tears as I spoke to further the effect of what I was saying to Valerie.

"Mom you can't be serious she said that? She did that? But why?" She asked me. I smiled answering her. "I wish I knew she accused me of sleeping around on your father. We have been married for thirty five years Valerie. I would never sleep with another man. How could she say that about her own mother? I tell you those thugs and criminals that she is spending all her time with have brained washed her. They have brain washed her to hate us, hate Joe, and they are telling her terrible lies about us and she believes every word." I tell her again turning on the tears.

"Mom I can't believe I am hearing you say this." "Valerie it gets even worse. It appears that she has moved out of her apartment and in with them and I have good reason to believe that she is having sex with them….all of them. I don't know what to do." I tell her sounding desperate which I was feeling.

"Mom I am not sure what I can do. Would you like for me to try to talk to her? I don't know what I can say that will change her mind but I will try to make her at least see reason with what she is saying about you." I smile.

"Valerie I heard that Stephanie is planning on a girl's night out at one of the bars. I don't know which one but you may be able to find out. Mary Lou was in the bakery today and was overheard talking to her babysitter about watching the kids while she went out for a girls night out. I know if Mary Lou is going then Stephanie will be there."

"Okay mom I will find out and go see if I can talk to her for you." I smiled perfect. "I would be so grateful Valerie for you to talk to her. I love her and the thought of her never wanting to talk to me or see me is just tearing me up inside as much as it is to know what she is doing to herself and her reputation with those thugs."

"Mom I got to go Lisa just woke up from her nap." See perfect mother, perfect daughter why couldn't Stephanie be half as good? "Thanks again Valerie looking forward to seeing you and girls for dinner soon."

ValeriePOV

_***A/N: Valerie's POV was written by Margaret Fowler. I am glad and honored to be able to consider Margaret a friend that I met because of my story on Fanfiction. She has been a huge support to me and my story from the beginning and I could not thank her enough for all the encouragement she has given me. She had a great idea for Valerie and I asked her if she would like to write her POV she graciously accepted the offer. I am honored to have it be a part of my story.**_

For Christ sakes today has been the day for me. Albert lost his last case in court and comes home and expects me to ONCE AGAIN listen to him whine. Lisa has a cold with a fever to boot, and here is mom on the phone. I honestly don't know how Stephanie takes it. I am barely hanging on to my sanity here. It is hell being the perfect one just once I want to be a screw up. Just once I want to tell Albert to go fuck himself and now mom is whining again for gods sakes is this what I sound like? Thank goodness Angie got those books from Stephanie for her birthday, and what's up with the card she sent "Its better this way"?

I love Stephanie not that I ever told her that, I don't think, I envy her breaking the cycle of mom's hell, snort. I actually thought I saw Joe Morelli outside on stark street on the way to the deli, but hmmmmmmm that wouldn't be right, would it? Of course I am going to go see Stephanie, hell with Albert he can just man up and take care of the kids, like he ever would take care of them. I think I better call his momma over to help. Now, if I can just get a hold of Mary Lou to figure out where they will be tomorrow night I will see what is going on with Stephanie. I mean face it, ranger is hot, beyond hot and those guys that work for him do watch out for her it seems like all the time. There seems to be trust there in their friendship, I wonder if I tell Stephanie how I feel if I could trust her to help me break out of this cycle I am in. I want to live life, not be stuck like I am same ole same ole routine day in and day out. Christ, the toilet overflowed and Albert is whining about a plumber bill, does it ever end here?

SPOV  
I was sleep when I felt warm hands touch my face and warm lips touch my lips. I would know those lips anywhere even without that wonderful smell of his body. Without opening my eyes I returned his kiss and opened to deepen the kiss when his tongue brushed my bottom lip. I swear this man could drive me crazy with need.

Hearing throats being cleared I paused opening my eyes to see him open his. His eyes large brown and soft filled with love. I could also see a little frustration at having been interrupted. Our lips still connected staring into each other's eyes was an intimate moment even with witnesses, truth was I could forget all about them, our souls confirming our connection and the need for each other.

Lester being the bravest or possibly the dumbest not sure yet which one, as the jury is still out on that one, spoke up first effectively breaking our connection. "Guys I am hungry, can you hurry up sometime tonight? You can devour each other after dinner and once we are gone." He emphasized gone.

Laughing "Lester are you just jealous you don't have woman to devour at the moment?" I asked him "If you did we wouldn't be able to get you to eat at all. Remember, I know you." I tell him. "Beautiful if I had a woman to devour I would definitely be eating it jus t wouldn't be food." I blushed my whole face turning red and warm as he wagged his eyebrows at me.

He just shakes his head laughing at me and adds "Beautiful, I thought you would have been so hungry by now I figured you would have eaten without us." When will I learn to just keep my mouth shut? I can tell you when probably never.

I look at him seeing the laughter in his eyes. "Unlike you I can control myself besides I wouldn't want to deprive you of having the pleasure of eating with me." Oh shit what did I just say? I didn't really mean it like that I have done it again. The other's started laughing while Lester just groaned standing up Lester reached for me pulling me to the dining room. I guess he wasn't going to wait any longer.

Wow while I was sleeping the table had been set and dinner had been served. Wow my guys I tell you, who could ever want more I had the greatest bunch of brothers and soon to be husband a woman could ever ask for. We sat down and the laughter stopped I could see the guys getting serious, they had that look.

Shit, this was not going to be good. I could tell that I wasn't going to like what they were going to say, shit can we ever just have a fun dinner together? Ella had made burritos for our dinner with salad, avocados and I swear I could smell chocolate. If they had chocolate for me for dessert then this wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation. They knew when I needed chocolate and one of those times was when my world was going to crumble or was currently crumbling at my feet. I could tell the guys didn't know where to start or who would start it so I started for them.

"This isn't going to be a happy fun filled relaxed dinner is it? I asked them and all of them shook their head no. Fuck. I took a deep breath preparing myself for what they needed to tell me. "Okay spill it tell me already." I told them. See I could face the good, the bad, and the ugly. Carlos spoke up first.

"Babe I know from the beginning of you coming here, moving in here, I have said that we are partners. We agreed." He motioned to the guys at the table "that we would tell you everything and leave the decisions that involve you up to you."

I nodded then told them "Yes, Ranger you did and you have. It has made me feel great feeling like I was part of the team." Not really sure where he was going with this I added. "I know it hasn't always been easy for you all to do that but I love you for doing it, why?" I asked him.

"Babe we discovered something the other night that we were just able to confirm and while part of me wants to tell you because of my promise to you and at my true desire to be your partner in everything. The other part of me that wants to protect you and shield you at all costs doesn't want to tell you at least not until we know more have evidence or some kind of proof."

Wow now that is honesty at its core. How the fuck do I respond I am so fucking torn. I want to know on one hand and on the other hand I want to continue to live in blissful unawareness of denial land and just let him protect me and shield me, but I know deep down inside that isn't the right answer. It's at least not the answer that in the end will make me happy, oh hell. I am going to have to bite the fucking bullet and hear the bad shit he wants to protect me from. Fuck does it ever get easier? Not in my life or so it seems it doesn't.

One thing turns around in your life and goes right and everything else crumbles the fuck to pieces. Oh well welcome to my life. I would take the crumbles to have Carlos and my brothers. I would take anything to have them I couldn't live without him and I wouldn't want to live without them. So bring on the bad news.

"Ranger, I love you. I love that you want to protect me and shield me. Part of me wants you to. Part me wants all of you do that and let me just live in blissful denial land. But that isn't who I am really deep down inside. I love you all so much. I honestly don't know what I would have done without you all these past several days, week." I looked at all of them sitting around me. Holding their eyes for a few minutes for them to see the seriousness of what I am telling them.

"I understand the desire to protect and shield because I feel that with you all. But I really want to feel like a member of this family not the one that needs to be hidden and always protected. I want to be an equal member one that is on the front lines with you all as well."

I looked around the room at the guys and Carlos all had a smile on their faces. They are happy I feel the way I do about them. Then they all take a deep breath of air preparing themselves to tell me what I could tell none of them wanted to have to say.

RPOV

Shit I was afraid that she would say that of course it made me happy to hear how much she loved me and her brothers but I still hated having to tell her this especially since we didn't have any evidence or proof.

I took a deep breath and started. "Babe the other night when I left and went to Stark Street to find the guy who delivered the package to Rangeman we found out something." I hated bringing up that fucking package again after how it had upset her so much but I continued.

"We found him and brought him back here to Rangeman and held him in one of the holding cells in the basement." I paused. "Before we found him we discovered that the person who delivered the box had been picked up in a drug bust with a substantial amount of drugs the day prior. We also learned that the person had been let go on the same day and not out on a bond. He was just let free."

She nodded but I could see the gears working in her head. Before she could draw too many conclusions I continued with what we knew. "We meaning Tank, Lester, Bobby, and myself had a little talk with him tonight prior to coming up here. He confirmed everything we were told." Taking another breath letting it sink in I continued.

"His name is Quinton James, he goes by Quin. He was arrested by officer Gaspick while he was in jail waiting on his arraignment and bail hearing someone passed him information about a bigger fish in the cesspools of Trenton so his attorney was able to get him a walk on his charges in exchange for the information he gave them." I paused again giving her time to take everything I was saying in. She was just listening.

"He told us that after going home the next day when he opened his front door the box was there with a letter stating for him to remain out of jail he was to deliver the box unopened to Rangeman with further instructions to burn the note upon reading, which unfortunately he did."

"Babe we have no proof no evidence other than just what we heard but everything we heard leads me, all of us, to believe that it is very possible a cop is involved with your stalker or helping your stalker." God I hated saying that.

Looking at her I could see fear in her eyes almost terror the way they ghosted across us all sitting around the table. She gasped as realization of what I was telling her was sitting in. I pulled her into my lap and wrapped my arms around her as she held herself so tight that it was almost uncomfortable but I would never complain. She couldn't really hurt me no matter how hard she squeezed me.

I rubbed her back trying to sooth her fears, trying to hold the terror at bay because I would give my life for her. I would fight for her, I would die for her, I would do whatever I had to do to protect her and keep her safe. I whispered in her ear "I am here, I am never going to leave you, I am never going to let you down, I am never going to let anything happen to you, I love you, you are my life, my partner, my lover, and my soon to be wife know I would never let anyone harm you."

None of us mentioned Joe's name but we didn't have to seeing her clinging to me the way she was the terror in her eyes we all knew that she thought the same thing as we did. Looking at Tank, Bobby, and Lester I could see they were upset to see her this way. Lester was beside himself not knowing what to do for her. I could tell he was barely containing himself in his chair.

Bobby and Tank were furious looking at them I could see they just wanted to pound the shit out of someone, something at this point it wouldn't matter we should have kept that fucking drug dealer why he may have just delivered the package we could have taken our frustrations out on him. Would it be right, probably not but it would make everyone of us fucking feel better and that accounted for something the other I wouldn't lose sleep over.

Needless to say none of us finished that dinner. Tank Bobby and Lester came over to us still sitting at the table and gave her a hug and kiss as well as they could she wouldn't let go of me to hug them back or really acknowledged them as they walked out to living room.

I knew it was going to be another night of them sleeping in the living room. They didn't want to be that far away from her. She wasn't taking this news well. I knew she was processing what we told her with all of the notes that her Stalker left and the latest box contents and letter. I knew she was running it all thru that beautiful brain of her processing it all.

I sat there for a few minutes and then just stood up taking her in my arms and carried her to the bedroom where I laid down with her still holding on to me as if I was her last salvation on earth. I would hold her until her fears had subsided I would hold her until she once again felt safe I would hold her until she could find the strength from within herself to move forward and deal with the problems. I would give her courage, strength, the safety net that she needed for as long as she needed it.

Laying there on our bed my hands rubbing her back and arms I whispered in Spanish to her telling her how much I loved her, how much I admired her, how strong I thought she was, how brave I thought she was, and how we would find this guy, we would deal with this guy, how we had a long life of love and happiness in front of us. I felt her slowly relaxing and giving into me until I heard her lightly snoring against my chest and shoulder.

I reached to my hip and hit my cell phone beeping Tank's phone to let him know all is good. I knew it wouldn't take them long seconds later the three were peeking into our bedroom watching her laying on me sleeping. I nodded to them and Lester nodded. He grabbed my boots and undid them and pulled them off. He took my weapons off me and laid them on the dresser.

He leaned over kissed Stephanie on her forehead and she made a content sound at his touch. Bobby and Tank gave her a kiss and they left the room but I knew they weren't going far. I knew they were hanging out on the couch to be close if she wanted to talk or needed them but I wouldn't be leaving her not for a second tonight.

SPOV

I slowly came awake laying on something hard. When I shifted I looked up into a set of warm but concerned eyes of Carlos'. I could see he was worried and concerned about me. I hadn't said anything since he told what they had found out.

I gave him a smile, laying on him and being wrapped in his arms there is no place on this world that is better than this. I don't care where you could go or who you could be with it wouldn't matter nothing would mean more to me or feel better than his arms, his body to me.

"Babe you okay?" he asked me. I nodded. "I am going to be okay" I told him. "Laying here on you feeling your arms wrapped around me makes me feel like everything is going to be okay, that I am going to be okay in the end. It's just getting to the end that isn't going to be fun." I told him.

"No Babe it isn't going to be fun, but know that you have me, you have the guys, your brothers and while I can't speak for everyone I can speak for me and you will never be alone, I will always be here to be whatever you need me to be a Pillow, for you to lie on" He smiled "A shoulder to lean on and draw strength and courage from, a hand to hold when you need reassuring" he took my hand in his kissing my fingers "a lover to kiss and make love to when your soul needs to feel our connection." He gave me a kiss on my lips. The tears started flowing down my cheek hearing his words. He reached up and wiped them off my face "Someone to wipe and kiss the tears away and protect you from whatever scares you."

"Carlos I love you so much, I can't imagine living life without you." I told him. He smiled at me. "I love you too Babe never doubt that for a second." I wouldn't I couldn't he was my life.

"Babe I think there are three of your brothers in the Living room that need to see you and know that you are going to be okay. You ready to get up and go talk to them?" He asked me. I nodded, he smiled.

I got up and went to the bathroom to clean up a little and take care of Mother Nature before joining my brothers in the living room.

HectorPOV

Fuck, I hated working with people. I hate people I naturally don't trust anyone and now I am working with dumb fucker one and two but it is the only way I can keep my eyes on them. Something is off and I am not going to let them near my Angelita.

I will do whatever I need to do to keep her safe and that means working with two dumb fuckers then that is what I am going to do. Luckily they don't talk to me a whole lot as they don't believe I don't know English and it is clear they don't know Spanish. I have called them all kind of things, told them all kind of things about their mommas and their small tiny dicks that if they knew Spanish I would have gotten some sort of reaction from them. It was no way they were as skilled at non reaction as I was.

Doug liked to work alone at his desk isolated more so than Mike but that was okay with me long as he fucking did his work. At least having them here they were doing some of the basic work I had to do which was freeing me up a little but I still double checked everything they did because I knew what dumb fucks they were and I didn't want them fucking something up in my area of expertise.

I noticed Doug has a separate cell phone a burn phone that he makes calls on and gets calls on I am going to have to see if I can figure out what he is doing with that.

I put a tracker on Morelli's car earlier and I have been tracking his car. So far nothing really stood out as out of the ordinary for a detective's car. There was one thing I did notice that I would check up on was that his car spent a significant time at one of the motels on Route one. It wasn't that he was there that long each time but he was there several times a week which seemed a little odd. More than likely he was meeting women there typical sleaze ball but considering who we were talking about nothing out of the ordinary.

I didn't give a fuck if fucked half of New Jersey at that motel so long as he wasn't tracking and harassing Angelita he could have all of the putas he wanted. I could only hope that he would catch something that would make his dick shrivel up and fall off.

JPOV

I was sitting here waiting on Momma to join me for one of our afternoon planning sessions at the motel. I am fuming on one hand because nothing seems to be getting to Cupcake. I mean I pull her over and practically molest her but she just took it. I knew I scared her but who cares I didn't really hurt her.

I sent that package to her and nothing. The cops haven't been notified nothing has been done, there has been no action on Rangeman's part nothing. Hell Cupcake hasn't even tried leaving the building. I have eyes on the inside and on the outside and she has been staying inside.

My contact on the inside said she is still training with those thugs and fucking them. She hasn't heeded my last note warning her about spreading her legs for all of those fucking criminals and thugs. She was supposed to be opening her legs for me not them.

I see Momma's car pulling into the lot. I know I am going to have an afternoon of fucking her. The thought makes my dick twitch. She maybe older but she has descent body not as good as Cupcake's but not wrinkly and sagging either. Stephanie having her mother's genes will have a good body as she ages. That is a good thing because I have no intentions of slowing up any time soon.

I get out of my car and we make our way to my room. We go in and close the door. I was expecting her to drop to her knees like normal but instead she says "Son I have some news, I found out that Stephanie is planning a girl's night out for tonight but I haven't found out where she is going or when." Good I can figure that out fuck I can follow her knowing she was going was the most important part.

"Momma thanks, I can find that out. Thanks for telling me. Maybe I will be able to meet her and talk to her. Maybe she will listen to me this time and come to her senses and come back to me, to you." She nods then she told me. "I called Valerie to ask her to go and try to talk some sense into her. To see if she can stop embarrassing us and disappointing us." Good, maybe Valerie will be able to make her shape up.

"Valerie's always done the right thing. I don't know if she will convince her but it is good thinking and a good try we will just have to see if Valerie can make her see reason." I told her. Now I was done talking I wanted action. Lowering my zipper letting my monster free from its constraints was all it took to snap momma out of it as she dropped to her knees assuming the position to take care of my needs like every woman loves to do except for my Cupcake. Hmm maybe I should see if Valerie would like a little taste then I could say I have fucked all of the Plum women well except for Grandma and I wasn't about to go there.

JuniorPOV

It's Saturday morning and I am here training with Bombshell at the Rangeman Compound. In the Rangers I was an expert in weapons. I excelled in all sorts of weapons and I loved to simply blow shit up. It was a good day when I was firing a weapon even at a target be it paper or a larger object.

Ranger had talked to all of us that were training her today and requested that we focus on training that centers around sniper training. So for our lesson today I was teaching her how to select a point of cover and a point of view that would give her the best options for taking out a target while remaining out of sight and having cover.

A sniper worth his weight in salt knows three things. One how to remain hidden, two how to find the high ground for the best shot, and three how to shoot accurate at extreme distances sometimes up to a mile or more away. That is way simplified but basically those are things a sniper must succeed at in order to live.

We were out working on the hill in the wooded area I was explaining to Bombshell how you cover your tracks. First we discussed what would potentially make a track that a good tracker could follow of course foot prints but there are other things as well. Broken sticks, bent limbs, twigs broken, flowers disturbed, even grass disturbed. A good tracker will notice the tiniest of changes.

We were walking thru the woods and I was teaching her how to cover her trail so no one could find her. I was an expert tracker. I learned some in the Army and the Rangers but most of it came from hunting with my brothers and friends growing up.

I grew up in central Virginia, Albermarle County to be exact and we would hunt all kinds of animals. We mostly hunted deer during deer season but we enjoyed hunting bear, even enjoyed hunting foxes and sometimes even bobcats. Unlike some hunters we never used dogs. I always felt like the dog did the work for the hunter. After all the dog finds the deer, the dog chases the deer, and ultimately the dog turns the deer so that the deer is sent right towards the hunter.

I always liked to track the deer it gave me a challenge to find and then track one of nature's creatures. To look for the signs that you were on that animal's track and that it was a recent track. It made it feel more like hunting to me rather than jus t shooting what the dog managed to run across my path.

My brothers Jake and John I know our mom and dad had a thing for the letter J. It was probably more my mom than dad we were all J's my mom's name was Julie my dad's name is James. I was the first born the "junior" hence the nickname. My full name is James Adams McGomery the second. My dad is a doctor, and my mom is a school teacher. My brother's followed in my father's footsteps I was the only one that went into the military. But my family was supportive of me and loved me for my choices and my sacrifices I had made for my country and fellow man.

As we were walking I was pointing out subtle differences that we were making on the forest floor showing her what would need to be covered up telling her about how to avoid it or cover up the tracks we were leaving. At one point while we were walking she tripped and fell coming down on her hands and knees. Okay this was a big print.

"You okay?" I asked her. She nodded her head stretching out her hand checking her wrist. "Yeah I do this a lot she said. Fall over my own two feet." She then laughed at herself. I just smiled at her. "Well now that you are okay let's take a look at the print you just left behind." We examined it and I asked her what she would do to cover the foot print she had just made on the forest floor.

She went about covering up the grass by raking it like I had shown her previously. Starting at the furtherest point and working back the direction we were heading. She did good covering her track even finding the broken twig on a low lying bush she reached in the bush and cut it off and then hid the piece.

"Very good Bombshell that was exactly what I would have done." I told her smiling. Okay now for a little test we were about half way thru our training time maybe three fourths time has a way of going by quickly when you are having fun and being here doing this was fun and with her it was even better.

Looking at her, I smiled I hope she would enjoy this. "Okay Bombshell we are going to play a little game." She smiled. We all knew she loved games and challenges we had figured that out pretty quickly and I think we were all using one of the other with her training to encourage her to push herself further than she would have believed she could have done.

"We are going to split up we are going to start tracking each other. We are going to do our best to not only track each other but get to higher ground where we would have the advantage over the other. You are going to try to lose me and track me at the same time while I am doing the same to you. Remember you can use false trails that I explained to you this morning. Everything we went over this morning is game."

I handed her a scope with a laser attached to it. I showed her how to use it. "Once you believe you have me in your sights I want you to hit the laser button. It will put a laser point on me. Just don't aim it towards anyone's face. Whoever gets the laser beam on their opponent first wins the game. We can discuss rewards after the fact." I told her.

She smiled, we also knew she liked rewards, surprises and treats for winning a game or completing a challenge. Hal told her he had surprise for her and he had a twenty five dollar itunes card for her. But once he gave it to her she told him that she had dropped her ipod one day when she was running on the treadmill and it had broken, I don't know how no one seemed to know about it. But now that we know we have something planned for her that I believe she is going to love but that wouldn't be my reward to her as that was going to be more from all of us as a group.

I gave her a panic button just in case something happened and she needed me, I also gave her a compass to help her with finding her direction. She had gone over reading a compass and using one at one of her prior training sessions.

So to start the game we both walked out of the woods and went the opposite direction fifty feet or so before entering the woods again.

I quickly found what I thought was her trail. It was very subtle differences ones she probably didn't even realize she was leaving. I was wondering why she was heading in the direction she was going I figured she was probably trying to stay low and circle around behind where she thought I would be coming around to find her. I noticed the tracks she was leaving were getting more and more subtle she was learning as she went excellent. I was very proud for a first time only been shown and worked with for a short time she was leaving a very subtle trail.

I had been following her trail for the past ten minutes or so and I was still wondering if she didn't understand that she was supposed to be finding higher ground. I paused for a minute looking to see where I would go to circle her and reach higher ground to get the advantage for laser tagging her.

As I turned to the north looking up the hill I saw the beam from her laser I had been tagged. She had tricked me. She had laid a false trail so subtle that I believed it was her trail while all the while she had been tracking me from higher ground. Now even tagging me with the laser I wouldn't have been able to pick her out from where she was had it not been for the laser light showing me. I was more than impressed with her. The guys were telling me about how she was excelling in everything they showed her but today was beyond what I expected. She had blown me away had she been a true sniper I would be dead right now. All I can say is thank God she is one of ours and on our team because I wouldn't want her to playing for the other side.

I yelled up to her "Way to go Bombshell that was an awesome fake trail it was subtle I just knew it was your trail with you being a beginner guess I completely misjudged you. You did awesome." She was making her way down to me smiling. I could see how proud she was of herself. Hell I was proud of her. Ranger will flip when he hears how well she did.

Speaking of Ranger it is time for his hour I wouldn't be surprised if he is in these woods tracking us right now.

SPOV

I had gotten Junior, I had tagged him first. I had worked so hard to lay a very subtle track while I keep my true trail covered he bought it hook line and sinker and while he was following my trail I back tracked above him and followed him to the point I wanted him. I had perfect cover in a thick of trees and bushes he would never see me but I had a clear shot.

I saw him stand up and looking around he turned towards me the perfect shot so I tagged him with the laser. I could see he was at first surprised and then he was excited and happy that I had done so well. I briefly wondered what I was going to get for winning the game. I should have negotiated the reward before the game something to remember the next time.

The guys like playing games with me and I loved playing their games most of the time I was the winner and I loved winning. Hal gave me a twenty five dollar itunes card it's a shame my ipod broke the other day. It had an accident when I was running on the treadmill you know too many cords attached to me and my arm caught the cord sending my ipod down onto the belt which the belt then shot it off into the wall and it smashed it.

I didn't tell anyone because I knew they would buy me another one and I didn't want them spending their money on me like that. So I sent my ipod on to a trash can burial before anyone saw it.

I was walking down to meet Junior when I felt a twinge at the back of my neck. Carlos was in the woods and he was close to us. He was tracking us. I made it to Junior "Junior, Ranger is close he is tracking us. Let's have a little fun, what do you say?" I motioned to our lasers. He just nodded his head and smiled as we started making our way thru the forest covering our trail.

We started circling back so we would come up behind him. I was doing the same thing I had done when I laid down the false trail for Junior. I would step out of my trial and go to where I wanted him and move something I knew he would see the slightest change. Then step back into my path. If this worked I was going to want a big fucking reward, maybe having Carlos to myself right here on the forest floor.

I look up at Junior who is holding his mouth practically chocking. Shit fuck damn I did it again. My brothers are going to think all I do is fuck Carlos as I can't keep my shut when it comes to those thoughts. Oh well it could be worse I guess but I really do need to learn to keep thoughts to myself. I turned a little pink but kept on walking.

I caught movement to my right pulling out my compass I took note of the direction as I ducked behind some brush. Freezing my movements and the movement from the trees and brush around me Junior was right behind me. He was letting me take lead and do what I thought I should do to cover our trail and follow me where I thought we should hide etc.

I lay down on the forest floor making myself as low and little as possible. I was hoping Carlos wouldn't be looking this low for me. If Snipers took the high ground then he would expect movement higher. I put my laser in front of me. I was hoping he would bite on the bait I left for him on the trial but I knew he was the best so it would be possible he would sense it was a trap and if he did we wouldn't win. Our only chance of winning was the element of surprise because he didn't know we were doing this and he was just expecting to walk up on us.

But mister 'always be aware of your surroundings' well it is hard to know what he is thinking and prepared for so the chance of us pulling this off is slim to none. I knew he was close I could tell by the tingle it was getting stronger. I looked at Junior and shook my head letting him know that Carlos wasn't falling for the trial. We had to come up with plan B. I wasn't going to just lay here and literally be a laying duck. I raised up slightly still staying as low as possible and did another scan of the forest around us.

Thinking what would Ranger do. Where would he go where could he be and see me? I spotted a location that would be perfect to see us. I tapped Junior's shoulder and motioned for him to start moving to my left which now was south west according to my compass. I wasn't sure within the compound where that would bring us up to but it didn't really matter. It isn't like we could go beyond the compound as there was fencing surrounding the whole compound.

I had a brilliant idea while walking by a tree. I grabbed a hold of one of the branches and started climbing the tree. This was either going to give us away or give us an advantage I knew that I just wasn't sure which one. Junior started climbing on the other side of the tree. I reached one of the larger branches and I lay out across it feet were toward the trunk. I lay on my stomach out across the branch. Scanning the woods I knew he was out there I just couldn't seem to see him. It was driving me crazy on one hand and on the other hand I was so excited I had abated him this long.

Suddenly there was movement below us to the right close to where I had been laying on the ground. If he followed our path here I would have him but he didn't. I quickly saw him step to the south east he was going to circle us, damn I was understanding this, I was getting it. I looked back to Junior and motioned to where I had seen Ranger and made a circle motion with my finger telling him he was circling.

I gave him a couple of minutes to ensure he was out of the view of us I raised up on the branch on my knees then stood up looking towards the direction he was heading. I quickly scanned to see if there was a place we could wait and ambush him.

I saw a place that would possibly work but getting there would be difficult without being seen. I wasn't sure how fast he was moving so I had to consider that as well. I scanned the forest again and I found it the perfect point. If he was circling back to where he thought we would be he would intersect this area that is all we needed just our paths to cross at the right time. I had cover getting there and I could get there quickly so no chance of him beating us to it.

I quickly and quietly as possible climbed down the tree Junior following me just smiling. I motioned for him to follow me and cover his trial. We quickly made it to the spot I had selected. I choose to lay down flat on the ground under the bush no way in hell he would find me under here.

Junior followed me having my scope and laser in front of me I started looking thru the scope watching for any kind of movement. It was so subtle I once again almost missed it but I saw a leaf on tree shake he was coming the way I thought he would. Feeling the tingle on my neck getting stronger I knew he was close.

H e would have to step out into the open to cross from bush to tree for cover that is when I was going to tag him with my laser. I was ready and waiting for him to just step out in the open. I knew he would be quick fast as lightening and I would only have seconds to tag him so I was ready. I saw the bush start to move and then it went still. Fuck.

I wanted to look to see what he was doing but I knew if I chanced moving I would give myself away. He sensed the trap and he wasn't falling for it I knew it. Damn he was good. Then again what did I expect he was fucking Batman he was the best. This wasn't going to be easy.

I turned over so I could see if someone was advancing on me from behind. I knew he was close I could feel him. I knew he wasn't in front of me so he had to be coming up behind me so in order to see I turned over. He would never expect it after all how many snipers have you ever seen on TV lay on the ground on their backs?

I held up my scope with the laser at the ready the second I spotted him I was going to tag him. I could feel him but he wasn't advancing on me. He was flanking us he was hoping we would move out so he could trap us. That wasn't going to happen. If he wanted us he was going to have to step up and get us because when he stepped into the clearing to get us I would have him.

I pulled my feet into me so they weren't sticking out from the bush I didn't want to give him any indication how I was laying. I was watching for him waiting for him. Trying to think about every angle he could come at us. All of a sudden a hand went over my mouth and I was pulled out from under the bushes. Carlos had won. He had me. I smiled up at him. He smiled back his thousand watt smile before he covered my lips with his. I know I groaned at the feeling God how I wanted this man.

"Babe who taught you track and hide as well as you are doing? I have seen trained Rangers not do as well as you did out here today. I have been watching you and tracking you and seeing what you were doing and I have to say Babe you never disappoint. I am proud of you, you did really good."

I just smiled at him. Junior joined us as Carlos brought me to my feet. Junior spoke up next "Ranger I tell you man I am glad she is on our side. She set me up and tagged me with the laser within in twenty minutes of our game. I tell you she is a natural. I showed her some of the basics and she took to it like a duck to water but what she was doing trying to get you well they were advanced techniques she did all on her own." He looked at me I felt like a million dollars.

Junior continued "It was pure beauty watching her decide what her next move was going to be where she was going to go to try to trap you or ambush you. I have to say she did good if you weren't as good as you were she would have had you. Turning on her back was a brilliant move and would have caught most any sniper off guard."

I was soaring I had done everything right I had impressed Carlos and Junior. I hugged Junior "Thanks, but I think I had a really great teacher." He just smiled and we started to make our way out of the woods guess I would have to wait until another day to have my way with Carlos on the forest floor, pity next time I would win and claim my prize.

Once we got back to the buildings Junior gave me a hug and left in the SUV we had driven over, I would get a ride back with Carlos maybe he would take me to lunch before returning to Haywood. I really would like something other than turkey wraps not that they weren't good but you can only deal with so much healthy before you just had to throw in a greasy burger or a meatball sub after all my veins might get use to all the fast flowing blood. I had to admit though it was good for my ass but hell on my pallet.

Ranger and I got busy with what he wanted to train me but before we started he pulled a necklace off of his neck it was a leather cord with a bullet on it. He called it a Hogs Tooth and he went about explaining what it was and the significance that it represented. I remembered the bile that rose in my stomach just thinking about a sniper out looking for him and thinking that if he wasn't as good as he was he could not be standing here right now, that I would have never had the chance to meet him. I fought the tears that wanted to fall at the sheer thought that I would have never known the love that I have come to feel, I would have never known this man standing in front of me it was almost crippling just thinking about it. Not to mention not having or knowing my brothers and best friend.

He put the necklace over my head and I felt the bullet was warm from his body against my chest. Feeling the warmth from his body even thru the bullet was what I needed to jump start my heart again. I grabbed him and hugged him and kissed him. It was the first time in all of our training sessions that I broke training and gave into the need to feel him, but I had to feel his arms around me my arms around him to once again ground me. I held him until I had myself back under control and until I once again was reassured he was here in the living with me.

I think he understood my actions even though I didn't say anything. He didn't say anything he didn't ask any questions he just held me until I was able to once again concentrate on our training.

DougPOV

I was working in the equipment room. I had a gotten an idea looking at all of the video recording devices and cameras. I had a way to get Stephanie alone in the building, at least I thought it would work and if it did I could get her alone and have my way with her before handing her over to her whatever the hell he called himself.

I didn't care what he was or who he was to her I just wanted her gone so I could get the full time Rangeman job after all everyone knew a girl couldn't do a man's job and she was just a fucking joke for even trying. She was entertainment to the guys and she was a fuck to them and for that they pacified her by pretending to train her. I had watched her training sessions I mean jumping on a guy's back what the fuck do you learn from that, or closing your eyes and attacking a cushion I mean what the fuck was she learning to do fight a couch? The guys were just playing with her.

I heard my burn phone ring. Picking it up and whispering hey into it. It was the cop. He told me that Stephanie was planning a girl's night out and he wanted me to find out where she was going. I told him that I would try to find out where she was going but the guys were pretty closed lipped when it came to her. We hung up.

Maybe I would go to girl's night out as well and see if I could strike it lucky with the Rangeman whore. Who knows maybe it would be easier than I thought, especially if she came to me.

SPOV

I am hobbling back to the apartment today was a tough day. It started with sniper training and then fighting. Lester handed me ass as well as Zip and Cal. Hector was the only one that didn't beat my ass not that he went easy on me.

These guys were definitely holding nothing back they were coming at me with all they had and it was all I could do to defend myself and fight back a little. I tried my best and yes I was getting better and faster. Hell I wouldn't have held a candle to their attacks the first training session. All of the guys seemed impressed by how far I had come but I was really wondering if I was going to make it another week.

I was proud of what I had accomplished and the things I was learning and able to do but I swear I was hurting, I was sore, I was tired, and I just had my ass handed to me for four solid fucking hours. I really needed a shower, a relaxing bath in the tub and I just hoped my legs would be able to hold me up for dancing tonight. I figured I had time to shower, and bath and then sleep for a little while before hitting the club tonight after all the clubs didn't get going until around eleven or as we bad asses say twenty three hundred. At least tomorrow I can sleep in and relax tomorrow is an off day I fully intend on doing just that nothing.

**Please review I love reading all of the reviews from my story.**

**I have a website that I have created to give you all you to explore deeper into the story "What does it mean to trust" You can go to the following website and see Stephanie's training schedule, Lester's personal vehicles, Cars trucks, and bikes that are in the Rangeman Compound. I will continue to add additional information to this website. **

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	27. Chapter 26: Girl's Night Out Pt1

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**I want to thank everyone who writes a review for my story. I enjoy reading them and I love ideas they give me so keep them coming! You do my soul good!**

**I have a website that I have created to give you all something to explore to dig deeper into the story "What does it mean to trust" You can go to the following website and see character bios (along with some pictures of what I think they would look like), ask questions, give suggestions, see Stephanie's training schedule, Lester's personal vehicles, Cars trucks, and bikes that are in the Rangeman Compound, Rangeman test requirements, and pictures of the places they have been and of Stephanie's ring and clothing. I will continue to add additional information to this website so continue to check out the website.**

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**You will then click on the tab that says "What does it mean to" I hope you enjoy it. Please sign the guest book so I know you have been there.**

Chapter 26: Girl's Night Out

SPOV

I get out of the tub and jump in the shower at least my sore muscles are starting to feel better. Washing my hair and shaving, exfoliating everywhere I start to wonder what in the hell will I wear. It wasn't like I had been shopping and I threw all of my clothing away because the stalker had gone thru all of my things and they just felt dirty.

Shit Stephanie guess you will be going in your Rangeman uniform that will be really sexy for a night out on the town. Not that I was going to find anyone but still I am woman and I like looking good, well when I am not having my ass handed to me by one of my brothers.

I got out of the shower, running some gel thru my curls that Mr. Alexander had given me, well recommended and I purchased after all nothing is free. I was going to put my hair up a little tonight but let the curls tumble down my back it will help keep me cool and stay out of my face well except for the few pieces that will frame my face.

I quickly dry my hair so I can lay down after all if I lay down with it wet I will never be able to style the wild maddening curls that I would be left with. Lying down on the bed I quickly drift off to dream land after setting the clock to get up in time to finish getting ready and get to the club by eleven. We were going to a new club that had opened, The Blue Light Bar, It seemed popular and Rangeman took care of their security so I knew we would be treated as VIP and that is always fun.

RPOV

My Babe had told me about her plans to go out with the girls for "Girl's Night Out". Normally I wouldn't care and would only hope that she had a good time and would provide safe travel to and from the club after all we all know that my Babe can't hold her alcohol. A little bit goes a long way with her. That reminds me to make sure I have the cure ready for her tomorrow morning.

Tonight however I was a little worried with her stalker still out there and us not having any clues other than the knowledge that a cop may be involved was making me a little anxious and badass' don't do anxious, especially me. When we are anxious about something we just seek it out and kick it's ass and that takes care of it but this time we didn't know whose ass to kick.

We are partners and she had made the decision to go lord knows she deserves a night out of fun with all the hard work she has been doing this past week. Just tonight I saw her limping from the gym to the elevators and into the apartment. She was putting forth a hundred and ten percent and she was excelling and reaping all of the benefits well I was reaping some of those benefits as well but we won't go there.

You could see changes in her daily. She was growing more confident, she was becoming more in control of her own life, she was trusting herself and her "spidey senses", and she was trusting us as her brothers and me as her lover. She was opening up to me allowing me to give her pleasure in ways she had never allowed before because she was never confident, and trusting as she has become. It was an amazing transformation and seeing her this way only caused me to lover her more, if that was possible.

I however was worried about tonight. I asked her if she wanted me to go with her but she said that she wanted to go and have fun with Lula, Connie, and Mary Lou and not have to fight off every girl in the club for coming on to me. Like the guys wouldn't be coming on to her at least she had asked Lester and Woody to join them and I am certain others from Rangeman will show up if they have gotten word of her going out tonight.

I knew she wanted to relax and be able to talk to her friends about us and didn't want for me to hear everything said. I have three sisters after all I know how they tell each other everything. It would be awkward for my Babe for me to be there and Stephanie talking about us.

I had a contract that desperately needed my attention so I would be working on that tonight, that is if I am able to concentrate on it. I knew Lester would protect her and fight for her just as hard as I would. Woody would also and I knew that if trouble broke out they would let me know. Rangeman did security for the club they were going to so I could pull up the camera feeds if necessary but I am going to try not to do that so Stephanie can have her privacy.

I walk into the bedroom to wake up my Babe so she can finish getting ready but all I really want to do is keep her in this bed all night long. She wants to be at the club at twenty three hundred and it is currently twenty one thirty. She will probably say I let her sleep too long as is since I heard the alarm go off a half hour ago. But my Babe needed her rest so I let her sleep a little longer

SPOV

Once again I am awaken with lips on me pressing butterfly kisses all over my face, my eye lids, nose, lips, cheeks, across my forehead and down my neck. God that feels so good. I can't help the smile from breaking out across my face letting him know that I am no longer asleep, damn.

I moan. "Babe it's nine thirty you need to get up and get dressed if you are still going to go out for girl's night out." He tells me. Go? Going out for girl's night out? What's girl's night out when I can have a Carlos night in? What the fuck was I thinking? See how this man affected me? Makes me forget what I had planned, makes me want to change my plans just so I can stay in this bed in his arms. Damn Lula, Connie, and Mary Lou would have my ass. Lula was already pissed enough at me I didn't need her even madder at me for standing them up. Hell she would probably hunt my ass down if I did. It has been over a week since I have talked to her or seen her and let's face it a lot has happened in that week and I have told them none of it.

"Okay" I tell him but it is hard to move from where I am feeling so good, so loved, so warm being in his arms. I slowly start to move towards getting up out of the bed. When I break our contact my body immediately revolts to the lack of his touch. I immediately miss his warmth and touch but I continue to get up if I give in I won't be leaving this bed tonight.

I stepped into the closet looking for something to wear this should fun with the limited clothing I have. Looking at the rack of my clothes I spot an outfit I am almost positive wasn't hanging there this morning. Pulling it off of the rack it couldn't be more perfect for tonight. It was almost as if someone had picked it especially for tonight. I tell you Ella is the greatest. She is a goddess among women. There is nothing that she doesn't or can't do. I swear I don't know what I would do without her I just want her to adopt me.

"Carlos, Ella is a Goddess!" I yell to him as I pull on the white lacie Victoria Secrets thongs that rode low on my hips and my white strapless lacy bra. Ella had the whole outfit assembled down to the bra and panties hanging in the closet. "What is that Babe?" Carlos asked me stepping into the closet. I heard a growl from behind me. Oh Carlos approves, I smile as I rock my ass in front of him giving him a little bit of a tease.

I turn towards him "Ella put this whole outfit together" I motioned to the hanging items "for me even down to the panties and bra and it is perfect for tonight." I tell him. "I don't know how she knew and I don't know how she does it all, but I do know that woman needs a raise." I tell him. "Babe I couldn't agree more seeing you in that I would most definitely agree Ella needs a raise." He said in a sexy voice.

I turn back to the jeans that were hanging there. They are Lucky Brand jeans and I am immediately in love with them. They are washed worn jeans that appeared to be distressed with almost holes in the legs. They ride low on my hips hugging my ass and the legs are straight.

I shrug myself into them and damn they fit me perfect. Carlos growls again. Turning around I look at my backside in the mirror and the jeans are hugging my ass perfectly they look amazing. "Carlos when you get the bill for these jeans you won't be as pleased as you are now. They are about two hundred dollar jeans." I tell him to prepare him for the bill. I have never been able to afford Lucky Brand jeans. Hell I was doing good to afford the thirty dollar Levi jeans when they went on sale.

Carlos growled again "Babe the way you look in those jeans I wouldn't care how much they cost. The view you are giving me right now is worth every penny those jeans cost." Wow I couldn't keep the smile off my face. I just hope I could make it out of the house without ruining my panties first. It was going to be a challenge. One right now I was certain I was going to lose.

Reaching back to the hanger I take the shirt off the shirt is white I noticed it was also a Lucky Brand damn. This shirt has little straps that go over my shoulders and buttons up the front. It has a heavy lace almost eyelet but not quite across the top and there were also on each side of the shirt same lacy pattern that you could see my skin thru. I slipped it on leaving the bottom two buttons undone so my jeans would peak thru. It was the perfect top for the club I would be cool and it looked super hot on me the perfect combination.

Looking in the mirror this shirt was showing off my shoulders and arms. Damn I am getting some definition. Looking good there Steph. Who knew a week of working out and training would change my body this much? But I guess eight hours a day six days a week will do that to a girl.

I heard Carlos let out another growl behind me, I smile. " Babe you didn't want me to go because you were worried about having to fight all of the women off of me, what about the men? Who is going to be there to fight the men off of you?" He asked me I looked at him like he had two heads. "Babe have you looked at yourself? You are beautiful and you look smoking hot in that outfit. The men at the club are going to be falling at your feet the second you walk in." He tells me.

I smiled at him. "Batman you are the only man I want to fall at my feet." He smiles "Babe when you get home tonight I have every intention of falling at your feet and worshiping at your throne all night long." Yep that did it I have officially lost the battle panties are now ruined. I smiled at him "Carlos I have every intention of holding you to those words." I turned back to the rack and opened the sack hanging from the hook. Shoes, oh my god four and half heels with huge rhinestones across the toe and foot and a strap that goes behind the ankle they are beautiful and they will add just the amount of bling this outfit needs.

The roughness of the jeans added to the elegance of the shoes was a perfect combination then mixed with the subtleness of the shirt this outfit was smoking hot in a not overdone or trying too hard kind of way. Carlos moved behind me when I put the shoes on. I picked up the smaller sack from the hanger and made my way into the bathroom with Carlos hot on my heels.

I brushed out my curls and pulled my hair up off of my face but allowing the back to cascade down my back in flowing curls. I pulled a few strands out around my face so they could frame my face and then started on my makeup.

It felt good to get dressed up like this. The work I had been doing this week was so intense I barely had time to put on makeup not that it would have done any good with all the sweating I had been doing. I was going simple tonight but with a little smoky eye. I put on my barely there blush and a light lip color only a few shades darker than my natural lip color. I used neutral eye colors with a dark brown for the smoke affect making my blue eyes pop. I added eyeliner and three coat of mascara. I was almost ready. Opening up the smaller sack a pair of sterling silver earrings fell into my hand. They were a circle with bars hanging down from the circle in grading lengths. Perfect for how I had my hair. How could Ella have known that? I tell you she is a Goddess it's the only way. I put them in and immediately fell in love with them they were the exact size they needed to be. Not to small not to be seen or paid attention to and not so big that they overtook everything else also they moved beautifully.

I had on the hog's tooth necklace Carlos had given me earlier. I wasn't going to take that off I was going to wear it. "Babe hold on a second." Carlos asked me as he retreated back to the closet. He came back in the bathroom with a silver chain in his hand. He motioned for me to run around without showing me exactly what he had other than it was a chain, I turned around.

He put the necklace on my neck and it hung low much lower than the Hog's tooth it hung down and rested between my boobs in my cleavage, this bra was doing wonders for my chest. Picking up the necklace I immediately recognized it. Turning to look at him I was smiling for all I was worth. "Marking your territory Batman?" I asked him playing with him. He nodded "Babe not that it will do any good with the way you look tonight but maybe it will keep one or two guys away, I can at least hope." I laughed and he joined me.

Normally that would have pissed me off had Morelli tried to pull that I would have been gone but with Carlos it just felt different maybe because I wanted to mark him as mine. Hell if we were dogs I am sure by now I would have pissed on him to mark him as mine.

I picked up the necklace it was Carlos' dog tags. Looking at them "Don't you need these though?" I asked him. He shook his head "they are extra if you want to wear them Babe consider them yours." He said. Did I want to wear them? Would my grandma grab his "package" the first chance she got? Of course I wanted to wear them.

His name on my chest between my boobs hell yeah I wanted to wear them. Besides it made my outfit even hotter. "Hell yeah I want to wear them I love them." I tell him and he just chuckled. I threw on some silver bangle bracelets oh my right arm, I was officially ready and if I could say so myself I was looking pretty damn hot.

"Babe you are beautiful I think that I should go to ward off all of the men that are going to want you." He told me I could tell he was partially joking. "Carlos you are the only man I want attention from, never question that." I picked up the dog tags placed a kiss on them and then let them drop back down between my cleavage damn I loved the way that felt I was never going to take these babies off.

"Damn Babe you having my tags on is hotter than I ever imagined or expected. If you want to be able to go tonight you better be leaving because my control is breaking down and I am about this close" he holds up this hand up with his fingers only millimeters apart "from dragging you to our bed and having my way with you for the rest of the night."

Holy hot fuck shit I was that far from letting him have his way with me. I have ruined this pair of panties a dozen times since I put them on or so it felt. I put my id and money in my pocket along with my lip gloss I didn't want to have to keep up with a pocketbook tonight. Carlos slipped a panic button into my back pocket while getting a nice feel of my ass, eliciting a moan from me. Damn that man, I was mush in his arms.

He lifted my shirt and just below my jeans he put a clear disc on my skin. "What is that?" I asked him it sort of looked like a patch of sorts like a nicotine or birth control patch. "Babe it's a new tracker we just got in. I can test it tonight and if something should happen I have two trackers on you the panic button and this disc it isn't invisible but it's as close as we have with implanting a device." Implanting a device? Like that would happen, not. Not that I would expect him to ask me or for him to expect me to actually have one of those.

Testing? Yeah testing Batman was covering all possibilities I am not dumb. "Okay" I tell him, anything to appease him and aid with his comfort level for me going out with everything going on in my life at the moment and this is me we are talking about here shit tends to happen when it comes to me. It's not like I am bugged for sound or at least I hope I wasn't. Carlos wouldn't do that not without telling me first. He trusted me like I trusted him. He knew he was my life, my soul, my very breathe just as much as I was his. I looked at the clock, time to go meet my brothers in the garage and head out.

"Carlos it's time to go" I tell him. He nods and walks me out to the elevator. We get on and hit the button for the garage. Walking out of the elevator Lester and Woody were waiting on me. Lester lets out a low and long whistle when he sees me. I do a slow turn around for him with my arms out. These men make me feel so good about myself.

"Damn Beautiful you are going to bring down the house. " He tells me. It's not like I have on a distraction outfit, I have on jeans yes tight ass hugging jeans but they are jeans not a dress that is cut up to here and down to there as my distraction outfits go. Speaking of distraction outfits I don't have any so I need to do some shopping before I am needed for a distraction.

"Lester you laying it on a little thick don't you think?" I tell him. He just shook his head checking out my necklace. "Damn Beautiful you are killing me here a hog's tooth and dog tags, you are every soldier's wet dream." He tells me "Santos" Carlos barks at him. Lester just shakes his head again looking at Carlos he says "You know it's fucking true Rangeman I am not saying anything that isn't true." I had to laugh. He reaches up and picks up the chain to the dog tags reading them he looks back at Carlos. "You just had to go and put your name up on that chest didn't you?" Carlos just smiles at him and says "Don't you forget it Santos she is mine, all mine." Lester just shakes his head laughing.

Lester turns to me laughing "Beautiful you should have picked me I would have my name tattooed across your ass so you couldn't just take it off." Laughing more I couldn't help but laugh with him leave it up to him to say something so off the wall no wonder he is my best friend. But that is something to think about, a tattoo. Now that could be fun. I am going to talk to Cal about it maybe I could surprise Carlos.

Looking at Lester "Come on you big goof ball we are going to be late." I tell him as I walk over to Woody "Okay mister if it has a beat I can dance to it, you better be ready to show me your moves because I am ready for some dancing and fun." I tell him as I hug him. He looks at me and smiles "Darling I have only one thing to say, bring it." Oh shit, but I can't turn down a challenge so I just nod instead.

Turning back around I give Carlos a kiss that threatens to burn down the building it's so hot even the cat calls from Lester and Woody don't break up this kiss. May as well go with really ruined panties and a kiss that will last me the rest of the night than just previously ruined panties, right? I give them the finger while deepening the kiss eliciting laughter from them and a growl slash moan from Carlos or maybe that was from me who the hell knows at this point.

"Damn Boss did you just growl?" Lester asked him effectively breaking our deepened kiss and bringing us back to reality. I stood back up straight and I ran my hands down the front of my jeans trying to tamper down my hormones hell I could have just taken him on the garage floor in front of Lester, Woody, and all of the control room and I wouldn't have given a shit.

Lester & Woody started laughing louder and Carlos chokes out a "Babe" Shit I tell you he fucking broke me. I can't keep my thoughts about him to myself. Oh well as hot as he was who really cared of course I would want him I would have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to want that fine specimen of man in front of me.

"Carlos we will finish this later" I tell him. He whispers in my ear "Count on it Babe I have some worshiping that needs to be done and it will take a while as I haven't been to confession in a very long time." Holy shit maybe I should stay here and help with that confession after all we wouldn't want him going to hell or anything like that now would we? But Lula will be so pissed she would hunt me down so I have to go damn rock and hard place but I really wanted the hard place even though I was heading towards the rock.

I look at him "Holding you to that Batman, I love you" I told him he smiled "Love you too Babe, you have fun." He said as I climbed into the back of the SUV.

LPOV

Damn Beautiful looked so fucking hot tonight. I was one lucky bastard that got to spend time with her tonight. But damn looking at her dressed in those jeans and top would make a grown man cry. She got in the SUV. My cousin pulled me aside for a minute, here we go.

"Santos, I know you will protect her and watch her but don't go getting drunk and pick up some bar girl tonight. You know the dangers in her life please stay with her tonight and watch her. I am counting on you to keep her safe. Please for me, I know you love her and she is your best friend but she is my life man. Guard her and watch her don't let anything happen to her man." He tells me and I can see the concern in his eyes almost fear, but I know Carlos doesn't do fear. Well not normally maybe when it came to Beautiful he does fear just like me.

"Man I will guard her and protect her with my life you know that. I won't lose focus tonight I promise you." I told him to calm his concerns and his fears that neither of us would ever admit to having.

Not that I planned on picking up another woman tonight I knew I needed to stay focused with all the shit that was going on in her life. I was just glad that she asked me come with her. I tried to calm him even more. "Man she will be fine. I will deliver her back to you tonight unharmed. Trust me. If someone gets her or hurts her they will have to go thru me first." I tell him.

He knows me, he knows what I am capable of he knows I am more than capable of protecting her and that I will. He nods we bump firsts and I climb into the SUV. She waves at him as we pull out of the garage heading to the Blue Light Bar.

Driving I quickly went into my zone watching for cars, watching for potentials hazards and watching for signs of anyone tailing us to the club. It had to be all over the burg by now hell half or possibly all of Rangeman new that Beautiful was having a girl's night out tonight and most of them were laughing at Woody and I for being invited. I know why they were laughing though they tried to get under our skin that we were invited so they could forget the fact that they were left out.

I know without a shadow of a doubt that had she asked any of those other fuckers they would have jumped at the chance to go with her. Hell knowing some of them they will show up anyway and act like they didn't know. I suspect both Hal and Cal will be there as they have the night off and I would be willing to bet you more would as well.

I didn't let the fucker's teasing me get to me I could beat any and all of their asses on the mats so if they wanted to find out who was still the badass of the group and who still could maintain his man card and be invited to girl's night out at the same time I have one thing to say to them meet me on the fucking mats and I will show them who.

I can tell that Woody is also aware of his surroundings looking for tails, and other threats. While Rangeman didn't pull him aside and tell him to protect his woman like he did me he knows, hell we all know to protect her at all costs. Not just for him, but for us too for every one of us because none of us could survive something to happening to her. She was the glue that bound us as family she was the heart of all of us, she held our souls our redeemed souls in her and we all needed them as if they were the air we breathed.

I was glad to see there were no tails on us. Hopefully she would have a fun filled night out with her friends god knows she deserved a little bit of happy in her life when she could just relax and enjoy the company around her and enjoy herself. She had been working so hard with her training I know for a fact that during off hours she would practice, study, and workout more just so she could do her best during her training sessions. She loved our approvals at her excelling and would do anything to get them.

I knew she was researching the different things she could find on the internet. I also knew that her and Hector were working together some in the evenings. I haven't asked her about it but if I had to guess I would say he was teaching her Spanish. I wonder if Rangeman knew that our little girl was learning Spanish and if Hector was teaching her she was probably learning all of the dirty words first because that fucker could cuss.

We pull up to the club I put the SUV in park right up next to the club I see Beautiful shaking her head and muttering something about fucking karma "What's that beautiful? I didn't hear you." She just glares at me and growls, what the fuck did I do? "UGG" I hear her say so I raised my eyebrow trying to figure out what had changed in the ten seconds since I parked the car? "Do you call ahead and have people move before you get here because no matter who is driving, except for me, when I am with you guys you always get the best parking spots. If I was driving I would have to park in the next state and walk my ass to the club." She said exasperated I had to laugh which caused her to further glare at me.

"Beautiful don't be mad you know I am not laughing at you. You know I would never laugh at you only with you. Maybe if you drove a vehicle that the lot wasn't ashamed to have it parked there you would be able to find better parking" she glared more and I laughed she just shook her head and started laughing with me that did it she just she just smiled at me now that is my Beautiful. I just shake my head and open my door.

I open her door and take her hand as we make our way to the club. There are people out the door lined up but since Rangeman covers security we don't have to wait. We more than likely wouldn't wait anyway because they let the hottest people in and we were hotter than any of those in the line poor dumb fuckers I don't feel sorry for them they should have known better and dressed hotter what can I say?

I bumped fists with Howard at the door. He wasn't really a Rangeman per say as he was hired only for club security of this club but he was hired by us and paid by us so I am not sure exactly what that made him but he was a cool dude and I liked him.

"Hey man you got a hot piece of ass with you tonight." He said to me well I liked him better two seconds ago. "Man you need to be careful what you say, this is Ranger's woman and my best friend you need to clean up those thoughts about her now." I tell him quietly before Beautiful hears him or me. When he hears she is Ranger's woman he pales a little good now the fucker knows the gravity of his mistake so I won't need to teach him any further lessons.

I stepped up behind beautiful and nudged her to go on in the club.

SPOV

Holy shit this club was hot. It was blue light bar and I could now understand the name everything was blue lights. It was bright, it made you almost feel as you were in water with all the blue surrounding you it was exciting and it was hotter than hell. The music was blasting, people were dancing, the drinks were flowing this was definitely the happening place you could tell that.

I looked through the crowd to see if I could spot the girls. I suspected Connie and Lula had beaten us here not sure about Mary Lou she had trouble getting away from Lenny and the kids at times. I finally spotted them sitting at a table in the back of the bar. We made our way over to them I was still scanning the beautiful club barely able to control the awe I was feeling.

There were blue lights in the ceiling. The bar was lit up with blue lights the dance floor had waves with lights in them. I was excited about tonight and nervous at the same time so much had happened in the past week plus that I didn't want to spend the whole night talking about only those things yet I knew Lula, Connie, and Mary Lou would want to hear every sordid little detail and if they knew that I had moved in with Carlos they would want every single detail of our life together both in and out of bed. I didn't want to share that part of him and me with them or anyone. That was mine but I know how those three can be when it came to getting information out of someone Carlos could probably learn a few things from them when it comes to interrogation techniques because they were vicious.

Lester must have sensed my thoughts, ESP is a good things at times, he stopped me from moving forward put his arms around me getting close to me he said "Beautiful if it gets too intense or you need a distraction for the moment remember Woody and I will be right there with you just waiting for a chance to take you to the dance floor you only need to give us a sign and we will whisk you away for some fun on the floor." I smiled at him see this is why he is my best friend. This is why I love him and he is my brother by another mother and father, ones I wish that were really mine.

I smiled at him "Just what I needed to hear. Thanks." I told him and we continued to the table.

Just as I expected when we got to the table Lula and Connie let out a shriek that could deafen you above the thumping music of the club. Lula was first "Girl you are looking fine. Tank said that you were doing well and looking well but I didn't realize you were doing this good. Damn I might have to move into that building you are living in if it is this good for you I can't imagine how fine it would make me because I am already all sorts of fine." I smiled at her "Yeah Lula you are all sorts of fine" I tell her. Lester just shakes his head as if trying to clear a thought. Probably her moving into Rangeman I could only imagine the havoc she would cause.

Lula is a lot of fun and she is a good friend but she could be a little let's just say over the top. From the way she dressed to the way she acted and talked. Lula was loud and Lula was proud. Somehow I am not sure quite how but it all worked for her and she was in her own way beautiful. She had overcome a lot in her life and I was proud of her too for making her life better.

Connie was chomping at the bit to ask questions I could just see her bubbling over. "Hey Connie" I told her "Hey Steph" she didn't know when or if she should ask what she wanted to know but I knew sooner rather than later her curiosity and the desire to know would overcome her and she would start asking questions.

I wasn't at the table five minutes when Mary Lou came walking up to the table. "Hi Hon how are you?" she asked me. "I am good." I tell her I didn't want to get into the whole stalker thing that I was going to keep to myself. I would tell them about Joe and me and moving into Rangeman but that was it questions about Carlos and I were going to be off limits.

I could tell they didn't know where to start or who to start I had never seen them like this before normally they would be asking me questions so fast it would cause my head to swim and my eye to twitch with all the demanding to know all the details but tonight they were almost unsure if to ask me.

"Okay what gives I thought by now you all would be pounding me with questions about what has been going on in my life why is everyone being so quiet and just staring at me?" I ask them they were starting to give me a complex. Connie spoke up "Steph we aren't sure what to ask you. Looking at you, you look amazing you are glowing your body is in better shape than I remember seeing you and you, you are just stunning. You are carrying yourself in a way that I haven't seen you carry yourself in a very long time if ever." She told me. Huh? Am I that different? I look at Lester and he just smiles. What the fuck? I needed answers and he just smiles. Men I swear, I am about to revoke his best friend card.

"I am the same person only everything has changed in my life. I am no longer dating Joe we are done forever. I am not going to go into details about anything but I am sure you probably already heard some stuff probably none of it is the truth considering the burg but I don't want to spend my night talking about it or him. I have moved in with Ranger" I didn't want to call him Carlos in front of them or his men "we are now in a relationship" I would tell them later when I took my ring out of my pocket that we were engaged but I didn't want that to be the first thing they focused on and trust me the burg eyes they have they would have spotted it the moment I walked into the club even in this crowd. Of course it helps that the ring is huge and is brilliant but still I will tell them later tonight.

I continued "I haven't been by the office lately because I am currently being trained by the Merry Men at Rangeman. My goal is to pass the acceptance test and become a full time Rangeman and work there full time. My training is eight hours a day plus I do my work out during my lunch time so I don't have a whole lot of extra time." I wasn't going to say that I wanted my nights with Carlos when he was available, studying my training subjects or learning Spanish when he wasn't that was something that I wasn't telling anyone well Lester knew but that was all.

Lula was just shaking her head her red hair just swinging back and forth. "Girl I tell you we have missed your skinny white ass at the office, it hasn't been the same without you but you are looking good, and I can see that that man of yours is taking care of you because you are glowing brighter than this bar." Lester just about lost his beer as he had to choke it down to keep from spitting it across the table. I didn't want to drink much tonight I wanted to remain sober so I took a swig of Lester's beer while he was recovering.

He wouldn't mind I often shared his drink, his food, his ipod. When a slower song came on I motioned for him to hit the dance floor. I knew none of the others even saw my motion after all Lester and I were getting pretty good as ESPing each other. He stood up turning to me "Steph I love this song you want to dance with me?" He asked me I nodded.

The song was Adele's "Make you feel my love". We hit the dance floor and he pulled me into his arms I put my head on his shoulder because I didn't want anyone to hear what I was saying. "Lester?" "Yeah Beautiful" "Have I changed? Am I different?" I asked him. I didn't feel different I wasn't sure what they meant. He sighed "Beautiful I am not sure what to say. I think you have changed but it is for the better." I know he felt me tense up in his arms because I heard him mutter shit under his breath.

"Beautiful that didn't come out right I guess what I should say is that I have noticed a difference in you this past week more so the last couple of days. You seem more confident in yourself, you seem more comfortable in your own skin. I don't really know how to explain it but you seem happier than I have ever seen you and you couldn't be more beautiful because of it." I almost busted out in tears, happy tears, overwhelming being touched tears see now this is why he was my best friend.

"Thank you" I tell him. "Don't thank me Beautiful you have been doing all the work and you have been excelling it's helping you find your confidence that I already knew was there inside you. See we all have known how amazing you have always been it's just that you didn't see it in yourself. Now you are starting to feel it and see it and it is showing and that Beautiful is what they are seeing in you. That is also probably why they didn't just jump on you with all the question you were expecting because they saw the amazing woman you are." As he turned me on the floor holding me in his arms I smiled at him. Lester was a great dancer he knew how to make a woman look good on the dance floor.

"Thanks for having my back tonight" I tell him he looks down at me smiles "Always Beautiful, with an ass like yours I will always cover your backside anytime anywhere." Playful Lester was back just like that I couldn't help but laugh at his pitiful sex references. He knew I knew he would always have my back regardless of what happened. I trusted him to always be there almost as much as Carlos.

After the song ended we made our way back to the table all eyes on us. Connie spoke up first "Fuck Stephanie does Ranger know you are here tonight with these two men?" She is scanning the doors probably expecting a mad Cuban to burst thru any minute.

"Connie calm down, he knows I invited Lester and Woody to come with me tonight. Lester is one of my best friends, and Woody well Woody has some things to prove tonight" I said smiling at him he just half laughed looking at me "Bombshell anytime you are ready, any time you are ready." He said.

"Skinny as white girl what the hell could that fine specimen of a man in a cowboy hat have to prove? Unless he wants to prove that he can hold that hat up without hands I can't see anything else he would need prove." I blushed, Lester just about lost it. Mary Lou and Connie were howling at her how strong were those drinks? How long had Connie and Lula been here before we got here?

Woody just had a shit eating grin on his face that said that he would be up for the challenge. I just shook my head at her. Holy fuck what had I gotten myself into. I mean I know in the past when we got together for girls night out we were a little freer with thoughts than other times but then it was just girls so we could talk about guys and sex and make jokes but this time Lester and Woody had joined us so I thought the talk would be a little different, guess not. Shit I may have to get a drink to survive tonight I think as I take another swig of Lester's beer.

All of a sudden the music changed and the beat that came thru the club was unmistakable "Thriller" I looked at the girls and guys around the table we all knew this song. I could see it in their eyes I only had one thing to say "Let's Dance" we all jumped up and headed to the floor. Everyone had remembered these dance steps growing up. There was no way they would be forgotten. We got in a row and started dancing I looked over and both Lester and Woody was keeping beat and dancing. Wow even badasses know the Thriller moves.

Lester started to speak the part beside me looking at him I couldn't believe he remembered that I just smiled at him laughing as we were all in synch clapping our hands above our head and sliding our feet across the side our zombie arms and legs going up and down and stepping. Man I can only hope someone gets this on tape. There are few others at the bar that have joined us on the dance floor but for the most part it is just Connie, Mary Lou, Lula, Lester and Woody.

When the song ended we were all laughing holding on to each other to keep from falling down as we made it back to our table. Damn that was fun. Connie had said they play one or two retro dance songs every hour.

The next song was the new Enrique Iglesias "Dirty Dancer" came on looking at Woody it was time for him to put his money where his mouth was. I tagged his arm and we headed to the dance floor. Damn is all I have to say that man could dance. He ghosted behind me dancing close but not grinding on me which I appreciated as I really wasn't into being grinded on by anyone other than Carlos but I had to admit Woody was hot as hell and he could dance. I quickly noticed that he had the attention of almost every woman on the dance floor. I saw the evil glares they were giving me they were jealous I had only one thing to say to those bitches, suck it.

I heard him chuckle behind me and turned me around I could see the laughter shining in his eyes "out loud" he nodded. Oh well it was the truth so I couldn't feel so bad about having said it. I shrugged and kept on dancing. When the song changed to Lady's Gaga's "Born this Way" Lester took over while Woody started dancing with Connie. Damn this song, hearing it I can't help but think about Carlos when I danced for him. Thinking about his reaction to my dancing was doing a number on my hormones shit.

I got more glares from the women let's face I was with the two hottest guys in this club and they could dance better than any man here. They made me look good out on the floor. Several guys had tried to cut in but Lester and Woody wouldn't allow it. Not knowing who my stalker was they were taking no chances soon as a guy made a play towards me they would glare at the man and being smart they decided to go look elsewhere for dance partners.

We hadn't been there a real long time when I looked up and saw Hal and Cal coming toward us. I had just sat back down stealing another swig of Lester's beer "Damn Beautiful should I just order you one?" he asked me I shook my head "no I don't want to drink a whole one I just want a sip here and there." Lester just shook his head and ordered him another one unlike me Lester could hold his liquor I suspect he would have no more than two anyway knowing him.

Cal walks up to me and I stand up and hug him and give him a kiss on his flaming skull tattoo. I give Hal a hug and a kiss on the cheek as they pull chairs up to our table. Damn this is turning into a regular little Rangeman party. "Hey guys what brings you here?" I asked them. Cal looks a little sheepish "Angel we knew you were coming and we wanted to join you hope you don't mind us crashing your girl's night but I figured since Lester and Woody came then you wouldn't mind more of us." He said. I would never mind my brothers being with me.

I smiled at him. "Cal I never mind my brothers being with me" I tell him. He just smiles Lula speaks up in true Lula fashion "Mind? Fuck no we don't mind we will take all of the man candy we can get." I looked at her "Lula don't you mean eye candy?" I asked her I know I should have known better but it sort of popped out. She shook her head "White girl eye candy is that guy over there at the bar man candy well that is what is surrounding this table. Eye candy you can look at and take it or leave it but man candy, now man candy is a man that makes you want to.." I cut her off before she could say anything else . "Lula I think we get the picture you don't need to say anything else." Blushing.

"Damn white girl you blushing. With your new man and the way you been glowing all night I would think you would have gotten over being embarrassed whenever I mention sex because from your glow I would say you been going at it several times a day." I just blushed more and dropped my head in my hands. Good lord here we go.

Before this conversation went further into a place I didn't want it to go the song "On The Floor" by Jennifer Lopez came on and I looked at Cal. "Want to dance?" he asked me I just nodded and we headed to the floor. Even with his tattoo on his forehead he was better looking than the other guys and once again I got a glare from all the women. Oh well I can't help it that my brothers were forged from Zeus himself. It's not like I had anything to do with it. We started dancing man is it a requirement of Rangeman to be able to dance? I mean Cal being as big as he is was limber on the dance floor.

If these women think these men I am dancing with was hot well they should see Carlos if he was here they would be a pile of goo on the floor as is their eyes stayed glued to my guys more than the guys they were dancing with.

"Bombshell I didn't know you could dance this good." He said I just looked at him is he kidding? "I can't you guys just make me look good. I am beginning to think that it is a requirement of Rangeman that you all can dance." He just laughed and shook his head. Well I knew one requirement was they had to be beautiful, and sexy as hell he chocked shit I said that out loud. "Angel please don't call us beautiful okay it will ruin our badass image." He tells me half laughing. What they weren't good looking saying they are good looking is like saying Grand Canyon is a hole in the ground. Yeah it is a hole in ground but it is a big fucking hole.

Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" started playing and Cal and I continued to dance with each other. The beat was such that Cal was dancing around me circling me he would step up to me as if his body was going to touch mine but he would stop just short and then step back as he made his way around me. Damn he was a hot dancer. I could feel the green eyes of all the other women on the dance floor on me they were just waiting for an opportunity to descend on my brothers. Back up bitches is all I could think.

As the song changed to Lady Gaga's "Judas" Lester was suddenly standing in front of me and Cal was making his way back to our table, fuck good way to be aware of your surroundings Steph. But not missing a step we danced our asses off. When the song ended it was time for a drink so we made it back to our table. I took a swig of Cal's beer this time, hope he wouldn't mind. He was smiling so it was all good.

I was about to sit down when I noticed Valerie making her way to our table. Fuck .

DougPOV

I heard the guys ribbing Lester about being invited to girl's night out so I listened carefully to see if I could find out where they were going. I heard them talking about a new bar that Rangeman did the security for and I figured that is where they were going. Soon as I figured out where they were going I called Morelli to let him know. I decided to see if Mike would be interested in going with me since most of the Rangeman guys have very little to do with us I didn't bother to ask them.

We got to the bar probably twenty minutes before Stephanie, Lester and I believe Woody got there. When we got here the only way we were permitted to enter the club was by showing our Rangeman credentials but I watched them at the door the guard just opened the barrier for them to walk thru bumping fists with Lester. Stephanie was looking hot as shit tonight. I didn't want to take my eyes off of her.

God I was going to have to figure out how to get some time alone with her. Watching them as they made their way over to a table with a brown hair woman that reminded me of Betty Boop and a large black woman with bright red, these must be her friends.

I watched her as she danced with Lester and Woody damn I wanted to dance with her, I was going to dance with her before the night out she just hasn't seen me yet but surely when I make my presence known she will dance with me after all she is the Rangeman whore and watching her tonight you can tell it.

I watched as Cal and Hal showed up and pulled chairs at her table of course they would go straight over to their little whore none of the guys have even noticed that we are sitting here they would rather hang with their split tail bitch. Don't they know the saying bros before ho's I guess not. Well I am going to get me a taste of that ass before it's over. It's just a matter of time and planning it.

Hell maybe if she decides to dance with me tonight she will just come home with me I could probably apply a little alcohol and she would be begging me to fuck her. Most women were like that fuck I could have any of them in this bar tonight but I didn't really want them, I wanted Stephanie.

I watched her dance with Cal and I watched him circling her stepping up and back to her I can't tell from here but I am sure they were grinding all over each other. Then Lester stepped in and they picked up right where Cal and her and dropped off see I knew she was the Rangeman whore it doesn't matter who she is grinding that tight ass of hers against.

Damn I waited too long she is heading back to the table. I saw her drinking after Lester and now she is drinking from Cal's beer even more evidence the relationship they have.

I briefly thought about drugging her drink, I am sure I could score some ecstasy, rohypnol, or GHB that would be more of a guaranteed thing but if she isn't drinking her own drink that sort of nicks that idea I will continue to watch her for she will eventually get a drink. I scan the crowd looking for someone selling I knew they were here they were at all clubs it was just a matter of figuring out who it was and what they were selling.

Mike had found a girl and was dancing with her. He told me to drop the whole Stephanie thing but I be damn if I am going to let a split tail take my job. I deserved that full time job and I wasn't going to let her take it from me. She had a place alright but that was under me both literally and figuratively. It would only be a matter of time I could be patient and wait for it.

I think I found what I am looking for. I just spotted a guy passing pills now it's time I made my introduction hell I bet he will practically give them to me when I show him my Rangeman credentials see how working for Rangeman had its benefits?

I suspected that Morelli would show up before the night is over I just hope that I am able to have my dance with her before. Maybe I will get lucky once she dances with me she will invite me over to her table and I will have excuse to get her a drink then maybe I can whisk her away before Morelli gets here because I want my chance with her before he gets to her.

LPOV

Well girl's night out is going better than I expected. So far Beautiful is having fun although she keeps drinking my damn beer. Not that I care but for someone who didn't want to drink a whole one she certainly doesn't mind drinking mine. Not that I am going to tell her that. I just do what any man would just order another one when that one gets empty and no one is the wiser.

Cal and Hal showed up and she has enjoyed dancing with them. Right now she is dancing with Cal but I think it is time that I cut in when I realized the song was coming to an end I made my way over to her I nodded to Cal who nodded back and when the song ended and "Judas" began I stepped in.

She was smiling and dancing her heart out and I could tell all of the men on the dance floor had at least one eye on her so long as they didn't try anything all would be good they could look all they wanted.

I saw a guy making his way over to us and I glared at him I let him see the monster within me in my eyes and he paled a little and backed off. Thankfully Beautiful didn't see that she had her back to us and since I never missed a step I didn't alert her to anything being a problem.

I have noticed the women's eyes on me but tonight I was Beautiful's even though we were just friends I wasn't picking up anyone tonight. I came with her and I was leaving with her and she was going to have my attention tonight even though it would lead me to sleeping alone she was worth it. I would never hurt her ego like that even though she had Ranger these women didn't know that I would never allow them to think I would disrespect her like that.

I looked over at the table and I guess the other guys were doing the same thing as me as none of them had picked up other women by now. The time they had been here all would have a woman dancing on the floor and lined up to go home with them by now. Well maybe not Hal he is a little shyer than the rest of us but Woody pulls his cowboy shit and the women swoon in and Cal well Cal turns on his bad boy attitude and everyone knows women can't turn down the bad boy. I well I just give them my smile and let my green eyes sparkle and they are under the Santo's spell it is better than fucking hypnosis only one so far that it has failed with is Beautiful here.

Hell between the three of us I am not sure which one is the worse. I mean I am known as the playa of Rangeman but that's only because I am talked about more than the others. I don't care that they talk or tease me I know I can beat all of their asses whenever I want. Cal and Woody tend to be more private than me and no one gets involved in their life like mine. Hal well I am not certain but he may still be a virgin. I don't think I have ever seen him leave a club with a woman. The poor fucker, maybe I should help him.

I can tell Beautiful is getting hot so when the song ends we make it back to the table. She picks up Cal's beer and takes a swig, thank fuck now maybe I can drink a whole beer. I haven't spent a whole lot of time around Lula but I have to say tonight she has been a trip and several times she has caused Beautiful to blush at her comments and a couple of times made me chock on my beer but I can see why Beautiful loves her.

I see Beautiful look up and mouth Fuck so I followed her line of sight and saw Valerie her sister walking towards us. Oh shit the perfect one of the family is on the way over. One guess as to who sent her to talk to Beautiful. That means that the burg knew all about us being here. It also meant that Morelli would know we were here. Double fuck. I quickly glance at each of the guys looking at them long enough for them to understand what I am telling them.

They know me well they would have picked up on my change in body language immediately upon setting eyes on Valerie . They weren't stupid they would realize if she knew we were here then so would Morelli. Somehow I had a feeling what was a fun and relaxing night for us and Beautiful was going to take a hard downward spiral any minute and it was going to start with Valerie and end with Morelli. Fuck.


	28. Chapter 27: Girl's Night Out Pt2

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**I want to thank everyone who writes a review for my story. I enjoy reading them and I love ideas they give me so keep them coming! You do my soul good!**

**I have a website that I have created to give you all something to explore to dig deeper into the story "What does it mean to trust" You can go to the following website and see character bios (along with some pictures of what I think they would look like), ask questions, give suggestions, see Stephanie's training schedule, Lester's personal vehicles, Cars trucks, and bikes that are in the Rangeman Compound, Rangeman test requirements, and pictures of the places they have been and of Stephanie's ring and clothing. I will continue to add additional information to this website so continue to check out the website.**

**www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com **

**You will then click on the tab that says "What does it mean to" I hope you enjoy it. Please sign the guest book so I know you have been there.**

**This chapter is an especially long chapter, a lot happens during this chapter. I hope you all enjoy it. Please review as I would love to know your thoughts of Girl's night out pt2. Remember playlist for girl's night out is on my website above.**

Chapter 27: Girl's Night Out Pt2

SPOV

Fuck! Valerie what the hell is she doing here? Why isn't she home being the perfect mother to her perfect husband in the perfect fucking burg home? Isn't it a cardinal sin or something by the burg bible that a wife and mother isn't allowed to be out of the house alone after midnight? It isn't that I hate my sister I know it sounds like I do but I don't. Actually I love her but she gets under my skin.

She has always been the perfect one. The one that Mom and Dad were always proud of, she brought home the A's while I brought home the C's and D's oh well school was boring as hell what can I say? College well college wasn't a whole lot different for me only it was one big fucking party and I enjoyed the partying more than the studying what can I say I hold that top 98th class placement title with pride. It actually takes work to earn that baby it doesn't come easy. It takes dedication and commitment to partying to do that and I had the dedication and commitment in spades.

Valerie was the one that excelled at home EC classes her brownies were always perfect mine were disastrous hockey pucks and that is if they weren't flaming and not the good kind of flaming who knew brownies could actually catch on fire? Dance classes where I did nothing but disappoint and embarrass my mom. Even though I know Bobby said that dance class was more my teachers fault than mine why did Valerie excel and I well fell flat on my ass both literally and figuratively if it was the teacher's fault then it sounds like Valerie would have faltered as well but no she was perfect, the perfect little ballerina.

I didn't want to do this tonight with her. I knew mom had sent her she wouldn't come out on her own accord it isn't like she ever chose to hang out with me or come to a girl's night out ever. I wanted to have fun, dance and spend time with my real friends and my chosen family that loved me not the ones that claimed to love me and only wanted to change me.

Before she made it to the table I gave my brothers a look they all read it that I didn't want to have this confrontation here. Lester stood up first offering me his hand stating that the song starting was his favorite song and that he just had to dance to it. I graciously and thankfully took his hand and followed him to the dance floor.

When we reached the dance floor we started dancing to Enrique Iglesias "Tonight I am loving you" maybe I could just stay out on the dance floor until Valerie leaves that would be the perfect plan just avoid her. Surely she wouldn't stay long and the last thing I wanted to do is yell at her in here but I knew if I had to hear how I was ruining my life and throwing away my chance at happiness by hanging with my brothers and Carlos I would lose it and it wouldn't be pretty. I am the happiest I have ever been in my life and someone trying to get between me and them wouldn't fair well even my blood relatives wasn't going to tear me from my adopted family.

"Thanks Lester for asking me to dance" I tell him. He smiles at me "anytime Beautiful besides I love seeing that ass of yours gyrating on the dance floor." He tells me. So to thank him I turn around and shake my ass good for him and I hear him chock out a "damn" which I just laugh and turn back around to him. He was laughing too but then I saw the seriousness come into this eyes, fuck he isn't going to let me hide out or go to denial land. Lester doesn't let me get by with that shit I should have asked Woody, Hal, or Cal to dance they would let me hang out in blissful denial land until Valerie left but when I am feeling stress Lester is who I turn to when I don't have Carlos.

"Beautiful why didn't you want to talk to your sister?" he asked me. "Because I didn't want to" I tried to tell him but I could see he wasn't going to let that be the answer. Fuck…double fuck…no triple fuck because now I was dancing on the floor with Lester, no one would cut in on our dancing and he was going to make me talk about this and deal with this and then we would probably go deal with Valerie in the end because he would say it would be better for my emotional health in the end. Sad thing is I knew he was right and I knew this was exactly why I treasured him as my best friend, he made me strong.

I growled at him and not in a "I want to fuck your brains out" kind of way but in a way that said not going to go there but that I knew I had no choice but to give in and tell him what he wanted because we both knew he wasn't going to drop it.

"I wanted to have fun tonight, hang out with my friends, my brother's and have fun talking, laughing, dancing I didn't want to have to deal with the drama of my blood relatives, I didn't want to hear attacks on my brothers and how I am jeopardizing my happiness when I am the happiest I have ever been in my life. I didn't want to have a confrontation with her here. I know how ugly it will get and I didn't want that to be how this night ended. I wanted to have fun." I told him I could feel tears stinging my eyes but I wouldn't let them fall.

He just shook his head. "Stephanie" oh shit he is pulling a Carlos and using my full name to let me know how serious he is right now. I look up at him at this point I don't know if I am dancing or not "You trust me?" he asks me. What the fuck? "Yes Lester I trust you, you are my brother my best friend I trust you with my life, you already know that." I tell him. He just nods and continues "You trust me when I say that I have your back?" He asked me I nod to him "Yes I trust that you will always have my back." Still trying to figure out where he was going with this.

He grabs my hand looking at me he says "then trust me when I say I got this and that I have that beautiful derrière of yours covered." Does he know what the hell he is getting himself into? I mean this is my sister queen of the perfect being sent here by my mother queen of the bitch.

Song changed to Pitbull's "Give Me Everything" started playing and we continued to dance I wasn't sure what Lester had in mind but I wasn't going to worry about it I was going to get lost in the rhythm of this song on the dance floor and forget about Valerie being here to fuck up my fun evening.

LPOV

I am dancing with Beautiful trying to come up with a plan for how to handle this. She has come so far this week. She has found confidence in herself, she has felt successful, her self esteem was getting higher by the day and I was going to be damn if I was going to let anyone break that down again including her sister. I just wasn't sure yet what to do to prevent it. I asked her if she trusted me to handle the situation because one I wanted to make sure she would be okay with me handling it for her and two I wanted her to know that I would always have her back. I know I joke about covering her ass but she knows it is just a joke. Not that I don't think her ass is every bit as sexy as I tell her.

I am debating if we both should go over to the table or if I should get one of the other guys to step in while I go to the table and have a chat with Valerie alone. Hell maybe I can make her so uncomfortable that she will just leave. After all I have heard she is perfect, refined, and from what I have heard a little prudish and let's face it I am none of those things. This might be fun afterall.

The music changes and I know this beat. Prince's "Kiss" oh we are going to burn this dance floor up. "Beautiful follow along with me okay?" as I take her in my arms. I am not sure she knows how to Tango but I am about to teach her. I know odd song to Tango to but trust me it works, and it works good. I start the steps and she follows right along.

She may not think she is a good dancer but she knows how to follow and that makes her a good dancer. You can tell when you are looking good on the dance floor by how many eyes are on you. Right now I would say we are pretty damn fine as most all of the eyes are on us. She looks amazing. I send a few glares to a couple of the guys that are at this point leering at the woman in my arms. We are definitely putting on a show. I would be willing to bet sex for a week that Valerie couldn't hold a candle to my Beautiful out here even with all of her fucking precious dance lessons.

Valerie's POV

I walked into the club, the only way they let me in the club was because I told them my sister was in here and I needed to tell her something that was important and couldn't wait. The security person had me point out my sister to him and when I pointed to Stephanie he opened the barrier for me.

The club is hot, I guess that is what you would say. I saw them all sitting around the table talking and laughing and when Stephanie saw me I saw her body change. I saw her become almost rigid and I saw her mouth something but I wasn't sure what it was.

I know she had always been the one to screw up growing up and I had always been the perfect one but had always wished that I was more like her. I wanted her friends, I wanted her reckless abandonment that she faced the world with, I wanted her carefree nature my life was never going to be that way. Mom drilled it into my head to always be concerned about what other's thought of me and to always act appropriate when there were definitely times in my life when all I wanted to do was something inappropriate. After all who was it that designated me the perfect one? Why was I the one that had to always be perfect? Be the nice one? Why did I have to be the one that is always gracious and always on good behavior with the best manners? Why couldn't I be the one that tells someone to f…fff..,well you know what I mean, off? Why couldn't I be the one that is labeled the bitch, or any other label than the perfect one?

No one knows how hard it is living up to that label always being perfect when all you want to do is be a bad girl for one time in your life. I saw Stephanie and one of the guys at her table get up and head to the dance floor so much for this being an easy conversation with her but I shouldn't expect anything less. She is smart enough to know that mom sent me and being the perfect daughter the dutiful daughter I came even though I really didn't want to.

I walked up to the table I knew Connie and Lula but I didn't know the other guys that were sitting there. They looked rather intimidating and I wasn't sure at first as I approached the table. They were all very handsome men but they looked dangerous. One had on a cowboy hat normally in this club I would say it would be out of place but it worked for him, oh how it worked. One had a tattoo on his forehead of a flaming skull that was a little scary but he screamed bad boy and a part of me was attracted to that even if I didn't want to be and was scared to be. One was handsome and really big but he wasn't scary if anything he seemed a little shy.

"Hi Connie, Hi Lula how are you this evening?" I asked them as I got to the table. They both looked at me for a second as if they couldn't believe I was there standing in front of them. They soon recovered a little. "Hey Valerie" both of them said almost in unison. I motioned to the chair that Stephanie had been sitting in "mind if I join you?" I asked them while taking a seat. I looked at the three men to my right. Introducing myself "Hi my name is Valerie, I am Stephanie's sister." They all nodded their head in acknowledgement of me but didn't offer their names or say anything further.

Lula spoke up first "Girl what brings you here? And can I ask you how in the hell did you get thru the door dressed like that? If you are going to come to a club than you really need to dress differently take a look at skinny ass white girl out there and buy you an outfit like that." I look down at myself I don't see anything wrong with what I am wearing. I had on bubble gum pink skirt with a kelly green pipping along the seams, hem, and waist line the skirt fell about two inches below my knee. My shirt was white background with same color pink flowers and green leaves. I paired that with a pair of Keds shoes that were green. I thought looked perfectly presentable I wasn't sure what Lula was talking about.

I looked over to where Stephanie was dancing and took in her outfit of tight jeans that looked like they had seen better days and needed to be disposed of and a top that had lace on each side that I could see her skin thru across the room. Lula thought that was appropriate? I had to admit it looked good on Stephanie but I just didn't know if I would ever be able to let go of my title to ever be able to wear anything like that ever.

Watching her dance I couldn't help but be a little jealous I had excelled at dance lessons she had fallen flat on her ass and yet out there she look good. I am not certain I could do that, dance like that it was hot to watch. We learned dancing such as waltz, the tango, the cha cha. I didn't know how to just dance. Lula and Connie were talking and the guys were drinking their beer and I just sat there waiting for them to come back to the table.

I could see Stephanie and the guy talking out on the floor and her nodding and them laughing she looked comfortable around him. She looked different than I remembered the last time I saw her. She looked happy, you could see muscles in her arms and shoulders that I never remembered her having, there was something different about her that I couldn't put my finger on what it was but you could see she wasn't the same and the change was for the better. I couldn't help but feel a little jealousy seeing her like that.

I hated being jealous of my sister but she had what I wanted. She was how I wanted to be. She was happy you could see it all over her and I was well holding my title miss perfect. I continued to watch them when the song changed I watch him take her in his arms and they started to tango. When did Stephanie learn how to Tango? They looked great and they were the only couple out there tangoing I had to admit it was a weird song to tango to but it somehow worked. They definitely had the attention of all of the people on the dance floor and most of the other people in the club.

I heard Lula speak up "Damn skinny ass white girl is looking fucking hot tonight. Take a look at her and that fine piece of man candy Lester out there on that dance floor. If Batman was here and saw this he would shit and send Lester's ass to a third world country." The guys swiveled around to look at them on the dance floor.

The guys continued to watch her, their beers lost on the table. When the song was ending Woody stood up and in a country drawl said "Well that's my cue" and he headed to the dance floor. Not that I would have said anything but deep down inside I was hoping one of these handsome men would ask me to dance but they haven't yet.

WoodyPOV

I couldn't take it anymore sitting at that table watching Valerie watch Stephanie out on the dance floor. Like Stephanie you could read every thought that went thru her head. She was Jealous of her sister. She was jealous of her being here with us, she was jealous of her being out on the dance floor looking the way she looked. If you asked me Valerie should take some lessons from Stephanie because she is one rigid bitch.

What is it that she is wearing? I mean it looked something you would see on June Clever in leave it to beaver and even then I am not certain she should have chosen those colors. Talk about someone that is stuck in the fifties hell maybe the forties it was her.

The burg must be a seriously fucked up place if they think that is what perfect is, that she is the picture of a perfect wife, a perfect mother, a perfect person because in my book that is all sorts of fucked up. I couldn't stand to sit there and watch her anymore I was afraid that I would end up saying something to her that would upset Stephanie so when I noticed the song was ending I got up and headed to the dance floor to cut in.

Black Eye Peas "Just Can't Get Enough" came on as I made it up to Lester and Stephanie. Lester placed Steph's hand in mine as he turned to head back to table. I saw the sparkle in his eyes and I knew he had a plan for her sister I was almost sorry that I was going to miss it but at least I got to dance with Stephanie so it was worth missing it. Besides if anything really good happened I would hear about it after all Lula was there and she would tell all.

DougPOV

I saw Woody making his way to Stephanie on the dance floor maybe this was my opportunity. I knew that Lester wouldn't allow me to cut in to dance with her. I could see how protective he was of her. Even though he knew I worked at Rangeman he more than likely wouldn't let me cut in on him. But Woody well Woody would more than likely allow me to cut in on him.

I will wait until this song is ending but I will make my way closer to her. Making my way to the dance floor I noticed Cal saw me. Until now I am not certain they were aware that I was here. I saw Cal's eyes narrow on me as he took me in. I quickly walked up to a woman who was sitting alone and asked if she would like to dance. I didn't want Cal seeing me making my move on Stephanie so I had to improvise.

Of course the woman said yes to me so we made our way to the dance floor. I nodded my head to Cal to say hi, he didn't respond not that I am surprised he hasn't talked to me since his little lesson in the control room where he wrote Dumb Fucker number 1 on my forehead which took forever to wash off.

This might work out better anyway because now I am closer to Stephanie on the dance floor. While dancing I take another look around the room and I see that Cal is still watching me, fuck. Can't that fucker just go back to sucking his beer down?

This is much harder than I expected. I want to dance with her but separating her from the guys is like trying to wash the stink off of shit. I knew my chance would be with Woody or Hal so while he was dancing with her I needed to make my move.

I was dancing with the woman I had just picked up at the table and while I may be dancing with her my attention was on Stephanie. I had scored some GHB and ecstasy so I was ready I just wasn't sure when I was going to use it or which one both had their advantages.

CALPOV

What is that fucker doing here? I saw dumb fucker making his way to the dance floor. I saw him eyeing Stephanie before he saw me. He was going to cut in on Woody and her I knew it but when he saw me he diverted from that plan and walked up to a table with a woman sitting at it and asked her to dance. I knew he wasn't initially heading there because he hadn't even seen her before.

He must think I am stupid I have been reading body language for a long time you don't fool me. He risked her life in our secure building there was no way in fuck I was going to let him dance with her out there on that floor. He is so fucking stupid he would hand her right over to her stalker if the stalker asked to cut in.

I needed to get word to Woody. I looked at the guys at the table and got their attention I didn't want Valerie or the girls to really understand what I was saying but I needed to let them know that we weren't the only Rangeman here tonight. "DF1 possible DF2 on site." Is all I said. Lester's head whipped around and he spotted Doug. He just nodded but I could see the look on his face that basically just said fuck Valerie now Doug. Not that Doug was really a threat to her after all he worked in the building he knew how protective we were of her but he was just dumb enough to let anyone cut in and what's going on in her life right now that could put her in serious danger.

I got up and made my way to Woody and Stephanie on the dance floor. The only way to protect her was to either let Woody know or cut in and dance with her myself telling Woody in the process but I didn't want to alert Stephanie. She was having fun tonight and if I had my way she would continue to have fun for the rest of the evening without having to deal with the shit from Valerie and the dangers Doug could cause.

I eyed Woody and nodded my head toward Dumb Fucker number one and he followed my line of sight. When he saw him he just nodded and I just shook my head letting him know that he isn't to dance with my Angel. Woody nodded again everyone who saw us would think I just asked him to cut in, including my Angel. When the song changed he turned Stephanie to me and I took over. David Guetta's "Where them Girls At" came on oh we were going to have fun with this one. I briefly wondered if she knew the words and if she would play along with me. It may take her mind off what was happening at the table and I don't think she has even noticed the dumb fucker being here.

Taking her into my arms I pulled her body closer to mine still minding not to grind on her after all I didn't want bossman cutting off my dick and sending me to a third world country with the clothes on my back and a fucking tooth pick. You ask why the toothpick? Well the answer is simply he wouldn't leave us without a weapon.

I started singing along just to see if she would play along "So many girls in here, where do I begin? I see this one, I'm 'bout to go in. Then she said" I waited for her to fill in and she did not disappoint smiling she said "I'm here with my friends" smiling back I continued "She got me thinking, and that's when I said. Where them girls at, girls at? Where them girls at, girls at? Where them girls at, girls at? Go get them, we can all be friends." She was smiling and laughing god I loved seeing her happy. Lord knows she needed a little happy and fun.

Then when the she started "So many boys in here, where do I begin? I see this one, I'm 'bout to go in. Then he said" I didn't miss a beat "I'm here with my friends" laughing she continued "He got to thinking and that's when he said" again picking up the song "Where them girls at, girls at? Where them girls at, girls at? Where them girls at, girls at? Go get them, we can all be friends."

We finished out the song like this singing the lines back and forth and when it was over we were laughing and dancing and I think we had the attention of everyone on the dance floor. Not that we didn't have their attention already the guys had been just hovering for a chance to dance with her and the women well they had been glaring at her all night.

We had all noticed it but we weren't going to do about it we were here with her she had our attention tonight even if it meant leaving the club alone tonight I could make up for it another night seeing her having a good time was more than enough.

I could tell that she was hot and needed a break but I wasn't certain about taking her back to the table. I briefly wondered if Lester was finished talking to Valerie. Lester had come over to the table when Woody cut in. He was trying to run interference for her we all knew that but we also knew that Valerie wasn't going anywhere until she spoke to Stephanie.

So I continued to dance with her on the floor I would dance one maybe two more before retiring to the table for her to rest for a little bit and get something to drink. Katy Perry's "ET" was currently playing. I took another look around the dance floor as I turned us around dumb fucker was still on the dance floor dancing with the woman that he picked up but I caught him staring at us soon as I saw him he averted his eyes from us and from his posture you could tell he had been staring and that he knew I just caught him.

DougPOV

Fuck Cal just had to spot me and now he is out here dancing with Stephanie. I know he would never let me cut in. I tried to cover it up that I was here to dance with Stephanie by picking up the first woman that I saw but damn this woman can't dance. She has stepped on my feet twice now and she keeps giggling insistently no wonder she was sitting at the table alone. She was driving me fucking crazy but it was giving me the chance of getting a nice look at Stephanie shaking her ass so I was trying my best to deal with the fucking giggling.

I saw them singing the song to each other and laughing I don't think I have ever seen Cal sing and laugh like that I wondered if I could use that as leverage after all surely he wouldn't want the other guys at Rangeman to know he is capable of laughing, and singing. I hadn't been there long but I had learned the hard way that they were relentless in their teasing when they thought there was a weakness to be exploited,

I had to come up with a way to get her isolated from the group so she would talk to me, have a drink with me, and hopefully decide to go home with me. I just wasn't sure how I was going to do it yet.

LPOV

I left Beautiful on the dance floor. Woody had walked over giving me a look that said I need a break. I knew why but I said nothing. When the song ended I passed her to him. Beautiful didn't know she could tango but she did it and she looked damn good. All the women on the dance floor were beyond jealous and well Beautiful was just soaring. I walked back to the table to try to figure out what Valerie wanted and hopefully come up with a way to deal with this that would keep Beautiful's self confidence that she has worked so hard this week to achieve.

I didn't want anything tearing that down and I knew depending on what Valerie said it could very well tear down the self esteem and confidence she had built this week. I was going to do my best to prevent that from happening if I could.

My plan was to be as forthcoming and out there as I could be. I wanted to put her on edge I wanted to make her uncomfortable the more uncomfortable she was the better my plan would work. I knew she was miss perfect or I should say mrs perfect since she is married to that clown yeah yeah I know it is Kloughn but clown works after all he looks like the dough boy frizz his hair dye it red, paint his face white with big red cheeks and lips and put some big as shoes on him and you would have the perfect clown.

I somehow don't get how marrying him made her perfect after all she was knocked up before she got married. Hell them getting married was a feat all in and of its self it wasn't like she really wanted it hell they ran out initially and then Stephanie and Diesel had to practically trick them into getting married. I tell you that was something when the rumors started that Stephanie and Diesel was going to get married I thought Ranger would lose it.

He took all of us to the mats and kicked all of our asses it was one excuse or another that he gave us for why he was kicking our asses but we all knew the truth he thought he had lost her. He thought he would never have what he has now with her and the way he was dealing with those feelings was by literally kicking the shit out of us.

I guess the only other time we got our asses handed to us like that was during the whole slayer thing which was the first time Valerie tried to marry the clown. She was abducted from her shower and let me tell you he practically killed Hal, a lesser of a man he would have killed no doubt. He kicked all of our asses for allowing her to be abducted when it really wasn't completely our fault. Yeah we should have done a lot of things differently looking back but we didn't expect her to react the way she did. After all we barely knew her then she was a thing of mystery to all of us.

When she first thought she was sneaking into the building we had to laugh. She had no idea all the cameras, the security that building had. We watched her sit there at the garage in Rangers truck figuring out the fob then she drove around and parked it where she thought we wouldn't know about it of course with the trackers we knew where she parked it.

We watched her fiddle with the fob until she called the elevator and managed to find her way to the seventh floor and into his apartment. I will never forget making that phone call. Ranger had gone away on business and when we saw her at the gate we called him immediately. We expected him to tell us to intercept her and prevent her from entering but he shocked us when he said do not interfere.

Looking back he knew that she would figure out how to get in his apartment and now looking back he knew her well enough to know that if she sought out his place then she needed protection. He asked us to figure out what was going on in her life and keep her safe. When we found out that she had a hit placed on her by the gang and what they wanted to do Ranger went ballistic on the phone.

He flew home that night. I can't say what business he was away on but he basically told them to shove it and fuck off that he had to get home. Since none of them were man enough to stop him he came home.

That night after they got her I will never forget Ranger had Sally not gunned them down they would have all died anyway he hit the gangs and he hit them hard. He let it be known that she wasn't to be touched that there wasn't going to be retaliation or revenge for the killings that took place. That she was under his protection and if she was touched then all of the mother fuckers would meet their maker.

That was the first night Stark Street saw the beast that lived with Ranger. We also saw it on the mats although he didn't kill any of us I can't say the same for Stark Street that night as some of the gang members decided they didn't want to listen to him initially they quickly decided that they wanted to listen and do what he said.

We all knew he cared for the bombshell bounty hunter before that but that was when we all actually realized the depth of how much he really cared how much he really loved her how much she meant to him.

I sat down at the table watching Valerie at first. I wanted to just get a feel for her. I watched her watching Stephanie on the dance floor with Woody. I ordered me another beer Lula and Connie were waiting for the action to begin. They knew why Valerie was there and they were primed and ready for the confrontation, the same confrontation that I was hoping to prevent.

I could see jealousy in her eyes. Valerie was jealous of Beautiful now that was interesting I thought Valerie always felt like she was better than Beautiful not that it could be possible but she always prided herself on being perfect as it was made well known how imperfect beautiful was.

I looked at Valerie "Hey my name's Lester." I thought I would start out with introduction just in case she didn't remember me. "Hi Valerie" she said reaching her hand out for me to grab. I wasn't sure if she wanted me to shake it or kiss it the way she was holding it so I just shook it.

I was going to play dumb to see if she would tell me anything useful. "So what brings you out to girl's night out?" I asked her. She looks at me like I am annoying her. Good, plan is working. "I need to talk to Stephanie for a moment, our mom sent me to talk to her." She stated. I could see she didn't really want to discuss it with me but that was too fucking bad.

I smiled at her "so your mom sent you? Does she often send you to talk to Stephanie?" I asked her she looked like she wasn't sure what to say but eventually answered "when my mom thinks she isn't getting through to Stephanie she will ask me to talk to her to see if she will listen to me. Stephanie usually listens to me." She told me, yeah not happening this time I thought to myself not with me running interference.

I continued with my questions giving her a smile to hopefully pull her under the Santos spell. "What did your mom want you to discuss with her, if you don't mind me asking?" She shook her head "that is personal between Stephanie, our family and me." She was trying to take the high road, time to make her squirm.

I turned to Lula and Connie I knew where their thoughts had been tonight, this wouldn't be hard "So ladies have you spied any more man candy? Are you taking any of that home with you tonight?" Lula shook her head "All the man candy is right here at the table and while you all look good enough to lick, suck, fuck and hell eat I have my man Tankie who puts you all to shame so I will be going home alone unless he can meet me later." I glance and both Valerie and Hal are blushing. Fuck Hal can't he control that shit I wanted to make Valerie uncomfortable not him.

I look at Connie "What about you?" She shook her head no but I noticed her looking out towards Woody dancing with Stephanie. "Yeah I guess it is just going to be me and my hand tonight because I am also going home alone tonight." I tell them referencing Pink's song "U + UR Hand" Valerie probably wouldn't get it but the others did as they were laughing.

Lula spoke up "well nothing wrong with that of course for us women it helps if you have a Herby Horsecock in addition to your hands. One of those could almost make you forget about having a man." Connie nodded in agreement Valerie's face was bright red. She then looked at Valerie and said "Valerie have you used your Herby Horsecock that I gave you as a wedding gift?" Valerie looked like she wanted to be swallowed whole by the floor it was priceless and I chocked on my beer. "Girls you trying to turn us guys on? We are all thinking about going home alone and you are talking about using sex toys."

Lula started "well you were the one that brought it up." Yeah I did. So I look back at Valerie. Yeah she is uncomfortable as hell plan is working perfectly.

Cal gets up after telling us about dumb fuckers being here tonight at the club as if I needed something else to think about. Not that I was really concerned about them other than the fact that if he was able to dance with Beautiful he may allow someone else other than us to cut in and which case that could be dangerous. I watch him heading to the dance floor to cut in on Woody and I knew he would tell him about the fuckers so he was going to run point on that, and leave me to Valerie.

Now was the time to pounce while she was distracted in her embarrassment of Lula sharing with everyone that she had a herby horsecock viberator hell with the clown as her husband she probably needed it because one look at him and you could tell he didn't have a dick well not one to brag about. Hell he probably hadn't seen it for years with his dough boy belly.

Looking at Valerie again "so what did you come to talk to Stephanie about?" I asked her again. She looked at me but she did tell me more "Our mom wanted me to talk to Stephanie about some concerns she has." Looking at her I asked "what concerns?" I think Valerie was just happy that the conversation wasn't on sex or sex toys so she answered "Mom thinks that Stephanie needs to make better decisions in her life. Mom feels like Stephanie has turned her back on her family and she wants me to talk to her to see if I can get Stephanie to see Mom's perspective of how Stephanie has been behaving lately."

Just what I thought she would say see how easy it is to get information from the enemy when you throw them off of their game plan. "What do you think of Stephanie's decisions and behavior" I asked her. She cleared her throat and said "well I don't know I think she does things without thinking about the consequences. I think she says things without thinking about other's feelings, and I think she needs to at least try to make things up to mom she said some pretty bad things to her the last time she came to the house."

I nodded but then countered "what if Stephanie had perfectly good reasons for saying the things she did and doing the things she did would that make a difference to you?" I asked her she shrugged her shoulders but then said "I don't know mom asked me to talk to her so I am talking to her." Continue to be little mrs perfect and do what you are told. Does she not have a brain of her own? I briefly wondered.

I just nodded. I stood up and headed to the dance floor it was time to bring Stephanie over and get this over with once and for all so we could go back to enjoying our girl's night out. I reached Cal and Stephanie and I cut in finishing dancing the song out. Looking at her I said "come on Beautiful there is someone at the table waiting to talk to you. Just remember I have that beautiful ass of yours covered, I got your back."

She laughed and we made our way back to the table. She grabs my beer and takes a couple of gulps. I know not attractive but you really couldn't call it a sip. She put the bottle back down and I could see Valerie's face of disgust

"Stephanie didn't mom teach you not to drink after others?" She asked her Stephanie just rolled her eyes. "Val this is Lester's beer I drink and eat after him all the time. He's one of my best friends it's cool. Hell I even drank from Cal's beer earlier." She tells her. Just for show she reaches for Cal's beer he pushes it closer to her for to take a gulp from his beer. "Val these guys are my brothers, I would eat or drink after all of them." At that statement both Woody and Hal pushed their beers toward her to let her know they wouldn't mind.

"Stephanie really mom said that you were acting strange this week and had said something that I don't even understand but this is well beyond what I was expecting. Brothers these men aren't your brothers you don't have any brothers."

I saw anger flash thru Beautiful's eyes time for a distraction. "Valerie I think what Stephanie means is that we consider each other family, our chosen family not necessarily blood relatives family but family none he less. We love each other as if we were brothers and sister." I tell her trying to smooth things over.

"Stephanie mom sent me because she is concerned about you. You moving in at Rangeman, you accusing her of cheating on dad, you saying that you wanted nothing to do with them including you no longer wanted your last name, what's up with all of that?" She asked her.

"Val I am not getting into here this is my night out to have fun and I am not discussing this. But I will say this so you can go home because I am certain you being here is breaking some fucking burg cardinal rule and we wouldn't want you going to burg hell now would we because they would revoke your little miss perfect title. And we couldn't have that." I had to laugh even though I didn't want to. The others around the table chuckled a little as well.

"I will tell you this Valerie I am not changing for Mom, Joe, you, or the burg. I have made decisions for my life that I am happy with and I have been working hard this week to achieve those goals. I had the chance to have a life with the man that I love more than my life, more than the air I breathe and I am taking it I don't give a fuck what you, mom, dad, Joe, or the burg says nothing is going to stop me from being his wife, his lover, his partner. You all can think what you want, you can say what you want because I don't give a fuck and for any of the haters out there that aren't happy with my choices and my decisions I have made for my own life they can all go sit with the other haters and wait for me to give a fuck, because I don't."

Holy shit and I was trying to run interference for her. "Stephanie you don't need to use such language, I just came to ask you I am really not passing judgment at least I am trying not." She said. "Val I don't know why you are here other than mom sent you and yes, I did accuse her of cheating on dad that is because it was true when we were little, I don't know if it is still true but I know it was true then. Because I saw it, I witnessed it and she knew it why do you think she has hated me for so long? She was always worried that I would tell. I never did well not until the other night when she came down on me hard demanding that I take Joe back which is never going to happen."

"Val before you leave I will tell you one other thing you can share with Mom." She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a ring and places it on her left hand ring finger. "Ranger asked me to marry him and I said yes." Then she proceeded to show the ring to the table. Lula and Connie were screaming in excitement. Valerie smiled and said "mom won't be happy but congratulations I hope you are happy." Stephanie just said "thanks Valerie that means a lot I am happy. Now I am going back to having fun you can either join us for fun and dancing but no more talking about any of this or you can go home to Albert and the kids."

Valerie stood up "Stephanie I would like to stay but tomorrow the girls have a busy day so I better get going have a good evening" she said as she got up from the table. Connie and Lula said bye and us guys just gave her a nod and she was on her way out. Watching her walk out I noticed Joyce Barnhardt walking in, Fuck now we had to deal with miss walking STD I think I liked dealing with miss perfect more.

SPOV

Things went smoother with Val than I thought. I didn't really want to talk to her but I just laid it out and told her how it was going to be and it went better than I thought much better than times in the past when she was sent to talk to me by our mom.

Watching her leave I saw Joyce walk in, great just fucking great now I had to deal with that bitch. I knew the second she saw us she would be over here within seconds coming on to the guy and throwing insults towards me. I looked at the guys "Guys Joyce is here and I would suggest that you don't let her touch you unless you want your dicks to shrivel up and fall off after all she is the walking poster child for STDs." The look on their faces was priceless and Lester just laughed.

Before she made it to us the music changed another retro song Salt-N-Pepa's "Push it" started playing looking around the table "come on guys let's dance" I tell them. We all stand up heading to the dance floor.

Again these are dance steps that everyone remembered from years ago we got in our lines girls in front guys behind us and started dancing to push it. We started pushing our hips out stepping forward and rocking our hips turning around and back around dropping down on one hand and back up flapping our elbows rotating our hips singing along with the song when we weren't laughing at each other. I was surprised the guys knew the steps damn they looked fine I again found myself hoping I could get video. We were the only ones on the dance floor that knew the steps to the song once again you could see the green daggers of jealousy been shot at us by every woman in the bar.

But one made my smile even bigger Joyce was standing back watching us, she didn't know the steps or she would have joined us she would have loved being able to "push it" with my brothers. She just better not being pushing her diseased ridden body anywhere near my brothers let her have Joe, and Dickie. After all that is what she was good for, my leftovers.

When the song ended I knew she would descend on us like a buzzard on road kill with that evil sneer on her face. She was looking to cause trouble but she better back the fuck up because this wasn't the Stephanie Michelle that she remembered and that she could call names. This was the Stephanie Michelle that would love the opportunity to hand her ass to her and send her ass packing.

She wasn't going to ruin my girl's night out. I ignored her when the song ended, we all did and as we made our way back to our table. She was hot on our trail. We sat down in all the chairs the one the Valerie was sitting in I stretched my legs out in she was not welcomed to join us at our table.

As she walked up to the table she sneered at us "So how is the whore of Rangeman, I have been hearing how you have become their toy that they just pass around." I just looked at her and smiled. "Joyce you know if that was true the only reason you would be here saying anything about it is because you are so damn upset that it isn't you. Because let's face it you are the whore of Trenton. You are the one that can't wait for my leftovers that you need to try to steal them literally out from under me. You are the one that would so happily spread your legs and open your mouth for my brother s and soon to be husband that you would be begging them to fuck you anywhere. Hell if they were so inclined you would have them pulling a train on your ass right here in this bar on this very table. Don't forget I know all about your barnyard ways you are loud enough when you are fucking my cousin that we all hear. So don't come up to me and accuse me of being anyone's whore."

Her mouth was opened when I finished she didn't really have a come back to what I had just said it was all true and she knew it so I thought I would continue "But we also know how disease ridden your body is and my brothers while they do enjoy sex they wouldn't risk catching one of your diseases and having their dicks shrivel up and fall off to have a go with your used up, gaping hole of a pussy they could get better fucking a hole in a fence post. You need to save those diseases for the people that really deserve them like the Dick and Joe that you love fucking so much."

She growled at me and made a step closer to me like she was going to intimidate me. I had spent a week on the mats with the merry men training me trust me if they didn't intimidate me then this red headed, fake boobed, non paid prostitute wasn't going to. She started to say something but I cut her off before she had the chance. "Look Barnyard you need to back the fuck up, and shut the fuck up before your bull dog mouth overrides your humming bird ass and I am forced to kick it. I really don't want to touch you but a few well placed kicks could be sufficient. I am giving you the opportunity to walk away from this table and out of this bar before they are fucking carrying you, and it won't be my brothers touching you. Never threaten me again even if it is just stepping into my personal space. I don't intimidate at least not anymore." Connie and Lula are starring at me with opened mouths and bulging eyes almost not being able to believe what I am saying and how cool I am in saying it. Fuck I can barely believe it myself my heartbeat wasn't even elevated. I am not sure who this person is but I like her.

My brothers well they are just sitting back smiling with looks of pride on their faces. "Besides Joyce even if I was the Rangeman Whore as you so eloquently put it, wouldn't you just be jealous as hell. After all take a look around this table at just a small sample of what I would be able to fuck not to mention you know Ranger right? I know you would just love to be in my shoes because let's face I already fucked the Dick and Joe who I know you are fucking now and let's just say I would be fairly certain that neither of them could let's say measure up to any of the Rangeman men. So you go and have fun with the little boys, be sure to share all of your STDs with them. But leave the big boys, the real men, to me." I tell her. Lester just about lost his beer again when I said leave the big boys to me. Hal was bright red, Cal and Woody were just smiling bright.

Joyce was gapping and stuttering "I…I..do..dont" I stopped her it was pitiful really if you are going to try to come in a bar and get in someone's face then at least be able to talk straight. I cut her off. "You don't what? You don't play with the little boys? You don't have an STD? What ass fuck? Because I know those are lies. Remember you are having my leftovers let's say I know how they don't measure up, and as far as STDs go you are right you don't have one you have about ten I have warned my brothers if they touch you then their dicks will fall off from a disease."

Her mouth flew open and she screeched she started to reach for me big mistake, huge. I grabbed her arm snapped it around behind her effectively turning her away from me where I pushed her as hard as I could away from us. She went flying into the other table before she even knew what hit her. She bounced off one of the chairs and hit the ground. I was on my feet standing beside my table. If she had the nerve to get up and advance on me again I was ready for the ass fucking bitch.

She got to her feet she was wet from the beer that she had knocked off the table I didn't give her a chance to speak "Ass fuck I suggest you leave you aren't needed here and you sure as fuck aren't wanted." I tell her as I turn back around taking my seat at my table effectively dismissing her. I watched her from the corner of my eye slink her sleazy ass out of the bar. She sure as fuck didn't have the same swagger going out as she had coming in, good.

I turned back to the table they all still have looks of shock on their faces. The Merry men had recovered but I could still see shock and humor in their eyes Lula and Connie were like fish out of a pond. Lula recovered "Girl who are you?" she was looking around "and what have you done with skinny as white girl?" She asked me but continued "and we have a new nickname for Joyce, Ass Fuck. It couldn't be better." We all laughed at that but then I said. "Lula trust me I am skinny ass white girl only better. I no longer give a fuck what people say about me. What they call me. I am no longer live my life trying to satisfy them or making them proud of me I live my life making me proud. My family" I looked at the guys at the table "will always be proud of me regardless of what I do or say." They all nodded in agreement. Who said that, where the hell did that come from.

I looked to Lester I really needed to talk to him on the dance floor. He stood up and offered me his hand. We headed to the dance floor as Christina Perri "Jar of Hearts" started playing. He took me into his arms and led the way. These guys really did know how to make me look good on the dance floor.

"Lester, am I acting weird tonight?" I asked him. He looked at me "Well I don't know about weird but I have to say I almost lost it when you told Joyce to leave the real men to you. I don't think Hal will ever recover and I know for certain that Woody and Cal had some pretty intense thoughts going thru their minds as well. It was probably a wet dream come true for all of us." I could feel myself blushing.

"If you haven't noticed I tend to say things in the heat of the moment that I probably would never be able to say any other time. I am sorry if I made you or them uncomfortable but that woman just gets on my last fucking nerve." He smiled "beautiful you didn't make us uncomfortable, you might have made Hal cream his tidy whites and the rest of hard enough to pound nails with all the images you flooded our minds with but it's all good, trust me it was all good." He said wagging his eyebrows up and down I had to laugh leave it up to Lester to know when I needed a little bit of funny.

I swatted his arm and we continued to dance. I noticed that the guys and gals had joined us. Hal was dancing with Lula and that was too funny I don't think he knew what to do with all that booty, Woody was dancing with Connie, and Cal was dancing with Mary Lou. Mary Lou had missed most of the confrontation with Joyce as she had remained out on the dance floor dancing with some guy that she knew.

When the song switched to Jennifer Lopez's "I'm into you" I decided to spare Hal and cut in on him and Lula giving Lula the opportunity to dance with Lester. I knew Lester could handle all of that booty on the dance floor besides I wanted to apologize for my behavior and what I said to Joyce in front of him.

HALPOV

I was a little shocked when I heard Stephanie tell Joyce to leave the real men to her I was also a lot turned on. I know I consider her a friend but I am a guy after all and she is a girl a beautiful sexy as hell girl I couldn't help the reaction I had. I got so hard I could have pounded every nail in that held this bar together.

I know the guys were probably laughing at me because I turned red but I can't help it. I am just not as open as they are when it comes to sex and talking about it. They didn't say anything but I am just waiting for when we are alone the ribbing will start that Stephanie made me blush. Hell Lester probably thought I came in my pants, not that I couldn't do that but I didn't I am not that bad. I am not a teenager with no control.

Lester and Stephanie hit the dance floor and the rest of the girls wanted to dance so we all paired up and I got Lula. I can dance and dance well but I wasn't sure what to do with all of Lula she was all over the dance floor shaking her booty as she said Lula style I am not exactly what that meant but I did my best.

When the song changed I was so damn glad to see Stephanie making her way over to me. Of course it meant that I would probably be hard as brick again with all those images she put in my head and then dancing with her but oh well it is better than booty luscious as Lula called it.

We started dancing when she looked up at me a little sheepishly "Hal I am sorry if I said something that made you uncomfortable. That ass fuck can get me so mad at times I forget what I am saying and I just say the first thing that pops into my head without thinking about who my audience is. I am sorry if I embarrassed you." I just shook my head "Bombshell its fine, you didn't make me uncomfortable" well at least not anywhere but how tight my pants got. "I am not as outright with sex and sex talk as the others and I just react by turning red. At this point I don't know if I could prevent it if I tried it is something that just happens. Growing up with my dad I didn't have a lot of exposure to girls and I didn't and still don't play the field like some of your other brothers." I smiled at her.

She nodded "Hal you are good guy. I am glad you are my brother" She said which made me smile even bigger and we continued to dance. "Bombshell I am honored to call you my sister. I never had a sister but I will say this I couldn't have had a better sister than you had I had one." I tell her.

CalPOV

The music changes to Neon Trees "Animal" as Angel cut in on Mary Lou and I. Mary Lou went to dance with Hal and Angel and I started dancing. I had just recovered from her telling Joyce aka ass fuck, you got to love that name, off. It was so fucking hot and when she said to leave the real men to her and then sent her flying into the table doing a move we had taught her well I won't even go there with what it did to me. Let's just say my pants were no longer fitting me properly and we will leave it at that.

I really don't want to end up dickless in a third world fucking country so I was thankful that I was sitting down at the table and the table was covering the effect she was having on me from the camera just in case Rangeman was watching us.

We started dancing "Cal I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable with anything I said to that ass fuck she gets under my skin and as you know I tend to say stuff without thinking and it only gets worse the madder I get." I just shook my head "Angel you didn't make me uncomfortable but I have say that was funny as shit and way to go on that move she didn't know what hit her." She smiled at me and started singing the chorus "oh oh, I want some more, oh oh what are you waiting for? Take a bite of my heart tonight. Oh oh, I want some more, oh oh what you waiting for? What are you waiting for? Say goodbye to my heart tonight" she sang I just smiled and when the chorus came up again I joined her singing along with her. I guess this was going to be our new thing. The guys will give me hell for being able to sing but I don't give a fuck they can suck it. It's not like they wouldn't do whatever she wanted.

WoodyPOV

The song changed to Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You" as Bombshell cut in on Connie and I. Connie went to dance with Cal as Bombshell and I started dancing. We were dancing when she looked up to me "Woody I am sorry if I made you uncomfortable by anything that I said at the table. But that ass fuck can get to me at times and I say things before I think about it. I know I tend to do that but the madder I get the worse I get." I just shook my head and laughed "Darling let me tell you, you didn't make me uncomfortable. I was proud of you standing up for yourself. You cut her too short to shit and you new nickname for her well it couldn't get better." I wasn't going to tell her that she made me so hard that I thought I could pound railroad ties down and I wouldn't have had a problem proving to Lula that I could hold my hat up without hands.

She looked at me "well I just wanted to say I am sorry." I smiled at her "Darling nothing to be sorry for I love you just as much now as I did then hell maybe more. You my Texas sister made me proud." I told her as I spun her out and back to me and dipped her I know the music wasn't right for the moves but I made it work and from the daggers Stephanie was getting I would say I made it work well. She was smiling big and giggling.

The song changed to a retro song Joan Jett's "Do you Want to Touch" and she made her way back to Lester cutting in and sending Lula my way.

LPOV

Beautiful was back dancing with me and it was Joan Jett's song "Do You Want to Touch" and she was singing parts of it well the do you want to touch me parts and dancing and she was hot. I caught myself almost answering her hell yeah. But bit my tongue and kept on dancing. She was having fun. I had watched her talking to each of the guys I assumed it was to apologize for making them uncomfortable with anything she said. I know they all told her that she didn't. Hell I was proud as hell at her. I had even taken a little video and had sent it to Rangeman because I knew he would think one it was funny as shit and two hotter than hell.

I was worried that those two would bring her confidence and self esteem down but I was wrong she handled it better than I expected she didn't allow them control she took it and kept it and even defended herself I couldn't have been more proud of her.

Man her dancing to this song was making me hot. In a way it would be nice to be able to find someone here and take her home to help me with my growing problem but that wasn't going to happen tonight I couldn't risk Beautiful's safety. She would always be first above everything and everyone else. Including me and my growing problem.

SPOV

Man I was getting hot I was going to dance one more song and then I need to go to the table to sit down and get something to drink. I hated being at a bar and asking for water I had bad visions of being sprayed by the water hose as they did the patrons in the movie Coyote Ugly if they asked for water. It just wasn't something someone did but I had been drinking beer from the guy's bottles and really I didn't want any more to drink. I needed to remain sober, even though I really wanted a drink.

But with things in my life right now I didn't need to complicate things make my brothers worry about me anymore than they did by adding getting inebriated to the list. I was already worried enough about me tonight. I needed to prove to him that I take my safety seriously.

Lester and I were having fun with this song it was a girl power song and I was playing it up I knew he wouldn't take it anywhere and he would just have fun and he was. We were laughing and having fun.

The music changed to the new Beyonce' song "Run the World (Girls)" and I quickly got us in line the girls facing the guys I was across from Lester then Mary Lou was beside me across from Woody, Connie was beside Mary Lou with Cal across from her and finally Lula was beside Connie with Hal across from her. I had seen the video for the song while I didn't know all the moves I knew that the girls faced off with the guys so that's what we did.

We danced like that moving back and forth towards and retreating from each other again we were all having fun laughing enjoying the song and the movements of our own bodies. Oh and getting daggers from all the women and being stared at by all the men. We ruled this club. I felt someone step up behind me just as I bumped into them. I turned to see who I had bumped into and it was Doug the contract worker who had come to work at Rangeman the beginning of the week. Where did he come from?

I realized why I "bumped" into him that's because he was trying to grind on me. When I stepped away from him he stepped up closer to me bringing us in contact again. Oh this was so not going to happen, what the fuck was he thinking? I once again stepped forward Lester had stopped dancing at this point taking in what he was doing.

I turned toward Doug stopping dancing myself I asked him "what are you doing?" he looked at me with a face that said what the fuck does it look like I am doing and said "I am trying to dance with you." I looked at Lester and the guys who at this point had all stopped dancing and were standing there glaring at Doug. I turned back to Doug "who says I wanted to dance with you?" I asked him.

I saw something flash in eyes but it was gone to quick to see what it was "You were switching with all the guys I thought you wouldn't mind if I danced with you." He said trying to sound nice. I looked at him accessing him "Doug it is Doug right?" I asked him and he nodded "Doug I came with these guys, these guys are my friends and have been with me and sitting with me all night. Have you seen me dancing with anyone other than these guys tonight?" I asked him. He shook his head no but added "but I figured since I work at Rangeman with you and these guys then you wouldn't mind dancing with me, if I cut in." He stated matter of fact.

I nodded in understanding where he was going and pursing my lips together but then I told him "Doug let me give you a piece of advice and you can use this in all aspects of life not just here on the dance floor. Ask someone first if they want to and don't just assume they do. I saw you earlier eyeing me like you wanted to dance with me and I didn't want to dance with you then no more than I want to dance with you now. I don't care that you work at Rangeman that doesn't matter. I don't know you, you are not one of my brothers and I have no intention of dancing with you tonight maybe never after seeing your idea of dancing is grinding your pitiful excuse of a dick on me. So the next time you see me on the dance floor or anywhere and you feel the need to take liberties with me that aren't yours for the taking you better fucking ask me or you might come back with a bullet in your dick." I told him. Leaving the others howling on the dance floor I made my way to our table.

I went to take a swig of Lester's drink just as Lester put his hand on my arm stopping me. He was trying to recover from laughing at what I had said to the dumb fucker, I think that was the appropriate name for him after all, shaking his head. "What Lester I can't have a drink of your beer?" He shook his head again "No Beautiful you can have all my beer but not this beer. We all left the table unattended with our open bottles and open drinks sitting on the table. We don't know how safe these are to drink." He motioned the waitress over to clear the table and ordered another beer. Did I mention how protective my brother's are of me?

When his beer arrived he handed it to me so I could take the first swig, now that tasted good. I took a seat and Lester sat down beside me. "Beautiful what are you going to do about Doug?" he asked me. I looked at him. I wasn't going to do anything I had done what I was going to do. "What do you mean?" I asked him. "Are you going to tell Rangeman what happened?" he questioned me.

I shook my head "I handled it, I told him where I stood. I don't think he will bother me anymore I think he was just a little confused seeing me dance with you all tonight and I had to set him straight I think it will all be good. Ranger doesn't need to be involved" I told him. I knew he would fire him and while he gave me the cripes grinding on me I didn't want to see him lose his job over a misunderstanding and I also knew how busy we were at Rangeman and knew we needed all hands on deck so to speak so I didn't want to cause a hardship there over a little misunderstanding that I only needed to set him straight.

Lester nodded then said "well I am going to tell him but I am going to tell him how you handled it he will love hearing it anyway. He won't fire him I will tell him what you said." I shrugged my shoulders "Lester I don't see the need but you do what you feel is the best." I told him.

Just as Lester and I had finished off his beer Kesha's "Blow" started to play so I grabbed Lester's arm and we headed back to the dance floor. I quickly looked around the floor but I didn't see Doug hopefully he left and hopefully that would be the end of it.

DougPOV

That bitch. I can't believe she said what she said and then dismissed me on the dance floor. She just walked away from me. No one walks away from me after having said that to me. I thought she would enjoy dancing with me hell all the women enjoyed dancing with me when I grind on them what the fuck is her problem? She thinks she is too good for me.

She doesn't know it yet but she just raised this to a whole new level. Before I just wanted to fuck her because of that sexy little body of hers and I still want to but now I won't be gentle with it I won't be asking I will just be taking. She can give it to all of those other fuckers and she couldn't dance with me on the dance floor for one fucking dance.

As far as asking her goes well I won't be asking her for anything else. I will just take what the fuck I want from her. She can act strong and be a big mouth whore in front of those fuckers but I wondered how she would be alone isolated one on one. Somehow I don't think she would be singing the same tune.

I will figure out how to get her alone I will have my way with her and these babies in my pocket were definitely going to aid me in my endeavor it is just a matter of time.

RPOV

I have been sitting in my office at Rangeman all evening looking at a contract that needed to be redone for a big customer. The customer owned several very high end retail stores and he was in the process of procuring another location and wanted to have all of security systems for all of his current stores including the new location upgraded and installed.

I was going over what he currently had in place where there were vulnerabilities because when he came to us originally he decided to change our original proposal because of expenses. Because our system has been so good he decided that he wanted the full package of our services which meant everything had to be reevaluated and upgraded.

It meant a lot of additional money for Rangeman but it also meant a lot of additional work that right now I wasn't sure if we had the man power for but I knew like always we would suck it up and get the work done even if it meant working overtime which truthfully none of us minded.

Once Stephanie's training was completed in another week it would get easier on us because we would have the guys back all working full time straight through and Stephanie would be here to take some of the work load off of Tank and I and we could pick up the work load that is needed elsewhere.

I stretched my neck around and stood up I needed a break for a moment so I went out down the hall to the office next to mine. It use to be storage area but when I found out that Stephanie wanted to come here full time I made the necessary changes to convert it to her office.

It was going to be a surprise for her. Opening the door I was pleased with how much had been done. The office was now painted a light blue it would go nicely with the rich brown color of her desk, chairs, couch and table that I ordered which should be in this week. The cabinetry was already installed and it looked great. Behind her desk on the wall was mural I had painted of Wonder Woman and Batman. Wonder Woman was standing holding her lasso of truth and Batman was crouched ready for the attack with his cape flying up in the back looking as if he had wings. I couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out I knew my Babe would love it.

My phone beeped with a text message. Looking at it I saw it was from Santos it said all good having fun and a picture popped up of them on the dance floor with their arms up in the air only one song would you have arms like that thriller. I had to smile at the picture. She didn't know it but pictures had been taken of her all week. I would get different pictures of her in training. I was storing them. I would pick the best ones and ask Ella to frame them for me so I could put them in her office. Pictures of her and the guys, of her by herself with different looks of determination on her face I would even put a few of them in my office. I was so damn proud of her.

I head back to my office after my break time to get down to business. A little while later I get another message on my phone Valerie is there and the guys aren't happy about it. This one is from Cal. Fuck. Can't they just leave my Babe alone?

I turn back to my work frustrated and distracted wondering what Valerie is saying to her. Part of me wanted to race to that bar and deal with it but if she wanted me there she would let me know or if things went downhill the guys would let me know. So I forced myself to focus on the contract and drawing up the proposals. My phone beeps again a picture of Stephanie looking strong and adamant facing Valerie you can tell she just put her in place by the expression on Valerie's face. Santos followed the picture with Steph okay and enemy diffused. I had to smile at his comment.

It wasn't but a few minutes later I get a picture of them on the dance floor again she was smiling big laughing looking at Santos. Good she was happy that is what was important. She had worked so hard I wanted her to be happy. Smiling I sat my phone back down and focused on the design in front of me.

It wasn't but a couple of minutes that I got the text message the whore of Trenton is here. That could only be one person Joyce. Great, my babe can't get a fucking break. Once again I am torn between staying here and going to join her. I want to be by her side but once again I refrain from jumping to my feet and running to my car.

I tried to focus but I couldn't concentrate on the design in front of me so I grabbed my phone and took a walk down the hall to the break room where I grabbed water out of the fridge. My phone beeped and this time it was a video. I opened it to watch the video and it was a video of my Babe confronting Joyce. I watched my Babe and I heard the fire and ice in her voice. I heard Joyce call her a whore and my feet were moving on their way but my Babe stopped me in my tracks when I heard her ice cold voice.

It was strong and cold enough to cut you in two. I stopped listening and watching the video my Babe told her that she was just jealous but I had to laugh when she told her to save her diseases for those that deserved them and she mentioned her x-husband the dick and Joe. Then Joyce made a step toward her screaming and my feet once again started moving but when I heard my Babe respond by telling her to back the fuck up and then she threatened her I have never been more proud of her. She sounded strong, she sounded determined, and she sounded confident in her abilities. I just had to smile.

I had to smile when she said that Joyce was jealous of her and I had to laugh when she said how we measured up but I sobered quickly when she said to leave the big boys the real men to her. It was funny don't get me wrong and I could hear Santos coughing and the video jerked away for a minute or so but she was MINE and she was hot as shit at this moment. God if I was there I would grab her and make a mad dash to my car so I could take her and let her know how much she owned me.

I retreated to my office because my desire was very evident and I didn't need the guys on duty to see me hard as a brick while watching a video on my phone. I watched as Joyce couldn't form a sentence and my Babe just cut her off. Then she caught me off guard when she called Joyce an ass fuck. I just about lost it laughing. Good thing the office was sound proof or my men would think I have lost it.

I watched as Joyce went for her and again I found myself on my feet but continuing to watch the screen I saw my Babe's training kick in as she sent her sailing into the other table. Fuck she was hot. Damn while Joyce was getting to her feet my Babe completely dismissed her telling her she wasn't needed or wanted. Then she sat back down turning her back on her. But even though her back was turned Stephanie was aware of her surroundings she was ready you could see it in her posture. I was so fucking proud of her and so turned on by her it almost painful. She wouldn't get home fast enough for me.

I no more finished watching it when I get another text from Lester that said Holy hot fuck…that was the hottest thing I have seen in a long time. I sent him a reply MINE reminding him that she was mine.

He then sent me pictures of her dancing with Cal they looked like they were singing, her dancing with Hal, and Woody. Cal sent me a picture of her dancing with Lester.

I got a picture of her with the new guy he looked too close for comfort and there was a look on her face that I didn't like seeing. She was surprised and shocked. It was from Cal and all it said was I don't trust him. He was going to be in for a surprise when he got back here. It was going to be another trip to the mats. This time I wasn't going to be easy on him. He would get it thru his dumb fucking head that he was to protect her or I would end up killing that dumb fucker teaching him the lesson one way or the other and I really didn't give a fuck which way it went.

Cal sent another text to me said Angel handed him his ass. I just had to smile. My Babe was getting strong, confident and you could see it in how she carried herself how she stood up for herself. It was amazing and it was hotter than hell.

SPOV

I had been on the dance floor now for a while. I had danced with all of the guys at least once from the time Lester and I had gotten back on the floor. When we danced to Madonna's "Vogue" and SNAP's Power" they were fun I was still amazed that my brothers knew the steps to those songs. I was enjoying the retro songs as much as I was enjoying the latest dance club hits.

Lady Gaga's "The Edge of Glory" was playing and I was dancing with Woody and let me tell you he was right when he said if it had a beat he could dance to it. He could dance. I think he could dance to any song and the whole time he could make me look good even if I wasn't as good of dancer. You would never know it with these guys. No wonder these women were giving me dirty looks. Oh well what can one do? They just need to get over it.

Listening to this song I couldn't help but think of Carlos. I was always on the edge of glory when I was with him. He made me so happy, he made me feel so loved, he made me so crazy with desire for him that I could forget my own name, and he was the only one who could push me to the edge of something else so high that I felt like I would come unglued and shatter to pieces but he always managed to hold me together and even when I fell over the edge he was there holding me and catching me.

When the song changed it was another retro song Duran Duran's "Hungry Like a Wolf" and I changed to dance with Cal for a little bit. Of course he started singing parts and I joined him. Laughing along the way at each other this was something I never thought I would share with him but after doing so I didn't want to stop.

When the song switched to Rihanna's "S&M" you guessed it Lester cut in saying this was his song. Yeah I can only imagine how it was his song. The whole whips and chains exiting him was right up Lester's alley. I just had to laugh at his craziness. We were dancing having fun laughing when I felt him freeze and tense up. I looked around on the floor and I noticed all of my brothers were standing still and the tension I felt rolling off of them was palpable.

I turned in Lester's arms as they had wrapped around me pulling me to him and it was none other than Joe making his way thru the crowd toward us. I felt a wave of panic run thru me. Lester must have felt it to because his arms tightened around me pulling me even closer to him. I am glad I was dancing with him. Not that I didn't trust the others with my life because I did but Lester was my best friend the only other person I would want more would be Carlos.

My brothers stepped closer to me I reached out and grabbed Cal's hand. I needed to feel their strength. I had no idea what Joe was thinking or what he would try to do. I was bracing myself for what I didn't know and that made me nervous as hell. I had one hand holding on to Lester's arm that was wrapped around me and the other clamped down on Cal's hand.

I thought about the box I had received, I thought about the scenes laid out on my bed, I thought about his words and what he did when he pulled me over. I thought about the words in that letter and my stomach wanted to revolt. I hadn't drank that much in total but I felt my skin get clammy as I started to sweat my forehead getting damp and feeling cool from the sweat that was forming. I could feel my breathing change the closer he came towards me.

Joe reached us and he was leering at me as he began to speak "So I see it is true you are the whore or Rangeman. Ranger has already had enough of you that he has turned you over to his men now. So they can share you and have their way with you."

"Joe I don't want to talk to you. You need to leave you are violating the restraining order." I told him. I thought reminding him about that would be a good idea. He just laughed at me. "Cupcake you think I care about the restraining order? We are in a public place I had no idea you were here until I walked thru the door. I just thought I would walk over and say hi."

Yeah right my ass he didn't know. "Joe I don't care when you saw me you should have turned around and left. As far as saying hi to me if that is how you say hi you can shove it up your ass Joe I never want you speaking to me again." I told him. He just laughed and responded. "If you don't want to be here while I am here why don't you leave? Since you seem to think this bar isn't big enough for the two of us." He asked me. Fuck I was having a good time.

I just nodded and made a step to leave. Stepping out of Lester's arms I still had his arm and Cal's hand soon as I stepped forward Joe grabbed me by my arm and jerked me so hard he took me completely off of my feet. My grasp of their arm and hand was broken as I was thrown across the dance floor I landed hard on my side sliding into a couple of people who proceeded to fall down on top of me.

I heard Lester yell just before one of the guys crashed down on me smashing me further into the dance floor with his body landing completely on top me my head caught between his chest and the floor. Fuck that hurt. My neck was immediately burning from the snap of Joe jerking me forward. I couldn't concentrate on what was happening. It felt like time stood still as the guy was still laying on top of me crushing me to the point that I was gasping for my breath fighting for each breath I took.

Finally the guy gathered his wits about him and rolled off of me he was saying something to me but I couldn't concentrate on him for watching the scene in front of me. Lester was screaming at Joe you could see the rage in him Cal was holding on to him for all he was worth trying his best to hold Lester back. Even though Cal is bigger than Lester he was struggling holding him. You could see the blind rage in Lester.

Hal and Woody were standing guard if Lester broke from Cal's grasp. They knew he would end up either killing Joe or Joe would end up arresting him or me or possibly killing Lester. I continued to lie on the floor taking account of my body. I don't think I was injured but I wasn't really ready to move just yet.

The man who fell on me was on his feet reaching for me but I just shook my head no. I only wanted my brother's touching me. I only wanted them helping me or Carlos. I really wanted Carlos right this moment. Just the thought of him and I could feel the tears stinging my eyes. I needed Carlos.

Lester calmed a little when he saw me sit up. I shook my head I knew he was asking me if I was hurt if I was injured. Hurt a little yes but not injured. Joe was standing between me and my brothers I stood up after a few minutes and stepped to go to them when Joe pushed me back further this time I stayed on my feet my training kicked in.

When I made a another attempt to get around him to get to my brothers Joe grabbed me by the arm and slapped me hard across the cheek bone I tried to block him his hand but his force was strong enough it just took my arm with him. I don't know how I kept from falling under the force of the blow it was a significant blow and I felt my legs want to give out from under me but I gritted thru the pain, the nausea, and the stars I was seeing to stay on my feet.

I heard Lester yell again and all of my brother's growled. Joe spoke up "Cupcake I am not letting you go back to them. You belong to me. I came here tonight to take you home with me. You will not be leaving with them. You will be leaving within the If you stop fighting me now I won't punish you further." Fear shot thru me it was something along the lines of pure terror. Punish wasn't there something in that letter about punishing me?

When Lester heard him make that statement Lester went for his gun. Cal quickly took it away from him. I wanted Lester to kill Joe or at least maim him in a way to prevent Joe from taking me but I also knew that would mean prison for Lester as did Cal, and my other brothers.

Joe still had a bruising grasp on my arm and I was struggling to break free. The other patrons of the bar were just standing there watching the whole thing unfold. No one made a step to help me or assist in anyway. I am sure most all of them knew Joe and knew he was a police detective.

Stall, think Stephanie I had my panic button in my pocket, I had the tracking device on my skin not that I didn't think for a second Joe wouldn't find that first thing. He knew all about the trackers and panic buttons. I slipped my hand in my pocket and activated the panic button while Joe was distracted.

I reached out my other arm pulling myself as far away from Joe as I could manage with the grasp he had until I grabbed Lester hand. It felt like the arm that Joe was holding was going to be dislocated I was pulling against him so hard but I had to try.

I locked my fingers intertwined with Lester's onto Lester's hand trying desperately to hold on for all I was worth. I know my brothers saw and felt my fear how truly terrified I was. Lester calmed the moment my hand touched his and he locked his fingers with mine. Cal's hand let go of him and grabbed my wrist. I could tell by the look in his eyes he wasn't going to let go of me.

Joe jerked me hard and I couldn't help but scream in pain as my arm protested the jerk. But I held on. Woody and Hal had gone around behind Joe once Lester calmed so he was surrounded. I felt better looking at them I could tell they weren't going to just let him take me out of this bar.

I knew Carlos would be there in a matter of minutes after I activated the panic button. It would alert control room and they would alert him. I only needed to hold out for him to get here. I knew there was video of this, Rangeman was the security firm for the bar so we had proof of Joe's attack all of it.

How it was a completely unprovoked attack I only hope there was sound as well but I didn't have much faith in that as the music was pumping the whole time. Joe tried jerking me loose again and once again I couldn't contain the scream of pain. He then went for his gun pointing at Cal and Lester and demanded that they let go. They held fast even though the fear I was feeling catapulted to the point I was seeing stars.

Inner Ranger, where is your inner Ranger I asked myself and just thinking of him gave me more courage. I kicked at his hand making contact with his hand he was holding the gun in his right hand and I made contact right at his wrist. Causing him to effectively drop the gun but not before it discharged. I felt Cal wince and his grasp loosened a little before it tightened back up.

I searched his eyes and I could see pain there. I let my eyes follow down his body and I saw blood on his side. Fuck, Cal had been hit by the bullet but with his shirt on it was no way to tell how bad he was. He was still holding my wrist tightly so that was a good sign but then again he could probably be on his death bed and still would be holding my wrist tightly. He was keeping his promise to never me go.

I wanted to cry I was so scared, I was so afraid I was in such a state of terror that I found it almost impossible to function. It was one thing to spar with my brother's on the mat but this was a whole another level that I had no idea how to function under. I didn't know how to control these feelings to function. How the hell did Carlos and my brother's do it? Don't they ever get this afraid? Maybe not.

Inner Ranger, Inner Ranger I kept chanting to myself at least I hope it was to myself I didn't need Joe to hear me gathering my strength. I was ready to attack again when Joe went limp and fell to the ground he would have taken me with him but his hand went limp letting me go. It was then that the tingle at the base of my neck registered as I felt strong arms grab me and pull me to him. Catching the scent of bulgari it was Carlos. I still had a death grip on Lester's hand and Cal still had my wrist I don't think any of us were capable of letting go at this point.

I wrapped myself around Carlos my arm and legs clinging to him as hard as I could cling to anyone or anything. My hand still hasn't released Lester's hand as Carlos just held me shhssing me it was only hearing him that I realized my tears had broken thru and I was crying, sobbing into his chest ruining his shirt with my tears. All I heard was his soothing voice telling that he had me, that he would never let me go, that he had me, that I was now safe in his arms. But my grip on him wasn't releasing any more than my grip on Lester's hand. Cal had let go of my hand I felt when he released me and I immediately sought out his hand but they were holding his side.

I looked around the bar and Joe was lying unconscious on the floor, Tank was standing over him. Hal, Woody, Zero, Zip, Hector, Manny, Junior, Binkie, Ram, Bobby, and Cal were standing completely around Carlos and me. The only one that wasn't there was Vince, he must be manning the control room at Rangeman. I calmed a little having my brothers surround me I was safe in Carlos' arms with my brothers around me.

Bobby was looking at Cal's wound. I heard him say only a flesh wound would just need a few stitches but nothing major injured. Thank God. I searched his eyes begging for forgiveness had I not kicked his gun he probably wouldn't have been shot. He just nodded his head and smiled at me I reached for him with the hand that still had Lester's hand locked in a death grip. Even though I told my fingers to release him my fingers just didn't seem to want to respond.

Bobby was trying to get to me to see my injuries but Carlos just growled as Bobby tried to remove me from his arms. I also protested in holding on tighter I wasn't ready to let go of him no more than it seemed he was ready to let go of me.

**Don't forget to check out website, and please take a moment to review! Let me know what you think. What are they going to do about Joe? What about Doug? Tell me your thoughts.**


	29. Chapter 28: Trusting Yourself

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**I want to thank everyone who writes a review for my story. I enjoy reading them and I love ideas they give me so keep them coming! You do my soul good!**

**I have a website that I have created to give you all something to explore to dig deeper into the story "What does it mean to trust" You can go to the following website and see character bios (along with some pictures of what I think they would look like), ask questions, give suggestions, see Stephanie's training schedule, Lester's personal vehicles, Cars trucks, and bikes that are in the Rangeman Compound, Rangeman test requirements, and pictures of the places they have been and of Stephanie's ring and clothing. I will continue to add additional information to this website so continue to check out the website.**

**www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com **

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**This chapter may need a tissue warning…I am not sure so I am issuing one just in case…very emotional chapter. **

Chapter 28: Trusting Yourself

RPOV

I was sitting in my office finalizing the design for our customer when I heard my phone beep. I picked the phone up smiling waiting to see what else one of the guys had sent me. My Babe was having fun she had a few run ins that I wished hadn't happened but she had handled herself well and she continued to have fun.

I had just notice the message said Babe 911 when my door came crashing open and a very worried Vince came barging in. I knew he was supposed to be at the Control Room for him to leave it meant something major was happening.

"Ranger, Bomber just activated her panic button" he told me barely able to control the urgency in his voice. I was already moving forward before I even realized I had stood up. I never checked up racing to the stairwell to get to my car. "Call me with her location I am heading to the bar now." I yelled back at him. In the stairwell I noticed my men racing to the garage as well. Vince must have sent out a companywide text that Stephanie was in trouble.

The only one that wasn't here was Vince well other than the ones that were already with her at the bar. I found myself praying as I broke every traffic light and speed limit between Rangeman and the Blue Light Bar. Fuck them. If a cop wanted to pull me over tonight he would have to blow up my fucking car to stop me. I could feel the fear for her welling up inside of me. I could feel the urgency to get to her as fast as I could for her to feel the need to activate her panic button when she was with four of my men something was major wrong. I knew my men were behind me which made me feel a little better.

I had been in such a hurry I hadn't thought about them to tell you truth other than seeing a few race to their cars I didn't stop to see if Tank or Bobby was there I just knew they were. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw them behind me in the SUV. Normally you wouldn't be able to see in but Tank must have sensed I was looking for him because he flashed the lights on inside the vehicle long enough for me to catch a glimpse of them.

We literally made the trip in matter of minutes. I don't remember putting the car in park or turning it off I just remember jumping out and heading to the bar.

At the entrance I saw what had everyone's attention and my heart nearly stopped in my chest. I felt like all the air was going to be sucked out of my lungs. I hadn't felt like this ever in my life. I had been on some of the most dangerous missions ever sanctioned and non-sanctioned most would have been deemed suicide missions but I had pulled them off and came home alive. I had been captured, tortured, and seen my men die around me horrible deaths. Seen others treated in ways that I never wanted to remember let alone talk about but in all of that, in all of those times I never felt the way I was feeling this very moment.

I felt my men walk up behind me Tank, Bobby and the rest of them. I heard several of them gasp at the scene before us and if it wasn't that I heard it I would have never believed it. They were feeling the same thing I was feeling. I knew them well enough to know that they were no more use to these feelings than I was. What this one little brown curly hair beautiful Babe could do to all of us it was amazing on one hand and scary as hell on the other.

I saw Lester's eyes and I saw the monster with him raging and just raging to get to Morelli. I felt my inner beast waking up in response but I had to control him. I couldn't lose control and risk my Babe's life. I also saw fear in his eyes I briefly wondered if he knew that was there on display. No one but those of us that knew him best would see it. But I wouldn't be surprised if all of us had our own fear on display for all to see tonight.

I couldn't see my Babe's eyes as she had her head turned and locked on Lester and Cal I saw her holding onto Lester's hand and Cal had her hand at her wrist while Joe had her by her upper arm in a bruising grasp. I was forming a plan of how to get him away from her. I couldn't use my stun gun as it would also stun her, Lester, and Cal. If I had no other choice than I would do it but I needed to come up with a better plan at least I was hoping I could.

I heard her scream in pain as I saw Joe attempt to jerk her away from Lester and Cal but their hold on each other held. Thank Fuck. I knew we had this place surrounded but I wanted to end this while they were still inside the bar, not have to deal with it outside where he would have a better chance of escaping with her.

When his jerking her didn't work he pulled his gun and held it on Lester and Cal. Thank god he wasn't pointing it at my Babe. I didn't want him shooting anyone because I knew my Babe would blame herself but I knew them well enough to know that they felt like if he had to point his gun he was pointing at the right people. So long as he wasn't pointing at her we would all take a bullet for her, die for her if necessary to keep her safe.

I couldn't see all of her face only the side but I saw her lips move and her eyes close for a second, was she praying? Then I saw her kick at Joe's hand with all she had. I heard the gun fire just before it was forced out of his hands by her kick. I couldn't help but thinking how proud of her I was. I knew Cal had been hit and I wasn't sure how bad but he was still holding her hand, doing his job protecting her at all costs.

That gave me my opening and I stealthily walked up behind Joe and nailed him in his neck right on his Vega nerve with the butt of my gun effectively knocking him out. My men immediately surrounded us as I pulled my Babe to me holding her against my chest. She latched on to me giving me her weight wrapping her free arm around my neck and her legs around my waist. She was shacking to the point of shuddering and she was sobbing gut wrenching sobs in my chest and shoulder where her head was buried.

I looked at Lester and I saw pain in his eyes, fear, he had been scared as I was. He wasn't sure what to do for her no more than I was I think we were both at a loss for how to help her for what to do for her so we stood there. Feeling her weight in my arms her body pressed against my body calmed me it allowed me to put the beast away she was my biggest concern, my biggest worry, my only thought.

She was trembling in my arms and I was holding her tight to me my arms locked around her I wasn't sure if I was capable of putting her down let alone let go of her. I couldn't think of anything but protecting her at all costs against everything and everyone and keeping her in my arms I knew she would be protected from the world because I would give all I have and all I am to protect the woman in my arms.

I felt someone grab for my Babe and try to pull her away from me. I held tightly and growled a warning at that moment I couldn't even see who it was. I was so tuned to her to protecting her to holding her to me that in that moment nothing else mattered to me and no one was going to take her away from me. It would be me or them before I let them separate us and it sure as fuck wasn't going to be me not now that I was holding my love, my life, my very breathe in my arms.

I am not sure how long I stood there with her in my arms. I know I was talking to her because I could hear myself trying to calm her but I was also trying to calm myself trying to get myself back under control of the emotions that were flying thru me.

My need to hold her and protect her were so strong they were consuming me she was still trembling in my arms and had a dropped my arms from her she would have still hung on because she was holding me so tight but I wasn't about to drop my arms from her. She hadn't said anything but her crying was calming.

I heard someone calling my name "Ranger, I need to check Bomber injuries". Injuries? She was injured? Hearing that snapped me back and I was able to focus on what was happening around me. My men were surrounding us Lester was standing beside us her hand still locked in his and he was stroking her hair and back trying to calm her.

Bobby was standing on my other side looking at me waiting for me to respond to him. "Bobby when we get back to Rangeman you can check her for injuries right now she isn't in a state that is going to allow it." I could tell he wasn't happy and he wanted to protest. He was probably worried she would go into or was already in a state of shock and she probably was with the death grip she had on me and how she was trembling.

I looked over at Tank who was standing over Joe who was still unconscious on the floor. He just nodded to me telling me that he had him. That I didn't need to worry about Joe right now, he had done enough damage for one evening. I knew tank had called the police we would be filling charges against him. Charges for assault, charges for violating the restraining order, charges for shooting Cal I could only hope that we could get him with attempt of murder in the first degree and any other charges my lawyer could come up with.

He wasn't there on official police business as he drove his personal vehicle he was dressed in civilian clothing not that that meant much since he was a detective meaning he wore street clothing for his job as well. So it wasn't like you could really say he was out of uniform but hopefully my lawyer would be able to figure something out.

She was still trembling in my arms, she hadn't said anything only clung to me the desire to get her out of there ratcheted to a new level, I would leave my men to deal with this if the police needed us they would know where to find us not that she was in any condition to talk to the police tonight.

I am not certain that she would even be able to talk to me at this point or anyone. She reached for Cal and she wasn't even able to let go of Santo's hand to do it. I turned to Bobby "Brown let's get out of here you need to drive Cal will ride with us so you can tend to his wound." I told him. He just nodded and started making a path for us out of the club.

I looked at Tank and I could see fury and worry in his eyes. No one else but us would have seen it. To everyone else at the club he was someone no one would fuck with. I tossed him the keys to my car I didn't give a fuck what he did with it. He could drive it home, he could fucking leave it fuck he could give it to one of the patrons I didn't give a shit.

I went to walk out of the club and soon as I took a step away from Santos and her arm stretched out as if I was pulling her away from him she screamed in protest. I grabbed her tight "Shh Babe it's me Carlos. I have you, you are safe. I swear to you Babe I have you, no one is going to hurt you. No one is going to take you I have you and I am going to take you home. Please let me take you home where we can check to see if you are injured. Babe please trust me." I begged her to trust me.

She looked at me her eyes haunted I am not sure she was really seeing anything with the way they were glazed over, the tear tracks and the fear I saw in them nearly stopped my heart again. I saw her sniff the air around me and she relaxed a little more before she nodded into my neck. "Babe I love you" I told her. I felt her grip on me tighten even more. I wanted to kill that fucking cop. Hell I have killed people for less than this. I gave Tank another look and he just shook his head but I knew he wanted blood as much as I did. All of us wanted that fucking cop's blood.

Right now just wasn't the right time. Too many witnesses and video and last thing we needed were witnesses to us carrying him out of the bar, or video for that matter. Because it would be the last time anyone every laid eyes on that fucking cop. I swore to myself and promised my Babe that I would do anything and everything to keep him away from her even if it meant killing him. Right now might not be the right time but I would find a right time when no one else would see. I would have my revenge. I promise the beast within me and could feel the beast within me smiling at my promise.

Cal, Santos, Brown and I made our way out of the bar towards one of our SUVs. I got in the back with my Babe still clinging to me. Her legs straddled my legs and I just held her to me. Santos got in beside us. She had finally dropped his hand and I could see him stretching his hand out flexing and contracting his fingers probably working the blood back in his fingers from the death grip she had on him.

Cal was up front in the passenger seat and Brown got behind the wheel. "Brown I don't have to tell you this but watch yourself, we don't have on a seatbelt back here." I told him. I didn't want him having an accident and causing me to hurt her worse if we got thrown around in the car.

When we were pulling out of the parking lot the cops were pulling in. It fucking took them long enough, but I didn't give a shit I didn't want to deal with the fuckers right now. They can get our fucking statement when my Babe was up to it, but not tonight. Fuck them!

TPOV

When we got to the club Rangeman jumped out of the car as soon as it was stopped. I was surprised he had taken the time to turn it off he was out of it so fast running towards the club. We were right behind him. When he suddenly stopped I almost crashed into his back. When I saw what caused him to pause in his tracks I felt the air expel from my lungs. I gasp for my breath as the other men around me did the same. What the fuck bad asses don't gasp for air. I guess we do when my little girl is involved.

We heard her scream in pain as Joe jerked on her trying to break her free from Santos and Cal. But their grip on each other held. We all held our breath as he pulled his fucking gun and pointed towards Cal and Santos. Thank fuck he didn't hold it on my Little Girl. Had he pointed it at her I might have taken his head off.

We watched her kick his hand which effectively causing him to drop his gum but not before Cal took one in the torso area. With his shirt on I couldn't tell how bad it was but he kept a hold on her that was all that counted. No way was that fucker going to leave with my Little Girl tonight.

I watched as Ranger rushed up behind him and nailed him in the back of the neck with the butt of his gun effectively knocking him out. I quickly rushed up to stand over him. If this fucker woke up he wouldn't be going anywhere. I quickly cuffed him making sure I put them on tight enough for the cuffs to cut into his wrists. I accidently put one of my size fifteens into his gut and another one in his head. What can I say I can be clumsy at times and have a tough time judging my distance so fucking sue me.

It wasn't good enough he deserved a whole lot more. I wanted to beat him to death that is what this fucker deserved but that couldn't happen with the witnesses around here. I had gotten by with about all I would be able to get by with and even now I am sure one of these fuckers in this club would tell on me. I sent them all a glare that fucking dared them to open their mouths. Whatever fucker did would be meeting me in the parking lot so I could straighten out what the fuck they really saw.

I saw the Rangeman guys had formed a circle around Ranger and my little girl. She was in his arms sobbing, trembling, hell I think she was in shock. When Bobby went check her he set off Ranger's protective instincts oh this wasn't going to be good. Ranger was in a mode that he wasn't seeing any of us. He was only protecting her and he would go thru anyone in this bar to protect her including us I hope they realized his state because I couldn't leave this fucking cop I didn't want to risk him coming around and escaping but the men better be careful because Ranger is at his limit right now. Right now he is at his most lethal he will protect her at all costs with every fiber of his body.

I can only hope that the rest of the men see this in him and act accordingly. I can't be at both places and Santos is no help right now. If Ranger goes off protecting her then Santos will be right behind him and this bar won't survive that. Hell none of us would survive that I am not even sure what has held them back this long. I guess I do too the same curly brown hair woman that put us in this state is the same one that is holding them hell us all back from killing everyone of these fuckers and letting god sort them out.

When he turned to leave I heard my little girl scream again as her grip on Santos almost broke. Hearing her knowing Ranger had her broke my heart. It spoke volumes to how she was. She was probably in shock seeing Ranger and Santos both look heartbroken. I saw Ranger telling her something and she nodded when I saw her eyes they looked ghosted, glazed she wasn't seeing us. I don't think she was really seeing anything. It was heart breaking and I wanted to kill the fucking cop lying at my feet.

Ranger threw me keys I caught them but what can I say I am clumsy in trying to catch them my boot accidently connected with the cops head. I wouldn't want for the keys to have hit him now would I? Shame his head didn't fly off of his shoulders and fly across the room. Well whenever he wakes up I will guarantee that he will have a killer of a headache it isn't good enough but it will have to be, for now.

I saw Ranger question to me he wanted to kill the cop as much if not more than I did I only shook my head too many people, too many witnesses and video. We can't make him disappear from here. I saw the look in Ranger though he wanted blood. Not just anyone's blood he wanted the cop's blood. Morelli was fucked. He had royally fucked up. He had just put a big ole target on his head by the world's most lethal mercenary. He better hope they fucking arrest him and keep him in jail under solitary confinement that would be the only way he would survive and even then he wasn't entirely safe. I have seen Ranger get in and out of places completely undetected that one would never think he could the local jail would be kids play for him.

He was the best for a reason and now this stupid fucking cop had put a target on his head as big as a neon sign in Vegas advertising weddings by Elvis. Good luck was all I could tell the fucker not that I wanted him breathing either. I just knew his days were numbered and it had nothing to do with the fact that as a cop he led a dangerous life, or maybe it did who knows in the end how he will buy it. I only knew he was going to.

I saw Brown, Santos, Cal, Ranger and my Little Girl leave. Ranger hadn't even tried to put her down. I think having her weight in his arms was grounding him. I bet he wouldn't even put her down in the car or when he got to Rangeman. She weighed nothing as far as he was concerned he could have held her all day. I have seen him walk thru a jungle carrying two fifty caliber helicopter mounted machine guns with enough ammo to take out a small village and never once complain about the weight. They had barely had left before the cops came thru the door.

This should be interesting. The two cops walked up to us. I was hoping one of them would be Big Dog, Carl, or Eddie but no such luck. It was Officer Thompson who I haven't had a lot of dealings with and Officer Gaspick who was a prick. Great!

Woody and Hal made their way over to us to give their statements. Officer Gaspick was the first to talk. "What happened?" He was looking at me. I glared at him and he took a step back. Good show some respect fucker, I could snap you like the fucking twig you are Officer Graspaprick.

"Morelli violated the restraining order Stephanie Plum had taken out against him. He showed up here and when I got on the scene he was holding onto her and had a gun trained on two of my men." I told them. Before they could jump to any conclusions I continued. "While he had his gun trained on my men he fired his gun without reason or cause at one of my men, and wounded him."

Officer Graspaprick asked me "Why is he unconscious on the floor? Did you do this?" I shook my head no. I hadn't done it. I knew they would be able to get a copy of the security feed and be able to see who knocked him unconscious. The good thing is Rangeman controls those tapes and in order for them to just get a copy they would need to get a court order. So we had some control how much they saw on the tape. Of course if we altered it then they may not take it into evidence against the crime Morelli committed against Stephanie so we needed to consider our options.

But if Morelli ever saw Ranger nail him in the back of the head he would press charges and Ranger would end up in jail for assaulting a police officer because that was the kind of prick, pussy Morelli was. Hell after my clumsy episodes I would probably be sitting there beside him. He would never just fight Ranger fairly for my little girl. After all he knew he would never win so he would do anything underhanded he could get away with it to give him the advantage but there was no more advantage to be had. He had screwed himself and sent her running into Ranger's open arms. Something Morelli hadn't counted on was that Ranger would want her as much as she wanted Ranger. Too fucking bad dick head is all I have to say the better man won the woman, fucking get over it.

Officer Thompson went to my men and started taking their statements. Hal and Woody spoke up first since they had been here from the beginning but then each man ended up telling what they had seen. Officer Gaspaprick was still unfortunately talking to only me. Like I gave a fuck about Morelli? The only reason the fucker was still breathing was because we were in a very crowded bar with lots of witnesses.

"How long has Officer Morelli been unconscious?" He looked at me. I shrugged I wasn't going to let him know that I had seen a fucking thing. "You said when you arrived at the bar that he was holding a gun on one of your men and actually fired a round so when did he end up unconscious. If you don't answer my questions I can arrest you for withholding information in a police investigation." He told me. Really? You would arrest me? "Officer Gaspick I am not sure how long he has been unconscious I don't know what time it was when he fell and I don't currently know what time it is so there is no way for me to accurately tell you how long he has been lying on the floor."

"Tank, your name is Tank correct?" He said it in a way that almost sounded dirty I only inclined my head and stared down at him, he took a step back good. The fucker was smart enough to have some sense of fear when it came to me.

He looked at me for a second and took all of me in. I flexed the muscles in my biceps, shoulders and chest just to fucking scare him a little more. He held his ground but you could see him shake a little. I almost laughed. The next thing he would be doing is his pissing his pants if he is this afraid of me now.

"Tank, I just want an estimate has it been 10, 20 minutes or longer?" he asked my only response was "Yeah something like that. He will be fine. He may have a headache in the morning but he will be fine." The fucker was lucky. He would wake up, he would have a headache but he had a gun trained on my men, he shot one of my men he is lucky that we didn't kill his ass on the spot and declare self defense. Thinking about it now that would have been a good option but with Stephanie none of us wanted her to witness that.

My Little girl was already shaken up enough, she was terrified when she left here hell when Ranger reached her she grabbed on to him like he was her lifeline and wouldn't let go. Hell he wouldn't let go of her either. He responded in a way that got him away from her with as little force as necessary. I knew his only concern was to get to her and make sure she was safe. It was all of our top priority.

I looked at Officer Gaspaprick "We will be filing charges against Morelli." I told him. He looked at me "What charges are you planning on filing?" he asked me. "Well for starters we are going to file charges against him for failing to comply with a restraining order. Then we will want some charges for the assault against Stephanie, for him pulling a firearm on my men, for him shooting one of my men without reason." I told him. "Our lawyer will be down at the police station and he will file the appropriate charges against Morelli." I continued.

Graspaprick replied to me "Well we don't know that he knowingly violated the restraining order, We also don't know the events that lead up to him pulling and discharging his firearm. He is a police officer, a detective to be exact, and he may have had a very good valid reason to pull and discharge his weapon after all we all know that Rangemen employees are always carrying concealed weapons and unless you have a license for that you all would be in violation. Officer Morelli may have felt threatened and took action before he was attacked. We need his side of the story before we can file any charges and right now we are unable to get it because he is lying on the floor which I am sure one of you or your men had something to do with. We will be getting the video feed and if we can prove who did this charges will be filed against them for assaulting a police officer." He told me. Fuck. This is why I hate fucking cops.

I have hated fucking cops since I was a kid growing up in streets of Atlanta. They always thought they were above everyone else. Once they had a hard on for you there was no dealing with them. They were just out to get you and no matter what you did or didn't do they would find some shit to pin on you. Fuckers were all the same no matter where you went.

I will be the first to admit the cop fuck that had a hard on for me ended up doing me a big favor. When the judge offered me service time instead of jail time I took it. Much to the cop's dismay but it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I went into the Army I met my best friends including Ranger and I made something out of my worthless piece of shit life, but at the time when every turn I took that prick cop Johnson was there arresting me for something regardless if I had alibi or not he didn't care. He only wanted to arrest me and charge me with something.

Then the one night I screwed up and he got his golden opportunity and arrested me for being in a stolen car. I hadn't stolen it, I didn't even know it was stolen but it didn't matter it was guilty by association and I was arrested just as guilty as the guy who had stolen it. Thank fuck the judge took leniency on me and sent me to the military instead of jail.

My mom and my dad weren't too pleased with me at the time but they always loved me. They gladly signed the papers to send me even though I was still seventeen. At the time I was a little mad at them for signing the papers but now I know they didn't have much choice and now I know how much better my life is for having been in the Army. They whipped my ass in shape, they built the man I am today the one that is able to control himself enough to keep from ripping this fucking cop's head off of his shoulders.

My parent's gave me the name Pierre which I have hated since the time I was old enough to hate It, which was at very young age. I mean we weren't French so why the fuck name me that? I mean I know why but I never really understood it. Apparently my parents went to Paris for their honeymoon it was a dream of my mother's to see Paris. The city of love or so they claim. I admit it is beautiful I have been there but it wasn't with the love of my life like my father it was with the Army, the Rangers to be exact.

I was conceived on that trip or so they believe and while there they met this incredibly nice man that owned the country inn they stayed in his name was Pierre so they named me in honor of that trip. I have had to learn patience. I have had to learn control as you can guess growing up in Atlanta with a name like Pierre wasn't easy. My size helped as I was bigger than most all of the kids my age but there were still a brave few that teased me.

My sister, Arizona, you guessed it she was conceived at the Grand Canyon I guess she is lucky that she wasn't named Canyon or something along those lines. Hell that trip they went to see so many different things, from Mount Rushmore, Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, to the Grand Canyon I guess she is lucky she was named Arizona. But little sister's are both a gift and a curse on one hand you protect them, and love them and on the other hand the frustrate the fuck out of you because they don't want the protection when they are older and when they are younger they rat you out to your parents. Again you need patients and control dealing with younger sisters.

Those patience and control were only needed more in the Army and the Rangers from our drill sergeant drilling us all he could. Trying to get us to fuck up so he could kick our asses out to the missions I ran all of it required patience and control. But none of them the missions, the drill sergeants, the younger sister, and the kids teasing tested my patience, and control like this fucking cop did. Between Morelli and that fucking cop Graspaprick it was all I could do not to literally roll their heads in this bar.

My patience thinning a little I looked at the fucking cop. "Gaspick you need to arrest Morelli and take him to the station if you are unable to do that I will cuff him and drop him off on my way back to Rangeman. You and your partner here" I motioned to the other prick officer " have taken up all the time me or my guys have. We have told you all we know, all we witnessed, which is more than enough for the arrest. Our attention is needed back at Rangeman." I told him.

I could tell my statement rustled his feathers. I really didn't give a fuck we needed to leave. I needed to check on my little girl, Ranger, and Rangeman. I didn't need to be standing over this fucking cop's unconscious fucking body. Besides any man who was a real man would have woken up already but he was a pussy with little pussy feelings lord knows how long it would take him to wake up. Lord help him if Ranger ever really hit him hard. Total light weight I hate to say it because I have some good friends who are Navy but they are Seals which if you are going to be in the Navy the only division to be in is the Seals else well to us Army men you are just pussy seaman too fucking afraid to storm the beaches and lead the way like us fucking Rangers. I will say I do have a healthy respect for those Navy fly boys they have saved our asses a time or two.

But alas I remember Morelli couldn't cut it as a seaman he was sent home, the closest he got to battle was cleaning up the trays and dishes in the mess hall from those that fought and flew and he still didn't make the cut how fucking pathetic is that? Then he thought he would become a cop an officer which obviously he can't fucking cut it at that either not with the way he has seemed to lose his fucking mind over being obsessed with my Little Girl. If he continues it won't matter as he will lose his fucking worthless life.

I reached down grabbed the handcuffed prick and picked him up holding him up with one hand I gestured to Graspapick "where do you want him. Do you want to deliver him to the station or do you want me to?" I asked him. Graspaprick sucked some air in at me holding Morelli with one arm. Graspaprick was a little man no way he could have picked Morelli up let alone just hold him. He was little but he had little man syndrome. I knew it I could read it and I was pushing his buttons.

He tried to exert his authority "You need to put officer Morelli down, let him go." He told him. I nodded and just let go holding my hand up for him to see that I had done as he ask and let him go. Of course I had the added joy of watching that fucking dick head fall face first bouncing his head off of the floor. We all heard the crunching of his nose as it bounced off of the dance floor.

I had to hide my smile behind my blank face. I noticed some of the guys enjoyed watching that. I know it was with great satisfaction on my part when I heard the crunch of his nose. He may have a headache tomorrow but he would have two black eyes and a messed up nose for week or more. I was looking at Grapaprick who was standing there with his mouth open he couldn't believe what he just saw. He finally snapped out of it, pussy. "You want me to arrest you for assault?" he asked me.

You could fucking try I thought "You told me to let him go to put him down. So I let him go and he went down wasn't that what you wanted?" I know I was pulling his chains but it was so fucking fun. I saw him turn almost purple from his anger but I just maintained my cool.

It sort of reminded me a cartoon when their head explodes the way he turned red, then purple and his eyes started to bulge. I almost took a step back because I didn't want brains exploding on my shirt they were a bitch to wash off not to mention sticky as fuck on your skin.

Okay the fun was gone. My patience had run out. "Officer we need to leave, we are leaving. I want this man arrested I have told you the charges to start with our lawyer is probably already at the station with the list of additional charges. Now I am going to ask you again to do your job here. If you want me to take Morelli and put him in your car I will, if you want me to drop him off at the station I will. If you want to call nine one one since he hasn't woken up yet do it because we are leaving. We all have jobs waiting on us there is nothing else for us to tell you. The only thing left for you to do is arrest this man and let us go."

He looked at me for "I am the officer here and I decide when it is time you can leave. I will decide if we have enough evidence to arrest this upstanding officer. You need to remember your place we all know the history of Rangeman and Morelli and we know you all would lie to have a reason to bring a good officer down." Upstanding officer, good officer where the fuck does he get off with this shit? This is Morelli he is talking about a child molesting, raping, whoremonger of Trenton nothing upstanding or good about him.

"I am sure you can ask anyone on the dance floor and they will confirm the events my men have given you. We may have our reasons for not liking Morelli but we wouldn't set him up he is more than capable of doing that himself. He is his own worst enemy not us." I told graspaprick.

I signaled the guys to load up. I stepped over the piece of shit in the floor and made my way to the door with the guys following me they could fucking drag his ass out by his dick as far as I am concerned. My only regret they didn't take me up on my offer was that I couldn't smash his worthless piece of shit face into the car door or frame. But dropping him was second best.

SPOV

I woke up the room was semi dark the sheets were soft I laid extremely still trying to figure out where I was. I sniffed the air and I could smell Carlos. I felt his arm around me holding me to him. Opening my eyes further my head was laying on his chest while he was flat on his back on the bed. He had taken his shirt off and my head was right above his heart. Now that I was more aware I could hear the slow steady beat of his heart.

I must have moved or in some way alerted him to my being awake because his arms came up around me further and started rubbing up and down my back and side. God, could I just lay like this for the rest of my life? I never wanted to leave this room, his arms. Just let me die like this I thought.

"Babe, don't think like that. I couldn't stand to lose you." Carlos whispered in my ear. I must have said that out loud, fuck. I wanted to look at Carlos, see his eyes even in the dark I would be able to see them but I wasn't able to look him in the eye. I didn't want to see the disappointment in me he must be feeling. Hell I was feeling it. I knew the other guys had to be feeling it. I had gotten Cal shot. Hell I had been the reason he was shot. I could have lost one of my brothers tonight and it would have been all my fault.

All my fault! I mean even with the training I have done this past week I still manage to fuck it up. I first let emotions take over and didn't react and then when I finally act I get my brother shot. Am I that dunce that I don't fucking learn? Am I capable of learning? Can I be their sister, Carlos' lover, partner, and wife when I can't protect myself my brothers, or Carlos? I should have responded differently I made some huge errors one was stepping away from my brothers. I know it is better to stand as one together than stand alone everyone knows that. But I was just going to do what he said and leave.

How will I ever be able to look my brothers in the eye? How will they ever trust me to have their back? How will I ever trust myself to have their backs? If something happened to them because of me it would kill me to lose them. But what if my lacking me being unable to control my feelings or fear, terror, or being just scared caused them to get hurt or killed how could I ever forgive myself? How would I ever be able to look myself in the mirror again?

I guess my thoughts were overwhelming me as I could feel the panic attack coming on. The panic from what could have happened, to what did happen, to what my mind was reeling question after heart breaking question that was crushing me from the inside out. My heart was constricting, my lungs were jumping in my chest trying to suck in oxygen they were being deprived from, my vision was blurry between the tears that were streaming down my face and the darkness that was threatening to take me. Part of me just wanted to give in to the darkness give in to the pain in my chest and the burning in my lungs. Part of me wanted to just give in completely and totally if I did I would never have to face them.

Hearing the worry and the concern in Carlos' voice as he called my name, as he tried to get my attention to get me to focus on him begging me to slow my breathing down begging me to let him help me kept me from allowing myself to give in. I would do anything in the world to remove erase that sound in his voice of total desperation and pain. Emotions I didn't know he had emotions I doubt he knew he had or felt often. I would do anything in my power my ability to take that away for him.

I focused on his voice and not the pain in my chest. I knew I was having a panic attack but I swear it could have been a heart attack with the level of pain I was feeling but I made myself focus on his voice.

"Babe please you need to calm down. Focus on my heart beat you can hear it focus on it, breathe with me Babe. Slowly breathe in and then out, slow your breathing down Babe. Please breathe with me my Amante. Babe it's okay you are safe, I am with you I will never let anyone hurt you. Babe you are safe please now that please focus on me and breathe with me, you need to calm down. I can feel your heart racing and you're grasping for air you need to focus on me Babe for me please."

I focused on his heart beating and him breathing in and out and slowly the pain started to recede and I was able to get myself under more control. God how was I going to tell Carlos that this was all a mistake? How am I going to tell him that I can't be the woman he needs me to be? I love him more than life. Walking away from him will surely be the death of me but I think it is really clear that I can't be the woman he needs.

He needs a woman who is strong, one who can defend herself against a real threat. One that doesn't fall apart out of fear or even terror one that doesn't let emotions rule her judgment. He needs a woman that he can trust to have his back even when she is the one he is protecting. He doesn't have that with me. It was clear tonight that I am none of those things I don't think I ever will be any of those things. I am willing to give my life for him but that isn't good enough. I have to be able to fight for my life for him. I have to be able to protect my life for him. I have to be able to fight and protect his life for both him and me and I am just not the woman who can do that. I made that painfully obvious tonight when I completely failed to do all of those things. My failing was so bad I got one if his men, my brother's shot because of it.

God not only am I going to have to walk away from Carlos I am going to have to walk away from my brother's as well. Hell I probably disappointed them so bad they no longer want to consider me a sister anyway. It was clear that getting them shot at wasn't a way you protect your brother. Even though I tried to protect them, that was my goal I completely failed and could have killed one of them.

I need to tell them how I feel but I don't think I have it in me to tell them. I am not sure how I will voice this to them and how I will be able to look at them and see the disappointment in their eyes. I hear Carlos trying to sshh me telling me it's going to be okay but it isn't. It will never be okay. My heart is literally being ground up into mush I can't even say it is breaking as breaking doesn't do it justice. Breaking is bad, but breaks heal with time even a broken heart. This was beyond breaking this was crushing forever damaged a wound so deep that time would never heal it.

There are some things that time just can't and doesn't heal and this is one of them. My crushed and ground up heart would never be right. It would be like an old car or truck broken it would never again run right. Having to turn away from Carlos away from my brother's would be the most debilitating thing I have ever done in my life but I am just not the woman the sister they need. They will never trust me to have their back and I will never trust myself to have their back I can't and I won't risk their life. For as much as it will kill me to be without them I wouldn't risk their life.

I couldn't risk their life not one of them could I risk. Now I just need to find the courage within myself to do what I know I must do, to tell them what I need to do and why it is the best to face the disappointment in their eyes but I won't run out without talking to them they deserved better than that especially Carlos. Carlos was right all along his life couldn't lend itself to a relationship with me. I just never understood why until now. Now I get it.

God he feels like heaven I don't want to leave his arms. Maybe I can lay here a moment or two until I have completely committed every ounce of him to memory before I have to face the unthinkable and do the unbearable.

RPOV

Laying here with her resting on my chest crying is breaking my heart. I don't know how to comfort her. How to tell her that everything is going to be okay. How do I tell her that she is safe that no one is going to harm her ever? When clearly tonight that wasn't the case I thought she was safe with my men and she was hurt. She was attacked there in front of them and they weren't able to stop it from happening.

When Lester told me what happened after my Babe fell asleep I wanted to kill that fucker even more. I had to control myself to keep my rage from waking her up. Lester told me how he jerked her out of his arms and threw her across the floor like a rag doll. How a guy at least two times her size maybe more fell on top of her crushing her to the floor. How when she tried to get back to them Morelli stopped her and slapped her.

He said I got there not long after that point when he was holding her and she had managed to stretch enough to lock her hand with his. I did have to smile when Lester admitted that she felt like she was going to crush his hand she was holding it so tightly. I was proud of her. She didn't allow him to just walk her out of the club.

When he pulled the gun she tried to protect her brother's by kicking the gun out of his hand. Unfortunately I knew she would beat herself up concerning that because in the end Cal ended up injured she would blame herself. But he was fine it was just a graze nothing that a couple of stitches and some Band-Aids wouldn't fix up. As a matter of fact I am pretty positive all of them are sitting in my living room. Lester, Woody, Hal, Cal, Bobby and I am sure as soon as Tank was done with that son of a fucking bitch cop he would join them. Hell probably every one of the guys that is off duty tonight will be here waiting to see her and talk to her to find out if she is okay.

I wish I knew what she was thinking what was going thru that beautiful mind of hers. She has been so quiet I barely realized she was awake now she is crying I wish I knew what to say to sooth her to calm her. I felt her heart start to race and her breathing started to get short and eradicate shit she was having a panic attack. She probably felt like she wasn't safe here. That he was going to come in here and take her like he had tried on the dance floor but that wasn't ever going to happen.

I tried calming her down begging her to focus on my heart beating and my breathing to calm hers. I think it I finally got thru to her swearing to her that she was safe and to copy me to focus on me. Shit I was begging but I didn't give a fuck I needed her to calm herself down before she ended up making herself sick.

It took her awhile but she was able to finally get her breathing and heart beat under control. She had to feel better after that. I have had a panic attack before I know how they make you feel. I know how they make you feel like you are having a heart attack and how you can't catch your breath no matter how hard you try to gasp for air. It wasn't my finest hour but I was young it was before my years of training before I was able to control my feelings and fear took over.

My CO at the time looked at me and point blank asked me boy you going to continue to be a boy or are you going to be a man? I chose man and he proceeded to beat the fear and panic out of me. Well that is until I met a certain curly hair brunette blue eyed beauty that has the ability to put the fear of god back in me especially when I see her in the hands of someone I know that is mentally unstable with a gun in his hand. Her life could have ended tonight I am not certain I have dealt with those thoughts.

Feeling her in my arms knowing she was alive and now safe in my bed, in my arms was all I needed all I wanted nothing else mattered at the moment. Just knowing she was here with me, in my arms forever. God I never wanted to let her go ever.

She was still soaking my chest with her tears but it was good in a way I hated that she was crying it was in a way breaking my heart but feeling her tears, feeling her in my arms only solidified the fact that she was alive, she was safe, and she was going to be okay all of which made my heart want to soar.

I wanted so bad to make love to her. I wanted to feel myself surrounded by her warmth her wetness I wanted our souls to connect our bodies connect but I knew her body had to be sore so I would never attempt it but the desire was so strong just to feel our connection to each other. I was just going to have to get all the comfort I could get from feeling her laying against the skin on my chest.

I continued to lay there with her in my arms her crying me rubbing her back and side trying to comfort her silence. I wasn't sure what to say nothing seemed appropriate. I heard her finally suck in some air taking a deep breath. She reached up wiping the tears away.

I was watching her trying to get herself under control this is why I loved her so much, why I was drawn to her she had the uncanny ability to pull herself up to brush herself off and to face life again did things affect her? Greatly, but she had a way of always coming out on top.

I have always been proud of her and never more proud of her for the work and training she had done this past week and for the way she handled herself tonight. Even being terrified she tried to protect herself and her brother's.

SPOV

I wiped my eyes. I took several deep breaths it was time to pull myself together and face my brother's and Carlos. It was time to fess up and let them know the huge mistake I had made making myself a part of their lives. Before I could think anymore on that which would only result in more tears I pulled myself away from Carlos' chest. God I am going to miss calling him that. I can't think about that I have to do this.

I take a moment to look at Ranger to look into his eyes and I see love there. I see concern, I see pain. God how I love this man, he will never really know how much I truly love him completely and totally unconditionally love him. He will never know how I would give anything I had anything I am everything I have and ever will have to just love him. God he is never going to know this.

"Car..Carlos I need to talk to you and my bro..brothers." I finally choke out. I knew I needed to stop with those names but I just couldn't bring myself to say anything differently not right now. I would wait until after our talk until after I told them everything I was feeling and thinking before I would once again call them Ranger and the Merry Men. Just the thought I wanted to scream and cry and beg God to change my mind. To give me any reason to feel differently but I knew it wasn't going to happen no matter how much I prayed or begged.

Ranger nodded his head "Babe they are probably all sitting in the living room waiting to see you and talk to you." He told me. I guess I shouldn't be surprised but all of them? I guess they were all here to tell me how I no longer belonged. How I failed to measure up to their expectations, and how I brought danger to their lives that wasn't needed. How I disappointed them after them taking all their time to train me. God my heart was constricting again but I pushed thru the pain as I pulled myself up to sitting and slowly started to make my way off of the bed.

I felt Ranger reach for me but I acted as though I didn't know as though I didn't realize he was reaching for me. To deter him I headed towards the bathroom shutting the door behind me. God this bathroom where we have made love, where we have showered, where I danced for him the same one we broke the towel bar because of our need for each other exploded as our souls mated. I couldn't help the tears that leaked out of my eyes and ran unchecked down my face.

I would always have these memories and cherish every one every second of everyone but I couldn't help but want more. I never thought it would come to this end. Me being the one that was walking away even though I am sure Ranger will be happy in the long run because he will know that I now understand why his life doesn't lend itself to a relationship with me.

Fuck my heart isn't going to take this. It feels like it is being ripped out of my chest without anesthesia and without the possibility of having a replacement. There was no replacement to Carlos and my brothers.

I took the opportunity to pee then splashed my face with cold water. Dried the tears and took a shuttering breath to calm myself if that was possible. I knew if I stayed much longer Ranger would come looking for me I didn't want that to happen. I wanted to walk into the living room and face my brother's on my own two feet. If I was going to face them and see the disappointment in their eyes in me then I needed to do it on my own, on my own two feet.

I made my way to the door chanting to myself be strong Steph, be strong you can do this. Be strong Steph this is the best for them they are what is important you are not. Be strong Steph you can do this put them before yourself. Be strong Steph you can tell them you can do this. Over and over I kept repeating the same chant in my head with every foot step.

The bathroom is big but this felt like I was walking the never ending hallway. You know the ones in your nightmare where you can see the door but you can never reach the door. The door is your safe zone but you can't reach it because the more you move the further your safety door moves away from you. But alas I made it to the door but this wasn't my safe zone, or my safety door. This was the hardest moment of my life. It was my falling skies only it wasn't aliens bringing my world down around me. It was going to be me.

RPOV

The bathroom door opened and my Babe stepped out but I sensed something different. It was like the change of the wind or the change of current in the ocean. I wasn't quite sure what I was sensing or feeling from her but it was different.

I tried to read her but I found myself unable to do so. Damn is this what she feels when I put on my blank mask? I tried to step forward to take her in my arms but she stepped around me dodging my touch. She has never dodged my touch even before we were together and never once since. If anything she craved my touch just as I craved hers.

I do not like the feeling I am getting from this. She put on a smile but it didn't reach her eyes. Nothing was reaching her eyes. What the fuck happened in those few moments she was in the bathroom? She looked up at me I briefly saw sadness flash in her eyes before there was once again nothing. "Ranger I need to talk to you and the guys." She stated.

She called me Ranger, and her brother's guys, is she trying to pull away from us? From me? Does she feel that we can't protect her does she not want us protecting her? My mind started reeling with what if's what if I am right and she no longer wants us, wants me how was I going to live with that? How would I survive that? I needed to focus and stop thinking about me. It was her that mattered in all of this.

Would not being with me make her happier? Would she be happier with someone else? Could someone else give her something that I couldn't? Could they make her feel more secure more protected? Would she need to be secure and protected if she was with someone else, someone safer than me someone who didn't have enemies? A thousand questions flashed thru my mind all the time my heart and soul was screaming no, that they couldn't take it that they couldn't let go that they wouldn't let go of her. That she was the other part of them that completed them and they couldn't sever that connection to her. At least and continue to exist.

We made our way into the living room and as expected all of the guys where here with the exception of Vince and a few others that didn't really have any connection or relationships with Stephanie. As soon as she stepped into the room all of them jumped to their feet and were rushing to reach my Babe.

I watched as she held up her hand halting them in their tracks. I saw her hand shake a little as she held it up in front of her. I wasn't sure what she was going to say but whatever it was it was going to be earth shattering for me, and probably for a few of the guys standing in front of her. But from the way her hand shook it was going to be earth shattering for her as well.

I needed to figure out a way to stop this, I needed to stop her. I needed her we all needed her if she was pulling away from us hell I doubted half of us would survive I know I wouldn't. I knew Lester wouldn't I knew it would affect the others very deeply in a way they would never be the same not if we lost our light, what centers us, what brings us together, what redeems our damned souls.

LPOV

The second I saw Beautiful walk into the room I was on my feet rushing to her. I wanted to hug her hold her to me beg for forgiveness for not seeing what was going to happen, for not protecting her better, for not reacting better than the way I did.

When he grabbed her and hurt her I lost it. I lost my mind, I lost control of my emotions and all I saw was red. All I saw was him, all I wanted to see was his blood on my hands. The monster within me was released it was out of his cage and it wanted blood. It wanted revenge, it wanted that cop's life and had it not been for Cal, Woody and Hal it would have had it.

They were fortunately and unfortunately strong enough to hold me back. While the beast in me was totally pissed and unsatisfied I was glad that Beautiful didn't have to witness what would have happened had Cal's grip faltered I wouldn't have been able to stop what would have happened I was out of control. She would have seen every bloody detail of me taking his life with my bare hands.

By my reaction I forced the other three guys her brother's to have to focus on stopping me instead of further protecting her so I had screwed up major. I fully expected Ranger to completely kick my ass on the mats. I knew the punishment for letting your emotions control your actions especially when it came at the expense of protecting Stephanie. You protected Stephanie above and beyond everything we all knew that even before we loved her.

Before we even got to know her let alone all love her accepted her as one of our own we all knew that we had better take that fucking bullet or knife or whatever it was directed at her. Failing to do so wasn't an option and if we failed well we met a very pissed off Ranger on the mats and no one wants to meet a very pissed off Ranger, ever. Meeting Ranger on the mats was enough but a pissed off Ranger well that meant time spent in the med unit on the third floor with Bobby fixing your broken bloody body, just ask Hal if you want details.

I had no doubt that is where I would be heading when this was over with. I deserved it that was for sure had it been one of the other guys I would be right there with Ranger kicking his ass so I knew there was no way around the ass kicking I was going to get. I was just hoping that all of Rangeman wouldn't join in because then it would take months to recover instead of weeks. Fuck with the way I fucked up I would be lucky if it wouldn't take months to recover from Ranger's lesson alone.

I was moving towards her before it practically registered but I only had made two steps well maybe not even two complete steps when she held her hand up stopping all of us in our tracks. I saw her hand shake and the look in her eyes it was blank she had her blank mask on, she had learned it from us, and I absolutely hated it, I hated that I couldn't read her. But I instinctively knew this wasn't going to be good.

This wasn't going to be something I wanted to hear. This wasn't something that I would want to live with I could feel it in my bones just as I could feel my own heart beating. Beautiful started talking and her voice was distanced.

"Guys I need to talk to you all, there are things I need to tell you all. Things I need for you to all understand. But there is something I need to do before I say those things. Please hear me out, please let me get everything out before you say or do anything." She said almost pleading with us. We would give her whatever she wanted. She had to know that already. She didn't have to beg for anything.

I believe we all nodded I was focused on her more than the others but I nodded and I saw Ranger nodded although I could see the look in his eyes and I could see he wasn't sure what was going to happen and like me didn't have a good feeling about it.

She walked over to Cal who was standing to my left. He went to say something but she silenced him. She motioned to his side for him to show her where he had gotten grazed by the bullet. I knew she was going to blame herself for that. Cal shook his head "Angel it is fine you don't need to worry about it only a scratch." He told her but we all knew that wasn't going to be good enough for her.

She shook her head. "Cal I want to see, I want to see that you are in fact okay. I know you guys I know how you all tend to make light of serious injuries and lessen the true reality of what happened and how you feel." She was right we were badasses. We didn't let little shit like getting shot, or broken ribs or even bones stop us. Hell I have seen Ranger run and fight with broken ribs, broken wrists, broken ankle fuck I even saw him fight with a broken leg and he still kicked the enemy's ass. We all had similar stories that we could tell where we had to put our injuries on the back burner to survive and fight. Ranger had been shot we all had been shot I don't think there was one of us that hadn't been shot at one point some serious some scratches but none of them keep us from doing what was necessary.

Cal nodded and raised his shirt to show her. It was actually just a scratch as he said. She had had worse gunshot wounds. I watched as her eyes accessed the injury her fingers traced the wound as she looked up meeting his eyes. He said "See I told you just a scratch nothing to worry about I am not even on light duty." He told her.

She smiled but I noticed it didn't really meet her eyes not like her normal smiles. Something bad was coming I just don't know what it is. I can feel it. Ranger can feel it hell I think most of the guys in this room can feel it.

"Cal I am so sorry I got you injured. It's my fault you got shot and I am so sorry." She said to him her words breaking at times. She was fighting back tears I could see them ready to spill. I knew she would blame herself but truth is she probably saved his life. Morelli was going to shoot us. He was already pulling the trigger when she kicked him. Had she not kicked the gun the bullet would have probably hit Cal center mast from the distance it would have more than likely killed him if not then it would have seriously injured him. She had no idea that she actually is the reason Cal is standing before her with a scratch. I am not even sure Cal knows that but I saw it.

"Angel please listen to me you have nothing to be sorry for. I am okay it's okay you didn't do anything wrong. Angel I have been reading people a long time and trust me when I say Joe would have shot me or Lester had you not kicked the gun out of his hand. Yes the gun went off when you kicked it but had you not kicked it I would probably have a center mast shot and nearly point blank distance which would mean I would more than likely not be living right now. Because of you I am living and have a minor scratch."

So he did realize what was happening and how she had saved his life. I saw shock register in her eyes for a brief moment and then the blank was back.

She nodded to Cal but then retreated back to where she was standing where she could address all of us. I saw the storm within her eyes and wondered what was going through that beautiful mind of hers.

"Guys I need to tell you all something that is hard for me to say. I want you all to know that I love you all and I am saying this to protect you all." She looked at Ranger locking eyes with him. "Ranger, I now fully understand what you meant when you said that your life didn't lend itself to relationships. I want you to know that I get it, I understand why you said that to me."

What the fuck? He told her that? I should kick his fucking ass I had held back because she was his to hear him tell it all the while he was handing her bullshit. I had never actually been able to kick his ass but right now I was so fucking mad that I think my chances would be extremely good.

"Babe please know" he tried to say shaking his head but she cut him off. "Ranger it is okay I know it was back a while I know that wasn't true this past week but I do now understand where as I never fully understood before. Please let me finish." She almost begged.

"Like I said I understand. I am the weakest link here. Not just for you Ranger but for you all." She looked at each of us. "You all tried to train me, you all tried to teach me how to be one of you but the first opportunity I had to prove to you all that I am worthy of being one of you." She looked at us again and then focused back on Ranger "of being your wife I failed and I failed miserably." She stated.

We all started to protest shaking our heads no that she was wrong she hadn't failed. But she held up her hand "Guys, Ranger I failed. It is plain and simple. I can handle it. I understand it. I stepped away from you all separating myself from you. Everyone knows that you fight together not separately. I managed to once again get myself in a situation where I was unable to protect myself, defend myself. I was unable to protect you all. In addition to those two things if that wasn't enough in and of itself to make me unworthy of Rangeman material and wife material or sister material. I was unable to keep control of my emotions. I lost it out there guys. I let fear get the best of me. I felt terrorized out there I felt frozen and I was unable to control it. My actions, my responses led to all of us being in a dangerous situation one where someone could have lost their life. I would give my life, my everything to protect you Ranger, you all but I can't be the reason for you all to give your life because I was stupid and unable to learn, unable to respond properly to a threat, unable to control my emotions my fear. I can't lose any of you because I am a failure."

I think she stunned us all none of us knew what to say, or knew what to do, hell I don't think any of us could move at the moment I know I couldn't. The look on Ranger's face told me he couldn't. Fuck I thought I lost control earlier tonight fuck right now I was panicking. I was having a fucking panic attack on the inside hearing what she was saying and now understanding where she was going with this she was walking away from us because she thought it would protect us because she thought it would be better for us. Fuck. Snap out of it solider. Get your ass together.

"Beautiful" I managed to choke out but she cut me off "Lester you know what I am saying is the truth would you honestly say you would be willing to trust me to be your partner out there. That you would trust me to act accordingly to a problem if there was danger. Would you honestly say that you would trust me to have your back, to protect you like partners do after seeing my performance tonight?" She asked me I went to answer but she stopped me again.

"Lester don't answer me because I know what you are going to say but I also know that it wouldn't be totally the truth and you have never lied to me in the past I don't want you to start doing it now. You have always kept it real between us not even allowing me to hang out in denial land that is why we are best friends don't change that now by not being a hundred percent truthful with me ." It wouldn't be a lie it would be the fucking truth I would trust her with my life. I would trust her to have my back. Hell her saying what she was saying was proof that she would put us before herself which none of us would ever allow her to do.

Ranger tried to talk "Babe please you need to" he got out before she cut him off. Fuck she interrupted Ranger. Of course if anyone could do that it would be her, he would never reprimand her or be mad at her he couldn't none of us could, we loved her too much.

"Ranger please you have to know what I am saying is true. You are too much of a realist a solider to not know what I am saying is the truth. I add a level of danger to all of your lives. I never got that before I never understood but now I do. By my reactions, my actions, and my inability to act when necessary I put additional unnecessary danger on your lives. I would like to say that I thought the training I received would have made it different but obviously that didn't happen nor can I really say I thought about it like that as I never really understood until tonight."

Fuck how were we going to get thru to her that she actually saved Cal's life and that it was my actions that fucked things up. I could see shock, pain, and a look of disbelief on all of the guys faces. Ranger's however his mask gone I briefly wondered if he knew what his face looked like in front of his men. His face looked haunted. He looked almost broken the thought of losing her was crushing him from the inside out and you could see it.

Ranger was going to kick my ass for saying this admitting this but fuck it I was desperate and a desperate man does desperate things at least that is the excuse I am going to go with. Fuck this has to work she has to listen to me. I am not losing my best friend. The love of my life even though I can't admit that to her my reason for fucking existing some days when my dark past wants to fuck with my head I am not losing that.

"Beautiful you asked me some questions and like it or not I am answering them." She tried to cut me off but I wouldn't let her I just raised my voice over hers. If this turned into a screaming match so be it. Ranger could take me to the mats hell Stephanie could beat my ass right here right now so could all of the other guys but I was going to be heard. I was going to answer those fucking questions. It didn't matter how I had to do it I would fucking handcuff her to me if I had to she wasn't leaving here until she heard me out.

Part of me was fucking pissed anyway that she would leave me her best friend and I was fueling that part of me to pull this off. The other part of me would let her rip my heart out and stomp on it if it made her happy and I am sure that is true for Ranger as well. I know him he would do anything take anything no matter the pain no matter the emptiness he would do anything to make her happy to give her anything she wants even if it is the wrong thing even if it isn't the thing she truly needs to make her happy to allow her to do what she wants. It would kill him but he would let her leave if that is what she truly wanted not that he would give up I don't mean it like that

He just would never do anything to upset her even if it meant that he would suffer the rest of his life. I know this because I know how I would do the same yet his feelings for her were stronger and deeper than mine so there was no question there he didn't even have a mad side to fuel to even fight back with to fight her even for her.

I looked at her and locked eyes with her. "Beautiful I am going to answer your questions and my answers are the truth one hundred percent the fucking truth so help me god. I would bet your life on my answers being the truth." I told her. She knew I would never bet her life for anything in this world so she knew the honesty in what I said. Her life was the greatest thing I had to bet.

"You asked me if I would honestly say I would be willing to trust you to be my partner. The answer is yes, one hundred percent I trust you with my life. I know you will always have my back and I trust that you have the skills, the ability, and that you are one hundred and ten percent capable of doing what is necessary when it is necessary to protect my back whenever it would be necessary no matter the situation. I trust you completely your actions tonight only solidified that trust in you. Even now what you are doing solidifies that trust because while you are saying this and doing this it is for our protection because you think you pose a danger to us when that isn't the case."

I found myself yelling at the end even though she had given up trying to over talk me because I wasn't going to let her win at this. I was going to power thru no matter what she said. No matter what she did these thoughts and these words were going to come out and she was going to see that I meant it and that I wasn't saying anything different than anyone in this room was thinking and feeling.

Before she had a chance to interject I continue. "Further more I would be willing to bet that I am not the only one that believes this nor am I the only one that trusts you to have their back. Whether you fully grasped what Cal told you, your actions tonight saved his life. More than likely he would be dead had you not done what you did. So you may have been scared, you may have felt terror that you never felt before and you may have felt frozen but Beautiful when you needed to act when you needed to protect Cal you had his back. You kicked the gun the gun that Morelli was all already in the process of pulling the fucking trigger when you kicked it. Instead of hitting Cal center mast which all know what that would have done you kicked it away and it grazed him causing him a scratch. So you think you didn't act that you didn't control your emotions that you failed but we all see you as a fucking hero. We all see the woman we knew you would always be the one that would have our backs, no matter what. If you want to walk away from us if you want to leave your best friend, leave Ranger your soul mate who you love more than life, leave your brothers then leave but don't hand us some half baked, half assed fucking excuse that you are doing it to protect us because you bring danger to our lives. That is a fucking excuse because you are failing to see what you do bring to all of us. You aren't a failure and you didn't fail tonight. Not one of us would think it or have a reason to think it. We all love you and we all are proud of you."

The steam left me with my last sentence I didn't have the strength to continue but I had to spit it all out. "Beautiful if anyone should be apologizing and turning away it should be me. I am the one that lost control of his emotions. I am the one that lost control and in so doing I caused you to be further harmed. I took away three of your brothers who could have protected you better to hold me back because I lost control. I let my emotions my hatred, my need for revenge when I saw him hurt you control me instead of keeping my cool and protecting you all I could I lost control. So I am the one that needs to be saying I failed, that I screwed up, that I am sorry."

I had during my rant taken my eyes away from Beautiful because I needed to let my rage out a little and I could never do that looking at her it was difficult enough knowing my words were directed at her. But with the last sentence my eyes locked back on hers and she stood there frozen.

Tears welled up in her eyes. I saw her eyes questioning me wondering if that was truly how I felt how could she question it when it was raw as it got for me. I was running on pure raw emotion and adrenaline she had to know that. I nodded

She turned and looked at Ranger. Ranger's face said it all. He loved her with every fiber of his being. "Babe I love you with all I have. I trust you with all I am with my life I trust you more than I trust myself. I have always trusted you to have my back. I have never been more proud of you when you protected Cal. I have never seen you as a failure. You have never failed, not a single time not once. You have only excelled and impressed the hell out of me and my men. Babe I know you think you failed to act but you did act at exactly the time it was needed the most. I know you felt like you were unable to control your emotions but Babe that takes years not hours of training. But even then you acted when the moment called for it. Whether you realized it or not you knew the danger Cal was in and you acted in time to save his life even if you were terrified for your own you protected and saved his." He told her. He was cupping her face and holding her close to him his eyes never leaving hers and his blank face was gone.

We could all see the vulnerability in him. He too was a desperate man and if we made the mistake of thinking he was weak for it then we would learn a very hard lesson on the mats one that would prove to us he wasn't weak and he wasn't vulnerable not with us not with anyone other than a curly brown hair blue eye beautiful. But I am sure that would be true for all of us.

He continued now that she was silent she hadn't said anything since my rant so none of us really knew where her thoughts were at if she was still considering leaving all of us or if she was actually listening to us. If we were actually making her understand that she had made us proud.

"Babe I said a lot of stupid shit to you and trust me I am sorry for every word of it. Know that when I said my life didn't lend itself to relationships it wasn't for me for my safety or for any possibility of added dangers around my life you would bring. I already have plenty of those. It was for two reasons. One to protect you from the dangers in my life but more than that to protect my heart which I knew could be crushed by you if you didn't return my feelings for you. If you didn't love me as much as I love you. It was to protect me from what is happening right now as I feel that my heart is being crushed within my body to the point that it will never be right it will never survive you walking out of that door. Please Babe stay, stay with me be my wife, be my partner my soul mate the other half of me. Please Babe."

Damn that is the closest thing we will ever see to Ranger begging I can't believe he is saying that to her in front of all of us but I think part of him as forgotten we are even here witnessing the almost intimate level of conversation he is having with her with their eyes locked on each other. Well his confessions to her.

Like I said desperate men do desperate things and this was Ranger being desperate to hold on to the woman that is the love of his life, and mine. Our light our breathe of fresh air, the one that redeemed our worthless blackened souls and made us once again feel human. I watched as the tears started to spill from her eyes and I could only ask myself are they tears of joy or tears of heartbreak as we all waited for her response.

**Please review I love hearing your thoughts! It makes my day, night, week! Thanks for following my story it really means a lot to me. **


	30. Chapter 29: Trusting Yourself Pt2

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**I want to thank everyone who writes a review for my story. I enjoy reading them and I love ideas they give me so keep them coming! You do my soul good!**

**I have a website that I have created to give you all something to explore to dig deeper into the story "What does it mean to trust" You can go to the following website and see character bios (along with some pictures of what I think they would look like), ask questions, give suggestions, see Stephanie's training schedule, Lester's personal vehicles, Cars trucks, and bikes that are in the Rangeman Compound, Rangeman test requirements, and pictures of the places they have been and of Stephanie's ring and clothing. I will continue to add additional information to this website so continue to check out the website.**

**www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com **

**You will then click on the tab that says "What does it mean to" I hope you enjoy it. Please sign the guest book so I know you have been there and tell me what you think.**

**Warning: once again I am issue a tissue warning…maybe not as emotional as last chapter but none the less emotional so to be on the safe side I am issuing a tissue warning for those reading.**

Chapter 29: Trusting Yourself PT2

RPOV

I can't breathe, I can't see, I can't think, I can't speak, I can't even feel my own heart beating only pain, only excruciating pain. I wish I could say I couldn't hear but that seems to be the one thing on me working. Maybe hearing is the only thing that is actually functioning for me right now. I don't think I can move. I hear her words echoing off the walls. They echo within my head which feels vastly empty. If it wasn't for knowing her words were causing this reaction in me I would be worried.

I know it isn't anything wrong with me medically this was emotional and it was more crippling than anything physically could ever do to me. My heart was being crushed inside me, my soul was screaming in agony as it was being torn apart from her words.

She was going to walk away from me. She was going to leave me. Not because she felt like we couldn't protect her. Not because she didn't feel secure and safe in my arms but because she felt like she brought danger to our lives. To our lives fucking mercenaries who thrived on danger and adrenaline I would laugh at the thought if it wasn't for the pain this was causing. She thought she failed, she thought she disappointed us. She thought we wouldn't be able to trust her. She thought she would never to be able to trust herself, trust herself that she could protect us. Protect us when we would give our lives for her ten times over before we would ever allow anything to harm her or for her to give her life for us practically soulless men if it weren't for her.

If anything we are the ones that failed her. We are the ones that brought danger in her life and then failed to protect her when she needed it. We are the ones that she should be disappointed in we are the ones that she shouldn't trust to keep her safe or secure. We were the ones that she shouldn't trust to protect her. This has been the second time that my men allowed Morelli to get to her. Hell if you count the night at dinner with her parent's I had failed too so make that three fucking times.

The only one of us that had done anything was Hector when he threw Morelli down on the sidewalk. I should have done more and just said fuck it that he is a cop I could handle it. If he fucking arrested me I would just call my government contacts and they would fucking take care of the charges. Fuck. I should have just kicked the shit out of him when all of this started and taught him a fucking lesson that he doesn't mess with anything that is mine.

Why the fuck hadn't I done that. Anyone else had done this to her and they would no longer be breathing. Hell from the very beginning I would have made them realize the error of their ways and they would have either conformed to what I told them and left her the fuck alone or they would be pushing up daises and I wouldn't give a fuck either way instead I am running around with my dick in my hand acting like I didn't have a choice I had a fucking choice and I had chosen wrong. I had taught the gang members of Stark Street to fear me more than God and I would teach this fucking cop the same.

When they took Stephanie and we got her back thank God before anything devastating happened to her even though what did happen was bad enough I needed revenge. The next night I paid them a little visit. Even though all of the gang bangers who had grabbed her had been killed that night it wasn't good enough for me. Maybe it was because I didn't have their blood on my hands. Sally Sweet had taken care of them and I never in my life had been more thankful to anyone. But the next night I walked the street of Stark Street fucking daring them to touch me, to touch my Babe again. I made it clear what was mine and that I protected what was mine. I am not sure how many gang bangers were planted that night. Some because of the beast within me needed revenge some because I needed to send a message some because they just fucking pissed me off for looking at me the wrong way. I didn't really need an excuse I was sending a damn message and the message was fucking heard. No one messed with my woman no one messed with what was mine.

Instead of doing what I would normally do I allowed the love my life to be harmed, to be placed in a position that was dangerous with a man that I knew to be mentally unstable at the least. I had fucking failed miserably on this one, I had never in my life fucked up so badly. If this had been a mission I would be fucking dead, if this had been a business decision I would be paying for it and none of those two things were more important to me than the woman who is standing in front of me telling me all of us that she is leaving me, leaving us. I almost want to just hang my head and let her walk out because she deserves so much better than me. I have always known that I have always known she deserves better than my darken blackened scared worthless soul but she made me a better man she made me a worthy man she made me a selfish man she made me a greedy man for a life that I never thought I would have.

I had fucked up she meant the world to me, everything to me all that I am everything I have nothing is more important than her and I would have protected my cars better than her. How could have I failed to see that until now? Because he was a fucking cop and I was concerned of what might happen what that fucking cop would do I didn't want to go to jail and be taken away from my Babe but in feeling that way and responding the way I had. I had failed to protect the woman who was my life, my everything.

That shit was going to end tonight. There would be no more. If he pulled another fucking gun on her, me, or my men he was going down like any other fucker that would have the balls to pull a gun on us. If he raised a hand to my Babe that fucker was going to be eating dirt. If I could convince her to stay I will never fail her again. I will never fail to protect her, keep her safe, keep her secure. Cop or no fucking cop he would learn not to fuck with me or mine. It was time to send another message only this message wasn't for Stark Street. This message was for a fucking cop who wasn't even as good as the lowliest gang banger or hooker on Stark.

Santos broke me out of my self examination when I heard him raise his voice above that of my Babe. They were yelling back and forth she was trying to cut him off but he wasn't having it. He was going to be heard. I had to hold myself back control the urge to go kick the shit out of him for yelling at my woman. No one yelled at her but I knew what he was doing. I knew how much he loved her I knew how his heart was breaking and I knew how desperate he was because I felt the same way only more so. He couldn't stand the thought of losing her.

Lester won and my Babe fell silent but I couldn't tell if she was listening to him. I couldn't tell if she was hearing him her face was blank her eyes were glazed with no emotion. Fuck. I was praying like I had never prayed before, I was praying begging god, the father, the son, and the holy ghost for My Babe to listen to his words. I was praying to Jesus, Mother Mary, Buddha, Allah, Braham, _Vishhnu, and I even threw in a few Greek Gods Aphrodite, Apollo, Hera, Eros for good measure and since I was praying to the Greek Gods I couldn't leave out Ares the god of war after all this was the most important battle of my life. This was my life and I couldn't lose this. I couldn't lose her. I would pray to every god, saint hell I would pray to the bum that is hanging out under the Route one bridge if would keep my Babe with me. _

_Normally I would be too proud too stubborn to be too much of a badass beg or to admit or fuck even feel the total desperation I was feeling but I couldn't not at this moment I couldn't fight it. It was all consuming and if my men thought I was weak for it then I would have to later teach them a lesson they would never forget and would never question my ability as a leader, a solider a complete and total badass but right now I was vulnerable I was desperate and I was grasping at anything and everything that would make my life, my light, my breathe, my soul stay with me._

_Lester's voice got soft when he finished his last sentence and I could see tears well up in my Babe's eyes but they didn't spill over. I saw him nod at her answering her questioning look she then turned to me looking at me still silent. I said another quick prayer, praying I wouldn't fuck this up._

_I stepped closer and took her beautiful face in my hands. Cupping her beautiful face holding her in front of me so she wouldn't take her eyes away from mine she had to see in my eyes that I was going to tell her the truth the only way I knew it. I took a breath quickly gathered my thoughts and then proceeded to spill my heart in front of her, in front of most all of my men. I would rather be alone but I couldn't think about it. I had to save my life, the life of my men, and hopefully her life as well._

"Babe I love you with all I have. I trust you with all I am with my life I trust you more than I trust myself. I have always trusted you to have my back. I have never been more proud of you when you protected Cal. I have never seen you as a failure. You have never failed, not a single time not once. You have only excelled and impressed the hell out of me and my men. Babe I know you think you failed to act but you did act at exactly the time it was needed the most. I know you felt like you were unable to control your emotions but Babe that takes years not hours of training. But even then you acted when the moment called for it. Whether you realized it or not you knew the danger Cal was in and you acted in time to save his life even if you were terrified for your own you protected and saved his." I told her.

Before she could say anything I continued. "Babe I said a lot of stupid shit to you and trust me I am sorry for every word of it. Know that when I said my life didn't lend itself to relationships it wasn't for me for my safety or for any possibility of added dangers around my life you would bring. I already have plenty of those. It was for two reasons. One to protect you from the dangers in my life but more than that to protect my heart which I knew could be crushed by you if you didn't return my feelings for you. If you didn't love me as much as I love you. It was to protect me from what is happening right now as I feel that my heart is being crushed within my body to the point that it will never be right it will never survive you walking out of that door. Please Babe stay, stay with me be my wife, be my partner my soul mate the other half of me. Please Babe."

I needed her to understand that it was never concern for my safety for making my life less dangerous it was to keep her from the dangers of my life. It was to protect my heart as well but that was just because I wanted this so bad and I wasn't sure this would ever be possible that this was something I would ever be allowed to have with my life past and present.

I watched as the tears spilled over her eyes and ran unchecked down her face but she wasn't saying anything she wasn't answering me either way. Was she leaving me was she staying with me? This is killing me. I can't tell by looking at her face it's still blank even though the tears are flowing. Fuck. I decided to keep going and confess what I wasn't sure I wanted to confess in front of my men. They were going to beat my ass for this. One couldn't kick my ass and maybe not two depending on whom the two were but all thirteen could definitely kick my ass. What the hell did I have to lose? If I lost her already I had lost everything that mattered if it would make her stay I would take the ass beating every day for the rest of my life.

"Babe I failed you not the other way around. I failed to protect you like I should have. Because I failed to act when I should have you have been attacked now three times by someone who should have never been allowed to lay a finger on you the first time." I told her. I got a little reaction from her when I said I was failure her. That may be a good sign.

"Babe I should have done something. I didn't because I didn't want to take the chance of getting arrested and taken away from you but I have learned that was wrong Babe. Had he been a regular civilian he more than likely would not be breathing at this moment for all he has done to you, and now to us. All of us." I included my men because this affected them too. If she left they would lose their sister who they loved and needed. She was the glue that bound us all together.

"Babe I have protected my cars better." I confessed to her. "I failed you and I can only beg your forgiveness, I can only beg you for your trust because I have come to realize I didn't protect you when you needed protected. I was scared of what might happen unlike you. You protected Cal when it was needed at the exact moment it was needed with no regard to what might happen. You didn't consider what might happen to you, you only protected him and saved him. I didn't even do that for you. I hope that you can find a way to trust me because Babe I will tell you that I will never fail to protect you again." I promised her. I didn't tell her that I had planned to pay the fucking cop a visit that he would never forget. One that I wouldn't mind repeating the lesson as many times as it was needed until he heeded my warning and if not well I would just end his miserable excuse of a life I have killed people of higher rank before than a detective fucking cop.

My men hadn't thought about me failing to protect her not until I explained it to them, but since explaining it to them and them seeing the truth in my words they were pissed at me and I could feel the tension coming off of them. Mat time was going to be hell but fuck I deserved it and as overprotective big brothers they were I would take my ass beating. If she still walked out then I knew it would be even worse and I just hoped that Bobby would be willing to fix my sorry ass afterwards not that I would probably want to be fix because the part of me that would be broken the most would still be un-repairable.

I paused for a second and with my thumbs wiped the tears off of my Babe's cheeks. Her eyes were blood shot and red she had a bruise that had formed over her left cheek and eye seeing that fueled my anger and the promise of revenge that was planned for that fucking cop.

If I was right and I am sure I am right Officer Gasprickfuck would be dropping Joe off at home instead of the police station. Joe wouldn't have any charges filed against him as they would figure out a way to cover his ass. Protect his ass. In a way that pissed me off but on the other hand well it gave me opportunities that if he went to jail I wouldn't have well wouldn't have as easily.

"Babe please listen to us we mean what we say and we are telling you the truth. You have never failed us, you have never failed to protect us, and you haven't brought any dangers to our lives that we didn't already have Babe. We all need you. Lester needs his best friend, his beautiful. Cal needs his angel, Hector needs his angelita, Tank needs his Little Girl, Bobby needs his bomber, Woody needs his darling, Manny needs his wifey, and Babe everyone else needs their bombshell. I, well I need my Babe, my light, my air, the other half of my soul, the other part of me, the woman who said she would be my wife I need her. I won't survive without you Babe. Please trust us please Babe trust me and stay with us stay with me." I begged her. I didn't know what else to say to her to convince her to stay I had laid everything out I was at her mercy now.

SPOV

Tears were pouring down my cheeks hearing Ranger's words, having heard Lester's words and Cal's. Was it true? Had I acted at just the right time to save Cal's life? I mean really? Or did my action cause Joe's finger to put too much pressure against the trigger and caused the gun to go off.

I knew they would never flat out lie to me I just wondered if they really saw what they thought they saw. I wondered if what they were saying was true. I knew that a week of training wasn't enough to be a Rangeman but I also knew that I couldn't bring danger to these guy's lives. I know they all had dangers in their lives, just being a Rangeman brought about certain dangers that most people would never encounter in their lives but I couldn't add to that danger. I couldn't be a burden to them. I wouldn't allow that. Trust me when I say I needed them as much if not more than they needed me. I loved them all and they were my brothers even if I had of had brothers they wouldn't have been more of a brother to me than these guys standing in front of me now.

Listening to Lester and seeing his eyes had been all I could do not to break down. But when I turned to Ranger and he started pouring his heart out to me and I saw the words reflected in his eyes, the love, the heart break, the lost feelings I knew those feelings I was feeling them. I was feeling every ounce of the pain and heart break the loss he was feeling maybe more because he was just losing me not all of his brothers like I was losing.

If I walked out that door tonight I would be walking away from everything. The love of my life, my soul mate, my best friend, my brothers the only family I had now that I have officially cut my parent's out of my life. I guess the only family I would have left is my Grandma and I loved her dearly but I needed more than her in my life in order to survive. The only way I would survive is if I had Ranger in my life. I knew that.

Regardless of knowing how this would kill me and how this would be the hardest thing I could ever do would ever do in my life I knew that unless I could trust myself trust that I wouldn't bring additional danger to their life because of my lack of training or my lack of the ability to react when needed due to fear or emotions. Unless I could trust myself that I could and would protect them until my last breath of air no matter what I couldn't stay with them. I couldn't be a part of them, not their daily lives.

Maybe I wouldn't have to give them up completely but I definitely couldn't work here, partner with them, live here, or ask them for their help if I went back to Vinnie's after all I can't put them in a position where I couldn't be their backup and couldn't protect them not loving them the way I did. They were family, they were just as much blood as my Grandma was to me and I was protective over my family.

I know you say I cast out my other family members and I did but it wasn't without difficult, it wasn't without regret it was out of self preservation they wanted me to change, they wanted me to become someone I wasn't someone I would rather die than being and they were never supportive of me. It was for my own betterment that I separated myself from them but I never really want harm to come to them and in a way I would always love them.

Listening to Ranger tell me how much he loved me is like music to my ears, balm to my soul, and superglue to my heart but the fear that I could cause him to be taken from me was real the reason was real and I couldn't just let go of that. Him leaving me, or me leaving him is one thing and that is debilitating but him being killed or maimed to the point that I would never even want to consider well that is just not possible that is stop all of the air in my lungs, stop my heart from beating to even think about.

I love him so much, more than the air I breathe, more than the boston crèmes I eat, more than life itself. There is nothing I love more. How do you walk away from that? I tell you the thought isn't without difficult it almost sears your lungs it hurts so badly. He had my face cupped in his hands forcing me to look him in the eyes and there were several moments when I really wanted to look away to keep my strength to keep my resolve from cracking because I couldn't lose them not that way.

I know for many it wouldn't make sense for me to feel this way because I was walking away I was losing them but they would be able to go on. They were breathing, their hearts beating. If I stayed and it caused one of them to be killed kind of like Cal tonight could have died had the gun gone off sooner or had he been standing in the wrong place he could have died and I can't lose them like that.

Even if I walk away they will still be here living their lives breathing and I will still have them because while I might not work here or live here they will always be my brothers. I hear Ranger say that he failed me and I tried to interrupt him I tried to shake my head no and tell him he had never failed me. I had failed him. Ranger has never failed me he could never fail me. I am almost to the point of desperate to tell him that he had never failed me that it wasn't possible. That he had always protected me, he had always saved me if anyone was the failure it was me I had been a failure my whole life now was no different.

Before I could voice what I so desperately wanted to tell him he continued telling me how they couldn't lose me. Lester couldn't lose his best friend, his beautiful, he called each of the guys who had a nickname for me and told me how they couldn't lose me using the nickname they used hell I didn't even know he had paid that much attention to know. But he was Batman of course he paid attention he was always aware of his surroundings. When he got to him and I saw the pain, the desperation the vulnerability, the love, the need in his eyes I knew I would never walk away from. I could never even if the reasons for doing so were so great and for the good. I couldn't do it after hearing those words.

I wasn't sure to scream in frustration, cry from hysteria, or laugh from the joy that filled my heart knowing I was never going to be able to actually go anywhere. That they were as much a part of me as he was saying I was to him. How the fuck was I going to protect them? How was I going to know that I had their back? How was I going to trust that I wasn't going to bring danger to their life if I stayed with them?

They told me that I saved Cal's life tonight I am still not sure I saved his life rather than almost caused his death but Lester seemed pretty sure even to the point that he was willing to bet my life and I knew he would never bet my life lightly no more than I would bet his or anyone one of my brother's or Carlos' life. God allowing myself to think of him as Carlos again nearly brought me to my knees as my crying notched up another level due to the hysteria I was feeling of being so conflicted yet so cemented where I was.

I was going to have to figure out a way to prove to myself that I could and would protect everyone on of their lives when called for, especially Carlos' life. I needed to figure out a way that I could trust myself. Prove to myself that I could trust myself that no matter how scared I was, no matter how emotional I was when the moment arose that I could and would act to protect them, that my being there in that state would not negatively or dangerously impact their lives.

I don't know what I will do if I find that I can't trust myself as I don't think I have the ability to do the right thing but I am going to first prove to myself and to the guys one way or the other if I am Rangeman material and the only way to do that is complete my training the best I can and continue my training and my testing. The emotional piece was scaring the hell out of me they said years and I didn't know if I had years.

I didn't know if I would ever be able to control my emotions and I knew that was key to acting in time to save a life. I knew that was key in acting with thought instead of fly by your seat and I am definitely the fly by the seat of your pants type of girl so I don't know if I have it in me but I am going to have to try, I am going to have to do all I can do to be Rangeman material because lord knows I can't be anything else and survive without them, without Carlos.

I took a deep breath and tried to gather my thoughts to give them an answer the only answer I knew to give them along with all the conditions when Lester spoke up.

LPOV

Fuck she wasn't answering him only crying and looking as if she was half hysterical. I wish I knew what was going thru her mind. Fuck. Think solider what the fuck can you do Ranger just poured his heart out to her if she doesn't stay for those reasons then we are all fucked front, back, and sideways.

Think what was it she said, fuck pull it together solider and fucking think. She wants to know she can protect us, she wants to know that she doesn't bring danger to our lives because she doesn't respond appropriately or in time. That's what she said right? Or something like that. Fuck I am almost too panicked at the moment to think straight.

How can we prove this to her? How can we show her she has the skills necessary to do all of that? She has another week of training but what can we do now to prove to her she has the basic skills needed. We could give her a test. We could take her to the compound all of us and put her thru a series of tests. We could use the paintball and laser tag arenas as well as the gun alley we could use the boxing arena we could make this work. We could even use the woods. I could come up with something.

I know we were all waiting for an answer but the longer it drew out the more I feared her answer the more I didn't want to hear her answer so I thought I would offer her another option from walking away from us.

"Beautiful I have an idea. You said you wanted to know that you could protect us, that you wouldn't bring danger to our lives because you were unable to respond in time to protect us. I have an idea of how we can prove to you that you already possess all of skills required for that." I am still making this shit up as I go but it's the best I can come up with at the time.

I look at Ranger and his brow furrows he isn't so happy with my idea. He is probably worried about if the plan backfires and we don't prove it and we in turn prove something else to her not that he doubted her abilities he was the first to brag about her abilities and her spidey senses. But we knew that Beautiful held a different set of expectations for herself than anyone else. It would be hell convincing her of this of her successes.

I shrugged slightly at him it was the best thing I could come up with okay seeing his point and knowing her the way I do I was starting to think this may not have been the best of ideas but at least it was something. It was a possibility of her staying with us where as with her silence I wasn't getting a good feeling from it all especially the hysteria of her crying because I knew walking away from us would be hearting wrenching for her as well as for us. So the more she cried only scared me more and made me reach out for any lifeline available to keep my Beautiful with me with us.

She focused her eyes back on me "Lester what are you thinking?" She asked me.

She was interested, YES! I caught her attention and she finally broke her silence. Whew. Now how do I fucking put this? "Beautiful since you are the one that wants to know you can protect us, that you would when necessary I am proposing a test of sorts." I tell her but because I want to make it clear it isn't us that needs this I continue.

"None of us in this room need for you to do this test to know and trust that you would do the right thing when the time was needed but for your sake you don't. Because you don't trust yourself, so I propose a test that will prove to you that you can trust yourself." Whew that didn't sound too bad for a desperate guy flying by the seat of his pants. My voice didn't even break or sound to desperate although I am sure the guys have picked up on it oh well fuck them. If any of them had anything better they sure as fuck weren't fucking voicing it.

Ranger had poured is heart out and it wasn't making a difference and I had told her all about what I saw with Cal and that hadn't made a difference something had to make a fucking difference. So if they had something better by all means let's fucking hear it but if not shut the fuck up about me sounding desperate or I will kick their asses for thinking it after I convince her to do this.

"Well we can come up with specifics later but I was thinking we could all take you to the compound and we could put you thru a series of tests the tests will be done in a way that you would be able to prove to yourself that you have the skills necessary to protect your brothers, your best friend, and your soul mate with the training you have right now." I tell her as confident as I could be seen as I no idea what fucking tests I was going to pull off that would do that but I would come up with something between now and then whenever then was if I could get her to fall for the bait.

She looked at me "Okay Lester we will do it. It's three thirty in the morning right now. Today is Sunday and I know that most of you have off tomorrow as the contract workers will be working the command room. So let's plan on going to the compound later today say around two this afternoon. It will give us all time to get some sleep as we can sleep in a little tomorrow."

I could see exhaustion around her eyes, I could see exhaustion around Rangers eyes and the rest of the guy's eyes and I knew I was fucking exhausted beyond belief. Between dancing tonight, then the adrenaline rush with the run in with the fucking cop, then the emotional rush and more adrenaline I was just about at the end of my rope. But a bigger part of me didn't want to leave her. Didn't want to go down to my apartment not if her time with us was to be limited if we were unable to convince her. Fuck I don't think any of us wanted to leave her tonight. The scare of what could have happen with her, to the scare of what she was saying had us all feeling a little raw and on edge. For some of us I am sure we would hit the gym to work off the adrenaline and pissed off feelings we were having before going to bed.

SPOV

Lester gave me the perfect solution. He is always there for me now if I can prove to myself that I am worthy of Rangeman material and of being Carlo's wife then I will stay with the love my life and my brothers and become a full time Rangeman. If I fail at these tests then I will know I am not able to be this and then I will have to figure out how to walk away which I am not sure is possible at this point but I will make it possible to protect them if I have move myself to Siberia or ship myself to a third world country.

We all agree to go to the compound tomorrow at two in the afternoon. Until then I need a little sleep. I want so bad to go back to bed with Carlos but if I fail these tests later today I don't want to have us making love adding to the hardship of me having to find a way to walk away.

But I couldn't just leave Carlos having poured his heart out to me and left unanswered. I had to say something to him. I had to tell him how I felt.

"Carlos" I got his attention and I saw a ghost of a smile start on his face for me having called him Carlos in front of his men. Shit I had forgotten about that I still called him Ranger in front of his men, oh well. "I want to tell you that I love you with all I am all I will ever have and it is only because of how strong that love is that I feel this strong about needing to be able to respond and protect you when needed without my fear or emotions getting in the way. I can't lose you like that Carlos. I can't have you taken from me like that. I would rather walk away than be the reason you were taken like that from me. If it comes to that walking away from you is going to be the hardest thing I will ever have to do if I don't prove to myself I can protect you. I don't know how I will survive it but I can't risk your life for mine. I can't risk your life for my survival. Please know that I love you so much more than anything I have ever loved. Know that I would give all I am all I have to be your wife to be your lover your partner and I will do anything in my power to be what you need but if I don't have it if I don't have what it takes then I have to walk away. Because I can't be a risk for you, an added danger to you I can't live with that anymore than I could live with walking away from you but I won't risk your life. As to your comment about you failing me know that you have never failed me. You have never failed to save me or protect me. Everyone knows you have always done whatever was necessary to protect me and you have never failed at it not in my eyes."

I told him. Screw the heartbreak it would bring it wouldn't be any more added than was there I needed our connection one more night. I would pray and beg for more but I needed tonight.

I reached up cupping his face in mine and pulled him into me until my lips brushed his and him needing the connection as much maybe more than I did grabbed me and pulled me to him crashing his lips down on mine. God this felt so good as I let him control the kiss feeling his hunger his need his love it was about my undoing but I pulled myself back before I really embarrassed myself in front of my brother's.

When I looked out around at my brothers none of them were looking at us. They had found something interesting on the floor, the wall, the shelves, the table, the ceiling there were no eyes on us. They were giving us what privacy they were able to give at the moment. I knew they didn't want to leave anymore than I wanted them to leave but I needed Carlos in a private way and I wasn't going to share that with them even my brothers weren't going to be a part of my life in those regards. That was solely Carlos' and mine I didn't want them hearing me, us.

"Guys" I said to get their attention and all of their eyes snapped back on me I had their full attention. "I want you all to know that I love you all you are all my brothers. I don't take lightly what I said I mean it. I love you all too much to lose you at my incompetence. I hope I prove myself wrong tomorrow I look forward to the challenge but I want the challenge I want as close to real life as it can get no holding back and no swaying the results because you want me to stay. Please respect my decision in this and know that above anything I made this decision because of my true unconditional love I have for you all."

I kept going there was one I hadn't responded to my best friend so I turned to Lester. "Lester. You are my brother, and you are my best friend and you know how much that means to me and how much I treasure what we have what we share. I don't ever want to let go of any of it know that understand that but also understand how it kill me if I was the reason something happened to you, or to the love of my life" I turned to look at Carlos "my true soul mate" focusing back on Lester "or my brothers. Please understand that. I will do this test of yours but I beg you to make it fair don't make it too easy." I needed them to really understand that I needed to prove this to me. I needed to know that I could trust myself.

"Beautiful we all understand your feelings and trust me what I have planned will be challenging but not to the point that you won't be able to succeed with the skills you have been giving this week. I promise you we won't make it easy on you or make it so you will succeed just because we want you to stay with us. You can trust me even though losing you will be the hardest thing I will ever have to survive I promise you right now it will be fair and challenging." I saw the pain in his eyes for having said that for thinking the possibility but I needed the assurance. If I was going to trust this test then I needed to know it wasn't skewed for my success.

Now was time for a little one on one Carlos time I needed to feel him in a way that being in his arms just wasn't allowing. I needed our connection. "Guys how about we all get some rest and meet up tomorrow say around one in the afternoon to prepare to head over to the compound?" I asked them. They grunted this was a big baby way of saying they didn't want to go. But they finally nodded I think Carlos gave them a look that said he needed them to leave now. I think he needed to feel our connection as much if not more than I did.

The guys proceeded to head to the door but not before each giving me a hug and a squeeze holding me to them giving me a kiss on the cheek or forehead all whispering in my ear some form of how they loved me, cherished me, and trusted me with their life. I was almost crying again hearing them. Hector was one of the last ones. I should have known how much my statements would hurt him. But like the others I wouldn't risk his life anymore than others. He looked at me hugged me kissed my forehead and then in English said "I protect you". I knew he understood me but I hope one of the guys translated to him.

I nodded and ran the tips of my fingers across his tear drops and then kissed them and just said "I protect you too." He squeezed me tighter against him and then reluctantly on his part let me go.

Cal then came up to me hugged me kissed me on my cheek I gave him a kiss on his tattoo. "Cal I am sorry I got you shot." I told him he shook his head

"Angel Lester is right he was already pulling the trigger you saved my life you didn't get me shot. You protected me but from now on out I will protect you." I started to reiterate that I protect him but he reached in his pocket and took out his faceless die and said "sister" I smiled reaching into my pocket I pulled out the matching faceless die and said "brother". He hugged me again kissing me on last time before heading for the door.

When they walked out only the core team was left with Carlos and me in the living room which is large when you don't have all of those guys hanging out.

TPOV  
"Little girl I wanted to tell you that I trust you to have my back." I had to tell her that I trusted her but also wanted to tell her that I didn't want her leaving us. "I want you to stay with us and finish your training regardless of how to tomorrow goes. You have had one week of training the guys in the room have had years and we still sometimes let emotions get the best of us. It's human nature and whether you know it or not we are all human. You need to lighten up on yourself a little. We are all trained and yes we are trained to have each other's back but we are also trained to protect ourselves. The same training you are getting." I told her.

She was standing there with her mouth slightly open maybe I got thru to her to see reason. Her feelings were real and trust me they humbled me that she would be that protective of us but I needed her to see that right now with one week of training her expectations of her performance was a little too high. Though in my book she did a wonderful job tonight she excelled most people in her state would not have been able to act at all let alone at he precise moment to save a life.

I was proud of her and she felt like she was a failure that she had failed. "Why the look little girl?" I asked her sort of bringing her out of her thoughts she smiled.

"Tank I think that is the most I have ever heard you say at one time. Now that I know you are able to talk more I am going to expect more than one word sentences." She said smiling fuck! And I thought I was getting her to see my point. Well might as well get on with telling them the rest.

"I wanted to tell you both that Officer Gaspick and Thompson came to the scene after you left. Joe was still conscious when I left but he won't be feeling too well in the morning. He hit his head pretty hard when he fell." I saw the smile on Ranger's face. He knew I had gotten in a few good kicks in. Not near what I wanted but it would have to do for now.

"I don't know if Gaspick will arrest Joe or not he didn't seem very amenable to it and when I offered to carry Morelli to their police car he refused my offer and even refused my offer t take him to the station." I knew Ranger would want to know the status on the cop.

Ranger nodded "If he doesn't arrest him then he will help me out greatly." Ranger said. I was a little confused to the comment but I let it slide. I saw little girl's eyebrows furrow together in confusion if she wanted details I would leave it to her to ask. I just nodded back to Ranger I bet he is planning a little pay back and I will be right there with him after all I would really like to see if I truly kick his fucking head across a room. "I will find out in the morning and let you know." I told him. He just nodded.

I grabbed my little girl and gave her a big hug and a kiss on her cheek that wasn't supporting a massive bruise. "Well I will see you both in the morning" I told them.

She smiled "Night big man I'll see you in the morning." She told me and I just nodded.

BPOV

Tank bumped fists with Ranger and made his way out of the apartment probably heading to the gym I suspected we would all be down there beating the shit out of something that's how bad asses deal with their emotions and when things are out of control. We go to the gym and beat the hell out of the bags, the pads or each other. "Bomber do you want me to take a look at your injuries?" I asked her.

She shook her head no "Bobby I think I am fine. More bruised than anything. I don't think anything is injured beyond that." She told me.

Lester spoke up "Beautiful maybe he should take a look that man was more than double your weight and he fell on you and smashed you into the floor." He told her. What the hell, a man fell on her?

Ranger and I looked at her questioning. She motioned to the couch I could see the exhaustion claiming her. "Guys before you got there when Joe approached me I reminded him of the protection order he said he didn't know I was there and if I had a problem with him being there then I should just leave. That is what I was going to do was leave. I had been dancing with Lester. So I stepped out from him to head to our table to go. Well Joe grabbed me and jerked me away from Lester and Cal. He flung me across the dance floor and I crashed into a guy when I fell down he fell on top of me. But I am okay only bruises. I got up and tried to get back to Lester and Cal and that is when Joe grabbed me I finally was able to stretch enough to grab a hold of them and you got there shortly after that point. My shoulder is sore Bobby but I don't think it is injured it is just from him jerking me the first time and then two other times when he tried to break my grip on Lester and Cal." She told us.

Her shirt allowed me to see her shoulder so I put my hands on her shoulder and asked her to move her arms certain ways to feel if there was any damage to her shoulder. But all seemed to be working she had full range of motion without too much pain to be of a further concern.

I took a look at her face and while it was a heck of a bruise that is all it was. She had been lucky she could have been seriously hurt but she was fine. Whew.

"Bomber you seem okay you are lucky you could have really been hurt tonight." I tell her. She just smiled.

She added "Thanks Bobby you always fix me up" while pulling on my braids. I smiled at the simple gesture that made me so happy.

"Bomber please listen to Tank, Lester, and Ranger, don't leave us. We love you we want you here with us. Remember what you said that we are stronger together. That is true every day every situation we are stronger when we are together. When I say together I mean you with your brothers and the love of your life all of us. Just think about it more before you make any decisions. You're my sister and I love you and trust you." I told her.

With that I gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek and did one of our handshakes with Ranger and walked out of the room heading for the front door to go kick the shit out of something in the gym to work off this frustration I have at this complete and total fucked up situation.

LPOV

Damn I didn't want to leave her but I knew I had to. I watched both Tank and Bobby talk to her telling her to stay regardless of what happens later today. None of us want her to leave. I took her in my arms pulling her closer to giving her a hug. I briefly close my eyes and say a prayer. I am not a praying man men with my soul don't pray. We all know we have signed our fate we don't have a chance in hell of going to heaven and that is fine with us with me. People like us are needed in this world unfortunately and I carry that charge with pride even though I am done with missions and haven't bloodied my hands recently they were already bloodied enough to be forever crimson.

But I sent up a prayer anyway in the hopes that God would answer it. "Well Beautiful I have some planning to do for tomorrow if I am going to come up with a test for you. So I better get out of here and get busy on that." I told her. She nodded.

I went to pull back but she clung on which was fine with me but I wondered what caused it. "Beautiful?" I questioned her. I heard her sniffle again oh fuck she is crying again. I locked eyes with Ranger and just shook my head I had no idea what bought this on. He is going to fucking kill me if I am the cause of her having more anguish tonight. I already know how tightly he has been wound added to the fact of my fuck up earlier tonight, I was as good as dead.

"Lester?" She questioned me.

"Yeah" I said letting her know I was listening.

She looked up at me "Thank you Lester. Thank you for not letting go of me. Thank you for not letting Joe jerk me away from you, thanks for not letting me go. Having you holding my hand and knowing you were there helped me. I kept thinking find my inner Ranger when he was trying to jerk me away from you and Cal. Knowing you were holding my hand helped me find it and in so doing I was able to kick the gun in Joe's hand. I hope you are right in that I saved Cal's life instead of getting him shot. Because I was trying to get his gun away from you two. I couldn't stand him holding a gun on you two." She told me. My throat went dry.

"Beautiful I would have never let go of you not for anything in this world." I wasn't going to add the only way I would have let go is if I was dead, I didn't want to add to the thoughts already going around her head. "I will always have your back Beautiful. I will always protect you and I promise you I will do my best to control my emotions in the future so I can protect you even more." I couldn't promise her that I wouldn't let my emotions get in the way I wanted to but she means so much to me I do get emotional when she is in danger. Like Ranger only he has more control than I do. And thank fuck for that. No one has the control Ranger has but then again when his control breaks no one is capable of as much destruction as Ranger either. Had it been Ranger tonight to lose his control none of us would have been able to hold him back.

"Beautiful I am going to go and let you get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a big day so get some rest okay?" I give Ranger a look that said let her rest. He just smiled back at me fucker. Lucky fucking bastard is all I have to say. Of course that is if a building full of mercenaries, x gang bangers, and blackened soulless sons of bitches can convince her stay with us. Fuck I pray we can.

I give her a kiss to the top of her head and squeeze her tighter before letting go. I give Ranger our signature handshake and head for the door leaving the two soul mates alone while I head to the gym to kick the shit out of something it didn't matter as long as it was something.

RPOV

When Lester let go of my Babe I pulled her into my arms. I needed to feel her in my arms. I needed to feel her body next to mine. I needed to know she was here at least for now. I was taking what I could and would continue to pray for more.

I didn't want to let her go I didn't want to take my arms from around her but I knew she would feel better with a shower, I knew she would sleep better after washing the day off I had heard her say that a thousand times. So I just picked her up tucked her into my chest and carried her to the bathroom.

She didn't complain and she just snuggled in so she needed my touch as much as I needed her touch. God what would I do if this is taken away from me. All these years I had my head up my ass with making her mine and now when I have her she is going to pull away from me because of the same reasons I had for not making her a part of my life. Talk about fucked up. They say karma will kick you in the ass when you least expect it this was my karma for being a dumb fuck all those years.

Tonight I was going to show her exactly how much I loved her and how much I needed her to stay with me. As I made our way back to the bathroom sitting her on the counter as I proceeded to turn on the shower and get undressed. I then slowly undressed her picking her up I carried us into the shower.

Sitting her on the bench I picked up the shampoo and using the nozzle I proceeded to wet her hair and her body. I poured the shampoo in my hand and ran it thru her head gently massaging her head with tips of my fingers as I washed her hair. I rinsed the shampoo out and put the conditioner in. Leaving the conditioner while I bathed her with my bulgari body wash she loved. I had seen her wash her hair and body in that order before so I knew I was doing it right. When I finished washing her body I rinsed her body and then the conditioner from her hair.

She was watching me but hadn't said anything. She had moaned a few times while I was rubbing her head and massaging her body with my body wash so I knew she was enjoying it. When I finished washing her I quickly washed my own body. Before stepping out grabbing a towel I quickly dried myself off then dried her off and picked her up and carried her to bed. To our bed which was always going to be our bed if I had my way.

I laid her down in the center of the bed where I joined her. I pulled her close to me holding her to me feeling her soft skin lying next to mine. My lips found her neck just under her ear as I gave her a kiss searing my heart as you would cauterize a wound to keep it from bleeding.

I ran my hands up and down her body feeling her under my hand my fingers. Memorizing every inch of her every dip, every curve, every ounce of her body. Her arms wrapped around me and her hands were roaming up and down my body sending little shock waves up and down my body. God how could either of us deny what we have. How could we live without it I can tell you we can't neither one of us. God my lips find hers and I can't help the need the love for her from pouring out of them feeling the love the need from her.

I lose myself in that feeling of her lips on mine, mine on hers. My tongue tasting her delicious lips tasting her tongue I would know these lips on my body I would know her tongue her taste her touch I would know it all. I wouldn't have to see her to know her. She was my other half and it was just the same as knowing your own hands your own body the way I knew her.

My body was already responding to her I was hard for her I needed to be joined to her connected to her but I was taking my time this wasn't going to be hard and fast this was going to be slow this was going to be all night this was going to be soul binding.

She was facing me her arms around me mine around her and as I deepened the kiss rolling her more onto her back so I could take control of the kiss and of making love to her because tonight it was me showing her my feelings. I had told her with the only words I knew earlier how much I loved her now it was time to show it the only way I could.

When my lips left hers they wanted to revolt but I quickly busied them by kissing her jaw to her ear and then down from her ear down her neck as I was kissing her silky skin I felt her wrap herself around me kissing me where her lips could reach my skin. The feel of her lips on my skin makes me shiver with need and want.

I let my lips ghost over her skin giving her kisses every inch or so it is the most erotic feeling my slow movements with my eyes closed just letting my lips memorize her body every so often I use my tongue to take a taste of her skin. My hands are still feeling every inch of her body as her hands are touching and feeling me. I am keeping control of my need and desire because this is about her, not me.

I let my lips continue to work as I get lost in the feelings I am creating and she is creating within me. I get to the point where I need our connection and I settle myself between her legs holding my weight up off of her. She pulls me down a little so she can feel my weight not all of it but some of it. My eyes lock on hers she has tears in eyes but smiles at me so they are happy tears. I smile at her as I slowly push in her warm wet center.

I move extremely slow retreating every so often and then again pushing in slow agonizingly slow. My eye locked on her eyes I can see her soul my soul recognizes it and the earth moves beneath us as I slowly push myself home. Feeling her wrapped around me so hot so wet so tight it would have brought me to my knees if we weren't already lying in our bed. My eyes close involuntary and I feel them roll back in head as the wave of sensation crashes over my body of being buried inside of her. God there is no place in this world better than this better than being here like this with her. Nothing was better.

Stilling until her body had adjusted to me I began moving but my movement was slow and very little motion more a rocking rather than a pushing and pulling. I couldn't stand not to fill myself fully buried in her. She must have needed the same as her arms and legs locked around me holding me to her as hard as she could hold me.

It felt like hours neither one of wanted it to end. We didn't want to reach the edge we didn't want to reach our climaxes we wanted this feeling of being connected physically as well as emotionally and mentally.

I finally turned on my back bringing her with me so she was on top of me where I proceeded to pull the covers over her over us. Kissing her head and getting her settled laying on top me with me still buried deep inside her I whispered in her ear. "Sleep Amante, Sleep I love you. We will finish this later where I will have you screaming my name but for now I just need to feel myself buried in you. Sleep my love." I told her as I stroked her back.

She moaned at my words but added "Carlos I love you with all my heart, I need to feel you buried deep inside me right now but tomorrow I look forward to screaming your name. I love you." And then she proceeded to fall asleep laying on me with me buried deep inside her body our bodies, and souls connected. I was home. I was where I would give my life to be every night was my only thought as sleep claimed me.

SPOV

I woke up to feeling of hands being gently rubbed up and down my body god I knew those hands just as I would know my own hands. I felt soft lips touch my skin I didn't want to move from this position I was so comfortable laying there on his strong chest in his strong arms. Feeling and hearing his heart beat under my ear. Engulfed by his wonderful scent that is just him. God I could never have enough of this.

He must have realized I was awake but he took his hands and cupped my ass pushing me down on him while pushing himself up against me. Just that little bit of friction had my hormones jumping with the thought of his promise from just a few hours ago. I know I moaned I couldn't refrain with the feelings he was eliciting from my body. The man was pure magic and he didn't need to do anything to have me begging and screaming in release but look at me.

My body took over from the sensations that were running throughout my body and I started riding him. I was moving my body up and down back forth across his wonderful cock shamelessly grinding myself on him trying to further impale myself on him. I could feel him so hard in me I could feel his silky smooth skin and yet behind that hard as steel and in no time I wanted to scream his name. I held on though I didn't want this to end not that having one orgasm would stop Carlos but I wanted to hold on to feel all I could before I fell over the edge.

I heard him growl and he flipped us him taking over our lovemaking him using his body to drive me further to the edge. With every movement his cock would rub my spot and push me further to the edge. And with each movement I would grind myself further onto him pushing him further in to me where I wanted to keep him forever. I don't think I have ever felt more loved or more cherished then when Carlos is buried deep inside me. It is so all encompassing physical, mental, and emotional.

Our giving our bodies to each other in a way that is so intimate so private that it is hard to describe and probably nearly impossible for anyone to understand that hasn't experienced it. It didn't take long before he had me at the edge pushing me and edging me further to the point that I would be unable to hold on. I wanted the release so bad yet part of me never wanted to let go wanted to just reveal in the way my body was humming the pulses he was eliciting from my body that just made me groan and moan in pure delight pure ecstasy. God what this man could do to me what he could do to my body he knew every inch of me and he knew how to play every inch of me like a fine toned instrument in the hands of the most gifted musician. He had my body singing.

He upped the pressure a little as his strokes got shorter and faster keeping pressure on my spot which caused me to scream with the sensations of the waves as they crash over me pushing me with each crash until the point that I am screaming his name at the top of my lungs falling over the edge falling into my orgasm that just pulls every fiber of my body in to it that leaves me breathless panting for air my heart racing to catch up my skin is and nerves are beyond sensitive they are on overload every ounce of me is in hyper drive from the mother of all orgasms that once I recover fully I realize that I am in the arms of my lover with him spooning me from behind holding me close to his body.

I feel him kiss my shoulder as he whispered in my ear "Sleep, my lover, my life, my future wife, sleep I am right here and I am never leaving you." I was unable to speak my body was just goo as I was drifting further to sleep I heard him say "I love you with all my heart all my soul your life is my life. I love you." That was the last I heard before falling into a deep sleep in the arms of my love.

LPOV

I had gone to the gym when I left the apartment and like I suspected most of the guys were down there kicking the shit out things and each other. We were all frustrated, pissed, and half scared shitless that she would leave us. None of us wanted to admit it but we all knew it.

I was thinking about the test and it took me sometime but I came up with something that would work. As I played it out in my mind not all of us would be able to participate because it required the ability to control your level of training. Meaning we were all highly trained military or had years of experience and training that Beautiful didn't have.

So it wouldn't be fair to pit her against us her level skills to our level skills. It is sort of like in basic and Ranger school where the platoon leaders need to dumb it down a little in order to train those that aren't as highly trained as the trainers and leaders who are training them.

Since a bunch of us were experienced with training new recruits we would only use those of us in this exercise. I kept thinking about what we could do and how I would set everything up planning it so I knew a hundred percent it would be fair and challenging just as I promised her. I so desperately wanted to skew it her way but I had promised her and I had to follow thru on that promise.

I couldn't have her not trusting me on top of everything else. It had taken most of the night to come up with the plan but I did it. I came up with a plan that I think everyone will enjoy and I think even Beautiful will have fun and it will be challenging for her but she if she uses her training she will be successful.

I know she said we would meet at one but I was impatient to see her so I called Ella asked her to fix a big breakfast with all of Beautiful's favorites Ella had already heard the news of last night and was already busy working on putting together a buffet of her favorites to show her love. I just had to smile.

I told Ella to let me know when it was ready and I would help her carry it up to seven. When I finally got the call and made my way to six I had to laugh when I saw Bobby and Tank they had both thought the same thing I did and had called Ella asking her the same thing only Ella had beat us all to the punch.

All four of us made our way to seven to surprise Rangeman and Beautiful. They were going to have company for breakfast whether they wanted it or not. Of course that meant having to suffer thru another meal with Beautiful moaning and groaning with every bite but I think I can speak for all us we would rather do that than not have her with us.

I just hope she liked my idea for her test and I prayed that she would be successful.

**Please leave a review let me know what you think. Are you happy or sad that Lester interrupted Stephanie before she had a chance to tell them what she had planned to tell them? What do you think will happen? Let me know what you think. Reviews do my soul good and make my fingers type faster!**


	31. Chapter 30: How Do You Trust Yourself

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**I want to thank everyone who writes a review for my story. I enjoy reading them and I love ideas they give me so keep them coming! You do my soul good!**

**I have a website that I have created to give you all something to explore to dig deeper into the story "What does it mean to trust". See character bios including pictures of some of them, as well as playlists like girls night out playlist. Pictures of things that add depth to the story**

**www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com **

Chapter 30: How Do You Trust Yourself?

SPOV

I had just stepped out of the shower and was drying myself off when Carlos came in and kissed me on the back of my neck and shoulder. God I love when he stands behind me and kisses my shoulder it almost makes my knees weak.

"Babe" that was his way of saying good morning and I could hear the love he had for me in just the one word.

"Carlos" I say playing his game pouring as much love into that one word as I could and smiling at him. I pulled the towel that was wrapped around my hair off and started to dry it a little before running my gel thru it that Mr. Alexander had given me. Okay I purchased it but still we have been over this before right? I purchased it at his recommendation.

I wondered what Lester would have in store for me today and I wondered how I should dress. "Carlos how do you think I should dress today? Do you think I should go Cargos and Rangeman uniform with my boots or do you think I should go more Yoga pants with workout top and tennis shoes?" I asked him as he was stepping into the shower.

Watching him walking away from me and stepping into the shower I could only think one thing God I hated to see him go, but I love to watch him leave. People said Joe had the best ass in Trenton that is only because they hadn't gotten to lay their eyes on Carlos'.

Carlos had the best everything. The best ass, the best … well that I will keep to myself, the best looks, the best cars, the best that money could buy when it came to material things, the best sheets, the best chief in Ella, the list could go on I could get lost making the list of everything Carlos had that was best.

I am not certain how I got so lucky to have a man as wonderful as Carlos to love me. I only hoped today that I could prove to myself that I am worthy of such a man, such love and such devotion that he has for me.

I was going to succeed or die trying. I was pulled out of my little own world by arms snaking around me damn he takes fast showers. Then again he is batman it isn't like any dirt, or filth, or stink would have the nerve to touch him. Fuck even his clothes were too afraid to wrinkle on him. I don't know how he did it only that I have never seen that man in wrinkled clothing, dirty clothing, or dirt on him in all the fucked up situations I found myself with and without him none of it every dared to touch him.

I once again was pulled out of my internal dialogue by soft lips on my shoulder and neck and I just wanted to crawl back into bed with him. I know I moaned I couldn't help it and I heard him growl behind me.

"Playing with fire Babe" he told me chuckling as he made his way into the dressing room. I could only think burn me like only you can. Burn me and burn me good. But I knew we didn't have time. We would be heading to the compound soon and I was beyond hungry. My stomach had been growling for the past ten minutes.

I hurriedly dried my hair and pulled it up into a ponytail. I skipped the makeup I know don't panic or think I am sick but I knew what Lester had planned would be challenging and I didn't want to sweat my makeup off and have it all run down my face making me look like something from the bride of chucky so I opted for an al natural day. Only putting on my moisturizer and a little bit of lip gloss that more than likely would be gone by my first cup of coffee even though they promise all day wear in my experience they don't make it past the cup of coffee.

I am sure if I had Carlos' way about me it would be afraid to wear off and would stay on and in place all day but alas I don't have any of those traits in me so it will wear off quickly. Oh well I sigh and throw the evil tube of traitorous lip gloss down in the drawer. Didn't it understand girl code? But then again if Carlos rubbed me on his lips would I want to wear off? Fuck no, so I couldn't get too mad.

I made my way into the closet just in time to see Carlos' delicious ass he pulled his cargos up over his hips damn commando when wasn't that going to not make me hot? I thought only I realized I had said it out loud when Carlos' answered "Babe I hope there is never a time when I don't make you hot."

Fuck, I swear I am broken when it comes to my thoughts and his body I can't keep them to myself. Oh well. He hadn't answered me about what he thought I should wear. "Carlos what do you think I should wear?" I asked him again.

He looked at me and smiled "I think what you have on right now is pretty good Babe." I gave him an eye roll. I mean I am standing here butt fucking naked. Of course he would like this. Sometimes I can be evil and just then the devil sitting on my shoulder prodded me.

"Okay Carlos have it your way but you can't kill your men for looking when you are the one that told me to wear what I am wearing." It was all I could do to keep myself from laughing and make myself sound as serious as possible. Although I should have known better than to pull that tiger's tail I mean I can't help but pull it but I never can take the heat it brings and I always end up leaving the kitchen. After all Carlos always wins when it comes to sexual innuendos.

He crossed the closet it two steps grabbing me in his strong arms pulling me to his bare chest. He growled a little and then said "Mine, only mine I don't share." I had to laugh. Nodding my head holding him to me I set his mind at ease.

"Yes Carlos I am always yours and only yours forever." I told him. Smiling at him I wasn't going to allow myself to think negatively today I was going into this test with the belief that I would pass it any other option well wasn't an option. This is it I am sitting on the ten yard line in the final quarter with ten seconds to go. It was make a touchdown and win or go home alone and I'll be fuck if I am going home alone.

He put me down giving me a quick kiss and tapped my ass telling me. "Babe I think Cargos and t-shirt you don't have to dress in Rangeman uniform but knowing Lester I would pick something that will blend don't go red, blue, yellow, or white those colors stand out." He told me.

Good advice Batman I thought made perfect sense it also gave me an idea to pack a bag with extra clothing depending on what we were doing I could change. So I got dressed in black Cargos and a black t-shirt. But I packed a dark green t-shirt a pair of camouflage cargos as well as a camouflage top that would help me blend into woods. I packed another pair of black yoga pants. I also packed a black hat and a camouflage hat. I threw in my tennis shoes and put on my boots.

Carlos had gotten me a pair of boots that were super comfortable, super light weight, yet strong enough to stand up to whatever Lester would throw at me today. They allowed me to move comfortably and quickly with the support I would need especially if we were in the woods. I had no idea what he planned so I was going to be prepared for everything I knew about at the compound.

I put my hogs tooth necklace on along with the dog tags Carlos had given me. Having them would give me extra strength I needed to get thru this test. It would help me hone in on my inner Ranger. Another reason for dressing in black and packing my camouflage gear. I went ahead and added my gun belt with my guns not knowing and wanting to be prepared I had learned how to shoot these pretty accurately I didn't want to have to take a chance at learning another weapon. If one of the tests was on marksmanship I would be prepared.

I tried to think of everything but I am certain I won't be prepared for everything. I briefly walked over to Ranger's side of the closet looking at his things that he keeps there. I noticed he had paint for his face to make his face blend in and I added it to my packed bag. I noticed he had a few knives so I selected one that felt good in my hand not that I would really know what to do with it but better to be over prepared than under so I added it to my bag along with a tie that I could tie it to my leg if it was needed. I grabbed a few additional leather ties as well.

Looking over everything again I noticed a compass, and a GPS device. I turned it on letting it boot up and displayed where I was and a map of the area around me. That may come in handy so I turned it off and packed it in my bag. I knew he wouldn't mind me using these things but I was going to ask him before I actually carried them out of the apartment just in case.

There in the corner of his closet I found a scope. It wasn't attached to a gun but looking thru it I could see it had good magnification and even had some digital read outs as to distances something told me this would come in handy so I packed it in my bag. The last thing I packed was my digital camera it may come in handy. It was just a small point and shoot digital camera but depending on what happened today I may be able to use it and if not I would be able to get some pictures of my brothers and Carlos.

Carlos stepped back into the closet checking on me "Babe you okay?" he asked I had been in here awhile packing my bag and checking things out to see what I thought would help me.

"Yeah Carlos if you don't mind I looked over some of your things you have laying out and packed a few things that I thought might help me today." He smiled. I felt like I needed to add "if that isn't okay then I can put them back." He just put his fingers over my lips. "Babe what's mine is yours help yourself if you think it will help you then it probably will trust your spidey sense today it will never fail you." He told me. I just smiled.

He had always trusted my spidey sense even when I didn't and come to think about it, I don' think it has ever failed me. Maybe I failed to understand it or felt it a tad too late but it had always been there. I hugged him he always knew the right thing to say to me.

I told him about grabbing the compass and the GPS device and he took a few minutes to show me how to work it so I could get the best out of it. He also showed me once again about the compass and how to effectively use it along with the GPS.

Before we left he placed a panic button in pants. Telling me "Babe it's a panic button there is no GPS setup on this unless you activate the panic button. Once the panic button is activated your location will be sent to all of us along with a signal we will be able to track on the phone. So depending on the test be sure not to accidentally engage the button but if something happens and you need help you will be able to get help to you quickly. I don't know what Lester has planned but I want to know that you have a way to reach us if something unforeseen should happen." Of course Batman would have thought of this.

After all if Carlos was anything he was always prepared for anything and everything. He just shook his head saying "Babe". I took that to mean he was the forever boy scout forever the Ranger but more than likely it just meant since I met you I have learned to be prepared for anything and everything. I don't know but I am going with the first explanation.

A knock at our door brought me out of my thoughts as I picked my bag up and headed into the other room with Carlos. Carlos clicked his fob and I heard the door unbolt. The door then opened and in walked Ella, Lester, Tank and Bobby all carrying trays which I hoped contained food as my stomach was well past hungry at this point. Had my stomach been hikers in the desert well they would have hiked well past the point where Jesus lost his sandals.

Smelling the delicious smells as they walked past me smiling caused my stomach to growl so loud Lester jumped. I am sure he wasn't sure if it was ready to attack or not. The guys wouldn't put anything past my stomach capabilities. They also knew enough to know not to get between me and food or they may come back without a limb. I blame it all on the stomach it had its own mind.

I follow them like a lost puppy to the dining room.

EllasPOV

That sweet child has been thru so much. She doesn't understand how her presence here has affected these men. I have been their caregiver here well since the beginning and I remember how these guys were prior to her. I remember how regimented they were how almost robot they were in their actions and interactions with each other. All work all the time.

This place ran like a well oiled machine. It still runs smoothly but she has changed this place. She has brought color into a world that was only black, white, and gray. She has put smiles on some of the guys faces that I had never seen smile in all the years I had been here.

She had made some of the guys laugh and made them appear happy when I know prior to her they weren't like that. Lester being the biggest example he was never as happy, go lucky, jokester until she came into the life of Rangeman.

Ranger well Ranger was a machine. He ate, he worked, he worked out, and he slept that was his life. I worried about him because he had no life nothing special in his life other than this business. Yes he was rich but money doesn't buy you the things that Stephanie brought to his life. Now that he had decided to bring her into his life he was happy, he was different and that made my heart smile for him.

The things this poor girl has been thru to be a part of this place most women would have cracked most women would have given up but not her. She has been ridiculed for her choice of friends, she has been accused of horrid things with the men. She had turned her back on her family who refused to accept her choices and she had to deal with an asshole x-boyfriend that wouldn't take no for an answer. I swear I would like to get my hands on him.

Didn't his mother teach him better I mean coming from the burg one would have thought he would have been taught better. But he was a Morelli and from what I have heard Morelli men had a reputation of abusers, boozers, and womanizers so why would that asshole be any different.

I know you are surprised I know all of this but trust me while I work here and take care of the guys as if they were my sons I hear them talk, I see things, I hear things around town when I am running errands and I am smart enough to deduct the truths from all of what I hear.

I am so glad to have a daughter now to care for I have always wanted a daughter and had Luis and I had a daughter I would have wanted her to be exactly like Stephanie. She didn't know it but I loved caring for her and doing for her.

The thought of her leaving us was just unfathomable and if these boys of mine let that poor girl walk away from here without trying to stop her well I would purposely put extra fat and sugar in their meals for a month maybe longer. They may believe themselves to be bad asses but trust me I knew how to get to them and punish them. After all I do their laundry, I clean their apartments, and I fix their food.

If they messed with me I would hide their condoms, wash their blacks with bleach, starch their underware, and I wouldn't think twice about using real mayonnaise, real butter, real cheese, full cream, whole milk, and all the sugar I could. Let them have fun working all that off in the gym. So they better stop my daughter from leaving us if they know what is good for them or they will be dealing with me and they think Ranger is scary when he is pissed off they have no idea what I am capable of and how miserable I can make their lives.

As soon as I heard the news this morning I started fixing Stephanie's favorites. I had expected Ranger to call me to ask me but it was Lester, Bobby, and Tank that had called. They all insisted that I call them when it was ready and I didn't tell each of them about the other I thought I would let it be a surprise when they all showed up.

Soon as I had everything packed up on four trays I called them. It was funny when they met in the hall and realized that they had all had the same idea. See what she does to them? Before her they would have never dreamed of calling me requesting that I make something specific for a woman or anyone else in the building including themselves they would have known better but for her I will do it.

When we walked in I saw the look of shock on Stephanie's face and I just had to smile to myself. The closer we got you could see her sniff the air and moan and her stomach growled so loud that Lester actually took a step back. I had to laugh. Her stomach was a force to be reckoned with. She was the one person that I could cook the way I loved for including desserts and personally I loved spoiling her someone had to lord knows her mother never did.

I had heard how wretched her mother is and for the life of me I couldn't understand why. Now that is one woman I would like to have the opportunity to choke. To be gifted a daughter as wonderful in every way as Stephanie was and not to know what she had. Not to care for her, support her, lift her up and tell her how amazing she is every day I just couldn't understand.

I set about fixing the table I knew my boys would be joining Ranger and Stephanie for breakfast so I made sure to set their places as well. I briefly wondered if any of the other boys would be joining them as well but since no one else was here I just sat place settings for those that were here.

I heard Stephanie squeal in the other room and it made my heart smile. Peaking around the door I see Lester twirling her around the air. They were laughing about something, now that is music to my ears. I could tell by the amount of towels and sweaty clothing in the locker room this morning that most of the men must have been in the gym last night working their frustrations out. So it was good to hear them two laughing.

My sons may be scary to some people but to me I knew the real men behind the scary fearless exterior and they were soft as teddy bears with hearts of gold. They felt themselves unworthy but they were all worthy they all deserved love, the love that Ranger and Stephanie had. I could only pray that each of them would now allow themselves the opportunity to find it seeing how Ranger has allowed himself to have it with Stephanie. One can only hope.

I call out to them letting them know that Breakfast is ready and they are all quick to gather to the dining room. I smile at the sight they all make and there is no doubt whom they center around. Stephanie takes a look at the spread of food and smile bursts out across her face.

I then hear her say "Ella is goddess, I know she is a goddess because no one else could do the things she does. God I want her to adopt me." I had to chuckle she was talking to herself only out loud.

I smiled at her "Stephanie I adopted you long time ago, the first time I was asked to make something special for you. As far as being a goddess well that is stretching it but I thank you for the compliment." I tell her and she blushes.

Looking at me Stephanie says "Ella thank you. I love you and I am thankful and grateful for all the things you do for me. Don't be mad but I sort of think of you as a second mom." My heart soared.

"Stephanie how could I be mad? When I felt like you were the daughter I never had for a long time now. I love you too." I told her. "Enjoy your Breakfast oh and I heard about what's going on today you will do wonderful child of mine because you are awesome." I told her giving a little boost to her confidence. My boys use to love when I called them awesome growing up and you could see their confidence grow at the word just as I saw Stephanie's.

Lester took that moment to add to my comment sometimes I swear that boy I don't know what to do with him. Hiding his condoms came to mind. "Ranger tell us just how awesome Steph..OW" thank you Bobby for the slap to the head.

Ranger barked "Santos Mats eighteen hundred and I will show you how awesome I can be while kicking your ass." I couldn't help but laugh to myself served his dumb ass right. Lester is one of my favorite sons but he never knew when to shut it and he always pressed Ranger when it came to Stephanie. His constant flirting with her was probably one of the reasons Ranger decided to pull his head out of his ass and open his life up to her. Seeing the almost childlike expression on Lester's face made me laugh. He looked like a little kid that someone took his favorite toy away from him. See I told you soft as teddy bears on the inside.

I looked at them sitting around the table fixing their plates and just smiled to myself now this is how I loved watching my sons and daughter. I made my way out of the apartment thinking now would be a good time to hide those condoms.

LPOV

Great mat time at eighteen hundred didn't Rangeman know that I had a stressful enough day ahead of me and now I have mat time. Maybe he will be too busy celebrating with Beautiful to remember. No who was I kidding the fucker would kick my ass at eighteen hundred and be back up here by eighteen ten having already shit, showered, and shaved and ready to celebrate. While I am good probably the next best fighter here even I could hardly hold a candle to Ranger when he was focused and in a hurry and tonight he would be both of those things. Oh and if by some reason she isn't successful and she ends up leaving us well he will just fucking kill me after all this was my idea so it is also my responsibility.

I tell you double edge sword it will either keep my best friend with me or make me lose her forever. I swear sometimes I can get myself into the damnedest situations. Oh well it is done now and I have come up with a perfect test for her. One that will use all her skills she has after one week of training and will be challenging I even have a few surprises up my sleeve.

"Beautiful I want to talk to you about the test I came up with but first I want you to understand something. I want you to really listen to me because this is important to understand." I tell her. I took a breath and looked at the guys I might need them backing me up on this one depending on how she takes this.

"Here's the deal I came up with an exercise that will prove to you, you have the skills to do what you want. But you have to realize something you have had one week of training. Yes, you were a bounty hunter before with an excellent track record and you will use all those skills as well but this exercise isn't exactly bounty hunting and you won't have several attempts to get your man so to speak."

I had her attention, good. "I want you going into this exercise knowing you have what it takes to be successful but I also want you to understand your abilities as they are today right this moment and not expect the performance of someone who has been training for years. You will get there but like all of us it takes time. I have all the faith in the world in you and your abilities but you have to have faith in them as well and have an understanding that it is going to take years of training just like we have done for some of this. It doesn't happen overnight, it didn't for us and it won't for you. You realize Basic training is twelve weeks and Ranger training is an additional eight weeks of hell and as you have witnessed it doesn't end there."

I just didn't want her to feel like a failure I wanted her to really have a realistic set of goals going in so she would understand how successful she would be when it was over. We all knew she had unrealistic expectations of herself and she always had people beating her self worth down, her self esteem, and her confidence down. I had seen a huge step forward in her with that this week but this incident took its toll on that and you could see it. Another reason I wanted to kick the shit out of that fucking cop.

I won't give you all the details to the test just yet. But I will tell you that it's going to take place at the compound I will tell you that it will be you against eight of us. We are only using the guys that are use to training basic recruits and Ranger or Seal inductees. That way we won't use skills above where your training is currently at because that wouldn't be fair to you. We won't dumb it down below your level either. So if you know we know something special about your training then expect us to use it against you." I added because I didn't want her to think that we were skewing it. I promised her we wouldn't and we wouldn't. If I caught any of the men skewing it I would personally met them on the mats for not keeping my promise to Beautiful.

We had finished eating and I was anxious to get to the compound and get things started. "Beautiful we are going to head out and get things setup I will explain everything when you get there. I expect you to be there at fourteen hundred I tell her." I watch her do the math and smile. I can't help but smile at her.

"Okay Lester I'll see you at two." She tells me. She is getting military time way to go Beautiful. I give her a hug and kiss and motion for the guys to follow me.

**A/N: I have no idea how long Ranger training is and only guessed for the purpose of my story.**

**A/N: Go to my website now to see the map Stephanie will use for the test. This map has her marks on it minus a few but they will make sense as you read the story. Trust me when I say the map will further enhance the experience of the test.**

**www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com Click on What does it Mean and then click on Fun Stuff.**

SPOV

I am nervous about what he has planned for me but I am going to do my best to accomplish it. Carlos and I head down to the garage. The second we step off out of the elevator there is a loud bang and smoke everywhere.

I feel someone grab me and I can remember screaming Carlos' name and not hearing a reply. A canvas bag was placed over my head and my hands were tied behind me I was kicking and fighting but there was more than one and they were holding me so none of my kicks connected. I was quickly loaded into a vehicle and I heard tires screaming as the vehicle pulled away.

My heart was throbbing I wasn't sure if this was part of the test or if I truly had been abducted from the Rangeman garage. I debated using my panic button but with where my hands were tied I couldn't reach it anyway and being laid on my stomach I couldn't push my ass into anything and activate it.

The vehicle drove around a lot I was trying to track the turns and think what possible route we were going but with so many turns it was nearly impossible. When the vehicle finally came to a stop I was lifted out of the vehicle where I tried once again to attack my kidnappers but they held me in a way I wasn't able to land a significant blow.

I didn't hear a sound other than their shoes on the ground I heard a door open and then close I could tell by the light coming thru the bag that I was now indoors but I had no idea where. I was sat down in a chair and quickly tied to it with a rope around my chest tied at the back almost where my hands were tied.

I heard the door open and close again the room was silent. I sat and listened for a few minutes to make sure I was alone that I didn't hear anyone breathing or moving. When I was fairly certain I was alone I started working on the knots that bound my hands. When I finally worked them lose I started working on the knot that was tying me to the chair. It took me a couple of tries as the chair back was getting in the way but I finally was able to release myself.

I pulled the bag off of my head to look around to see where I was. My eyes focused on my bag. They had left the bag I packed this morning with me. This wasn't kidnappers this was the doings of my brothers. When this was over I am going to kill them for scaring me so bad. But I guess when I think about it I sort of asked for it.

I went thru the bag making sure everything I packed was in there and it was. Whew. I briefly wondered if they looked. They were the Merry Men my brothers of course they looked. Hell I couldn't bring a bag in of tampons disguising my contraband of tasty cakes without them wanting to look in and go thru it. Thinking tampons would thwart their desire but it had no effect whatsoever it may as well been a box of ammo.

Needless to say I had to share my tasty cakes with Lester to keep him from squealing on me, the pig he is. He almost lost his best friend status that day after all it takes a lot for me to share my tasty cakes especially under duress of the threat of being ratted out to the boss.

Everything I packed this morning is in my bag. I notice a letter written on the desk sitting beside a digital recorder. The note said "Play Me". So I pushed the button. A voice I didn't recognize started to talk. The voice sounded like a gang banger in the way he spoke and the language he used.

He told me that I and Ranger had been kidnapped. He said that I had to free myself, find Ranger, free Ranger and get us both to safety by way of the safe house. Fuck what had I gotten myself into I briefly wondered. But I had asked for it so I was going to have to pull it together and figure it out.

The voice went on to explain that they were a local gang and that if I were to be captured by a gang member then Ranger would be killed immediately as would I. If the gang members detected that I was there coming for Ranger than Ranger would be killed. So I couldn't even be seen, or detected and couldn't be captured. I had to go totally undetected. I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to do this. But the voice went on further to explain things.

If I was seen and if I could render the gang banger dead before they notified any of the others then all would be good. The voice told me there eight gang bangers and that they would respond to my actions as gang bangers would meaning shoot me, capture me, or try to fight me but they wouldn't have any special training or advanced fighting skills only that they are bigger and stronger than me which let's face it most men are.

The voice then tells me that I have two weapons to use in addition to my fighting skills. The first is a laser gun that when I shoot someone with it, it will sound off a loud beeping noise. But that I had the option of putting a silencer on it that would only cause lights to light up on the vests. The bad news was I had to attach the silencer myself and I had a vest I needed to wear and they had the same weapon with the same capabilities. So they could use their silencer to shoot me. If shot in the kill zone all lights on the vest would light up and I would be officially dead the same held true for the gang members. If I was just wounded then the light would be on that area but I could continue only I couldn't use that limb. If it was near my right arm I couldn't use my right arm or near my left leg I couldn't use my left leg. Okay that made sense.

The second weapon was a wooden knife. Not sharp and completely harmless but wherever the knife was used on skin to consider it a wound. The only kill with the knife was to run it across someone's neck. While you could stab someone with a real knife that wasn't acceptable in this exercise so if I stabbed someone it wouldn't count as a kill or a maiming.

The voice then told me where I could locate my vest, weapons, and lastly a map that I needed to use they had marked the spot where Ranger was being held and where the safe house was but there were no other markings on the map. I needed to figure out where I was and how to get to him without being detected, without being captured, and rescue him bringing him to safety of the safe house. The last instruction on the tape was that Ranger wasn't to help instruct me if I was able to rescue him. He was going to completely follow my orders and my lead in order for me to get him to safety. That I couldn't ask him questions or ask him for any assistance and that he had been instructed to give me none. He had to rely on what I knew and my instructions to follow me to safety.

Holy shit what the fuck had I gotten myself into? I briefly wondered. Taking a deep breath I sat down for a minute and studied the map, taking a look at my vest, and my weapons, getting a feel for them in my hands a feel for shooting the laser gun. I worked the silencer on the gun because the gun was laser I could turn on or off the silencer. Being that I didn't want to be detected I just turned it on.

I saw a reset button on the vest so I tested it to make sure it worked…and it did. Then I decided to see how accurate the vests were. So I placed it a distance away from and fired at it seeing how I could set off the individual sensors and when it would set all of the sensors off making it a kill shot. Once I was fairly happy with my ability to fire the gun I proceeded to get dressed.

Seeing the area was mostly wooded I opted for the camouflage wear so I quickly changed into my clothes that I had packed. I took a few minutes to use the facial paint on my face and arms. I tucked my ponytail up into my camouflage hat. I shrugged on the vest. I put my weapons on me and then went thru my bag. I selected my real knife with the woods it would come in handy if needed. I selected the compass that would help me with the map, I selected the GPS unit again it would help with my location and distance.

I even grabbed a few of the leather ties just in case I needed them for anything. Lastly I grabbed the scope. I managed to find a place for everything in my utility belt that I had packed. I didn't have a mirror to see but I bet I was looking like a total bad ass.

I sat back down and turned on the GPS unit to get my location and looking at the map on it I was hoping I could match it to the map they provided me. That would help me figure out where I was in relation to Ranger and in relation to the safe house. Between the two maps and the GPS I was able to determine that I was a good distance away from Ranger. I grabbed my pen that I had packed at the last moment and marked on the map where I was. I then tracked a route to Ranger. First one I did was a direct path from my location to his. It was thru the woods as I suspected when I had first seen the map.

I knew direct would be the fastest way to him but also knew that would be more expected and the most guarded path. So then I tracked two other routes and one route had two possible ways. I could cut in and reach him or I could circle out further from the GPS map it looked like one was higher ground than the other which might come in handy and I would reach him from the back of the building he was being held which may have an advantage as I was certain there would be a guard there I just didn't know if the guard would be inside or outside.

The other route was more downhill circling around behind again but coming out more to the side of the building than behind the building. I wasn't certain about being downhill from even the direct route as that would give any guards a better line of site of me if they spotted me it was over unless I could stop them before notifying the others and with that disadvantage I wouldn't be able to stop them.

So I selected the path that I had tracked that had the two routes. It wasn't like it was path in the woods I had no idea what I would be walking thru it was a path that I made up on the map. Looking at the directional markers on the map I could tell that I would be walking north west direction then turn slightly more to the west and then more to the north before turning more north east then east and finally heading south to come up behind the building. I liked it. It had its advantages in that it was probably the longest path to his location so I doubt the "gang bangers" would expect me there and I would be able to scope out the safe house from an advantage to make sure we would have no surprises there as I would skirt by it at the top of the hill. I only hoped the forest would be full through those areas. If not I would have to find a better way.

I quickly made a couple of notes from what the voice had told me on the map. One there were eight gang bangers. I quickly thought if I was running this where I would put my people. One on where I was located, one where Ranger was located, probably one or two on the way to the safe house, and the rest would be spread out where I thought the most likely path would be taken. I had the obvious path marked so I would imagine one or two there but then I wouldn't be surprised if the others wouldn't be fanned out a little. I folded my map up and tucked it into my belt. Now I had to get out of here without being detected.

I looked around the building and noticed there were windows that I could actually open. Using the chair a moved the chair to the windows to look out to see if I could spot anyone standing guard or watching the building I was in. Carefully and as quietly as I could I moved from window to window there was no body at the back of the building or on the sides but there was a guard at the front of the building standing just to the right of the door about 20 feet or so away from the door. So if I had opened the door I wouldn't have seen him until I either stuck my head out or stepped out of the door. He was turned towards the door and leaning against the building.

Looking at him I could tell it was Zip. I moved the chair as quietly as I could move to the back of the building. I took my map out and wrote Zip's name on it. I already had written Lester, Tank, and Bobby. I probably could have guessed the others but just in case they thought they would trick me I wasn't guessing anything.

I stood up in the window scanning the area I didn't see anyone in the open but that didn't mean they weren't there. I know they were supposed to have the skills of a gang banger but this might be a gang banger like Hector who is not your average gang banger. I pulled my scope out and scanned the area watching carefully for movement. When I had done the tracking with Junior he said to watch for movement it was the easiest way to see someone you are tracking it was also the easiest way for them to see you.

I followed the line of sight I had in the woods slowly looking for any movement any signs of life. I didn't spot any so I thought here goes nothing. I needed to be as silent as possible. So that meant I really needed to control myself going out and not hit against the building or land on my ass on the ground. I couldn't alert Zip I had escaped.

Silently I pull the window open the opening isn't that big but hopefully I will be able to fit thru it Thank god I had been laying off the boston crèmes lately or my ass wouldn't be making it out of that hole. I finally got my lower end out of the hole and gradually lowered myself down. I was amazed at how strong I was. I was able to completely lower myself with my body against the building for support when I was fully extended I dropped to the ground the extra several inches but it was quiet. I paused with my gun ready listening for foot prints but I heard none. Scanning the area once more I made it to the trees for cover.

Once I got to the trees I hunkered down between some bushes. Pulled out my map and my compass once again having figured out where I was and the path I wanted to take prior to getting to this point was helpful because I was able to quickly find my direction and the way I wanted to go.

I was careful to cover my trail behind me. Being careful not to touch anything unnecessarily I walked easily and as fast I could. Constantly scanning down as I was heading up to higher ground stopping every now and then to scan the hill above me for movement. The wind wasn't really blowing today so I was also looking for any leaf movement. Gun at the ready just in case, I made my way up the trail I had mapped out. So far so good I saw no movement and hadn't encountered any of the "Gang Bangers".

I had paused to take a look at my map, GPS, and compass just to make sure I was still on the path I had laid out when I heard something I wasn't sure what it was. It was a click sound had I been moving I would have never heard it. I had pressed myself between a tree and bush when I stopped taking cover.

I listened for any other sounds and heard nothing but I knew not to move, at least not yet. If it was one of the "Gang Bangers/Merry Men" then that sound was something they didn't anticipate making and they would be walking silently. I doubt if they even realized how silently they walked after all these years. Not moving an inch I scanned the area I could see with my eyes. I knew they wouldn't see me from behind because the tree covered me completely. The only way they would see me is from the one side or the front.

I held my breath and I didn't allow an inch of me to move. I finally heard what I was waiting for behind me were footsteps. I pulled my knife out I wasn't going to take chances with the gun yet. I wasn't sure if there were one or more so I was going to let them get in front of me and I would sneak up behind if it was one if it was two I would let them go on before I selected another path.

It wasn't but a few seconds later when Zero came walking by me. He was looking ahead and looking up the hill as if expecting me to be higher up. I had squatted down so I was well below the area he was scanning but I knew any movement even the slightest leaf movement would give me away.

I let him get several strides in front of me just enough that I knew I would be out of his peripheral vision Hector had worked with me on that on the mats. Watching and anticipating an attack. I won't forget that lesson. I quickly lined myself up directly behind him and advanced on him. Using my lesson from Cal with jumping on his back I quickly advanced and jumped on his back pulling the wooden knife across his throat.

Zero immediately fell to the ground taking me with him me landing on top of him. He was playing dead. I had gotten him. I quickly took his weapons from him, his gun and wooden knife. They said Ranger couldn't help me but they didn't say that he couldn't be armed after all he was to follow my orders. My orders would be shoot the fuckers, kill the fuckers if they spotted us.

I rolled Zero over to see if he had any other useful weapons or toys and I spotted a cell phone that wasn't stand issue Rangeman cell phone. Thinking this was how they were communicating with each other I took it. Hopefully they were sending texts to each other. If that is the case maybe they would give me some insight to where they were or at least I hoped.

Looking his utility belt over again I found a pair of binoculars may come in handy so I took them and added it to my belt. I took a moment to write his name down on my map and draw a line thru it. One down seven to go or watch out for. I then decided to get Zero off of my path. That way if he was found he wouldn't lead them to me at least the path I had mapped out.

Sorry this may hurt a little I picked his arms up and covered his face then I proceeded to roll him down the hill. It was wooded area I rolled him until I came to a tree that had fallen and I rolled him up against it hopefully no one would see him alerting them that I am here. For safe measure I pulled my knife, the real one, and I proceeded to cut a few limbs from a couple of the bushes near by covering him with them. He wasn't completely covered but hopefully no one would see him.

Once I finished that I pulled my map out and got back on the course I had mapped out. I pulled the cell phone I had taken off of Zero out and scrolled thru text messages. It was clear they were communicating by text message I just wasn't sure what they were saying. I paused for a moment beside a tree opening the map and looking at the text messages. Z2 had texted no activity all quiet with TK Just a couple of minutes go so Z2 must be Zip I must be TK. I sat down for moment pulling out my pen. I wrote Z2 at the building where I was held. But I had to assume he would move from there.

I scrolled the next message it was from L1, Lester, his had D4 - E6 Clear. D4 to E6 what the fuck was that. Looking at the map I saw the legends top were letters sides were numbers. Holy fuck I knew where Lester was. Playing Battleship had paid off who would have thought it. Marking my map L1 in that area I quickly drew a box around the area. I scrolled to the next message it was B1, Bobby, his message said subject secured. He was with Carlos. It could have been worse it could be Tank with Carlos so I will take it.

Taking my map I made note of where Bobby was only I wasn't sure if he was inside or outside. I made note beside both Bobby and Lester's name of their nickname not that I would forget it but I can be anal at times. I scrolled to the next message it was from H1, Hal, I wrote Hal's name with H1 on the map and marked the area he was in, he was in C2 – E3 right near where I was planning to go so I would have to be on the lookout for him as I neared that area and made my way over to the building.

The next message was from C1, Cal making the same notes as I did for the other I marked his location F4 – H5 so he was where the direct path along with Lester that would have led me to Carlos. J1, Junior was patrolling F1 – H2 right where I needed to be behind the building Carlos was being held. Fuck. I marked my map with his location I would have to think about that further. R1, Ram's message said I2 – J4 clear so he was on the far side of the building not good. Finally I see a text from Tank, T1 he is near the safe house at A 1 – B2 fuck. He is like monitoring the area around the safe house the only way around them would be to expose ourselves out of the cover of the forest. Shit.

I had made all my notes I noticed more texts of clear coming in for the same coordinates as previously listed. I scrolled to see what Zero's text was and found Z1 the coordinates of A4 – C5 clear. So I hit to resend it. If they didn't get a text from Z1 they would know something was wrong and I was here.

As I continued on my path a debated about which path the one higher ground that cut across Tanks patrol or the lower one that went right through the middle of Hals. I went for higher elevation in hopes that I could Spot Hal and take him out and the whole time praying Tank didn't spot me. I was betting on him being a little closer to the safe house. My path just cut across his area a ways from the safe house he was guarding so I felt like I had a better chance of going undetected along with the better possibility of seeing one of them. This path also put me above Hal's in case I didn't see him I could probably stay hidden better. The only problem with his path is that it sent me straight into Junior's area. I knew the tracker he was and felt a little uncomfortable with that.

I decided this felt like the best path to take so I stuck to my plan of higher ground hoping that they would be patrolling closer to the more likely direct route path options. I keep walking knowing I am getting closer and closer to Tank's area. The hill going up is pretty steep but I make it with as little noise as possible. On top of the hill I am able to see the safe house. I also see Tank. He is down closer to the safe house. Hidden behind a bush I drop to my knees where he won't see me.

I can't do anything with him because I am almost certain he is well out of range for the laser guns. He is down by the house. So down on my knees where I know I am low enough that he can't see me I proceed to easily crawl across the area. I am not so concerned about covering my trail perfectly but in case he pulls a patrol before I am done I don't want to make it obvious so I do my best to make sure only knees and hand touch and make sure I don't scrape the ground. It's not easy you should try it sometime but I manage.

I also keep an eye on my right for any signs of Hal as I make my way out of Tank's area. There is nothing to say they can't go beyond these areas I am just hoping that their plan was stay in these areas and look for me in their area. As I checked my map and compass and turned directly east to head over I am only slightly above his area nothing says Hal won't be up this high. I am more on the ridge of the hill and his area is slightly below but it was only the difference of feet maybe couple yards at the most.

I stood up and made my way east toward the cabin. Keeping a look to my right and ahead I knew no one would be on the left or behind me at least not right this minute but behind wouldn't be safe for long.

I caught movement from the right ahead of me and ducked behind a tree. Peeking out sure enough I saw Hal. He was coming towards me slightly lower on the hill from me seeing my opportunity I quickly grabbed hold of the limb and pulled myself up in the tree. Hal was looking more down the hill than up but occasionally would glance up. I got the laser gun read I was going to shoot his vest once he was a little closer. I would still have center mass shot but hopefully he would be within range. I made double sure the silencer was still on I didn't need to send out the alerts of his vest buzzer going off.

He was finally within my range I took aim and fired. All the lights on his vest lit up. I saw the look of shock register on his face and he quickly scanned for me before falling down playing dead. I am not sure he saw me before playing dead.

I got down out of the tree and made my way down to Hal. Like Zero I was going to strip him of his weapons and see if he had any more goodies on him. I quickly pushed on him to turn him over and he obliged and rolled over. Less face I would never turn over Hal's dead weight. I took his cell phone, his weapons, and I noticed he had another device on him that Zero didn't have. It was like my unit but it had blips on it. I took it I would figure out what they were in a few minutes. From where I knew where the other guys were I left Hal as they wouldn't see him here. I did cover him with a few bush branches that I cut with my knife just in case but it was good. Not that I could have moved him anyway.

I took my map and scratched Hal H1 off the list. Now we had safe passage back to the safe house well until we reached Tank that is. I sat down for a minute looking at my map I had a decision to make. Now that I had taken Hal out I could go thru Hal's area come out just below Junior's area at the house or I could continue on the path I had chosen.

I had to figure out what Junior was going to do if he was going to be closer to the house or running the ridge. Both had advantages and disadvantages. While I was thinking about the way I would go I checked out Hal's GPS unit. I knew it was GPS and I figured the blips were the guys. There were only a few but from looking at it I would say it was telling the single for Lester, Tank, and Bobby. I was worried that it may be telling the signal for Hal if the other guys had a similar device. So I made the decision to leave it at the edge of his area closet to the house. The guys will think that he took up post there to watch for me coming to the house. At least I hoped that is what they would think. When I had Ranger I would retrieve the device when I got back to his area we could use it to help with Tank's exact location.

I knew Junior like higher ground but I also knew if I went lower I would be a sitting duck. He was good. He had taught me. So I had to be extremely careful and go extremely slow. He could be anywhere from up a tree to lying on the ground. I knew hearing him would be out of the question. This was going to be the most challenging and I had to go in half mile and then turn south for a quarter of a mile all in his territory the south would be going downhill. If I could get lucky and take him out Carlos and I would have safe trip back to safe house until we reached Tank's area.

My path actually went below that of what Junior was patrolling so I could go above to the upper lines but that would mean I would have to go up hill as I was already at the crest of the hill and then downhill south to the house further than my prior planned path. However he probably wouldn't be looking for me on this side of the hill that would be an advantage of course the longer downhill trek would be a disadvantage if I hadn't been able to spot him and take him out before I reached that point.

Pausing a moment before I entered his area I took cover and studied the map more. While that seemed like an option something told me to stick to my plan. So I stayed on course. Just going extremely slow cautious of every step not to make a sound and make sure the slightest of trail was covered. I had my gun at the ready just in case I saw him I was going for the kill. I wasn't pausing I wasn't waiting I was going for it.

A text popped in all clear from the guys again including Junior so I sent one from Hal and one from Zero. I saw a text from Lester well the hell is she and has she left the building yet? But no response from Zip if I had left I guess if I didn't alert them to my leaving then they weren't allowed to look. I was hoping that was same with where Ranger was being held.

I climbed a tree that I saw I could get up and down easily from and decided to just wait Junior out. It was my best defense. Walking wasn't going to work with him. It was a last minute thought and decision when I saw the tree it had the perfect limb I could lay out across it and had perfect sight of the ridge and down towards the house. He would come by it was only a matter of time.

The leaves kept me covered yet I had great views and I was able to sit my laser gun in front of me like a sniper rifle double checking the silencer was on once again I watched and waited for Junior to step into my trap. He wouldn't expect me here. I had been sitting there about twenty minutes when I saw movement. I had to smile. I had him. He was heading straight towards me coming up the hill probably to walk the ridge I let him get two steps closer and pulled the trigger all the lights on his vest lit up.

He looked up and spotted me I saw the ghost of a smile on his face as he fell down playing dead. Like the others I stripped him of his weapons and cell phone. He didn't have any other thing on him weapon or gadget wise but he had a key around his neck something that he doesn't normally wear so I took it. I wasn't sure what it was but something told me it was significant and I would be able to use it.

I sat down took my map out crossed out J1 and looked at the options we had for heading to the safe house. It was open all the way to Tank's area. I just had to get Ranger out of there undetected. I needed to do a little recon. To find out just how close Cal was and if Bobby was outside or inside. See all those hours of watching war movies were paying off well that in addition to my training. But my training never told me to take the other guys weapons. That was probably sacrilegious in the world of Rangeman.

I only stripped them of the fake weapons. I would never take my brother's real weapons away from them. They needed them like I needed my underwear or my plastic you know can't leave home without it.

While I am safe in Junior's area I walk from one side to the other getting as good of a view of the building from the three sides. I don't see anything of Cal down in front of the building area and I don't see Bobby that means he is standing out front or inside. I know Ram's patrol is the far side of the building and I need to find him in order to have a clear entrance and exit of the building.

I make my way further across Junior's area. Ram is a Sniper he is going to find high ground and hunker down. I know the guys aren't supposed to use their training beyond my knowledge but Ram knows I would know this about him so it being his second nature he would do it.

I sat down pulled out the map studying it and looking at the lay of the land in front me I actually decide to head north and go higher above the area and come down into his area from the back side of the ridge. One, he will never expect me up there because that is way out of the way of where Carlos is and two I am betting they are thinking I am more focused on actually rescuing Carlos than taking them on.

I made my way up high and came in on the far corner of his property. His focus would be on the house back and side knowing Bobby and Cal had the front. As I made it up over the hill and crested the top I was right. He was about 40 feet in front of me lying down behind some boulders with the laser gun focused on back of the house just waiting for me if I had chosen that path.

I pulled my wooden knife out walking as silently as I could knowing Ram could hear a pin drop at twenty feet I got to the point that I could launch myself on his back. This was going to be fun. I launched myself and landed on his back the second I hit him he turned taking me with him but I was able to drag the wooden knife across his neck. His turning actually assisted me in that task.

The only problem now was that Ram was playing dead lying completely on top of me his back to my front with my arms out to the sides. Fuck he is heavy I was gasping for air. I knew he was having fun with this and laughing on the inside about having trapped me only he was "dead" and I was "alive" as far as the test went so joke on him. I just had to figure out how the fuck to get out from under his heavy ass.

I pushed and tried to turn but he weighed more than I can move with the leverage of lying on my back. I finally got a leg out and was able to shift a little bit. Fuck he wasn't making easy probably payback for me getting him, catching him unaware of his surroundings none the less. When I was able to shift my hip out from under him I was able to bend my knee up with my foot on the ground and my hand and hips pushing him up I was able to raise him up enough to slide my upper body out when I got my upper body out I was able to with both hands move him enough to get my lower body out. Fuck that was hard.

Sitting there catching my breathe I took his laser gun, and knife and searched him for anything else I may be able to use to my advantage. He didn't have anything other than a slim flat piece of metal I didn't know what it was but I took it. I would figure out what to do with it later.

I grabbed the cell phone they were using for communication and noticed an all clear message had come in from the other guys still in the game. Coordinates still matching the areas I had noted on my map. I took a minute to text back from all of the guys phones letting them know their areas were all clear as well. I marked R1 off on my map before getting up.

Knowing the area around the back of the house to the far side of the house was clear I made my way to the back of the building. Making sure to stay exactly behind the building and move as quickly as possible once out of the cover of the trees.

I made my way to the back of the building. There were no doors only windows and they were slightly above my head but if I stretched I could possibly see in well enough. I am not sure. I first put my head to the wall trying to listen for any sound but I couldn't hear anything. I then tried listening at the window and still was unable to hear anything. Either the place was really sound proofed or there was no movement or talking inside.

I pulled out the map again depending on where Cal was he would be able to see either side of the house. Looking at it I felt like there was less chance that he would be looking on the far side of the building rather than the side closer to other buildings. So, I made my way to that side of the building. I found a bucket perfect for standing on. I didn't want to hang out on the side because I had no idea where they were and the last thing I wanted was for them to spot me. With virtually no cover I knew it would be nearly impossible not to be seen.

Grabbing the bucket I make back to the safety of the back of the building. I stand up on the bucket and peer into the window from an angle. Directly on I will affect how the light shines into the room and alert them. From an angle though I will have the best opportunity to see what I need without being seen.

I looked in and saw Carlos sitting in the chair at a table. He had a bag over his head, and his hands were tied behind him. He was tied to the chair just as I was. I wondered why he hadn't untied himself and then remembered that Carlos wasn't supposed to have any special skills he was only to follow my instruction. He was waiting for me to rescue him. Even knowing this is an exercise the thought of me rescuing Carlos made my heart soar with pride.

I didn't see anyone else in the room with him but I couldn't see all of the room. Before I do anything I moved to the other side still empty. I then moved to the other window and peeked in from both sides the room was empty. The only way for Bobby to be in there would be if he was standing at the back of the wall pressed up against it. I was going to just have to take a chance on that not being the case.

I made my way back to the window that was on the farther side of the building less chance of anyone seeing us escape thru that window. I tried to push the window up but it wouldn't budge. I took my knife out and pushed it between the window sill and pane running it along the width of the window. I had dealt with old painted shut windows before and I was hoping that was the case.

I then wedged the knife in to give me a little bit of leverage and the window broke loose, thank fuck. But wouldn't raise it was locked. I remember the thing I took off of Ram and used it to run between the lower window and upper window effectively unlocking the window, now I knew what it was for. I slowly raised the window up until I was able to pull myself up thru the window. It wasn't easy to get thru but I did it.

I am not certain Carlos will be able to get out of the window but we will see he's taller than me so it would probably be easier for him. I eased my way up to him I knew it was him but I didn't want to alert Bobby who was probably out front of my presence in the house.

I pulled the bag off and found a smiling Carlos. I smiled back at him. Mouthed I loved you at him and proceeded to untie him afterwards motioning for him to be quiet. While I was there I checked the phones and went ahead and sent an all clear from Zero's, Hal's, Ram's and Junior's phones.

I handed Ranger one of the laser guns, as well as one of the wooden knives. I motioned for him to follow me to the window. Looking out I double checked to make sure we hadn't been made and I slowly pulled myself out the window. Being the lookout I motioned for Carlos to come out that the coast was clear.

He was able to get himself out of the window I was a little surprised but he made it. But then again he is batman he could probably turn into smoke if necessary. I motioned for him to follow me and we took off at a good clip for the cover of the woods. I didn't stop until we were at the safer spot of ridge line of the hill.

I stopped and turned to Carlos then. "Hi, I love you." I told him. He wrapped his arms around me pulling me too him kissing me on the top of my head.

Answering me "Hi Babe, I love you too." He told me. The sentiment almost made me want to burst into tears I know there was nothing to cry over but it had been a stressful day and I had rescued Carlos. But I got control of my emotions before they sprung loose. We still had to get to the safe house and get inside of it and we had to get thru Tank to do it. We were far from home free.

I checked the text messages and matched everyone up with their coordinates on the map if they were texting their true coordinates then they were still in their area. There was always a chance that was a trap but I was going to have to go with it being where they were and just continue to be cautious.

I motioned for Carlos to follow me as we made our way to over to Hal's area where I had left the GPS unit with the blips on it. I quickly retrieved it taking a moment to sit down looking at the map and the blips along with the map on the unit I attempted to figure out the different blips. I saw Tank's over by the safe house, he was easy. I wasn't sure the one in front of the house Ranger had been in was Bobby's or Cal's it could honestly be either one. The other one I determined was Lester. There was no blip for zip.

I sat there watching the blips move and I made a mark on my map as to any patterns I noticed while sitting there for about fifteen minutes. I would like to have watched longer but knowing that Bobby or Cal and Zip didn't have blips made me nervous if they changed positions we would be in trouble.

Ranger also had on a vest so they could kill him while he was with me and or kill me. So I had to make sure I kept him protected as well as protected myself. I looked at the map one last time forming a plan for making it to the safe house.

We were going to stick to higher ground of the ridge and head back to the safe house the way I had come only we were going to stay in Hal's area just in case. If his unit was displaying a blip for him I didn't want it outside of the coordinates not even a little bit. That would alert the guys something wasn't right and I didn't want to alert them to give them reason to start searching for us.

Until they were alerted there was something going on they would continue to do as they had been doing. They were supposed to be gang bangers with no training and no knowledge that I had escaped and reached Carlos so far none of them have been alerted by a change in anyone's behavior.

So far that element of surprise was working for me and I didn't want to lose it. I motioned for Carlos to follow me. While we were safe I whispered to him that if saw a "gang banger" to shoot. He just chuckled but nodded. After all he was to follow my orders.

Watching the unit we made our way closer to Tank's area. The Closer we got the more nervous I was getting. This was going to be a challenge I hadn't come across an A-team member yet and Tank well he was one of the best along with Carlos and Lester.

Still on the ridge and well out of Tank's area I sat down pulling my map out again. I knew the area south was safe except for where Lester was but I could stay far enough north of his area that it wouldn't matter. So we could head southwest then turn more westnorthwest before heading north to the house. Having watched Tank's movement on the device he wasn't really patrolling that far end he was concentrating more on the east and south east side of the safe house not really dead south if we went west enough we may be able to sneak past him, maybe.

So that was my plan, I felt good about it so I motioned for Carlos to start following me and we headed south west. Before I exited Hal's area I made sure to put the device down well within his area. I hated leaving it behind as it would have come in handy but it was too much of a risk in alerting them. I didn't need all of the rest of them searching this area for me, for us. Besides if they knew I had this device then they would know I had taken Hal out and that may make them question others. Knowing my luck they probably had a safe word or something. If they were alerted I wouldn't be able to depend on them maintaining their coordinates.

I kept a look out just in case and was careful with the trail we were leaving covering anything that really stood out. Checking my map, the GPS unit I had been carrying and my compass I realized we had reached the point to turn more west north west to head up towards the Safe House. This would take us more to the west and south of where Tank was patrolling.

I had marked my map where tank was patrolling and this was about as good as it got for us to get there. They didn't know I knew where they were so again I had the element of surprise. But the area he was patrolling was really close to where we were going. The good thing and bad thing is that area is out in the open so we would be able to see him, possibly. I just hoped we had good cover with a good view when we got there. I knew crossing the area he was patrolling would be certain and sudden death so I had to have surprise on our side. But I also knew that Tank like Carlos or should I say Ranger in this instant is nothing if not always hyper aware of their surroundings so there would be no sneaking up on him. Maybe Ranger could pull it off but I knew I couldn't and since Carlos isn't suppose to have any skills I can't order him to do that.

We reached the point where we would turn north and head into Tank's territory. Before we reached it I sat down with the map and gathered my thoughts. I briefly wondered how far in the opening we would have to run to make it to the house. I didn't want to break cover to make it to the house but I knew we had no choice.

I also knew that Tank wasn't going to be the type to lay in wait he was more in your face more bold his size gave him the advantage. He wasn't going to be laying in wait for us but he was going to be ready for us the moment we broke cover he would be ready to act. Unless I got the opportunity to take him out. I didn't know how much the route he had been patrolling was under cover or out in the opening I could only hope some was out in the open and I could only hope that he was sticking to the pattern I marked on my map.

I folded my map back up getting up I motion for Carlos to follow. I motioned for him to keep watch out by pointing to my eyes and then to the areas where I wanted to keep a watch out. I needed to focus on Tank so I needed to ask him to keep eyes on the right side and behind us. I wasn't too afraid for our left side as it was the edge of the map and I doubt they would suspect us this far out but I would take a minute here and there to scan it none the less.

The more we walked into Tank's territory the slower and more controlled my movements became. When I found an area to stop that was enough cover for both of us I took it to scan the area closer to check for movement to see if I could hear anything. Having my laser gun at the ready for any action coming our way I would motion to Carlos and we would start slowly progressing further towards the safe house.

I really would like to sit and take another look to see how much further we have to go to get to the house but I wouldn't risk sitting at this point. I needed to get us as close as possible to the house and find cover for us so I kept going forward. It wasn't long before the house came into view thru the woods.

Slowing down even more I found an area of cover for Carlos and motioned for him to stay there. I needed to get closer and scope out the place. I could keep him covered where he was should Tank approach us.

I made my way closer to the edge and found a spot that would be good coverage for us it wasn't ideal but it was okay. Carlos could squat down behind and I could lie down sort of under the bush. I was hoping I would be able to catch Tank out in the opening on one of his patrol rounds.

I quickly back stepped my way to Carlos and motioned for him to follow me. Quickly getting us to the point that I had scoped out I motioned for him to squat down while I got on my belly. I motioned for him to keep look out and pointed to the right and behind us. I wouldn't be able to cover those for my location so I needed him to do that. He nodded his understanding. I made my way slightly under the bush laying my laser gun in front me being very careful the tip of the gun didn't protrude past the bush. I needed the leaves of the bush to cover us.

Thank god the leaves are on the trees and bushes if not I wouldn't have been able to pull this off. I could see the house in front us and it was about forty feet of open space we would have to cross to get to the house. Then we would have to get in the house to be considered safe. I knew the time it would take even if it was small would still be enough for Tank to kill both of us.

So we were going to have lay here and wait until hopefully he came out in the open. He had been patrolling a route that would have brought him out in the open as he came closer to the house so I could only hope he would continue to do the same thing. If so, then I would have my shot to take him out which was the only way we would be able to successfully make it to the safe house.

We had been in this position laying at the ready for almost thirty minutes. I was growing tired of lying here but I knew it was the only way. When I saw movement in front of us and to the right of us just where I had expected him or hoped that he would appear. I knew for the way he was walking and our angle I had a very short window of opportunity to actually kill him and not just wound him. Getting myself ready and making sure the silencer was still on I readied myself for the shot.

As soon as Tank stepped into the scope I was using to help site the laser gun I took the shot. His vest went off like the fourth of July. I had done it. I had taken out Tank. YAY ME! I knew we still needed to get into the house but I was much more confident and relaxed but also knew those emotions lead to trouble. So before I got to excited I got up motioned for Carlos to stay put and keep a look out. I skirted the forest until I was near Tank. Checking around to make sure it was safe I made my way to Tank.

I took his laser gun and wooden knife just as I had with the others, I also found a key around his neck like Junior's so I took it along with his cell phone. I quickly sent an all clear text to the rest of them as I made my way back into the cover of the woods and back to where I had left Carlos waiting.

Once I made it back to him I checked the phones for the clear messages from the guys left in the game and all were where I had marked them. We were safe they weren't near us but we still had to make it in the house. For some reason I still had a weird feeling about that.

I motioned for Carlos to follow me I motioned for Carlos to stay with me when we broke cover of the woods we hustled to the house as fast as we could move well he probably could have gone faster but I couldn't so he stayed with me running at my pace.

Reaching the house I came to halt before stepping up on to the step to the porch. Something wasn't right I just didn't know what. I wanted to get in bad but I knew to overlook my impatience and check the area around the house. I motioned for Carlos to follow me as I went to the far side of the house I motioned for him to wait there and keep a look out as I made my way further down the side of the house. I didn't see anything out of place so I turned back. Walking back to the front and then turning to the front of the house I saw it. The first step of the steps to the door had a wire going up to it and then ducking under the tread board. They had set a booby trap for us.

I wasn't sure if I could just cut the wire or if in cutting it, it would set off the trap which I would just guess would set off both of our vests. Meaning I would have effectively killed us both. I used my knife to pull the wire away to see if I could trace the wire to its origin. Motioning for Carlos to keep lookout I followed the wire along the front of the house. When it got to the side it ducked under the porch.

I got down looking under the porch I found the box that the wire ran to tucked up behind the porch support beam. I pulled the box out and saw where a key turned it on and off. Smiling I took the keys from around my neck.

The key from Tank turned it off. The light went out effectively rendering it dead. The tricky bastards but I had found it and were still alive so all was well. I motioned for Carlos to follow me still not totally trusting the first step I avoided it and put a little weight on the second step when nothing happened I went up the steps motioning for Carlos to not step on the first step.

I made my way to the door the door was locked, of course it was locked. Using the key I had taken from Junior I opened the door bringing both Carlos and myself in to safety. I had done it. I had rescued him, I had taken out Zero, Hal, Junior, Ram and Tank, and I had directed us to the safe house and got us safely inside. Needless to say I was beyond happy.

The moment he stepped thru the door Carlos enveloped me in his strong arms and pulled me to him giving me the kiss of my life. I was so wrapped up in his kiss that I didn't realize we weren't alone until I was brought out of my moment of pure delight by voices being cleared.

Breaking the kiss and looking up I found Hector, Manny, Vince, Binkie, and Woody all with huge smiles. I couldn't help but smile back I was flying high I had done it. It was hard and challenging but I had done it and I thought for the most part I had done it well never being detected and taking out the guys I did. I know I didn't take them all out but that wasn't necessary only getting Carlos and getting to the safe house was necessary to be successful and I had done it.

I was flying. I don't even think it fully registered what I had done completely. The guys all hugged me and I hugged them back furiously I have my brothers, my best friend, the love of my life. I had proved to myself that I was Rangeman material, that I could protect my brothers, that I could control my emotions and only hoped that I would get better with the training I would continue to get. I had proved to myself that I could trust myself.

RPOV  
I have never been more proud of my Babe walking with her and following her orders she only spoke the one time when she knew we were safe to make a little noise and then was only a whispered hi and I love you everything else she used hand signals. She didn't know it but the woods were wired for sound all sounds going to Cal's earpiece but when she spoke the whisper was low enough it didn't pick it up that and we were far enough away.

She had taken the guys weapons and in so doing had gotten a hold of information on where the guys were located being smart she had marked her map that was given to her so she wouldn't forget or have to go look at the information again.

She paid close attention that nothing changed, she had taken the keys even though she didn't know what they went to she realized they held some significance. I knew she had taken out Zero, Hal, Junior and Ram by the things she was using. She was even smart enough to leave Hal's GPS in his area because had she taken it out the others who had blips would have seen it and known it wasn't Hal who had the device.

She had texted back to the guys had they not received a texts they would have sent an alert and with the alert a word from each of them would have to be sent to know they were still alive in the game. Because she held their cover by sending the texts from their phones it was never questioned the others thought they were still alive.

I was so impressed with her. I knew she had skills and I didn't doubt that she wouldn't rescue me but what I saw completely blew me away, she was better than good. After all her training she was going to rival myself, Tank, Lester, and Bobby. When we got to the house she knew something wasn't right and went searching for what set off her alarm double checking the guys position by sending an all clear text she knew it wasn't them. She found the wire and turned off the trap that would have set our vests off had we stepped on the first step of the house.

I have trained Rangers in the military that didn't have her skills and sadly even with training would never have the skills she currently possessed. I wasn't sure what made her do some of the things she did as I know we hadn't trained her with some of it like taking the weapons but in so doing she was able to arm me.

"Babe I am so proud of you, you never disappoint and you never fail. Now you have proved to yourself what we all have always known." I take her back in my arms and lower my lips to ear and whisper in her ear "now I get my wife, my partner, my soul mate because I will never let you go. I never want you to let me go." I looked at her and she had tears in her eyes. She hugged me tight.

"Carlos I love you so much I swear I will never let you go." She said just hearing those words were like balm to my heart and soul. God what I wouldn't do to be able to make love to her right now but I knew her brothers would want to celebrate and hell they would want to see her dressed like this with the face paint on she never looked hotter and they would love her solider look.

I knew the guys were going to be blown away. I decided to have a little fun with them now that we were safe and the game was over. I took Zero's phone and texted everyone Dead, then I took Hal's phone and sent another Dead message, I did the same with Junior's and Ram's phone. Lester sent a text WTF? Why are you texting if you Dead? I almost laughed out loud at his comment. I could just imagine him scratching his head could be worse it could be his balls.

I then took Tank's phone and Texted the group Dead. Cal texted back who is this? He was starting to catch on. My Babe was standing beside me reading the texts and giggling. God I loved it when she laughed like that.

"Babe you ready to tell them?" I asked her she nodded. So I motioned for her to do the honor.

Picking up Tanks phone she sent them all a message "TK and Subject are Safe in Safe House retrieve my "dead" brothers and meet us here cause it is party time!" I am not sure what she had in mind for party but I had a few ideas. The Rangeman pool in the compound for one it was time to kick back and have some fun. We would worry about the rest later.

**Please take a moment and leave a review. Let me know what you thought of the test, what the guys did, how Stephanie performed. …I love all reviews they are good for my soul and fingers!**


	32. Chapter 31: Family Celebrations

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**I want to thank everyone who writes a review for my story. I enjoy reading them and I love ideas they give me so keep them coming! You do my soul good!**

**I have a website that I have created to give you all something to explore to dig deeper into the story "What does it mean to trust". Please go and check out the playlist for the Party! The new Character that I am introducing (you will learn more about him next chapter), the swimsuit for Stephanie as well as a few fun trunks for the guys.**

**www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com **

Chapter 31: Family Celebrations

LPOV

I was starting to get a little concerned. I knew Beautiful would do an awesome job but I had expected to get some kind of a sign that she was out of the house. I had began to worry that maybe we over did it with the kidnapping thing but it was the only way I could come up with that would invoke her emotions. Just driving here and walking up to us she wouldn't have been scared. I wanted her to know that she could trust herself even when she was scared, afraid, even terrified, or disoriented that she had the skills to do what was necessary to save herself and someone else.

I decided Ranger would be the one for her to rescue because I knew that the stakes would never be higher for her. Ranger was her world she would live and die by and she would do anything to save him. I wanted it for both the good and bad reasons. When a person has that much on the line sometimes the urgency, worry, the panic make people choose the wrong way, make stupid mistakes because of their emotions which can be a killer in our business.

I wanted Beautiful to understand that she could control those feelings and think through what was going on to make the best decision. I knew she had the training and just the general knowledge she has possessed over the years to succeed provided she believed in herself and in her training. That was the part that worried me the most honestly was her believing in herself. Her whole life she had nothing but people beating her down telling her how she wasn't good enough, she wasn't enough, she was a disappointment, an embarrassment, and how she was always a failure.

Those words do something to a person. They tear away at confidence but they also tear away at self trust. My beautiful suffered from both. It has long time been a goal of Rangeman to support her but that has gone up considerably since Ranger decided he wanted her in his life. To the point of him demanding it and any of his men that don't support her well god help them on the mats not only would they have him kicking their asses but I am sure a few others would line up as well. Not that we all wouldn't support her we all loved her.

I couldn't help but smile at that but helping her heal and put those pieces of her shattered confidence back together wasn't easy for us. We weren't exactly the most sympathetic, understanding, or emotionally open people in Trenton. But we did have one thing in common. We all loved Stephanie. We all would do anything for her. So we all in our own way have become the emotional, sympathetic and understanding people we thought we would never be but only for her.

Well after walking my patrol over and over and seeing all the clear texts I began to worry that she was breaking down in the building and part of me wanted to huff it there and check on her. To make sure she was okay and to tell her this was a stupid idea and beg her to stay with me, with Ranger, with her other brothers.

I even sent a text asking if anyone had seen her if she had left the building but Zip held true to the exercise and didn't respond. Meaning he wasn't to look in to see if she had escaped unless she alerted him. Fucker would follow procedure today he better not break protocol or procedure during a stake out because I was going to have his ass. Didn't he fucking know I needed to know here?

I finally decided to trust in my best friend and calmed myself. I knew she had a panic button if something was wrong she would hit it. I still wasn't relaxed but I was dealing well managing it. I guess it was an hour or so later that I started getting dead pages one after the other. Zero, Hal, Junior, Ram what the fuck were they doing and how the fuck did all of them die in that short of time it wasn't ten minutes prior they had texted all clear.

They knew the fucking procedure was to play dead and when we didn't get an all clear we were all to send to a special word if we didn't get the word from one of them then we would know they had been taken out. Fuckers can't follow simple instructions for an exercise. So I texted them back 'WTF? Why are you texting if you're dead?' Then I got a text from Tank's phone dead. What the hell?

If these fuckers are fucking with me I am going to kick all of their asses on the mats so help me fucking Christ this isn't funny I had no idea where Beautiful was, what she was doing and I had been walking my patrol for the past several hours barely hanging on to my sanity trying to figure out with the fuck was happening. I will kick all of their fucking asses for fucking with me.

They knew the pressure I was under. She was my best friend I needed to make it challenging which I had even threw in a few surprises and tricks just so she would know I didn't go out of my way to skew it to her favor but on that same double edge sword if she failed well it would shatter what was left of her confidence and self trust, not to mention cause us to lose the one thing we would all live, breath, and die for with honor. If she failed I would be fucking dead. It wouldn't be just Ranger who would want my blood.

A text broke me out of my mental banter looking at it I read TK and Subject are safe in the safe house retrieve my "Dead" brothers and meet us here cause it is party time. Holy shit she had done it. I wanted to jump up and down and scream but that seemed to high school girl for a badass to do so I withheld and just took off running towards the safe house. I left the retrieval up to the others I needed to see my Beautiful and tell her how fucking blown away I am.

I made my way to the safe house as fast as I could go. I had worried I know badasses don't worry but I had a lot riding on this exercise. I wasn't prepared for what I would find at the house.

I hurriedly busted open the door and standing in front of me was my beautiful and if wet dreams could come to life and stand before you mine had just sprung to life. Holy shit my body reacted before I could even think let alone stop it I was rock hard standing in front of her and Ranger.

She was standing there in camo pants and top, she had on a camo hat, she had painted her face with face paint to blend in as well the skin on her arms. Around her neck was her hog's tooth necklace that Ranger had given her and his dog tags. She had on her utility belt with her weapons and things. Holy hot fucking dream was all I could think I couldn't even open my mouth to say anything to her as it was dry as the fucking desert exactly where Ranger was going to ship my ass for clearly displaying a hard on for his woman, men had died for less. Fuck.

RPOV

It was ten minutes after my Babe sent that text that Lester came busting through the door. The moment his eyes landed on my Babe he stumbled almost tripping. His mouth flew open his eyes got bigger. Watching him carefully the fucker had a hard on. I didn't even have to look down I could tell by the stupid look on his face and the way he was unable to speak.

He better wipe that look off his face before I wipe it off for him. Trust me I know what she looks like the moment I saw her I was rock hard but she was my woman it was okay for me to be hard. But it's not okay for him to be sporting a hard on for my woman.

I briefly wondered if my Babe realized the problem he was in if not I didn't want to draw attention to it and embarrass her but if she did I wanted Lester to know he better fix it now. Think of Grandma Mazur, or someone getting blown the fuck up but he better fix that problem in his pants before I fix it for him in a way that he wouldn't have to worry about it being a problem for a while.

I saw her look at him questioningly like expecting him to say something and wondering why he wasn't she was just smiling at him. I could see was proud of herself and was expecting him to say something and he was standing there like a school yard boy that had just creamed his pants. So help me if that fucker cam in his pants he wouldn't have a dick left after I was done with him. The only man that would be coming for my Babe or because of my Babe is me.

"Santos" I barked and he somewhat snapped out of his stupor. "I think you need to take a walk and meet up with the others." I told him he looked at me and I gave him my don't fuck with me and don't question me look. He was lucky I hadn't killed his ass already. "Now" I barked even louder which effectively snapped him into gear as he turned to go meet the others that I knew were heading toward the house. It would give him time to get his shit straight. Hopefully he would warn the other men to have their dicks under control before entering this house.

Stephanie had done amazing today she needed to be praised and celebrated for her efforts she didn't need a room full of fucking school boys who couldn't control their dicks. If they were unable to control it themselves I would take their asses to the mats until they figure out how to control it.

LPOV

Holy shit I am still living it's a fucking miracle. Ranger sent me to meet the others. I knew within the order I was tell the others what to expect so that when they step into the house they won't be sporting massive hard ons for his woman.

Tank joined me and we waited for the others. I might as well wait to tell them all I didn't want to have the conversation seven different times. Once they all joined us all of them were smiling they were proud of Stephanie. I just filled them in. "As you know Beautiful was successful she did an amazing job. I don't even know all the things she did because I haven't had a chance to talk to her yet." This should be fun explaining this next part.

Me admitting to almost cumming in my pants at the sight of her I am the ladies man here and I wasn't able to control my dick, nice. This would get me teased for life well maybe only until they saw her then they would probably understand. Oh well I could always kick their asses on the mats if it got too bad.

"Guys the reason I am here to meet you is to warn you." I thought I would start out like that. They went a little more rigid at my insinuating there may be a problem or a threat. It's their training you know when you train a guard dog you can't ever expect them not to be standing ready at the gate growling at the possibility of a threat it's what they do. Well us solider we stand at the gate ready, it is what we do.

"No threat" I tell them so they can once again relax. "I came to warn you that when you see Stephanie be prepared. She is looking damn fine. I can't even describe it. Just think of the hottest woman you have ever seen and multiply it by ten and that still doesn't do her justice right now."

Tank just laughed saying "Tell us the truth Santos you saw my little girl and went rock hard and Ranger caught you." Fuck. I looked at him and only could come up with one response.

"You know fuck you Tank. You go in there and look at her and then tell me if I hadn't come out and warned you what would have happened to your limp dick at the sight of her?" I tell him. He just laughed and shook his head while heading towards the house, fucker.

The rest of us turned towards the house following him.

RPOV

The door opened and in came Tank followed by the rest of the guys including Santos. He better had fucking warned them I didn't want them making her uncomfortable and that would have made her uncomfortable.

I had come close to losing her and nothing was going to cause a problem between us again especially my men. I understand the natural body response but what separates us from the animals is our ability to control our bodies and they better fucking control it especially after being forewarned.

Lester spoke up first "Beautiful sorry about earlier I wasn't able to think what I wanted to say I was so proud of you and was so impressed with how you didn't alert us, didn't even tip us that you were even out of the building. Actually I had started to worry that maybe us kidnapping you had caused a problem."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Lester we will talk later about the kidnapping, that scared the shit out of me. At first I wasn't sure if I had actually been kidnapped or if it was you all. But then I figured no one would be able to take me from the Rangeman garage so I figured it was you all and I was able to relax a little but I was still worried until I was able to get myself free and see my bag on the table." She told him. I would kick is ass for that fucking hair brained idea later.

I pulled her into my arms putting her back to my front wrapping my arms around her and placing my chin and cheek on the side of her head. Her hands joined mine as she leaned back into me letting me take a little bit of her weight. It felt good to feel her like this in my arm in front of my men.

One thing about bearing my soul to her in front of my men I never had to feel like I needed to hide or hold back from touching her, kissing her, holding her now in front of them. They knew my feelings for her and her for me and if they were uncomfortable with our displays of affection well they could get the fuck over it or move on.

"Babe now that we are all here why don't you go get cleaned up and then we can all head over to the pool and relax a little. You can tell us all what you did when we get there. I know I am looking forward to hearing all about it and I know the guys here want to hear about it too." I told her my men were nodding their head in agreement.

Ella stocked this house just as she did everything else. My babe could use the shower and get changed. She looked around "Did one of you happen to bring my bag?" she questioned. Zip stepped forward and handed it to her. "Thanks" she told him. She then turned to me "Ranger I don't have any of my things, I don't have shampoo, hair brush, I don't have anything I need."

"Babe the bathroom is stocked and I am sure you will find some things for you there and in the Bedroom on the right as you go up the stairs. I told her. Just be careful this is a safe house with camera feeds back to Rangeman so don't go in the halls outside of the bathroom or bedroom undressed or you will be seen on the monitors there. I don't know if they have the feed up or not." I told her. She made her way up to the bathroom.

As we made our way into the living room, I wanted to be up there with her so bad I couldn't think about anything else. But then I knew if I went up there I wouldn't be able to control myself and I wasn't about to do that with my men down here. They didn't need to be that informed about us.

I pull out my cell calling Ella. She answers on the second ring "Ranger tell me my daughter passed her test tell me she is staying with us."

"Ella she didn't just pass she was exceptional you will have to hear for yourself. Please grab Luis and head over to the compound we are going to be cooking out and relaxing in the pool. Stephanie has a bathing suit there right?"

"Yes, I have one for her in her locker just like all of the guys. I will take care of bringing the food and I assume since it is a party you want some beer?" She asked me.

"The fridge is usually stocked correct?" I asked her not questioning her work just trying to remember what we agreed on when it came to stocking the pool kitchen and bar area.

"Yes there is some but I have a feeling all of the guys are going to be there and it won't be enough. Ranger leave it to me I will take care of everything. Just when I get there send out some of those strong sons of mine to help me and Luis carry stuff in you know we aren't as young as we use to be." She tells me laughing.

"Ella I will send them out. Hey Ella get something special for Stephanie for dessert a cake or something you know how birthday cake is her favorite get something along those lines that says something like way to go or something like that." I tell her.

"Ranger really?" she asks me. I can tell that this isn't the really you want me to do this but more along the lines of really you have to be kidding me really. I don't talk much girl talk but through my Babe and my sister's I have learned a little and I know when I am being chastised for a dumb idea.

"Ella I don't know I just thought she would enjoy it. We are celebrating her after all." I tell her trying to get her to understand but she only responded.

"Ranger when are you going to understand I have this under control?" I only chuckled. When didn't she have something under control and when it came to my Babe she made sure everything was taken care of and under control.

"Ella I trust you completely, see you soon." I told her before hanging up the phone. I didn't want to dig the hole any deeper. She said she had it I believed her that she had it. I just hoped my Babe would enjoy it what the hell am I thinking she loves Ella and Ella loves her and Ella always seems to know what she needs and what she wants.

TPOV

I had to agree with Santos the moment I saw my little girl I had to remind myself she was my sister. She was hotter than hell. When we went into the living room and Ranger got on his phone I thought it was a good time to talk about it because he would be distracted and hopefully wouldn't follow this conversation.

"Santos I stand corrected." I told him. He just smiled a smug smile. I didn't want to say that I had to remind myself she was my sister to keep from having a hard on that could cut glass. So I just said that I stood corrected I knew he would understand what I meant.

I noticed the guys that were privy to our conversation all nodding in agreement. Hell I bet every one of us was fighting it from the first moment of laying eyes on her. Then the thought of her being upstairs in the shower popped into my head and I had to get the fuck out of there to regain control. This was my sister after all.

I stood up "Well I am going to head over to the pool and start getting things ready." Taking a step towards the door all of the men stood up there was a chorus of I'll go help from the guys as they fell in behind me. When I reached the door I turned back and looked at Ranger who was going to wait for Stephanie. "Tell her we will see her at the pool and man don't be all night we want to see her and talk to her and hear about her adventure and tell her how proud we are of her." I briefly wondered if leaving them together was smart but the more I thought about it the worse my problem was getting even with the reminders of her being my sister so I decided it was better to just leave before I embarrassed myself and pissed Rangerman off.

SPOV

I finished my shower and quickly got dressed. In the room I had found some shorts, underwear, t-shirt, and bra all in my sizes. I briefly wondered if this stuff was for me since it was my size. I pulled my hair back and secured it. I even found a basket with some of my makeup in it since we were heading to a pool I only put on a little bit of lip gloss.

Opening the door Ranger was waiting in the hall for me. He asked me "You find everything you needed?" I nodded my head.

"Yeah I found everything. I even found clothing in the bedroom that was my size." Carlos just smiled.

"I told Ella to pick a bedroom in every one of our safe houses and make it your room. I asked her to stock it with clothing and whatever you would need should we need to take you to a safe house." He had done what? I just looked at him.

"Carlos how many safe houses does Rangeman own?" I asked him. He smiled "Babe" trying to avoid answering me. "Carlos" "Babe we own a good number including this one I think it is close to a hundred. We need them to be easily accessible and if we need to change we need the flexibility." He told me. A hundred safe houses someday I was going to have learn more like where some of these houses were. All this time avoiding going to a safe house and I could have gone to somewhere exotic or a beach although I doubt he would have houses there they more than likely were out in east fucking Egypt or frozen ass Siberia, or Oklahoma or someplace like that. The only thing I knew about Siberia was it was cold enough to freeze the balls on a brass ass monkey, the only thing I knew about Oklahoma came from Sergeant Foley from Officer and a Gentleman only two things came out of Oklahoma steers and queers, and Egypt well I just knew that it was hell and gone from here not to mention it was a fucking desert. All places where the bad guys probably wouldn't bother to go to find you so that is why it was safe to have safe house there.

"Babe" Carlos snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked at him and smiled, he continued. "I would love nothing more than to drag you to that bed in your room and show you how much I love you how proud I am of you right now but the guys are only going to be but so patient they want to hear the details and so do I. You ready?"

After that image of him taking me to bed suddenly I wasn't so ready to join them but I nodded even though my girlie parts were screaming no Carlos take me to bed! "I am ready Carlos but I don't have a bathing suit so I won't be able to swim." I tell him he just shook his head at me.

"Babe" I took that to mean that he has everything covered. One can only hope because swimming with my brothers would be fun. We went downstairs and I looked around for the guys but they weren't there. "They headed on over to the pool." Reading my mind he answered my question. He pulled me in his arms and softly brushed his lips with mine. It had been too long since my lips had felt his even though it had only been a few minutes. They were hungry for more.

God what this man could do to me I loved the effect he has on my body. "Babe let's head out we will have all the time later for me to show you everything I need to." He told me I sighed thinking another one bites the dust knowing I just ruined these panties.

The guys had left us one of the cars so we hopped in and headed to the pool. Good thing we had the car because with all the walking I had done today I was going to cash in on my piggy back ride had Cal been down here oh well guess that will have to wait until another time. Although I am sure I would enjoy a Carlos piggy back ride even more.

RPOV

My Babe hasn't seen the pool area yet. She will be blown away by it and then probably be slightly pissed I had never shown her this before now. This was the area where you could relax have some fun or you could train. Some of the guys on my team that were Navy seals like to come here to keep their bodies conditioned and they felt at home in the water it wasn't an ocean but it was salt water. Most of the guys however came here for some fun to blow off some steam and to relax.

I don't know why I hadn't brought Stephanie here prior to her training tell you the truth other than when I am training someone, testing someone I rarely come here. I guess it just wasn't something that I thought about. I should have known she would have loved it though considering the love she had of the beach and water.

Walking in I almost can't wait for her reaction. This is the largest building in the compound and besides a locker room area and a small kitchen area which is just inside from the large patio that has grill, and outdoor kitchen the whole building is pool, sauna, hot tub, and play area.

Walking in I direct her to the locker room checking to make sure it was empty I pulled her in with me. I showed her where the showers, toilets, sink, and most important her locker was. Her mouth flew open that she had a locker and that it was stocked. She had bathing suits in it, beach towels, cover-ups , she had a basket that had her hair products and few makeup items and personal products. As she looked thru everything she mumbled something about Ella but that was all I could make out.

She was sort of stunned. "Babe I had Ella stock it for you so you can come here anytime you want and never have to think about packing a bag, everything you need is right here. If there is something you need just ask Ella next time she comes out here she will bring it. We will work out a system like we do at Rangeman to make sure the others know when you are in here but you are free to come here as much as you want."

She smiled reaching in grabbing her bathing suits she pulled out three bikinis a Blue one that matched her eyes that had a pattern on the fabric with holes but you couldn't see her skin thru the holes as it was blue behind them. The bottoms had ties on the sides but it didn't appear to tie anything together as it wasn't a string bikini bottom. But it was little and would leave little to the imagination.

The other two were even skimpier I am going to have to talk to Ella about that those are fine for me but with the rest of the guys oh I think a wet suit is more appropriate. I pointed to the blue one it would make her eyes pop and she nodded. I grabbed a pair of my black trunks and we wasted no time changing into our suits. I picked up one of my black shirts and pulled it down over her head.

Yeah she had suit cover-ups but something about seeing her in my t-shirt made me swell more with pride. Besides it was the easiest way to send a message to the rest of the guys not that they needed it but hey I am possessive what can I say?

Walking out into the pool area I heard her gasp as she took it all in. I just had to smile.

SPOV

We walked into the pool area I was expecting a large pool for lap swimming Olympic size even but I wasn't prepared for this. I wasn't prepared on so many levels. This place was beautiful. I briefly wondered who did all of this who maintained all of this and knew it had to Ella.

The pool had different sections all connected one was olympic size with ten swim lanes which was in the middle then on off centered on one side was a large pool area that I assumed was the deeper end as they had several diving boards including a high diving board. They even had a water slide that dumped you into the area. On the other side of the pool was another large area that I assume was used for just swimming and playing around in. Looking around the pool I saw that the Olympic area was seven foot deep, the area with the diving boards was twenty feet and the other area was five feet so I could stand up there.

Each side took up half of the middle area but it was on the opposite sides it was beautiful. There were chairs and chaise loungers sitting around the pool and few tables here and there. Looking around there was a bar with bar stools. To the one side there was a rock wall in a corner that went to the ceiling that had lines hanging down from it. It reminded me of those rock walls you climb only it didn't have the little nubs sticking out it was just rocks and different angles that you would have to hold on and climb. The rocks continued over to the shallower part of the pool where they formed a water fall running down and landing in the pool it was beautiful and I could just imagine being under there with Carlos.

There were different kinds of trees all around the area along with some other potted plants and flowers. The trees twinkled with lights and there were party lights lighting up the place not those stark fluorescent lighting. I turned to take in the other areas of the building they had an area that had sand in it with volleyball net. Holy hell what my imagination was working up there with images of the Top Gun volleyball scene flashing thru my mind who could forget that scene only the stars of my scene my brothers and Carlos. Just off from that was an open shower area I assumed it was there to wash the sand off before getting back in the pool. Just down from the deep end was the hot tub. I stepped closer to investigate it was a huge hot tub that looked extremely inviting. It had pillows all around it so there was no bad sitting in that tub but what else would I expect. This was Rangeman and they had the best of everything when was I going to learn that.

I also noticed a door with a timer a sauna. I will try that out later. Then down from there was typical game room stuff pool table, video games, darts, card tables, etc. On the wall behind that though was everything imaginable to have fun in a pool. Some floats, some small rafts, balls, a basketball hoop thing, a net to stretch across the pool, water noodles, if you can imagine it was there I would be willing to bet.

The best part of the building was the ceiling. It was clear I am sure it wasn't glass knowing these men unless it was bullet proof but you could see out I bet at night it would be awesome seeing the stars and the moon. One side of the building had glass on the side as well and you could see the outdoor grills and kitchen. I swear they did nothing cheap. Everything screamed high end and money.

"Carlos this place is amazing, who thought of all of this?" I asked him. He smiled

"Babe we all did well mostly Tank, Lester, Bobby and I but the other guys gave us some suggestions. You like it?" He asked me. Do I like it? Does Rangeman scare the shit out of Stark Street? He started laughing then added "Yeah Babe we scare the shit out of Stark Street." He said I just nodded, out loud I knew it.

"Well then I like it. It is beautiful yet it has everything anyone could imagine. I don't even smell chemicals how did you all manage that?" I asked him he smiled.

"The pool is salt water so it doesn't have chlorine in it." Of course its salt water only Rangeman would have a pool the size of a small state that has an salt water system. "Babe its good for your skin and it makes some of the Rangeman feel more at home as if they were swimming in the ocean." Of course excuse for everything that makes perfect sense.

Thinking about the guys swimming and Carlos swimming damn I briefly wondered if I would survive being around all the guys shirtless in nothing but their swim trunks. Be still my heart just thinking about it.

You know how when you think of the devil and imps appear well I no more though of the guys when they started coming thru the door all in their swim trunks carrying coolers, bags, and boxes. Sitting everything down in the kitchen area and the bar areas before coming over to join us.

Holy hot hell before me they all stood shirtless in nothing but their swim trunks. I swear I think my brain got stuck. You know the days of albums and how the needle would get stuck? I guess today it would be equal to when your computer freezes up and the only way to get it going is giving it the finger, and I mean finger on the button until you shut it down and restart it. Well that happened to my brain I had to restart it or in the case with the album bump the turntable. I was only praying my mouth wasn't hanging open because I had no control to close it at the moment. I was doing good that I was still standing up with my legs under me.

I saw the guys smirk they knew my problem but be damn if I could do anything about it. I was like going ep ep ep like the stuck needle on a record. I felt Carlos chest vibrating behind me he thought it was funny. It's so not funny they are my brothers and best friend but I swear Chippendales or any other male model magazine or calendar models didn't hold a candle to the guys standing before me. I could be rich if they would let me take their pictures and create a calendar hell people would line up to buy it.

"Babe you are rich enough, you don't need to make a calendar." Fuck I said that out loud as the guys started cracking up laughing at me.

Lester spoke up "Beautiful you can take all the pictures you want so long as you don't plan on sharing them I will even ... ow" Tank slapped him in the back of the head as Carlos barked "Santos" in warning. I just giggled. There that was better than nothing. I think that unstuck my brain sort of like bumping the turntable.

About that time the door opened and a voice I didn't know yelled "What the hell is going on in here? Partying when you should be working? Does the boss know?" The voice said with humor. I followed the voice and I think my heart stuttered again. This couldn't be good for my heart I mean a heart only has so many restarts right like after the what the thirtieth time or something like that it won't restart or at least that is what I fear because I am blowing through all of them. Some of the guys hooted in their excitement to see the man yelling hey man and look what the cat drug in.

He walked over joining the group smiling at me as Carlos' arms went around me pulling me to him. I was a little concerned was this guy not a friend? "Babe this is Slyder he is a friend." Carlos told me I guess he felt me tense up when he pulled me towards him so he wanted to let me know all is well before continuing "Slyder this is Stephanie." I smiled at him and offered him my hand to shake.

I briefly thought about my bruised face, body and arm. I hope he wouldn't ask me what happened I hoped he wouldn't like some guys stare at you with those eyes of I feel sorry for you. Or those look of pity that people give the poor helpless defenseless woman I hate those looks. I put a smile on my face to hide my level of uncertainty in him meeting me like I was.

"Hi Slyder nice to meet you." He took my hand and said in a sleek smooth voice "Nice to meet you ma'am" well maybe not that sleek after all calling me a ma'am. I mean what the fuck I wasn't that old. Fuck we were probably close to the same age. Fucker, I'll show him a ma'am.

I forced a smile thinking the whole time call me ma'am again fucker. "Please just call me Steph or Stephanie. My brothers here all call me different names and that is fine too but no ma'am or miss, ms, or mrs crap for me. I am too informal for that." I wanted to add you call me that and I will kick your ass or have Carlos kick it for me if I couldn't cause he sure as the fuck could. But I refrained and if there was any indication from my brothers I managed to keep that thought to myself.

I added "Do you want me to call you Slyder or do you go by another name to people you just meet?" I asked him. He shook his head smiling.

"Slyder is good Steph" he told me and I just smiled back. Quick study I liked it.

Lester spoke up then "Hey man go grab some swim trunks and join us you know where the locker room is and where the extra trunks are." He nodded, turned and headed towards the shower.

Lester then got my attention "Beautiful we all want to hear about today. We want to hear how you did it, what you did. We are so proud of you and impressed with you. You didn't just succeed you knocked it out of the fucking park Beautiful" He told me. I couldn't help but feel so proud of myself to see how proud they were of me with all of them nodding in agreement. I once again found myself feeling like Wonder Woman in their eyes.

"Guys I didn't do anything that impressive, not really." I was cut off by Tank which surprised me

"Little Girl I don't want to hear that. You did do something impressive you sure as hell impressed all of us and trust me that doesn't happen not without someone doing something impressive." I had to smile at him. Stepping away from Carlos I gave Tank a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks big guy" I tell him.

"Well I was scared at first with the kidnapping I wasn't sure…" Slyder was walking back to the group interrupted me "Kidnapping? Who was kidnapped?" He asked.

I smiled at him. "I was kidnapped along with Carlos right out of the Rangeman garage by these guy, my brothers. Come to think of it Carlos probably wasn't kidnapped he was probably in on it." I turned looking at him finding him smiling. "Babe" was all I got, yep he was in on it he would pay for that later.

Trying to fill Slyder in without giving him all the details of my life I told him. "I asked the guys to setup an exercise for me. I had some things I needed to prove to myself. So Lester came up with an exercise that started with me getting kidnapped and left tied in a building here in the compound. I had to get myself loose first then listen to a tape telling me what I had to do. I had to rescue Carlos from where he was being held and get to the safe house without being detected, with bringing any attention to me or to the fact that I escaped or that Carlos had been rescued. The catch was some of these guys were on the lookout for me. If they saw me they would either shoot me, capture me, but if they spotted me and were unable to do the prior things I mentioned then they would kill Carlos and I would effectively lose." I briefly told him.

I walked over to my bag and pulled my map out. Laying it on one of the larger tables I opened it to show them. I went thru how I got out of the room. How I got Zero and then took his cell phone and discovered with his cell phone I knew where they were, well their designated territory was. I walked them thru how I had taken out Zero, Hal, Junior, Ram and lastly Tank but that I had taken their cell phones and continued to text back to the group all clear messages. I told them all the things I had done to get to Carlos and then get back to the Safe house. Carlos filled them in with how I had found the wire on the steps, thanks to my spidey senses, and disabled it and how I would use the map and the GPS unit to stay on course. I could hear how proud he was of me in his voice and it made my self confidence soar I was proud of myself. Hearing him talk made me feel like a super hero I was Wonder Woman.

Ram spoke up "Bombshell you want to tell them what happened when you got me or do you want me to share?" He asked I just motioned to him to go ahead shaking my head and giggling. "Guys I found a spot higher on the hill that had a good view of one side of the house and the back of the house." He pointed on the map where he was. "Well I am laying there with my gun at the ready all of sudden something lands on my back. I jerk up turning but this thing hangs on and in the process drags the knife across my throat taking me out." He adds smiling like a fool.

I can't help but smile a little bit looking at me practically laughing at this point he goes on to tell them at my expense " Well when she killed me I fell back with her under me. She struggled and huffed and struggled some more but she finally was able to get her self out from under me. I wanted to laugh so bad the only regret was I was on my back so I couldn't see her I wanted to see her facial expressions in her attempts to get out from under me." He said laughing only Carlos growled a little.

Looking at Carlos he was smiling on the inside but wanted to scare Ram a little. Ram laughter dropped faster than someone dropping a hot potato guess he figured how that might have sounded to my future husband. I had to smile and laugh at that.

Slyder looking at me he said "You? as small as you are you really did all of that?"

I nodded "I have been training with my brothers they have taught me everything I now." I told him.

Lester then joined in talking Slyder "Brother do not put anything past the bombshell bounty hunter, she is sharp as a tack, she excels in all aspects of her training, and has a spidey sense that rivals Ranger's." He told him. I saw Slyder's eyes widen when he heard bombshell. He looked at me smiling.

"So you are her, you are Bomber, Bombshell, and Beautiful." He says. I nod. He continues "I guess I should have guessed it but when you were introduced as Stephanie and you said Steph I didn't question it or put the two together." He told me smiling.

"So my legend precedes me huh? Not that it is a legend to be as proud of as it is more to do with how things tend to blow up around me than anything else. But I want to say right now that most of the time none of them are my fault." I tell him. He just shakes his head smiling while my traitorous brothers start laughing I even feel my future husband standing behind me shaking. Fuckers!

"What?" I ask them "I haven't had anything blow up in awhile not since my last car what that was over a week ago that has to be some record right?" Slyder laughs even more and I glare at him. I may have just met him but I will see if my death glare has an effect on him. Guess not as he is still standing in front of me. I look at him and the pool. We are a few feet from it I bet if I run fast enough and push him hard enough I can surprise him by throwing him in the pool.

I tap Carlos' arms and he drops them from around my waist. I start running towards him hitting him and push him backwards towards the pool. Only he recovers and grabs on so when he goes in you got it I go in as well. I come up sputtering it wasn't my intention of getting in the pool yet and especially not with the t-shirt on. The guys are howling and Slyder is smiling so he won't try to kill me for that. That's a good thing.

I don't know what it is about him but I instantly trusted him and liked him. He fit with my brothers I saw they trusted him so there is no doubt that I can trust him. He swims over to me "If you wanted me all wet why didn't you just ask?" he tells me oh my another Lester has joined the group Rangeman won't be the same.

"Well it wasn't seeing you all wet I wanted as much as it was just to push you in for laughing at me." I told him. "I don't know you well enough for you to laugh at me, and when my death glare didn't work it was the only other option I had." I told him knowing he would catch onto my kidding.

He looked at me "Death Glare?" and I smiled as Lester jumped in at that moment as the music started Guns N Roses "Welcome to the Jungle" now this was my kind of music. Lester joined us hearing him question my death glare.

Lester said "Slayer man we have our own little Wonder Woman right here only lucky for you her death glare goes on the frits from time to time or you would be toast right now." See Lester got it, that's why he is my best friend. Lester grabbed me pulled me to him using the words of the song he said "Welcome to the Jungle we got fun and games we got everything you want" before picking me and throwing me across the pool I screamed but I was secretively loving it. It didn't take long for my other brothers and Carlos to join us. I swam up to Cal I was a little worried about him in the water.

"Cal should you be in the water with your stitches?" I asked him. He smiled and answered me "Angel I have a patch over it but really it is just a little flesh wound so the water will do it good it only stings a little from the salt but it will go away in a little bit.

"okay" I tell him as I jump on his back wrapping my legs around him I tried to dunk him but I wasn't successful Instead Cal just stood there .

Looking around at me he said "Angel I just want to let you know how proud I am of you, you did amazing I am so proud of you. You used all of your training, all of your knowledge and you more than exceeded." I was blinking back tears as I wrapped my arms around his neck giving me a hug.

Cal then laughed telling me to hold on he took off with me on his back. Damn Cal could swim as he gave me a ride all around the pool. I briefly wondered if this is what would feel like to hold onto a dolphin. He didn't even act as if my additional weight fazed him.

We made it back to the group with me laughing that was fun. The song changed to Foreigner's "hot blooded" and I swear the temp went up ten degrees. I felt strong arms wrap around me I knew those arms as I leaned back into him. When he whispered into my ear that he was hot blooded and that he was hot for me tonight mimicking the words of the song I think the temp went up even more.

To take my mind off of the spike of my temperature I splashed Lester which I should have known would be a mistake because he proceeded to drown me. I made it to the edge of the pool chocking I quickly pulled the wet t-shirt off and threw it up on the floor beside the pool. I turned and made my way back to Carlos.

I was almost to Carlos when someone grabbed my ankle and pulled me back and under I barely had enough time to catch my breath before I went under. I kicked trying to break lose but they were pulling me along for the ride. I looked back and it was Hal. I wanted to smile ever since the whole "incident" he hasn't been as forward with me. Guess he felt safe being in the pool and all that I wouldn't have a stun gun on me. He took me to one side of the pool finally allowing me to come up for air.

Then he announced to the whole group "Bombshell is the shark" Shark what the fuck is he talking about? I briefly wondered. As the other hooted and hollered at the announcement.

I got his attention "uh Hal, Shark?" He nodded smiling answering me "Shark it's a game you are the shark we are the guppies you have to catch us. If you catch us and touch us then we become a shark." He goes on to tell me "You start on this side and we start on that side. Whoever makes it to the side is safe and we go again. When someone becomes a shark then they will help you catch more." He exclaimed as he made his way back to the other side.

The music changed to Guns N Roses "Bad Apples" seemed appropriate as I was about to turn a bunch of guppies into sharks couldn't get any badder than a shark in a guppy's world. So I thought I would give them a little show after all a distraction seemed appropriate after all the devil didn't get followers by looking all mean and nasty now did he?

So I pushed on the side raising my body out of the water just as they had done. Only I no longer had on my cover up only my blue bikini. I made sure to press my ass up in the air as swung my leg up on the side. I heard a few gasps hot damns, and drawn out fucks oh and Carlos' bark of warning. I just had to smile as the devil appeared on my shoulder. Standing up I adjusted my bathing suit before turning around. The working out had done good things for my body even in the short time frame. There were a few more gasps as I walked back and forth along the side stalking my prey, looking for the one I wanted.

"Blow the whistle boys let's get this show on the road." I knew who I was singling out I already had him caught my eyes locked on him I saw the ghost of smile that I love so much cross his lips he knew I had him he knew I was singling him out. He knew I would catch him. Hell I knew I would catch him.

One of the guys whistled I don't know which one because my eyes were locked on my target. Soon as the whistle registered, what I was a little preoccupied with dark pools of chocolate poured over caramel mocha goodness only thing missing was the whipped cream, I dove into the pool swimming as hard as I could to my target. Somehow I think my target was swimming just as hard towards me because in no time we were touching.

By touching I mean he had me in this arms pulling me into his chest when we came up to the surface his lips crashed down on mine as the song changed to Def Leppard's "Pour some Sugar on me" when our lips parted Carlos whispered in my ear "Pour some sugar on me ohhhh in the name of love pour some sugar on me…..Pour your sugar on me can't get enough I am hot sticky sweet from my head to my feet." Can you ruin panties in a pool? Because I just think I did.

I looked at him smiling "I think this means you are a now a shark" I told him. Lester from the other side of the pool started yelling

"Come on guys that's not how you supposed to play the game." I had to laugh I would show him how I play this game because Carlos had just given me a great idea. We made our way to the opposite side of the pool from my brothers. I once again gave a show getting out of the pool. Carlos just shook his head as I winked at him. He knew I had something up my sleeve but he had no idea what.

I looked over to my brothers "Okay so the first one to touch me gets a kiss." I yelled to them and then screamed go and dove in the pool. I didn't have to swim towards them. They were fighting their way to me. Dunking each other, pulling each other back, trying to swim covertly around each other I had to laugh.

Lester, Slyder, and Cal were in the lead I was just laughing and Carlos was shaking his head at his men all trying to reach me. However Hector surprised them all when he tapped me on my back. He had swum around all of us and came up behind me. So Hector got the kiss. I took his face in my hands smiling at him running my finger across his tear drops I then gave him a peck on the lips. I swear if x gang bangers bad asses blushed he blushed. I smiled at him "Hector you are now a shark" I told him. He just smiled and whispered to me so no one could hear him talking in English "I will always be on your team, your side shark or guppy." I had to smile at him and I hugged him to me.

We continued to play shark but it wasn't as hard as one would have thought. My little tricks seem to suck them right in and then when I had a few of the good swimmers it was game on. Lester got his kiss as well as Slyder and Cal. Just little pecks on the lips but they seemed happy with that and more than willing to become Sharks for it see how the devil works, see how easy it is for one bad apple to turn the whole bushel?

When I had all of my brothers as sharks the game ended. I swam over to Carlos where I put my legs around him and my arms around his neck. He just held me to him supporting me with his hands on my ass. He kissed me as Styx "Babe" started playing. I locked eyes with him when I heard the lyrics it was such a perfect song for us. I rested my head on his shoulder and just listened to the lyrics. He would repeat some of the words in my ear how it was me that gave him the strength and courage he needed and that he loved me. Tears wanted to spring from eyes hearing those words the song and thinking how close I had come to losing all of this.

He told me it was me that it was me that kept him going when he felt weary and felt like giving up. He changed the words to Babe I am never leaving but he did say he would need my love to see him through and that my heart was always in my hands. Hearing him whispering that to me made my heart just burst for him "Carlos I love you more than life and you have my heart in your hands you are my strength and my courage and you are the only one that keeps me going when life gets too difficult" I tell him as I bring my lips to his. Our kiss stays light and easy but filled with love and promises for the future.

The guys must have decided to give us some privacy because they had all migrated over to the deep end jumping off the diving boards and going down the huge slide. We made our way over to them after all we needed to have the cannonball contest. See who could make the biggest splash my money was on Tank and I wanted to try out the slide.

I got out of the pool heading towards the slide Aerosmith's "Crazy" was playing when Lester ran up behind me grabbed me scooping me up in his arms before running up on the diving board and jumping in with me in his arms. I was screaming and he was laughing as we hit the water. When he jumped he made sure that we would hit with his body first than mine. See how they will always protect me even when goofing around. We came up laughing swimming to the edge. We made our way to the slide. Walking up the ladder of course he let me go first saying something about ladies first yeah ladies first alright my ass the only reason it was ladies first was so he would get a nice look at my ass.

I sat down on the slide and Lester pushed me and I flew down the slide it was awesome I was laughing as it dumped me out into the deep end. Lester came out a few minutes later on his stomach head first oh I was going to have to try it that way.

I jumped on Lester's back for a ride to the side and while I the leverage I gave him a dunk. Manny was jumping off the diving board and I couldn't help but be impressed with how he dove in without making hardly any splash. I let go of Lester to swim over to Manny when I reached him.

"Manny that was beautiful. How did you learn to dive like that?" I asked him. He smiled "Wifey I have loved swimming since I was a kid I use to be on a swim team when I was little and just never forgot how they taught me to dive. It was the one good time in my life" He told me I smiled at him I knew his life hadn't always been the best or the happiest. Cool Manny use to be on a swim team I think that is the first personal thing I knew about Manny. I smiled at him giving him a hug for sharing it with me then I did what any woman would do in a pool I dunked him and then went swimming to edge as fast as I could before he could retaliate.

It didn't take him long to catch me pulling me under. We climbed out laughing going to the diving board I yelled whoever makes the biggest splash wins. As I ran out on the board and did my best example of a cannon ball that I could pull off as the song from Georgia Satellites' "Keep your hands to yourself" started blaring.

When I got out of the pool heading back to the board Cal walked up to me putting his arm around me singing "Cruel baby baby baby why you want to treat me this way you know I'm still your lover boy I still feel the same way that's when she told me a story 'bout free milk and a cow and she said no huggin no kissin until I get a wedding vow my honey my baby don't put my love upon no shelf she said"

Smiling I joined in for my line while dancing out from under his arms "don't hand me no lines and keep your hands to yourself" shaking my finger at him. He was pretending to reach for me as I was avoiding him while he continued singing the song with me singing the part about keeping his hands to himself. By the time we made back to the diving board we were both laughing.

I met Carlos' eyes and I could see he was happy he was watching me with my brothers and he was smiling I smiled at him blew him a kiss about the time that Cal and Hal picked me up running down the diving board and launched me in the air.

Coming up sputtering I grabbed a hold of Hal and let him give me a ride back to the edge of the pool. I wasn't sure but that had to be a hell a splash me Hal and Cal all going into the water at the same time. Tank was standing at the end of the board when we got to the edge I turned to watch him cannonball and that definitely had to be the winner as the water splashed so big that it just about drowned me in the wake.

Lester reached down grabbed my arms and lifted me out of the pool just as the song changed to Poison's "Nothin' but a good time" started playing. Lester and I shared a lot of things we were best friends, we shared drinks, we shared food, we loved the same movies and some of the same TV shows but we also shared a love for the same music. This song fit him perfectly, because he was all about the good time at least when he wasn't a soldier on a mission or protecting me. So we immediately started jumping up and down dancing to the music singing to the top of our lungs.

Lester playing an air guitar guess he thought he was CC me on the other hand I took Brett Michaels. Shaking my hips bobbing my head flinging my hair around like the bands of the eighty's we were screaming the words. Slyder joined us raising a beer when the part came up about raising a toast to all of us. I had to smile as the three us finished the song dancing and screaming our asses off. When the song finished we were just laughing.

Carlos joined us "Babe" looking at him I saw the humor, laughter, and love in his eyes and I just jumped in his arms. He handed me his beer and I took a swig from it I needed something cold after all that screaming.

Kiss' "Forever" came on what did they hand select these songs? Looking into Carlos' eyes I knew it was forever so I whispered in his ear the words "It's forever, this time I know and there's no doubt in my mind, forever, until my life is thru, boy I'll be lovin' you forever" I know I change the words of the song from girl to boy but it worked. He pulled me closer to him holding me tight. I felt his lips on my neck giving me peck after delicious peck. I must have moaned because I heard Slyder and Lester laugh behind me.

I just raised my hand giving them finger while my lips met Carlos' they howled even louder along with a few of my other brothers who were watching. Slyder was fitting in becoming more and more my brother with every passing minute after singing a Poison song with us I wondered if he too shared our love of the same music. Carlos and I held each other until the song ended.

Rolling Stones' "Start Me UP" started to play and after letting go of Carlos I made my way to the edge of the pool. I had spotted my brothers over by the rock wall and well I wanted to give that wall a try. I wanted to see if I could make it to the top. Lester, Slyder, and Ram followed me out of the pool and when I stepped out of the pool all of them together started singing "You make a grown man cry, You make a grown man cry, You make a grown man cry" as they fell back into the pool going under. I just had to laugh. Shaking my head I made it over to Junior, Cal, and Manny who were at the wall.

"Hey guys can I try the wall?" I asked them. They all smiled and nodded. Junior handed me a harness and told me how to step into it. They hooked it on me and the rope. I had never climbed a rock wall but I loved to climb so I was hoping I could make it to the top. Junior harnessed himself in. He was going up beside me. I smiled at him he knew I would trust him to walk me through climbing up the wall. Manny grabbed my rope while Cal grabbed Junior's they were our anchors.

He walked me thru what to look for far as where to put my hands and feet and to use my legs as much as possible. I was slow and Junior was patient with me as we went up the wall but I made it getting to the top I rang the bell yelling for all my brother's to look at me Kiss' "Shout it out loud" was playing so I yelled out to my brothers "Every body's got to Rock n Roll, Shout it Shout It Shout it loud" and they all yelled back. Junior instructed me how to repel down. Pushing myself away from the wall while giving my rope slack it took me a couple of times but I knew Manny wouldn't let me fall.

When I got to the ground more of my brother's had gathered around so there were high fives all round. As I made my way over to Carlos Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell" came on and that devilish side of me came out in me. I pushed him back to the pool. Jumping in I jumped in his arms and bringing my lips to his ear I whispered " in the might night hour I cried more, more, more with a rebel yell I cried more, more, more" in as sexy of voice as I could muster. He growled before pulling me over under the waterfall letting the water pour down on our heads as our lips met.

Normally I wasn't into this much public display of affection but with almost having lost him, and our declaration of love to each other in front of my brothers it just seemed natural it seemed right and I didn't care they saw us in love. I can only hope that Carlos' feels the same.

"Babe I don't care what those fuckers think, I can always kick their asses on the mats if they have something to say about it. I just spent almost twenty four hours thinking I could possibly lose you so get use to it, I may never be able to let go of you." He told me how did he always know what I was thinking? How did he always know how to answer me? I am almost certain I did not say that out loud.

We made our way out from under the waterfall and joined my brother's at the other end who were throwing balls back and forth and looked like they were coming up with a game. The game was Water Ball sort of like football only played in the water.

Starting in the middle of the Olympic pool two teams goals on each end where the lap lane guides ended once the ball made it in that area it was points for the other team. You could do anything to get the ball but dunking someone was effectively considered a tackle. The guys had already divided up so when Carlos' and I joined them I was put on Team Lester as he designated it while Carlos went to team Slyder.

Judias Priests' "Johnny B Goode" started playing as the whistle was blown. This game was hard as shit as the guys fought for the ball. Hell I just tried to stay out of the way and above water. On Lester's team was Lester, Cal, Vince, Manny, Tank, Junior, Zero and me. On Slyder's team was Slyder, Carlos, Hal, Ram, Woody, Binkie, Zip, and Bobby. I noticed Hector sitting in one the chase lounges watching us so I made my way out of the pool and went over to him.

HectorsPOV (assume this is in Spanish...except where he is speaking to Stephanie)

I watched Angelita and she was having fun. She was laughing smiling singing to some of the songs and I could tell how much she loved Ranger and how much he loved her every time they looked at each other. I was happy for her but I still had a tough time shaking the fact that I almost lost my sister. I don't let people into my life not the way she had forced her way in and the thought of having to let go of her was more than I wanted to think about. Even now after seeing her perform so well on the test that she made me so proud of her, so proud of her abilities I still couldn't shake the feeling of how much I feared the possibility of losing her.

Maybe in some ways I was feeling it more than before as the realization was settling in of what could have been what could have happened. Sitting here watching her seeing her light feeling it lighten my blood stain soul was something that I couldn't describe and thinking that she almost left all of us, left me was something I was having a difficult time coming to grips with.

Change wasn't something I dealt with and the past twenty four hours had my heart and mind spiraling from all of the possibilities of what could have been.

She got out of the water heading my way. I smiled when I saw her making her way to me. I moved my feet so she could sit down. She sat down and leaned back against me. Aerosmith's "Angel" started playing and I wouldn't have known that if Aerosmith wasn't one of her favorite bands. Her back to my front, she looked up at me "Hector what's wrong? What's the matter? You can tell me." She said softly. I just smiled there is no one in this world who would ask me about my feelings and expect me to answer them but my Angelita and my Angelita was the only one I could talk to about my feelings.

Speaking softly in her ear so no one could hear me I told her "Angelita I am just trying to come to terms with the idea that you are staying with us that you aren't leaving. I don't want to be without my Angelita. Angelita you save my soul." I told her. I didn't want to upset her and I didn't want her to worry about me but I also had to be honest. She looked up to me.

"Hector I am staying. Tell you the truth I had decided to stay before Lester mentioned the test only he didn't give me a chance to say it. Don't be mad when he mentioned the test I knew it was a good way to prove one way or the other to myself that I wouldn't endanger your lives and then I would never doubt myself or my abilities at least not where they are right now." She told me smiling slightly always the modest one never wanting to be the one being praised.

So she was going to stay with us and Lester interrupted her. I wondered if Ranger knew about that but before I finished the thought she continued "Hector no one knows that but you. I thought I would tell you because you seemed so upset. I wanted you to know that I couldn't even walk away when I thought it was for everyone's betterment. I knew it was selfish but I still couldn't do it because truth is you all save me too and not just physically. Trust me when I say that I am here for good." She told me and my heart swelled with her confession.

"Angelita I love you too. You are my sister and I will always protect you. I will always be here for you. I want to tell you how proud you made me with the test. You remembered your training, you kept your cool, you did good." I tell her it wasn't exactly what I wanted to say but it was close. She turned and hugged me kissed me on the cheek and ran her fingers across the tears, then stood up pulling me towards the pool.

Exclaiming that we were missing out on all the fun, I joined the team Angelita joined which was Lester's team where she was and we played waterball with the rest of the guys. Every now and then a team would make a goal but for the most part it was trash talk among brothers and a sister. I had to smile because Stephanie could hold her own when it came to trash talk. Even resulting a few times to giving the other team the finger which just made all of us laugh even more.

We had just finished playing I am not sure which team won I think at one point we lost track of how many points each team had. It didn't really matter as the fun was playing the game not who won when Ella walked in with a tray of hamburgers, chicken, and steak off of the grill. We all jumped out going to help her and Luis bring in dinner.

GaspickPOV

After Rangeman left Officer Thompson and I loaded the still unconscious Morelli into the police car. We didn't bother getting statements from the other club goers because I didn't want anyone collaborating the story from Rangeman it was already bad enough so many of them were there.

Our chief trusted Rangeman and Ranger and he would trust that they were telling the truth. He had used them several times to help with cleaning the streets of Trenton up, and catching criminals that seemed to slip between our fingers.

We all knew they operated outside of the laws that bound us but still legal, tell you the truth some of the guys on the force actually liked it when Rangeman was involved. I personally had nothing against them other than the fact they think they are so untouchable. They think they believe they are above the law and that rubs me the wrong way.

Morelli however well he never had a problem with them until Stephanie entered the picture and then when she decided to dump Morelli and go for Ranger well he sort of lost it. I understood what he was feeling. I personally couldn't see what she saw in Ranger or the men of Rangeman. I really didn't care one way or the other though she was just a bitch and in my book bitches are dime a dozen personally I think Morelli should count his lucky stars she is out of his hair and move on besides she wouldn't be blowing up his vehicle, garage, or potentially his house. He would no more have to clean up the disasters of Stephanie Plum.

I drove Morelli to his home using his key we helped him in and got him settled on the couch. We then left. I had to go to the station and fix this crap before any charges were filed. I needed to get my report in.

My report was going to be that Morelli had shown up at the bar where Stephanie was and that there was a misunderstanding about the restraining order. There was a confrontation and in that confrontation Morelli passed out due to unknown origins. I could only hope that Stephanie wouldn't file charges.

I wanted this to fly under the eyes of the chief. If the chief got wind of this I knew Morelli would be in trouble not to mention I would be in trouble for falsifying the report. By not having gotten statements at the bar it was a he said she said situation even with all the guys of Rangeman because everyone knew that they would take her side and say what got her what she wanted. It was the only way I could think to cover Morelli's ass. I only hoped it worked after all he had done me a few favors so it was the least I could do to pay him back.

MPPOV

I can't believe that ungrateful disappointing dysfunctional daughter of mine. I had heard from a few neighbors of the burg okay I think all neighbors of the burg how Stephanie had a confrontation with my son last night.

I don't understand her not just going with him. I don't understand her getting a restraining order preventing my son Joseph to get near her. I mean I know he slapped her and I heard he did it again last night but from my opinion the slaps were well deserved. I mean what man would allow his future wife to act like that, say those things, do those things and not slap her? She deserved it, she asked for it.

Reaching for the phone I thought I would call my son to see how he was feeling this morning and if he needed me to take care of him. Picking up the phone I dialed his number. Answering on the second ring he said "Hello, momma"

I just smiled. "Hi my son, how are you today? I heard what happened I just wanted to call you and see if there was anything I could do to make you feel better." Hoping he would take the hint. I had to smile when he did.

"Momma yes, I could use a little help you want to meet our same place?" he asked me. I could feel my excitement ratchet up a notch at just the thought. I really hoped this didn't change even after we got Stephanie and him together. Maybe by them being married we would have even more reason to be together without having to go to the hotel.

"Why yes, I can do that. I will talk to you soon." I told him ending the call before anyone overheard me. I hung up the phone excited that I would be able to spend a little quality time with my son this afternoon. I am glad that his little run in with my ungrateful daughter didn't make him so that he didn't want me to meet him.

I am looking forward to kissing his boo boos away and hopefully we will be able to discuss what we are going to do to make Stephanie see reason, be reasonable, and do what we want. After all we only want to know that she is happy, we only want to know that she is fulfilling her destiny of being a burg girl. You weren't raised in the burg to be running around with thugs, associating with murderers, living in sin, not getting married or not having babies it just wasn't heard of. If a Morelli boy had you in their sights well you were just supposed to do what they wanted after all Morelli men were all good looking men, all had fine bodies and you gladly gave them whatever they wanted. I know they were also known for the tempers but so long as their wives did what they were told, and gave them what they wanted it wasn't so bad.

There had been a whole line of Morelli woman that dealt with them and Stephanie could deal with Joe after all he was her first and she needs to right that wrong of being the town whore and giving herself to him. She had effectively made her bed when she spread her legs for him behind that counter oh she could say now that she didn't want it because of that thug putting ideas into her head but we all know she wanted it, what girl wouldn't have wanted it? He was a Morelli. Hell he is young enough to be my son and I want him, why wouldn't my daughter.

DougPOV

Mike and I were stuck here at Rangeman with a few other unlucky workers while the majority of the guys including Stephanie and Ranger were at the compound. I saw them go down the elevator but someone had turned the cameras off in the garage so I never saw them exit only saw the missing cars when the cameras came back on.

I knew they were at the compound because I had seen their cars go in the compound but the cameras were out in certain areas so I wasn't really able to see what they were doing. I know I saw Ella and Luis carrying bags and coolers out of here so they bound to be having a good time and here we were stuck on the desk.

I mean they treated us like dirt but still I wanted to be a full time Rangeman and I needed to get that split tail out of my way and out of my hair. After she insulted me last night I would find a way to pay her back. I had the pills. I only need to come with a way to get her to myself to teach her a little lesson. She needed to understand that men needed to be listened to and that what we said needed to be done.

She had denied my dance and not only privately she had done it publicly in front of my coworkers if they don't and haven't teased me enough she gave them more ammunition. She would rub her ass all over them but not me. She would be taught a lesson and looking at these monitors and thinking about the cameras I think I know just how to single her out and get her alone even while she is surrounded by her brothers as she calls them. The more I think about it the better I like this idea because hopefully it will be enough to make her never want to step back in this building again or look at another Rangeman.

I can help myself and Morelli at the same time. Not that I really care about helping him but we have a mutual desire of getting Stephanie away from Rangeman. Working in the lab with the video equipment is just where I needed to be to pull this off.

**Please take a moment and leave a review. Let me know what you thought of the Pool Party, Your thoughts about Joe, Momma Plum, and Doug (DF1). …I love all reviews they are good for my soul and fingers!**


	33. Chapter 32: Family Celebrations Pt2

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**I want to thank everyone who writes a review for my story. I enjoy reading them and I love ideas they give me so keep them coming! You do my soul good!**

**I have a website that I have created to give you all something to explore to dig deeper into the story "What does it mean to trust". Please go and check out the playlist for the Party! The new Character that I am introducing, the swimsuit for Stephanie as well as a few fun trunks for the guys.**

**www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com **

Chapter 32: Family Celebrations Pt2

SlyderPOV

When I walked into the pool area I saw this little girl peaking out around the guys. Her eyes were so stunning blue that they just sucked you right in. They sparkled when she talked and I couldn't help but laugh at her sense of humor.

There was something about this girl that drew me to her. I am sure whatever it was, was the same thing that drew some of these other guys to her. Rangemen could be some intense scary dudes that I wondered what this little girl would see in them.

Looking at her I took in her black eye and cheek, and I briefly wondered if there were any other bruises. I knew the men of Rangemen didn't do this they may be intense they may be scary to some people but I knew they were all upstanding, honorable men that would put themselves in harm's way before they would beat a woman or allow a woman to be beat in front of them.

Walking over to her being introduced to her listening to her laugh seeing her eyes sparkling from what she was saying what the guys were saying I instantly liked her. Looking at her bruises I wanted a run at the man that did this to her.

Listening to her tell the guys the things she had done during the exercise they had planned I was in awe of the woman before me. She was this tiny little thing. She was about five seven but I bet she didn't weigh one ten soaking wet. She was beautiful. When I questioned her about really doing all those things Lester told me never to under estimate the Bombshell Bounty Hunter.

My jaw almost hit the ground. I had heard the guys talking about her. Cal, Hal, Lester and Bobby mainly when they had run missions and were on the aircraft carriers with me would talk about this beautiful woman who was a bounty hunter and all the wild things that happened to her.

I never put the two together when she was introduced to me as Stephanie it just never occurred to me that she was the Bounty Hunter. I guess it should have knowing how much they talked about her and how genuinely they all seemed to care for her.

After I learned she was the Bombshell I felt like I had known her forever. I was even going over some of the crazy things the guys had told me with her blowing up her cars, even blowing up Ranger's cars which I still have a hard time believing but seeing the look on his face with the way he looks at her I suspect she could blow up everyone of his cars and he wouldn't give a fuck.

He might be a little attached to his Aston Martin in Miami but I would be willing to bet you she could even blow that up and he wouldn't give a fuck. I mean it isn't like the fucker doesn't have enough money he could buy another one hell he could buy one a month for the rest of his life and not touch the money that fucker has.

Millionaire you say? Try Billionaire yeah you heard me and not just a Billion either. Hell I bet he paid good money to stay off of the list of the top ten richest men of the world. Ranger never wanted unnecessary attention he wanted to fly under the radar and never have attention brought on him. One it was a security thing but the other was it allowed him to do things that those in the spot light can't do.

When I laughed at her statement about most of the things that blew up weren't her fault I laughed she rushed me and pushed me into the pool. Could I have stopped her yes, but I wasn't about to spoil her fun. Hell her little one ten body would have been nothing. I could have countered her and thrown her in the pool and never had a speck of water hit me from the splash but I wouldn't do that to her.

I had nothing to prove, not to myself, not to the guys, and the way she openly seemed to accept me I didn't have anything to prove to her. So I allowed her to push me but I did grab her and pull her with me as I went into the pool. She came up sputtering but I could see the laughter in her eyes.

That made me smile. I couldn't resist the comment that came out of my mouth and she blushed at it which made me smile even more but then she came right back telling me that she just wanted to push me in for laughing at her. I had to love her spunk and her tenacity here she had just met me, I was more than double her weight, standing a good six to eight inches taller than her she didn't know me from Adam and because I laughed at her she was going to get even and her way of getting even was pushing me into the pool.

I continued to watch her interact with the other guys and with me from time to time I even joined in singing a song with her and Lester it was one of my favorites. I watched her interact with all of them talking to them playing with them I could see that she loved them and they loved her but I could see the love between her and Ranger was a deep true love. One that I found myself wanting one of these days hoping that I would be able to have one of these days with someone.

I was out my time was up with the Navy. I had been with the Navy for twelve years and had just pulled my last tour on an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea standing at the ready to lead air strikes. I flew the big boys F22 Rapture mainly but I have also flown the stealth bomber also known as the B2 and blackbird.

I came here to see if there were any openings in Rangeman for me. I was hoping to get a job with my brothers. I am sure all my brothers knew why I was here but they hadn't mentioned it so I hadn't brought it up. Tonight seemed to be a celebration of Stephanie and I wouldn't change that by drawing the focus to me.

SPOV

Ella started to bring in the food and the guys jumped out of the pool to help her. I made my way out of the pool and met Carlos. He pulled another one of his shirts over my head. The smell of the wonderful food brought my stomach roaring to life and those around me just started snickering and laughing.

I rolled my eyes and made it to the table with the food so I could fix my plate. Everything looked so good. I didn't even want to think about any of it being healthy so I put that out of my mind and started fixing my plate. I took a hamburger, a piece of chicken and a piece of steak. I added some beans, potato salad, fruit salad there that was my healthy, some macaroni salad, and chips. I almost passed out when I saw the chips. I couldn't believe Ella would bring chips it was hard enough to believe the potato salad and macaroni salads but I would be willing to bet they were whole wheat pasta, fat free mayo and some sort of organic potato that promised not to reside a lifetime on your hips.

I skipped the salad, I skipped the vegetables, I also skipped the rice so see I am capable of skipping a starch. My plate was running over as I made it to the table.

I sat my plate down and Carlos just looked at it almost frozen, his way of saying what the fuck looking at me. I could see the look in his face saying are you really going to eat that and that much of it. His plate well let me tell you what his plate looked like. He had grilled chicken no surprise there. He had grilled vegetables, salad, and like maybe a small spoon full of what I happened to know to be whole grain rice. I mean really this is a fucking party eat.

I shrugged my shoulders at him. He just gave me "Babe" meaning just what I said. The guys around me seeing my plate started snickering and laughing. I looked at him and them.

"What?" I asked them.

Woody shaking his head "Darling we just don't know how you do it. Your plate has enough food on it to feed you for two or three meals calorie and fat wise." He looked around the table and continued "Darling we are twice and in some cases three times your size and you can eat us under the table. In fact your plate has more food on it than any of ours and we haven't even gotten to dessert." He told me.

Okay my brother's needed to understand something. One you never out a girl for how much she has put on her plate or how much she eats and two I am hungry I had just been tracing my ass all over the woods saving Carlos' life and then playing in the pool which burned up a lot of energy the least he and them could do is let a girl fucking eat in peace without judging.

I narrowed my eyes time to have a little fun by making them sweat. "Woody are you saying that I am fat?" I looked around the table and all the guys were frozen with that oh shit look on their faces. They should be too. "You just said that my plate had more food than any of yours on it are you saying that I eat too much and that I am going to get fat?" I let the rhino mode take over just a little bit even though on the inside I was having a little too much fun with this.

I stood up on the bench and stripped off the t-shirt standing in front of them in my bikini I continued. "Do I look fat to you all?" I asked them and they all shook their heads, smart men. Woody tried to back pedal a little but I didn't let him off the hook that easy. I turn around showing them my ass "Does my ass look fat in this suit?" I asked them and got a bunch of no, not at all, Lester piping up that is one fine ass.

I turned back around looking at all them "you know I am smaller than all of you so for the same amount of physical exertion I use more resources, more energy, and more of my reserves than you do so I need more food if you don't believe me then ask Bobby the resident field medic." I tell them I thought that sounded like a perfectly good excuse.

I caught Bobby's eyes with mine and I narrowed mine daring him to say something different. Bobby just shook his head "Bomber all we are saying is that you have an incredible metabolism, you aren't fat in fact I would say you may be a little underweight for your height but it would be nice if we made up that difference with muscle development rather than excess fat."

What the fuck had he just said to me? I briefly wondered if I should be offended with that statement but he had sort of side tracked me with the underweight comment. So I took it and ran with it.

"See guys I need the extra food because I am underweight there you have it so stop making fun of my plate and what I eat and worry about your plate. I don't go outing you do I? Lester I didn't tell Ranger that time you ate six slices of meat lovers pizza with extra cheese, did I? Ram I didn't tell Ranger that time you ate three of my Boston Cream donuts, Woody for you to out me when I didn't tell anyone about that McDonalds run where you ate two big macs with a supersized order of fries and a chocolate shake oh and a regular coke, oh and Bobby I didn't tell Ranger about that time you took me for ice cream and you got the waffle cone dipped in chocolate with real ice cream and then had them top it with reese's peanut butter cup pieces and whipped cream real whipped cream. I kept all of your dirty little food secrets but you all pounce on my plate like I just loaded it up like a Macy's day float."

Ranger was just looking at the guys shaking his head I saw the humor in his eyes he was loving this. He looked at each of them as I was outing them I had held their secret but if they wanted to make fun of me and laugh at me.

Lester spoke up first "Beautiful I can't believe you just ousted me like that. I didn't say anything about your food or what you ate. I even said your ass looked all kind of fine when you asked." I just smiled at him.

"Well you all should know you don't say anything about the amount of food a woman has on her plate especially before she has a chance to taste any of it. It makes us feel weird like we shouldn't eat. I don't make comments about what you eat. Besides I added fruit to my plate that is why it looks full. So see I have my dose of healthy." I tell them sitting back down.

"It's not nice thing to do to a woman we don't want to be told we are fat and that we eat too much. We just want to be able to enjoy our fucking food." I tell them and they laugh again. I can't hold it in anymore and I join in.

Taking a bite I moan Ella is such a good cook that effectively stopped the laughter and snickering. See here is the thing about karma it's a bitch. When you make someone uncomfortable or make fun of them then there will come a time when you will be made to feel those same ways and now was time to turn the table. See that devil in me can sometimes make me an evil bitch. But hey what can I say it is usually fun.

I could see the pained looks and see the slight adjustments they were trying to make nonchalantly and decided to give them a little reprieve. I mean really they should be use to it by now but anyway.

"Guys" I said getting their attention. "I have something I want to tell you all. I want to thank you all for believing in me even when I didn't. I want to thank you for loving me enough to do this exercise with me today even though I am sure for you all you thought it was probably a little lame. I am not stupid I know you weren't using any of your real training." They started to protest

I stopped them "let me finish please. I mean I understand that my level of training isn't where I can compete against your level of training. While today was challenging for me I am smart enough and understand enough to know that it wasn't challenging for you for your level of training. I am proud of myself for being successful but I am also thankful that you would take the time and allow the boredom you all must have been in while I was doing the exercise." I told them.

"I just want you all to know that I love you for doing it. I just want you all to know that I appreciate and love that you support me like that. That you believe in me, and that you were cheering me on." I added. "It means more than you will ever know. You are my brothers and I love you very much." I told them.

There were rounds of I love you too, I am proud of you, and some that just looked at me smiling I could tell they did not really know what to say by the expression on their faces. That was okay their eyes and face told me everything I needed to know.

I thought I would make up for my little rant and outing earlier. "Carlos you can't say anything to the guys about what I told on them. When Lester ate the six slices of pizza I ate four. When Ram ate three of my boston creams well I had eaten like four or five and I think he was just trying to save me from myself. When Woody had his McDonalds well I ate a big mac, supersize fries, chocolate shake, regular coke and an apple pie. Oh and when Bobby had his ice cream well I had the same thing only I added hot fudge to mine. So you can't say anything or do anything to them. Besides it was all times when I had had a crisis and they were just helping me deal with it." I told Carlos.

The guys smiling that I had fixed it. Carlos just looked at me shaking his head and said "Babe" I took that to mean I can't believe you ate all of that shit, but it may have been I would never do anything to your brothers for sharing comfort food with you in your time of crisis.

Looking at him I said "Carlos you have to promise me."

"Babe" was all I got in reply I took that to mean I promise but it probably meant that I shouldn't ask him to promise that in front of his men because he probably had already planned like extra gym time and mat time for all involved, including me now having heard my confession.

SlyderPOV

I watched Stephanie fix her plate I couldn't believe the amount of food she put on her plate no way she could eat all of that food. Not as little as she was. Anyone eating like that would go two fifty in no time.

When Woody commented on her plate I couldn't do anything but smile at her reaction. Seeing the feisty side of her and when she stood up on the bench and pulled off the shirt asking us if we thought she was fat and then turning around asking us if her ass looked fat in her swim suit had I been eating anything at the time I would have probably choked on it.

When she ousted the guys for having eaten things with her I thought I would laugh out loud at the expressions on their faces. Ranger's face was just hardened as he gave his man an eyebrow. He worked hard, paid good money to ensure his men kept their bodies in optimum condition even down to having Ella prepare their meals for them.

I could see what the guys liked about her. When she sat down and started eating the sounds that came from her had me shifting to get comfortable and hoping that no one was paying attention to the tent that the swim trucks was pitching. I saw a few of the other guys shift so I wasn't the only one having the problem. Thank fuck.

When she started thanking the guys for doing an exercise for her and for believing her when she didn't believe in herself it confused me and I found myself wondering what that was all about. She seemed so confident here tonight. I briefly wondered if it was tied to the bruises. I thought her bruised face was bad enough but I could easily see a hand print on her arm from where someone had grabbed her and she had some bruising on her torso and rib area.

I found myself wondering who did this to her and I couldn't stop the feeling of wanting to protect this woman wanting to beat the shit out of whoever had done this to her. I decided not to ask her about it but I would ask Lester or one of the other guys later and get the scoop. If it was a guy I only hoped that they had already kicked his sorry ass if not I would be willing to join in on the ass kicking of that prick.

LPOV

Dinner ended without any further events after Beautiful thanked us like any of us wouldn't have done it for her. We would do anything for her. I know I would. There is nothing that I wouldn't do for her, live, breathe, die for her.

We got up and started cleaning the table putting the dirty dishes over by the sink the leftover food we packaged up and placed it in the refrigerator. The music changed to Aerosmith's and Run DMC's "Walk this Way" and I couldn't resist.

I walked up to Beautiful singing the words when the chorus came on she joined in screaming Walk this way, Talk this way. We started moving our feet like they did in the video and singing the song. The others laughing at us they were just jealous fuckers for not knowing the words or the foot work, we looked hotter than hell.

The music changed and it was Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets" I told her "Beautiful I love this song."

She nodded her head swaying to the beat she said "I love this song too." So when the words started I started singing along.

"Hey kids, shake a leaf together….thought I did something we know changed the weather.." She started laughing I asked her "What?"

"Lester those aren't the words." Oh really sounded like the words to me.

"Really Beautiful then please correct me what are the words?" She rocked a little with the song then started singing

"Your gonna hear electric music so the walrus sounds…..say candy you ken have you seen them yet." I joined her and we both were singing.

"but they so laced down….buh buh Bennie and the jets…..oh but the wind and the waterfall…oh…she is a revocaine" we rocked together for a little until the words started and heard beautiful say.

"She got Electric boobs & mohair shoes…You know I read it in a magazine …oh oh … buh buh Bennie and the jets." I was rolling Electric boobs?

"Beautiful, Electric Boobs?" I asked her she looked at me

"What Lester? I can't help it if that's the words…she had me there so I shrugged and jumped up on the bar reaching down I pull her up on the bar with me. We start jumping up and down on the bar to the music. Beautiful was shaking her beautiful ass to the beat. We continued to belt the words and we got to the point of Electric boobs I did what any man in my position would do I went with it.

Singing and dancing with my beautiful on the bar the guys gathered around laughing at us. Well they are probably laughing me and enjoying the view from her. But she was laughing, glowing even, she was having so much fun. That was the point of this celebration to celebrate her to celebrate her bringing us together, to celebrate her staying with us, to celebrate her as my best friend, to celebrate her making us family. To celebrate our family remaining whole now that my beautiful is staying with us.

I hop down off of the bar and reach for her and she jumps in my arms. Knowing and trusting that I would catch her and never let her fall. I spun her around a few times with us both laughing at our rendition of Bennie and the Jets which reminds me I am going to have to look up the real words to that song the first chance I get. Maybe I will frame them and add them to Beautiful's office.

We go back to helping cleaning up after dinner only until Queen's "We will Rock you" came on. Who could resist that song? The beat alone got in you and you would find yourself moving keeping time to the beat.

When Poison's "Talk Dirty to me" Started I started making my way over to her dancing and singing to her she joined in and we were once again singing and jamming to Poison one of our favorites. Slyder joined in and we were playing air guitars when beautiful screamed out "CC pickup that air guitar and talk to me." I thought I would lose it.

Beautiful was in the middle Slyder and I on each side all pretending to scream in the same microphone jumping and dancing. She would point to Ranger during the part of the song when she sang and baby talk dirty to me. He would just give her one of his smiles. Damn what I wouldn't give to hear her say that to me.

When the song ended I grabbed her slung her over my shoulder and rang towards the pool with the guys behind me. I jumped in while they all joined me for more fun in the pool. Beautiful splashed me with water her way of thanking me for getting her back in the pool.

She swam towards Ranger he opened his arms to her and she latched on to him. Wrapping her arms and legs around him damn he is a lucky bastard.

SPOV

Lester jumped back in the pool with me on his shoulder. When I came up I glared at him and splashed him. When I saw Carlos in the water I immediately swam to him when he opened his arms to me I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist.

The music changed to Kiss' "(you make me) Rock Hard" and I knew I was in trouble as his eyes turned black and locked on mine as the song registered with him. He brought his lips to my ear and started whispering the words in my ear.

"Hot lover, turn up the heat….I want your sugar, girl your love tastes so sweet ….I feel a fire burnin' under me ….I've got a hunger that your love's gotta feed …You make me sweat, you turn me 'round  
You get me up, you never let me down" holy hot hell I feel myself blushing at his words I know what is coming so I just tuck my head into his shoulder and chest because I don't want to give up that voice in my ear it is the most erotic thing I have ever heard. I have heard this song a million time but honestly it was the first from his lips and it was going to be my undoing.

"You make me rock hard, baby all night…Love's like a glove and it fits just rights …You make me rock hard, so baby hold tight ….Come on baby, let's rock hard, baby all night" Jesus he is going to make me cum just listening to this words I can't do that in front of my brothers. I really need to control myself here. Feeling his hands on my ass holding me to him hearing the words to this song I didn't remember this song being so erotic I am doomed.

I look at him and when he looks at my eyes he only says "Jesus Babe" Yeah my sentiments exactly. I guess he can see from my eyes how far I am gone how he's words are affecting me and my body. He can see my need for him. When I heard the song end I was a little relieved but then when I recognized the one coming on I knew I was no better off. I was doomed there is no way I was going to keep my current state from my brothers. Fuck.

The song was AC/DC "You Shook Me All Night" Carlos pulled me closer telling me how when I came my walls would quake all around him pulling him into me and how he wanted me to shake him all night long. I think I moaned I am not certain. He said how I made him feel like the earth was quaking around him and I swear I had ruined this swim suit for probably the fifth time tonight.

I didn't want for my brothers to see me rushing because they weren't stupid they heard the song it wouldn't take a genius to figure out my problem and these guys had ESP, I had to get out of there. So I looked at Carlos "Carlos I think I need to go home. I am tired." I told him. He gave me his thousand watt smile as he started to make his way to the edge of the pool where he lifted me out of the water and sat me on the edge of the pool and in one motion pulled himself out to standing holy hot hell I am going to combust in flames any moment. I don't think I could get anymore turned on than I was. I was only hoping I wasn't drooling.

Carlos announced we were leaving and there were some complaints and don't go from the guys but I looked at them "Guys it's getting late, I am tired and tomorrow is another training day for me so I need to get some rest." Of course Lester saw thru it. And yelled over "rest my ass, after those two songs I don't see any rest in either of your future." I almost lost it he knows me too well. Carlos barked a "Santos" meaning to shut the fuck up and I giggled at the look Lester gave us. Giving them all finger wave we made it out of the building and into the Porsche I was glad he had the Porsche because I wanted to be home now.

I looked at him smiling and said "Carlos if you can't drive this thing fast enough then let me drive. I need to be home like now." He just laughed I don't think he realized how serious I was. How great my need was. I was on the verge of coming my ladies parts were thumping and I needed my hot lover inside me before I started quaking and shaking.

I hadn't even taken the time to grab my bag, my clothes I still had on my wet swimsuit the same as Carlos it wasn't until we were in the car that I thought about the seats and giggled. Carlos looked at me questioning my giggle "Carlos we are both wet from the pool in your Porsche sitting on the leather seats."

He just shrugged "I will buy another one right now there are more important things at stake" writing it off as nothing. He had one thing right there were more important things that needed attention.

"Well you better put a rush on it." I told him we made it home pulling into the Rangeman Garage like a bat out of hell. I am sure we broke every traffic law known to man on the way back home. I now know that the Porsche can do one eighty and take turns like a dream, and that Carlos can fucking drive. He gave a whole new meaning to drive it like you stole it.

Pulling out his fob he turns the cameras off in the garage as he runs around the car to get me. He grabs my hand pulling me out of the car. He doesn't even wait for me he just picks me up and runs for the elevator where before he steps on he turns the cameras off as he signals it for the seventh floor.

I can feel how hard he is and feeling him pressed against my side doesn't help the need I have for him to be inside of me. I refrain from moving because I knew the second I touched him it was going to be all over. I was going to be taking him and I didn't want that happening in the elevator or in the hallway on the seventh floor.

We finally reached the seventh floor and the door to our home as soon as it opened we were in and as soon as the door closed behind us the clothes were ripped off. So much for that swimsuit I thought as Carlos just whispered "I will get Ella to order you another one".

My body hit the back of the door as Carlos slammed himself into me I screamed with the sudden invasion but it was pure pleasure I was more than ready for him. I was soaking wet for him and at his inhale I could tell that he was doing all he could do to hold back and not come as my walls clamped down on him and around him shaking him.

All of the words he had whispered to me and I had whispered to him started replaying in my head and I lost myself in his touch his feel his pounding in me. All I know I was definitely crying more more more with a rebel yell. He was definitely shaking my world and as wet as I was I was definitely pouring my sugar all over him. I heard him groan so I must have said that out loud.

I locked eyes with him and I saw the raw need in him that I had in me. There was no stopping there was no way there would ever be enough for either of us. Our souls weren't satisfied unless we were joined together like this.

Carlos' hands were on my ass pushing me harder against him as he pushed himself further into me he turned placing me on the table beside the door that held his utility belt, the bowl that held his keys grabbing on the side of the table for balance he started pounding in me I locked my legs around him holding him to me. Begging for more and more, harder and harder I was clawing at him like a drowning woman who had just found her way to air and I wasn't letting go. We would have plenty of time for slow and tender later. Right now we were both raw we had been holding back from the time we had laid eyes on each other today and it was all at he surface boiling over now and neither of us were holding back our need for one another.

At one point I briefly wondered if we were going to break the table but when there was a loud crash I couldn't look I couldn't even see I was so close to the edge that a band of wild horses couldn't have stopped me. He pumped in and out of my a couple of more times and I could no longer hold on his words replaying and replaying and I screamed his name like I had never screamed his name as I came. I went completely limp I briefly heard him scream and felt us falling to the ground me landing on top of him as darkness claimed me.

I woke up to soft circles being traced on my back, my head on a rock hard yet soft chest the sound of slow strong heart beat. Carlos was still inside me and he was still rock hard the knowledge of that caused me to moan. I felt the chest below me shake with laughter. Looking up at him he was smiling.

"Hi" I said he just smiled and responded

"Hi" god I could never get enough of his voice.

RPOV  
God I couldn't stop myself from claiming her. I couldn't stop myself from taking her I only hoped I didn't hurt her. I was so worked up from seeing her earlier today to the pool to all of our shared whispers to her telling me to step on to get her home as fast as possible. From the first moment I ripped her bathing suit feeling how wet she was for me smelling her delicious sweet smell I had to have her I couldn't make it to the bedroom. I just attacked well we both attacked truth be told.

It was all encompassing it was all consuming there was no holding back on either of our parts we needed to feel each other we needed to feel our release but we needed to feel the other's release just as much. We needed to be connected as one our souls needed to be joined and there was no waiting for it. It was raw it was pure emotion and it was pure love for each other.

When I came I roared her name and my legs gave out I could no longer hold us up even though she was on the table. I brought us both down to the floor in the entry way of our home. My Babe blacked out which she often did when the feelings were this intense this raw. I loved the fact that I could do that to her. That I could make her cum to the point that she passes out from it.

"Babe why don't we take this to someplace a little more comfortable" I ask her and she nods her head but doesn't really make an effort to move. I have to smile. "Babe?" I question her.

"Yeah yeah I was just enjoying laying here on my sexy pillow." She tells me and I and chuckle a little.

I sit up bringing her body with me. That's when I notice the glass around us. Fuck. I briefly scan her body and mine and don't see where either one of us have been cut. Whew. In all of our excitement to get to each other we had knocked the picture that hung behind the table down off the wall and the glass had shattered.

I scooted us back away from the glass. "Babe be careful there is glass on the floor." She looked at me her eyes widen.

"Glass? Where did ..." Looking around she saw what had happened "So that was the crash I heard." I nodded.

"Oh my god" she exclaimed "I am so sorry Carlos." What why did she sound upset?

"Babe?"

"Carlos I am sorry I broke the picture" shaking my head

"Babe I don't give a fuck about the picture I can buy another picture I am just glad you didn't get hurt that the glass didn't cut you when we fell to the floor. Besides I am sure I played the biggest part in that picture falling." I told her. I liked the picture but in all honesty the only thing broke was the glass it could be repaired.

We stood up looking at the table the bowl was in the floor, along with the keys that had been in the bowl, the table had a gouge in it where the picture frame had hit it before making its way to the floor. The wall had a few places where the table had slammed against it all fixable.

I looked over at my Babe and she stood there with her mouth open I gently using a finger closed it. "Babe I don't care that was more than worth it, besides Luis can fix it." I tell her.

"Yeah but what we will tell him happened? I mean we can't tell him that we attacked each other and did this what would they think?" Of course she would worry about that.

"Babe we will come up with something to tell him tomorrow. Right now I have more pressing things to think about and that is getting you in our bed where I am going to shake you all night long." I tell her picking her up and carrying her to our bedroom. God I loved the way that sounded. Our home our bedroom our love. I wanted everything to be ours there was no mine or hers just ours and the thought of that made my heart feel at peace.

We spent most of the night making love and finally crashed in the predawn hours our bodies caving to sleep. I heard the click of the door and was suddenly wide awake grabbing for my gun on the nightstand. Chances of it being anyone other than a Rangeman or Ella would be slim to none but with my Babe sleeping soundly beside me I wasn't taking any chances on her life.

I got up easy to not disturb her threw on my sweats and with my gun in hand walked out to the hallway. When I shut the door I head the unmistakable voice saying what the fuck. Fuck I quickly remember the way we had left the foyer.

I hear laughter as I step into the foyer "If you don't shut your fucking mouth I am going to shut it for you." I tell them waving my gun in my hand for effect. They look at me standing before them in nothing but sweats and my gun and start laughing again. "I mean it if you wake up Stephanie I will have all of your asses. What the fuck are you doing up here this time of the morning anyway?" I asked them.

They were just smiling. Lester, Slyder, Bobby and Tank all shrugged. Tank said. "We were just wondering if you were coming down to work out this morning." Fucking liar he has never been concerned before about if I am going to work out, what the fuck. I narrowed my gaze on him and he held up his hands I knew the fucker would cave.

"Okay Rangeman we came up to see if my Little Girl was up, we figured we could have breakfast with her." Now that is more of an honest answer.

"She is still sleep and if you all wake her up before we clean this mess up I will personally kick all of your asses and ship your sorry asses to a third world country where I will make sure you never make it out alive. Do I make myself clear?" I knew she would be upset if she knew they had seen the evidence of our activities last night.

Not that the guys would judge her at all because they wouldn't but I didn't want her to ever feel uncomfortable or ashamed of how we needed and wanted each other. What we had between us was special. It wasn't to be made fun of.

I started picking stuff up Tank brought the broom in from the kitchen and started getting the glass up. Lester and Slyder started picking up the picture and checking the frame out. "If any of you ever mention seeing any of this to her or make any wise ass cracks to her so help me god no one will ever find your body."

Lester was the first to speak up "I won't say anything I promise. I know it would make her feel uncomfortable and while I love joking with her I won't joke about this." He told me and I nodded thanking him.

It didn't take us long to get the foyer back into shape minus the glass in the picture that now hung back in its place. The marks on the wall would take a little touch up paint but pushing the table up against the wall hid most of it.

I looked at them and told them "You call Ella and have her bring up breakfast and I will go wake up Stephanie." Slyder handed me her bag with her clothes in it. I gladly took it from him as I made my way back to the bedroom to wake up my sleeping beauty.

SlyderPOV

Walking into Ranger's foyer I would have been concerned for Stephanie had I not seen the love in their eyes for each other. I knew Ranger and I knew he would never harm a woman let alone someone whom he loved as much as he loved Stephanie.

When he walked into the foyer with his gun in his hand he further proved my point. He was protecting his woman against any threat. We had set his alarm off and he was fully prepared to protect her of course I knew enough about Ranger to know that he didn't need a gun in his hand to be lethal.

We held up our hands to show there was no threat from us. Lester questioned what had happened to his foyer of course we weren't dumbasses we knew what had happened. When he told us to shut it and help clean the shit up and never mention it I couldn't help but smile. I went about helping just as all of the other guys none of us wanted to let her know we had seen this. None of us wanted to make her uncomfortable. I had just met her less than twenty four hours but it didn't matter I would do whatever was necessary to keep a smile on her beautiful face and protect her from any harm.

I had asked Lester what happened to her with the bruises and he had told me all about her x-boyfriend and the run in she had the club with him. I can only hope that Ranger plans a little wakeup call because I want to be on the crew that teaches that fucking prick a lesson. I will gladly spend a couple nights behind bars to kick the living shit out of that fucker.

I knew all the guys loved her and I knew that she was quickly wrapping herself around my heart but knowing and stopping it was two different things and while I would have previously said it wasn't possible I was quickly seeing error to my beliefs in the form of a blue eyed, brown curly haired bounty hunter that had a way of finding herself in and out of the damndest situations I have ever heard.

I had heard stories about the bombshell bounty hunter now for a couple of years but I never imagined the woman behind the stories to be as she was. I mean I knew she would have to be pretty amazing for the guys to talk about her and keep her around the way they had. They never kept a woman around but for one thing and when that was finished the women were on their way.

Ranger had gone to wake up Stephanie and we made our way into the living room. Lester flopping down on the couch "this is going to take a while" he said. I looked at him wondering what was going to take a while and he just answered me.

"Beautiful doesn't like mornings. She doesn't like getting up and from the night they had I suspect she didn't get much sleep which means it's going to be even harder to wake her up and convince her it's time to get up and face the day." He said smiling.

I wondered if he realized how evident it was on his face when he talked about her that his face betrayed how much he truly loved her. For a little bit I really felt sorry for him it must be hard to love someone that much and know that that person doesn't love you back the same way that she loves someone else and that someone else is your cousin whom you love, respect, and someone thathas been in your life forever.

We sat there maybe a half hour before Ranger joined us saying she was in the shower. He sat down on the couch and leaned his head back. Stephanie wasn't the only one that was tired this morning. I had to smile. Served the lucky fucker right I mean there wasn't one of us that wouldn't gladly trade with him at the drop of a hat. Bring on the tired and worn out at the thought.

He picked up his phone called Ella and ordered breakfast for all of us. He then looked at us "I am warning you, you mention what you saw and it will be the last thing you are able to fucking mention. Her confidence is once again heading in the right direction after yesterday I won't have you all fucking with it."

I was going to have to ask more about what was up with her confidence she seemed pretty confident last night at the party but thought I would ask Lester later. It was a little while later that Ella came in pushing a cart with breakfast. I swear as if on cue Stephanie strolled into the living room looking at us smiling. I swear she was even glowing a little.

We make our way to the dining room table and her stomach growls so loud everyone starts laughing. We sit down and Tank speaks up "Little girl your training this week has you working with each of us for two hours at the end of your sessions on Monday and Tuesday. Today you will be training with Hal, Hector, and Bobby this morning and this afternoon it will be Woody, Vince, and myself."

She just nods letting him know she understands while moaning at the food she just tasted. Jesus did this girl know what she sounded like when she ate I briefly wondered as I shifted to get comfortable. After she had taken several bites of her breakfast she looked at me.

"So Slyder are you in the military?" She asked me.

I nodded "well technically not anymore I didn't reenlist when it came time to renew my contract." I told her.

She was looking at me her eyes accessing me "which branch of military? What did you do? Do you mind me asking?" she asked me.

Answering I told her I didn't mind her asking me questions "Navy I flew F22's and B2 jets" I told her. She smiled.

She added "So you are a top gun, a fly boy?" She says and I nod to her. I was a top gun I went to Top Gun school in California I was one of the best. I lead the leader boards.

"So now that you are out what are you going to do?" She asked me. I shrugged

But then added "I was hoping Ranger would have an opening in one of his offices I would like to work for Rangeman." I told her. She nodded her understanding I looked at Ranger. He was enjoying this.

She motioned around the room "so you have known these guys for a while?" She asked

I nodded "I met them when I was stationed on an Air Craft Carrier and they needed a ride for a mission they were on."

I saw her look at her watch and then she looked at Ranger saying "Carlos I need to go meet Hal I am sure he is waiting on me. What are you plans today?" She asked him. He smiled at her telling her

"I am going to do the morning meeting, and then I will be in the office for most of the day. Let me know when you head up for lunch I will meet you." He told her. She nodded gave us all a finger wave but hugged Carlos gave him a quick kiss and left.

Soon as she had left Ranger turned to Tank "Tank call Hector up here. I know he has to train with Stephanie in hour but I want to talk to him first before he does that." Ranger had something on his mind. Tank pulled out his phone and dialed Hector speaking in Spanish he asked him to come to seven.

It was a few minutes before Hector came walking thru the door making his way to the dining room.

**A/N : consider all of the spoken parts following to be in Spanish with Hector in the room.**

"Thank you Hector for joining us. I wanted to talk to you all because I trust you all the most." Ranger said. He turned to me "Slyder I am assuming someone filled you in on what happened to Stephanie?" I nodded while I wanted to know more I knew the basics.

Ranger continued "Good. Now I know Morelli didn't go to jail. In fact I know that he was delivered to his home by officer Gaspick. No charges were ever filed and what was reported was there was a misunderstanding of the restraining order and Morelli blacked out to because of unknown origins."

There were growls from all of the others. Ranger held up his hand "I know how pissed off you all are trust me when I heard this I wanted to break something. But we are going to use this for our benefit."

The smile on his face well it was sinister and it was becoming quite contagious.

Ranger continued "here is what we are going to do. We are going to pay Morelli a little visit and remind him why it isn't smart to fuck with Rangeman and what's ours." We were all nodding I had just met her but I was nodding along with all the others. Ranger knew I had their backs

Lester spoke up first "How are we going to keep this from Beautiful? If we tell her she is going to want to come with us or want to talk us out of going." I already knew the answer to that one there was no not telling her she was too smart she would figure it out then we would all be on her shit list.

RPOV

Finding out that fucking cop never spent a night in jail for what he did to my Babe I wanted him hunted down I wanted him dead I wanted his body parts spread over the continental states. I wanted him to never be a threat.

Sitting at breakfast I almost couldn't wait to tell my men my plan but I didn't want my Babe to know what I was planning. I knew she would worry. But I also knew there was no not telling her I just wanted to talk to my men first.

When she left to go to her training session with Hal I was able to talk to my men. I told them we were going to pay the fucker a visit and teach him that you don't fuck with Rangeman and what's ours. Of course Lester had to bring up what we were going to tell my Babe.

I knew he was right we couldn't just not tell her anything yet if we told her what we were really going to do then she would be upset she would worry she would be afraid for us not that she had anything to afraid for. Morelli and officer Gasprick had already done the leg work after all if they reported us then we would expose their little cover up which I am thinking is good enough to have their badges at least temporary if not permanent.

Looking around the table at the guys I tell them. "I don't want to lie to Stephanie, I don't want to keep things from her and I don't want to take decisions away from her so we will tell her. I know she will worry but I will explain it to her that there is nothing to worry about and if she decides she wants to go with us then she will be welcome to join us we will keep her protected." I tell them. I would much rather her not know and her be here safe within the walls of Rangeman but the decision would be hers.

I explain to them "See by them not filing the correct police report and covering it up well they left us something useful. If they want to arrest us or charge us then we will let the chief know about the false report from Gaspick and Morelli and that will be enough for their badges if not permanent then temporary it will be enough to hurt their wallets, their careers, so it will be their choice. I don't care about the prick but I want Morelli to understand the full consequences of messing with what's ours." I growled.

I looked at Hector, "I want him followed. I want to know where he is at all times. I tell him." Hector smiled and answers "I have been keeping track of him since that night you and Angletio went to dinner at her parent's house." I smile

"Good, I would like to see where he has been but I want to know where he is at all times. This isn't going to be a single strike. This is going to be multiple strikes. I want to catch him off guard when he is least expecting it. I want to put the fear of God in him or the fear of Rangeman whichever he is inclined to fear the most." I tell my men.

They all nod in agreement. I look at Hector "Hector I want you to set up GPS to come to all of our phones include Cal on the list as he has a little payback to deliver as well. I will fill him in later." I thought about it a little more and then added "Hector also send the GPS signal to Stephanie's phone that way if she is out of the building she can see where his car is. It doesn't mean that he isn't driving something else but it may be some security for her." I tell him.

Hector looks at his watch "I have to go meet Angelito for her training. After I am done I will bring you the reports you asked for and I will setup his GPS signal to all of your phones." Hector tells me I nod. He stands up and walks out of the room.

**A/N conversation is now back in English**

I turn back to the men in front of me. "We are going to pay a little visit to house to set the fear of god in him then we will blitz attack him when he isn't expecting it. I want him so scared that he is scared to step foot outside of his front door to walk his fucking dog for fear that we will be there. I want him too scared to go the store, I want him too scared to go pickup his hooker for the day or night, I want him to live in fear like he has made my Babe live in fear of him."

They all nod in agreement. I stand up it's time to get to the Monday morning meeting we need to go over these contracts we have coming in. I am actually glad Slyder is here he can really help us.

We make our way down to the fifth floor and when we walk out on the floor several of the guys say hi to Slyder. I show him where his cubicle is and I see interesting looks from dumb fucker one and two if they thought we would hire them full time they obviously are as dumb as they look and act. They have fucked up too many times, in the short time they have been here, to even be remotely considered Rangeman material.

We make our way to the conference room and I let all of the men know that Slyder will be joining the team provided he passes the same tests as my Babe. Her test was coming on Sunday and he would be testing alongside her. Provided they both passed, she better fucking pass or my men were going to live to regret it, they would be joining Rangeman full time.

DougPOV

What the fuck? I watch as Ranger shows a new guy to a cubicle and tells him that it will be his cubicle. I then see them all including the new guy make their way to the conference room. Neither Mike nor I had been privileged enough to join the daily meetings. We didn't rank how the fuck did this new guy rank?

Had he been hired? Was he going to be hired fulltime? I am not going to let someone take my chance from me. I deserve to be a fulltime Rangeman. I have every intention of getting that rank. I am not going to let some split tail or a new guy walk in here and take the opportunity away from me. I already had a plan to take care of the split tail, now I just needed to find a way to get rid of the new guy.

I watched them come out of the conference room an hour or so later and everyone was slapping the new guy on the back, some were talking to him like he was their fucking best friend. My blood boiled at the sight. Here I had busted my ass to fit in around here and all I got was teased and made fun of. What the fuck, this guy walks in and is instantly taken under everyone's wing and is accepted.

I bet even the split tail would let him dance with her and she would willing rub her ass all over him. I am going to have to come up with a way to deal with him. Maybe I can somehow make it look it he is responsible for what is going to happen to Stephanie. I bet that would sever any ties he seems to have with these guys. I briefly wonder if there would be a way to do that and how I would do that.

Our shift for the control room was up so we were replaced by two of the men I believe it was Binkie and Woody. Mike and I made our way to the security lab. I knew Hector had training with the split tail but should be coming back to the lab shortly. I was only hoping I had a few moments to take a couple of items I needed without him seeing me.

If Ranger was going to hire the new guy my time here may be limited so I was going to have to act fast if I wanted my revenge on Stephanie and on Rangeman if they thought they were going to replace me, bring me in when they needed help and then not bother to hire me full time because they didn't think I was good enough. I would show them good enough. I would show them what I was capable of and why I would have made the better choice for a full time Rangeman than either the split tail or the new fucker that seemed to be everyone's favorite.

SPOV

I can't believe how hard they have stepped up my training. It started with Hal this morning he had me running sprints pushing me and pushing me to run faster and faster each time. I have sweat pouring off of me. My hair is plastered to my head. I am sweating so bad my knees are sweating. I am breathing so hard I think any moment my lungs are going to punch through my body to get more oxygen.

I was so fucking glad when Hal's hour was over I was ready to jump up and down that he had to go back to work. Boy was I mistaking in that thinking. Hector took over and he had me doing situps, pushups, and pull-ups. He was timing me and he would push me harder faster. I felt like puking my stomach was so sore, I felt like my arms were going to fall off from the pull-ups and pushups and when his hour was up and he told me I did good I just collapsed on the mat praying to God that he would just take me now.

This is how Bobby found me laying out on the mat. At first I think I scared him because he rushed me landing beside me on his knees his hands immediately searching my neck and feeling my head. Granted I was laying there with my eyes closed but I couldn't move. My body was screaming from my two hours with Hal and then Hector.

When I heard the air whoosh from his lungs I opened my eyes and looked at him. He just looked at me shaking his head "Bomber what the fuck you scared the shit out of me" He told me. I could only smile those were the only muscles that were currently working.

I did eventually manage to reply "I was praying God would just take me now Hal and Hector fucking killed me." I told him and it was his turn to smile at me. I saw the glimmer in his eyes and I couldn't only think one thing okay two things. One I am fucked and two I had the urge to call him a fucker for I knew he had planned his own form of torture for the next two fucking hours.

In his no nonsense voice I am sure he reserved for privates he barked "Bomber get that ass of yours moving." I gave him my death glare but I guess it was still on the fritz because he didn't drop dead he was still there looking down at me. I gradually sat up and then reaching for Bobby's hand I pulled against him to stand myself up on wobbly legs my limbs felt like they were going to fall off. I wasn't sure how I was going to make it thru the next two hours.

I made it over to my water bottle and took a big swig. I needed something to drink with all the sweating I had done I was well past fucking dead. I wasn't sure how I was still standing and not only that I had two hours with him, then my workout before I could head up to Seven for a couple hours were I fully intended on spending them in a hot shower and then laying in my soft bed.

Bobby took me to the compound and we made our way thru the obstacle course this time he pressed me we ran between the obstacles and the obstacles were performed as fast as I could successfully perform them. We kept repeating the course over and over for the solid two hours every now and then Bobby would make a note in his phone as to my performance and he would time me with each obstacle.

I still struggled with that fucking wall but I could tell that I was getting better I was getting higher and higher and getting more coordinated when it came to hitting the wall and pulling myself up but I hadn't quite gotten it yet. I couldn't get my leg over while holding myself to the wall and I kept falling on my ass with each round. I was so frustrated at that wall that I even growled at it but each time I ended up walking around the fucker. I knew to pass the test I had to make it over that fucking wall. It was becoming my personal hell. My personal challenge you know that one thing that you don't think you can ever do no matter how fucking hard you try?

Bobby and I were making our way back to the Rangeman and he knew I was disappointed but being Bobby he knew exactly what to say "Bomber you can't let the wall win what you are currently thinking is letting the wall win. It's just a fucking wall you can do it. It isn't capable of beating you all you have to do is tackle it like any other problem. What would you have done if there was a wall preventing you from rescuing Ranger yesterday what would you have done?" He said and I could see what he was saying and I just smiled.

If there was a wall preventing me from getting to Carlos I would scale that wall, I would blow the fucker up, I would do something to get over or through that fucking wall to get it him or die trying. Next time it's me or that fucking wall it sure as fuck isn't going to be that wall that wins.

Looking at Bobby I tell him "Thanks Bobby I needed to hear that." We pulled into the garage and I made my way to the gym to complete my work out. When I walked in Lester and Slyder were waiting for me. I wasn't sure about working out in front of Slyder. I didn't want him to make fun of me.

I mean I am sure like the other guys he was pushing much heavier weights than my ten to twenty pound weights I mean these were baby weights but when he hopped on the treadmill on the other side of me sandwiching me between him and Lester I immediately relaxed and we went about our workout.

He like Lester helped me with having my weights ready and never looked funny at the weight I was lifting or made fun of me when even at the baby weight for him I was struggling to get in all of my reps. It was nice to have them working out with me. Lester just smiled. I had started out wanting to work out by myself and then Lester sort of weaseled his way in and now I wouldn't want it any other way.

Now I had a feeling that there would be another one joining in on my workouts and oddly I was okay with that. When we all started laughing at something I could see how Slyder was going to fit right in with Lester and I. Lester grabbing my water taking a swig of it he turned on some music and it was older rock like we had listened to at the party and I could tell that Slyder was also enjoying the music so he liked the same music as we did.

Yeah he was going to fit right in.

MPPOV

I finally got Valerie to answer the phone this morning. I tried calling her all day yesterday and couldn't get her on the phone. Normally they come for dinner on Sunday but they didn't come last night or call.

"Valerie, this is your mother. Why haven't you answered the phone? And why didn't you all come for dinner last night. I made pot roast with gravy and mashed potatoes." I tell her.

"Mom I am sorry, Lisa was sick with a virus and I had to take her to the doctor. I just didn't want to bring her out last night. I should have called I am sorry." She tells me.

"That's okay dear, how is she feeling today?" I asked her.

"She seems to be doing better today. The medicine seems to be doing the trick." She tells me.

"Good I am glad to hear it. I hate it when babies are sick." I tell her.

"Were you able to talk to Stephanie?" I asked her, I have been dying to hear what happened.

"Mom, I talked to her but I don't think anything is going to change. She seemed happy with the guys she was with. She told me she was happy with Ranger that she wasn't ever going back to Joe and that in fact she was planning on marrying Ranger. He has given her a ring and everything." What the hell I am not hearing her right.

"Valerie didn't you stress to her how she is disappointing and embarrassing the family? Did you ask her if she had thought what it would mean to her parents and to you if she stayed with those thugs?" I asked her trying to get my point across to her.

"Mom I tried to talk to her but honestly she seemed happy. She doesn't seem to care what others think she basically told me she was happy and then told me I could leave and get back to the kids. So I left."

"Valerie what were you thinking? You should have made her come with you. You should have made her believe you. You should have changed her mind." I tell her almost screaming into the phone. The thoughts of her marrying that thug over my son, Joe who was destined to be part of my family was making my blood boil. My no good daughter would manage to fuck up the one good thing in my life and bring shame and disappointment to the family all at the same time. Only Stephanie was capable of doing something like that.

"Mom I have to go, Lisa is waking up I need to give her more medicine and I need to get Albert things ready for him to take with him to work." Valerie tells me see what a perfect burg woman she is? Why couldn't Stephanie be more like that have children and care for a husband.

"Okay dear. How about you plan on coming from dinner one night when Lisa is feeling better?" I tell her.

"Okay mom we will. I will talk to you soon, Bye" She tells me before hanging up.

See now that is how the proper burg girl should act. Hanging up the phone I briefly debate if I should tell my son about Stephanie's engagement to that thug. We can't let that happen. We can't let her marry that man. What would people think? She is supposed to marry Joe. He is supposed to be my son. This can't happen. If Stephanie marries that thug then I will lose Joe and I don't want to lose Joe.

**Please take a moment to leave a review! I love reviews they are good for my soul and fingers! Let me know what you think about the new guy Slyder, Doug, Momma Plum, the rest of the party…give me your thoughts. I would love to hear them!**


	34. Chapter 33: Being a Partner

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**I want to thank everyone who writes a review for my story. I enjoy reading them and I love ideas they give me so keep them coming! You do my soul good!**

**I have a website that I have created to give you all something to explore to dig deeper into the story "What does it mean to trust". Please go and check out the playlist for the Party! The new character that I am introducing, the swimsuit for Stephanie as well as a few fun trunks for the guys.**

**www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com **

Chapter 33: Being a Partner

SPOV

We finished our workouts and I walked over to my bag. Grabbing my water bottle I start guzzling I have sweated so much these past five hours that I believe I will be permanently dehydrated. The cold water feels good to my parched lips.

Slyder approaches me reaching for my water. I instinctively pull back I wasn't ready to share my water with him, it tasted too good. He just gave me a look and I let him take my bottle. He handed me a bottle of Gatorade saying "try this I think it will make you feel better this will help replace carbohydrates, and electrolytes that you have lost while working out."

I open the bottle and take a few sips, Gatorade has never been my thing but as soon as the liquid hit my lips my body was craving it so I continued drinking it while Slyder finished the rest of my water.

Lester joined us "Beautiful you drinking Gatorade?" He knew I wasn't really a fan. Not to mention this was fucking diet of course it was and who the hell really wants diet drinks? I mean most people drink them but in all honesty do they really want them? I know people get use to them but it is a get use to them part that I don't want to have to do. I mean really why does anyone want to drink something or eat something for that matter that you have to get used to in the first place.

I smile at him "Slyder here asked me to try it, so I did. Actually while I normally don't like them today my body seems to be craving it." I tell him. He just nods in understanding but adds.

"Beautiful you have been working out hard this morning, and sweating a lot it will help you feel better." He told me. I couldn't resist asking.

"Lester how do you know I have been sweating a lot this morning?" I briefly wondered was he watching me again? Was he asking the guys and checking up on me as he did my first several sessions to see how I was doing? If so was he reporting back to Carlos because if he was I was going to kick his ass.

I mean I knew the guys reported back but this felt a little obsessive compulsive on his part he broke me out of my little mental rant "Beautiful I haven't been checking up on you, I haven't been reporting back to Ranger I haven't done that from the beginning. Yes at first I wanted to know how your sessions went only because I was excited and I wanted to hear how you were doing. I want you to join our team here but more importantly I have always wanted you to excel at your training because I knew you could do it and I knew you would be great at it." He told me, see now this is why he is my best friend.

Not only does he know exactly what to say to me he also knows how much I need to hear it. But then he has to continue and ruin it all for me. "Besides Beautiful I could smell you from the moment I stepped into the gym and let me tell you, you smell a little ripe." He scrunched up his nose as if he smelled something offensive.

What the hell? I smell? I know I have been sweating my ass off today but damn I didn't think I stunk why didn't they say something before? I mean they worked out right beside me, with me stinking. How fucking embarrassing is that? I mean Slyder doesn't know me from Adam all he is going to think is that I am the smelly Rangeman girl. I take a couple of sniffs trying not to make it obvious but I don't smell anything then again they say you can't smell yourself so maybe I am the smelly Rangeman girl.

I hear laughter beside me and I met Lester's eyes that are dancing with amusement, just fucking great. "Out loud?" I asked them I don't even bother looking at them I can feel them nod as my face turns redder and their laughter gets louder.

Laugh it up fuckers. Laugh at the fat smelly chick with the big butt who fills her plate up and eats too much by all means I think and they laugh even harder. Lester grabs me and pulls me to him. But I pushed against him if I stink I don't my stink rubbing off on him. Lester like Carlos always smells so good. It was the Armani cologne he wore it was expensive it was delicious and if he could have bottled a smell that was Lester it would be it. Just like the Bulgari was Ranger the Armani was Lester.

I notice Slyder had a distinct smell too but I wasn't sure what it was, but it was good. They were both still laughing when finally Lester pulled hard enough to break my hold bringing me close to him. He kissed the top of my sweaty forehead holding me to him.

"Beautiful I was only kidding you, you don't stink and you aren't fat. You have never stunk." But he stopped and thought about what he was saying and who he was saying it to and changed his mind. "Okay maybe you stunk that time you were thrown in the dumpster by the Chinese Restaurant, oh and that time that all that old rotten food got thrown on you, oh and that time that you landed in well I don't know and don't want to think about what it was because I have seen less vile things come out of dog's asses but par something like that happening you have never stunk not from sweating and not now." You know he doesn't have to remind me all the times I have stunk. He started smiling and he started wagging his eyebrows oh boy here we go

Playboy Lester was about to make an appearance. "If anything Beautiful I would say you all hot and sweaty well that would be at the top of one of my best smells list not to mention best fant…Ow" he yelled as Slyder smacked him upside the back of his head.

Looking at Slyder "Fuck man what the fuck?" he asked him, I had to smile. Slyder just shook his head which caused me to burst out laughing. Slyder was standing up for me that was nice of him but what he had to realize was Lester was my best friend I was use to his comments and his teasing and I could handle my own all though often the guys would slap him in the back of the head for some of his off the wall comments.

"Slyder thanks for standing up for me but I am use to playboy Lester. After all he is my best friend but I appreciate the help in keeping him in line sometimes it can be difficult" I tell him. He just laughed and nodded agreeing with me while Lester started pouting pulling his arms across his chest like a two year old little boy that couldn't have the radio car at the toy store.

A song comes on that I wanted to learn the dance steps to. I wanted to learn the shuffle to LMFAO "Party Rock Anthem" song. I got a great idea. "Hey guys do you want to get together later and see if we can learn to do the shuffle by watching the video? We could bring it up on the wide screen and see if we can copy the foot work." I asked them

Lester started laughing and Slyder looked a little ill. "What I want to learn how to shuffle and I can't be the only one that knows it at the club. So you have to learn it with me." I tell them hoping they would see reason to my asking and why it was important that they agreed with me.

Lester looked at me "Beautiful you got it but I can't speak for Slyder he looks a little green from the idea." He said laughing I had to agree poor Slyder.

Looking at him I couldn't resist as we made our way to the elevator "Slyder I didn't ask you to kill your first born, I just asked you to join us in learning how to shuffle. I mean you didn't mind jumping and dancing with us last night. It isn't that hard I mean it's a shuffle you can do a shuffle right?" And I start demonstrating what I think it would be like with Lester joining in. We were singing "party rockers in the house tonight….Everybody just have a good time…and we gonna make you lose your mind… Everybody just have a good time…Party Rockers in the house tonight…. Everybody just have a good time…and we gonna make you lose your mind…wanna see ya …Shake that"

When the elevator opened on the fifth floor and there was Lester and I shuffling to no music and singing with Slyder looking at us like we had lost our minds. When I took a moment to be aware of my surroundings there stood Tank, Carlos, and Cal in the hallway looking at us. They all seemed a little surprised at the sight that we must have made but when I shrugged my shoulders and asked them "what?" they just started laughing shaking their heads. I mean really I girl has to have her fun.

I had to admit we must have looked pretty funny putting my arms around both of them we made our way off of the elevator I was excited I had two people who was willing to learn the shuffle with me I wondered how many others would be willing to join us.

DougPOV

I was watching that bitch on the tape in the gym. I watched her interact with the new guy I wasn't even sure of his name, I saw them laughing I saw him sharing her drink him giving her Gatorade, them all laughing with Lester. I watched as they were laughing walking out of the gym and I watched them in the elevator.

I watched as her and Lester started doing a dance like but I knew there was no music so I wondered what was up with that. I watched as her tits bounced and I briefly wondered how good their weight would feel in my hands.

I had watched Lester pull her close to him for a hug and gave her a kiss on the forehead and wondered what her body would feel like in my arms. I hadn't gotten enough feel of her on the dance floor to know how her body would feel next to mine I only knew I wanted it.

I wanted to fuck her and thinking about it only made me harder. I quickly took a recording of the emptied out gym from the cameras. I only needed a few minutes of recording I wanted to make sure no one walked in the door during my recording so I kept it under five minutes. It was all that would be needed anyway.

For my plan to work I needed for the gym to appear to be empty so this little recording that I have saved will be helpful in making my plan a success. Now I just need to find a way to keep Lester and apparently now the new guy out of the gym while she is working out.

I wasn't sure how much longer I was going to be needed here and if they were really going to get rid of me then I definitely wanted my chance with her. I had done a little research and decided that I needed a different drug than one of the ones I had gotten it actually took too long for the drug to take effect I needed something that was affective but took effect faster so I would be paying another visit to that club in the next couple of nights to find someone selling the drug I needed which was actually a powder.

I couldn't help but smile as I thought about my plan and what my plan would lead to, thinking about my reward was enough to make me hard. I was going to have to wait until I was off shift and back in my apartment before I could take care of that. Under Hector's watchful eye I have to be very careful.

The last thing I wanted was for him to catch on to my plan. If he found out all would be ruined so I clicked off the feed entering a code for a different camera in a completely different area I preceded as though I was testing the different cameras.

No one would be the wiser as it was a weekly task to check all cameras making sure none had gotten shifted that all cameras covered whatever it was designated for without any interferences and that all cameras were functioning properly.

I had watched her enough to learn that one day her workout hour was the first hour the gym was closed and the next day her workout hour would be the second hour the gym was closed. I had been told the gym was closed between the hours of twelve and fourteen hundred. I also had noticed that the day her workout was the last hour in the gym there was always someone there promptly at fourteen hundred to begin more training.

I knew that I had a window of opportunity on either day but I needed to figure out which day gave me the most opportunity and the best access and now that obviously the gym wasn't closed to all of the men I needed to figure out how to keep those two away.

SPOV

Slyder, Lester, and I somehow I think I am going to be saying that a lot made our way to Carlos, Tank, and Cal. I quickly give Cal, and Tank a hug and a kiss on the cheek before I wrap my arms around my man feeling him wrap his arms around me. I close my eyes reveling in the way I feel when I am in his arms.

I am not the kind of girl that likes to give in to the old age thinking that a man has to protect a woman that a man has to provide for a woman that a man is the knight in shining armor that has to save the girl, okay so he has been my knight several time, okay lots of time and he has saved my ass but you know what I mean. I love my independence but when his arms are around I feel so safe, so secure, so protected and a part of me loves the way it feels.

I don't think I would ever feel those feelings with anyone else. I don't think anyone else could make me feel that way I know Joe never did nor did the Dick. I would never have allowed myself to be in a position to feel that way. But with Carlos it just came so natural I felt it before I even had a chance to realize what I was feeling. I believe that I had actually felt some of these feelings from the first moment that I met him.

When I feel his strong arms wrap around me his muscles flex and contract as he pulls my body to his hard chiseled body it does more than just wake up my hormones it makes me feel treasured, safe, protected, secure, and loved all at the same time. You have no idea until all of those feelings are taken away from you how much you need them in life, how much you crave them, and how wonderful they feel when you get them back.

Being a Bounty Hunter had taken some of those feelings away from my life. People breaking into my apartment, the stalkers that I had collected over the years, the whackos who thought I liked having dead people and body parts left in my apartment and cars, the threats, the constant not knowing if while I was asleep in my bed if someone would break into my apartment as it seemed that a child was capable of picking the lock, the constant wondering if this time when I turned the ignition of my car was it going to explode with me in it all of it had torn away and chipped away at those feelings of security, safety, that I was protected, that I could protect myself.

I didn't even realize how much so until I moved here, moved in with Carlos where safety, security, protection isn't a question. I am safe here in this building with his men, I am secure here, and I am protected here. It isn't something I have to think about or look out for. There are no threats just on the other side of the door here, or the worry of when an ignition starts. I didn't even realize how much I would enjoy having those feelings. I didn't know how much not having that feeling was really affecting me or even until then realized how I had lost those feelings.

Looking up at Carlos he had a smile on his face, he must have been ESPning me again and following along with my mental epiphany if you may. "Hi" I tell him and he smiles bigger. "You ready for lunch? I am starving and I need a shower bad. According to these two" I motion to Lester and Slyder "I stink" I told him. He looked at them questioning their judgment on telling me that.

Slyder spoke up "hey I didn't say anything about you smelling one way or another" I just nodded my head.

"Exactly my point" I tell him then I elaborate "had I not stunk you would have said something. Instead you said nothing so effectively you were telling me that I did in fact stink and you just didn't want to hurt my feelings by saying so." See how I can turn it around? Laugh it up now boys I thought.

Slyder just shook his head half smiling and wanting to laugh he knew he had no come back and I had him right where I wanted him. Lester just looked bewildered so I couldn't leave him out of the conversation. "Lester you did say I stunk right?" He just shook his head. I couldn't keep the smile from my lips. I know I was being a little evil.

"Beautiful I told you I was joking, you don't stink in fact I told you that you all sweaty was…" Carlos cut him off

"Santos if you value your life you will not finish that statement." Uh oh Lester's in trouble, Lester's in trouble I couldn't help but think while the giggle bubbled out. See sometimes that little devil on my shoulder just makes me do devilish things but it is so much fun it is hard to refrain at times.

Lester gave me a hurtful look but I could see the humor and laughter behind his eyes. I reached out and hugged him I purposefully rubbed my shoulder and side on him telling him "now that I have rubbed my stink on you, you need a shower too." I said laughing.

He wagged his eyebrows "anytime beautiful, anytime beautiful you just tell me when and where." I shook my head. I swear sometimes I just don't get it he can turn anything into a dirty joke. He's my best friend but I swear all he thinks about is sex. Truly I wonder sometimes which head on him does the thinking. I am beginning to think the smaller of the two is the only one with a brain maybe because that is where the most of blood tends to reside.

"Not with me Lester, not going to happen ever" and I stress the ever part. He just smiles.

"Well guys this is fun but I need nourishment, and I need to get that shower so I don't stink the guys out of the car this afternoon during my driving training." I start to make my way to the elevator with Carlos following me his hand on the small of my back. God I loved how that felt. I loved his hands on any part of me some parts more than others but I especially loved his hand on my back when we walked together, I could just feel his support his love and it was wonderful.

MannyPOV

I had been over and over all of the things that my Wifey had been sent in that wretched box and all of the things that had been left on her bed. I had looked at those pictures of his dick, and a woman's pussy to the point that I didn't think I could look at another pussy without thinking of those fucking pictures. I may be broken at this point.

I mean there has to be something here, something to lead us to who this fucking psycho is. In all of this there is nothing. Not a damn finger print, not a damn sample of DNA nothing not evening seeming a single fiber. I have been a crime scene investigator and forensic specialist for years. I was one of the best in the country. I was called in when the police labs, state crime labs, even the FBI labs had no further leads. Rangeman was paid nicely for my services to the different departments for my abilities.

Here I was the best of the best hired out to do what I do all over the country where I solve murders, kidnappings, heinous crimes where people think they got away with it. I am brought in and I usually am able to find something that someone missed which leads to the discovery of who was responsible ultimately bringing the fucker or fuckers to justice.

But now that it counted the most, that it meant the most to me almost as much as it meant when I first got into this business I was unable to find a single shred of evidence to lead us to the fucking psycho that was after my Wifey.

Some would say that I am the job that the job was me and I guess they would be right. I have seen a lot too much and it has all affected me in some way. I am not immune. I have sympathy for the victims and I want justice more than most I just don't always show that side of me.

Actually I hardly ever show that side of me up until I met my Wifey it had been a long time since that side of me was shown so long in fact that I didn't think that side of me still existed. Part of me hated that that side was resurrected with her in my life because it meant every time I was called out for crime it hurt more it affected me deeper once again like in the beginning but there was another part of me that reveled in that side that once felt lost to me.

That I could still feel things that deeply things still mattered to me that I still had a hold on humanity and it was important to me that I still had the ability to care about someone and what was happening or what had happened to them and because of what I do I could find justice for them.

I never pictured my life in the field of crime scene investigations. I mean I had never had that aspiration as a kid growing up. My life was harder than many other kids I knew. My biological parents weren't stellar parents they were abusive, they were horrible people to me, to my sister, to each other.

They only cared about where their next hit was coming from they didn't care about my sister and I they never cared. We survived because we were survivalists eventually we were taken away from our birth parents and we were placed with people who loved us, who thought about us and life was good for both my sister and I.

I had taken swimming lessons which I excelled at and was placed on a swim team which the team did well we were state champions for two years while I was on the team. Our family then moved my Dad received a job offer that he didn't feel like he could refuse.

Looking back I wished he had refused. I wish he had never accepted that job if he hadn't accepted that job we would have never come to Miami we would have never lived where we did. I was eighteen technically no longer under the law of having to live with parents or a guardian but I still lived with them I was still welcomed in their home in my home and I was still loved as if I had been theirs from the beginning. I was also looking forward to my first year at college like my father I wanted to be a teacher.

I still couldn't believe how my life had started that I was now in the family I had, going to college. My sister well she would have started her third year of high school again something I never saw in our futures when we were kids with our birth parents. Truth being told I never expected us to survive our biological parents but we had we had survived and with the love that we had been shown we were excelling.

I will never forget the night that everything changed for me. The night that my whole world came crashing down around my feet. The night that everything important to me was ripped out from under me the night that changed my directions in life sent me down the path of life as a crime scene investigator, a forensic scientist. The life of a crime solver where all that mattered was finding the son of bitches who thought they could get away. I am not saying that it isn't a satisfying life in some aspects I mean it has its bad moments, and the moments you just want to throw up, moments you just want to kill something, someone. But when you catch the bad guy and bring them to justice. When you find that single shred of evidence tying them to the crime that they thought they got away with well nothing is more satisfying at that moment.

I came home to flashing lights surrounding my house. I came home to a crime scene investigator van parked in our driveway beside my mom's car. Thinking about it still makes my heart want to race my breathe catch bile rise in my stomach and anger run through my veins. I remember the police holding me back from my own home as they began asking me questions. I remember the panic in wanting to see my parents, my sister rising in me as the bile from the thoughts of possibilities that were flying through my mind as to why there was such as scene in front of my house.

I remember the numbness from hearing how my house, my family my mom, my dad, my sister had been victims of a home invasion gone wrong they called it. Gone wrong, that was their choice of words. Later seeing the pictures that they allowed me to look at as they questioned me as if they believed I would have been capable of such heinous acts of violence towards the only people that had ever loved me ever cared for me that I had ever loved or ever cared for, my life my family.

Then I had to withstand their sincerest apologies when they discovered that I couldn't have done it not that I wouldn't or didn't but couldn't have. I had been visiting my college it was orientation and I had been away for the past two days getting myself ready to attend college while my family was slain in an home invasion gone wrong. Those words gone wrong still ring in my head, still cause bile to rise from my stomach to this very day and those words still infuriate me when I hear them spoken in connection to a crime. No one will know how those words make you feel until they are spoken to you.

My father Victor Ramos, my mother Elizabeth Ramos and my sister Arianna Ramos were all buried on the same day, all beside each other. Their funeral was huge but it wasn't because they had so many friends who wanted to remember them for their lives, it was their death that was what was being remembered. Most of the people that were there looking and watching me bury the best part of my life, the best part of me didn't even know us they felt sorry for us, they felt sorry for me, they felt sorry for themselves and by showing up at the funeral of my parent's my sister it somehow made them feel that everything in life was good again, was going to be right and the bad thing wouldn't touch their lives.

I didn't care I didn't want them there I didn't want their sympathy their empathy I wanted to be allowed to mourn the death of my family my life without the strangers looking at me and watching me without their looks of pity. My world had been ripped out from under me my life had been turned upside down not theirs. They may have been sorry that bad things like this happen in life to good people but it wasn't their life it destroyed it wasn't their life it touched it blackened it was mine. I wanted to scream for them all to go the fuck home to leave me alone to leave us alone so I could mourn my loss so I could mourn my family so I could remember them as I knew them in life not in death not as how they saw the news or read the papers about a home invasion gone wrong. But out of respect of my parents and my sister I didn't have the heart so I sat there and tolerated them and thanked them when they offered me their condolences like that did it for me like that made me all better.

They say in death you should celebrate the life the person had. You should celebrate the person they were that you had always known them to be and not be lost in the sadness of their loss. Well I wanted nothing to do with that philosophy even though it sounded like a good one. There was nothing good about losing them like this. It isn't as if you could say they lived a full life, they lived a long life. My sister she was sixteen years old, my parents they were forty five years old. What is long about any of their lives? What was full about any of their lives I tell you what nothing. They had been robbed of their lives, their future, they long happy life taken away from them in a home invasion gone wrong that's what.

But I had the deepest and sincerest apologies and sympathy from the police department. I had the sympathy and empathy from everyone who lived in our neighborhood, from everyone who had watched the news as it unfolded on their televisions, from strangers that walked down the street that recognized my face. What was that supposed to do for me? Make it better? Make my life better? I didn't want any of it. The only thing I wanted was something that none of them were able to give me. I wanted to know who did this to my family, to me. Who it was that decided to invade my home, take the life of my mom, my dad, and my sister. Who was it that decided that this home invasion, the invasion of my home was the invasion that was to go wrong? I wanted a name or names. I wanted revenge, I wanted blood, I can't even tell you exactly what it was that I wanted to do I just wanted to make it painful and I wanted to make it last forever. I wanted them living in a daily life of hell. Prison was too good, death was too good.

It was my work in Miami that lead me to meet Ranger. When he opened Rangeman he saw the need to have a crime scene investigator on staff to investigate home and business invasions the very thing he sought to protect. Because of my life, my past, my mission in life I couldn't turn his offer down. It wasn't the salary even though the salary was probably better than any crime scene investigator ever made for the police, the state, or the FBI that wasn't the reason for me to take the job. It was his conviction to preventing invasions, to finding justice when they did occur that had me signing on the dotted line of my contract and busting my ass to pass the entrance exam for Rangeman. It is that same pride, that same conviction of what we do that keeps me with him year after year because of us there are families who are safe, there are families who are protected.

There is that boy who is just starting out in college to become that educator I never got to be and that teenage girl looking forward to junior and senior years of high school because their homes are protected and watched over by us to prevent their lives from being ripped out from under them as mine was. We made a difference, I made a difference and for that my whole life all of my decisions my paths in life were all worthwhile. Now if I could just find a way to keep my Wifey safe and protected I would feel better.

Looking at the evidence for my Wifey brought back all of those painful memories for me. It took me right back to the moment when it was me looking at the clues, the evidence, the pictures from my own family. That night changed everything I ended up going to school but my major was no longer that of an educator someone who helps by building and molding a life of a child. It was that of a crime scene investigator, a forensic scientist. Someone who helped a destroyed life find justice. While important and necessary it somehow wasn't exactly the same as my intentions or my desires as that young adult who wanted to make a difference in a different way.

If the police department where we lived couldn't find the son of a bitch that stole my family, stole my life then I would dedicate my life to searching, tracking, and finally hunting him down if it took all of my life to do it. Unlike the clues here I had found that key that piece of evidence in the case of my family home invasion gone wrong. I had tracked him, I had hunted him, and I had dealt with him. He would never see the inside of a court room, there wasn't a chance he wouldn't be convicted for the crime he committed against my family. It had taken me several years but I had done it. I had found him and I not only prosecuted him, but I was judge, jury and executioner and before the life left his eyes he had screamed, he had begged, he had puked, he had pissed and shit himself in fear, he pleaded with me begged me for my forgiveness but there was none to give.

I couldn't help but think at the time was this how my mom, my dad, my sister begged for their life, begged for him to just take what he wanted and leave them their lives. Had they pleaded with him to allow them to live and in those thoughts it brought no sympathy, no empathy, and no forgiveness to the bastard before me.

Remembering my time with him actually brought me a sick sense of pride, and happiness which also brought about a healthy amount of guilt thinking that I had that in me that I was capable of doing something like that to another human being even when that human being had taken everything from me. But it was that part of me that sought revenge that just reveled in knowing that he had gotten exactly what he deserved that felt so satisfied.

It was also that part in me that was frustrating me right now when I couldn't find an answer to help protect my wifey. She was my sister. She was the first person that I allowed close to me to think of as part of my family since I had lost my family and I wasn't going to lose her because I couldn't seem to find a fucking clue as to who this sick son of a bitch was.

I had been told that a cop was involved we all felt confident that cop was her x-boyfriend cop Morelli but there was absolutely no evidence tying him to anything she had received. I couldn't prove it was him. My gut was saying it was him, but there wasn't a shred of evidence to link him. I was beyond pissed at myself, at him, picking up the nearest thing I could reach I slung it across the room yelling out in my frustration at the whole situation.

Stephanie Plum walked into my heart when I was shot. I have to say it was the best thing that had happened to my life in a long time and it took getting shot for it to happen. Ranger had a man that wanted to take over his identity and I had gone to the bonds office. I froze for a second seeing the man because he did look like Ranger and in that second before realization hit me it wasn't Ranger he shot me. Stephanie had come to the hospital to see how I was. Because of their policy no one would tell her anything unless she was family so she said she was my wife.

I have to laugh looking back on it because at the time she had no idea my last name. She only knew my first name as Manny so she told them she was Mrs Manny something. Lucky for her the nurse liked her and let her back anyway. From that moment until now and forever more she will always be my wifey. I love her, I would protect her, I would fight for her and I would die for her. That is why I was so frustrated that I wasn't able to find something anything to help her to make her life safer.

I was the best and yet I couldn't find anything it was also this love for her that made me sit back down after releasing a little bit of pent up energy frustration and anger. After picking up the pieces of stapler that I had put a nice hole in the wall with when I threw it. I sat back down to go over everything one more time in hopes that I missed something or overlooked something. Sometimes it was the tiniest of clues that lead you to something that breaks the case wide open my only hope was that I was able to find it.

RPOV

We make it up to our home for lunch and as usual Ella has already left lunch for us. I really wanted to talk to her about my plan for Morelli on one hand and I didn't want to bring up his name on the other. I was so torn. I never wanted to keep secrets from her. I know I can't tell her about my missions but barring that I never want to keep secrets not like this, not when it affected her life.

I had done this, I had been that guy and now that she was in my life I no longer wanted to be that guy. I had promised myself and more importantly I had promised her that I wouldn't be that guy so I knew I had to tell her. I just wasn't sure how I was going to tell her and I wasn't sure what her reaction would be. This was something I had to do but if she asked me not to do it I wondered if I could actually not do it.

I mean what do you say I am going to terrorize your x-boyfriend because of the things he has done to you. I am going to make his life a living hell on earth until he either decides to one leave you alone or he moves to a safer place hopefully across the country or better yet another country maybe a third world country without phones, without televisions, without all the modern conveniences we enjoy day in day out. In my dreams it would be a dry country that would serve him right. I know I am enjoying those thoughts too much.

But in all honesty how do you tell someone this? Especially someone who you know will worry that it will cause you trouble, or problems and I know she wouldn't want that and that she would worry about me, her brothers, and Rangeman. She loved this company as much as I did even though she wasn't here from the start. She loved everything we did, everything we stood for, she believed in our services and she believed in our name as all my men did. Tank, Lester, Bobby and I had built this company from the ground up we were all partners even though I held the title of CEO. From selecting the men to work for us some hand selected because of their specialties some referred to us by current employees some that just heard about our reputation and wanted an opportunity to work with the best. Each man had their own story for joining us.

We were the best. We made sure when we had the best of the best when it came to a specialists and because of that philosophy not all the times were our men had been the most upstanding citizens their whole lives. But it has always been said it takes a thief to stop a thief, It takes a hacker to stop a hacker, It takes a killer to stop a killer. So Rangeman was a mixed bag of past lives all brought together for a common goal of making businesses, homes, and lives safer. Past lives weren't acknowledged weren't judged it was only present and future lives of my men from the time they joined Rangeman that mattered. That they wanted to make a difference make a small part of this world safer for the few we protected.

I have always known it from the moment she first helped me how much she loved this company and how good she would be for this company. How do I tell her that I am putting all of that on the line so I can give a little payback, revenge the wrong that has occurred to her? How do I tell her that she is mine ours and by being mine and ours no one touches her no one messes with her without consequences, without repercussions? That it all came with a price and that price was more than likely the person's life. That I would give up everything I have, everything I am, and everything I have built to send that message to anyone seeking her harm, all to protect her.

I wanted to send the message sooner versus later. I had been talking to Cal and Tank in the hallway when Lester, Babe, and Slyder came up from the gym. The thought of seeing them in the elevator made me want to laugh Lester and my Babe were always up to something and it seemed as though Slyder was going to fit right in to their little pack. That made me happy. I have known Slyder for a while and I knew he was a trustworthy guy a good guy a guy that would be good for my Babe. Another brother for her like she needed more?

Well in my opinion she could never have enough people building her up she could never have enough people supporting her and I knew him well enough to know that he would support her, he would help build her up, he would love her as much as all of my other men did and I knew that she would come to love him. Like Lester he would laugh with her, play with her, get in trouble with her not that she really got in trouble more like caused trouble.

My Babe pulled me from my thoughts when she came in and flopped down beside me on the kitchen bar stool. I had been toying with a bottle of water while she had been showering and getting ready for her afternoon training sessions. I was a little concerned she would once again be leaving the building with Vince and Woody then Tank for the last two hours of her training. I wanted her to take additional men with her but again I wasn't exactly sure how to approach that with her either.

She sat down beside me and I thought I would tackle the easier of the two problems I was having but it would be her decision. I had to school myself to make it or more allow it to be her decision but I did it.

"Babe, I know you have driving training this afternoon with Vince and Woody but if you would like you can ask Lester, Bobby, and or Slyder to go with you or any of the other men if you would like." She looked at me.

"Why? Won't that interfere with their working? I mean I know Slyder isn't doing much as you just showed him his desk and today is like the first day he is here but still." I just shook my head. It would put us behind but it wasn't anything my men wouldn't be able to cover.

"Babe you can select any of them if you want them. Just ask I know they would love the opportunity to spend some time with you and if it would make you feel safer so you can concentrate on your training without having to constantly look in the rearview mirror then I say it is time well spent." I hated reminding her of what happened before my mentioning the rearview mirror but on the same time I wanted her to think about her safety before anything here at Rangeman and if jarring her memory even if it was a bad memory then I would take my chances with the gentle reminders.

She paused for a moment and I saw her eyes dilate a little at the memory I felt terrible for causing her pain and the worry but I could only hope it would help her in the longer run make a better decision about her safety.

She finally nodded and said "I think I will ask Cal and Slyder if they want to join me." I was a little surprised she hadn't said Lester I sort of hoping she would say him or Bobby so she could have a member of the core team with her but I wasn't going to say anything. He was going to be hurt when he found out and if I knew my hair brained cousin he would weasel his way in he wouldn't be left behind not after he found out Cal and Slyder were going. I knew they were going because I knew they would never tell her no when she asked they didn't have it in them even Slyder didn't have it in him.

None of us and I mean none of us big tough bad ass mercenary heartless soulless bastards had it in us to say no to her. They would fight for the chance they would do anything to spend time with her to see her smile. They would do anything to keep that smile on her face and telling her no well that was just unheard of no matter what she wanted even when you know no was in her best interest we still didn't have it in us. Her telling on them as to what they had eaten with her should be more than enough proof of what they would do to make her smile, to make her world happier.

The one time Hal decided before everyone had fallen for her and pulled her into their family he was going to say no ended up in him getting stunned so after that the men just decided that she was going to do what she wanted anyway so just allow her to do it. But somewhere along the way that line muddied and it became more doing what she wanted because it made her happy and everyone wanted to see her happy so they never said no and unfortunately I wasn't immune to that either. I never wanted to say no to her either. Thankfully she wasn't a woman who asked for a lot or expected a lot. But then again if she had of been that way I suspect my men nor myself would be the way we are either those were the women that were used to and none of them made a lasting impression on me or them.

Taking a deep breath I decided to broach the tougher subject. "Babe I am going to tell you something but before you jump to conclusions, or before you start protesting I want you to hear me out." She looks at me her eyes questioning what I could be getting ready to tell her. I briefly see fear cross her eyes, I briefly see self doubt and un-sureness and I quickly respond reassuring her "Babe it's nothing like that." She relaxes a little so I continue.

"A group of your brothers and I are planning on paying a little visit to Morelli tonight. We have a message that we want to deliver to him. He didn't go to jail for what he did to you the other night in the club and we want to send a message that we protect what is ours. Babe I don't want you to get upset when I say that but we do consider you ours. You are the guy's sister, you are my love, my life, my breath but you are more than that. You are the glue that binds us. You are the one thing that we all have that brings us together as a family and because of you each and every one of us are better men for having you in our life both individually and collectively for bringing us together as a family. Babe some of your brothers never had families, or lost their families, or are distant from their families and having you in their life brings that part of their life back to them and they treasure that, they treasure you. For many you are all they have and they love you, they want you safe, they want you protected, they want you to never be afraid to ride down the street, walk down the sidewalk, go to a club, go to the mall. They want you to be happy and not afraid that someone is out there waiting for you to be alone, waiting to take advantage of your vulnerabilities waiting to attack you or God forbid take you." I tell her.

The thought of someone taking her makes my heart want to stop makes my stomach tighten and my muscles to contract. I took a calming breath hoping I stressed enough how important this is to all of us, not just me. How much we all wanted those things for her. If I gave my men the opportunity to volunteer everyone here in this building would volunteer to teach that fucking cop a lesson.

I could see her taking it all in. I could see a little surprise in her eyes I think she was surprised I shared this with her. I could see fear in her eyes and knew that stemmed from what he could possibly do to us.

"Babe he will know who delivered the message but I promise I have a plan that is going to leave him in such a state that he won't be able to tell anyone and if he was able to tell someone they would never believe him." Her eyes widen at my statement and I could sort of read how she might have read the wrong thing into some of what I said so I quickly corrected that

"No we won't kill him, I promise when we leave him he will be breathing and while he will be in some pain it won't be anything major broken or damaged." Again she relaxed at my words. I could see a little confusion she wasn't exactly sure what to say so I thought I would add.

"I am not really asking as this is a decision we have made but I wanted you to know, I wanted to share with you our thoughts and decisions, I wanted to tell you what we planned and why we planned it. I want you know that we will all be safe but I wanted you to know that we are serious about sending the message that you don't mess with us or ours. It is a message we would have a long time ago sent to Stark Street and one the cop needs to hear and understand." I tell her I refrain from using his name again or calling him the x labeling him as the cop is less personal it's a psychological thing I know but I couldn't help myself from trying to further remove her from the thoughts of him and what we planned.

I watch as she thinks through what I told her. Her not just jumping in protesting may be a good thing this conversation may be going to the way I want it may have been easier than I thought.

"Carlos" she said getting my attention not that she didn't already have it. "I understand what you said and I understand why you want to do this. But don't you think it would be better if we just dropped it? I mean the more we fight back isn't that going to just make him fight harder? Wouldn't it be dangerous for you all I mean he shot at Cal, what would prevent him shooting at you all again? This time he might get lucky, this time he may actually really hurt or kill someone." She had worry in her eyes.

"Babe he isn't going to get the chance." I told her and she shook her head.

"You don't know that, you can't promise that. You don't know that he won't get the chance. If he does get the chance you already know he will take it. You already know that he would love nothing more than to see you dead, to see my brothers dead. He wants me to come back to him. He wants me." She said raising her voice with worry.

"Babe he isn't going to get you. You aren't going back to him. He isn't going to get what he wants. He isn't going to kill me or any of your brothers." I tell her. Trying to reassure her trying to erase some of the worry I see on her face as her eyebrows grew closer together. Maybe this wasn't smart telling her ahead of time but I still couldn't help but feel it was right thing to do.

She changed tactics on me, I should have seen it coming but what can I say I was busy trying to comfort her that her nightmares weren't going to come true. "Who are you planning on being with you to deliver this message?" She asked me.

"Well for starters Tank, Lester, Bobby, Cal, I also suspect that Hector will want to join in and I wouldn't be surprised if Slyder joins in as well." She looks at me I see surprise in her eyes.

"Why Slyder? Why would he join in? He just met me. Why would he want to go?" She questions.

I just smile. What to tell her I briefly wondered. "Well for one he is close with all of us, for two we are comfortable with him having our backs, and for three he would figure he would have some fun tagging along." I tell her.

She seems to accept that nodding but then says "Why tell me, I mean why didn't you just do it and then tell me, why are you telling now?" What? Why is she asking that?

"Babe I love you, you are my partner, you are going to be my wife, I want to share things with you, I want to tell you when something affects your life, I told you I want to support you. I want you to have decisions in your life and be able to make them knowing you are supported. Trust me a part of me wanted to just send the message and then tell you but that wouldn't be me keeping my promise to you, it wouldn't be me being the man I want to be for you." I tell her hoping that it was the answer she would know to be the truth. I just didn't see the double edge I was creating in telling her the truth.

"Carlos, as your partner I understand you telling me this and it being your decision and not asking me my permission because I am not here to be your mother and give you permission to do something. Thank you for respecting me enough as your partner, your future wife to tell me your plans, and to explain them to me."

Wow who knew being so forward was the way to go I could feel the excitement building just the thought of sneaking in his house and delivering the message was making me very happy. But she continued taking the excitement and the happy with it.

"As your partner, and your future wife I want to come with you all. I have a message of my own that I want to deliver to him." She told me and I could just feel every muscle in my body freeze I knew I was now fucked. From all that I had said I had dug the hole I had jumped in and I had taken the fucking rope with me I couldn't even say I had fallen in. Fuck. There was no way I could say no even though my head, heart, and body was screaming no I couldn't make the word come out of my mouth and still be true to everything I told her which all of it I meant with every fiber of my body when I said it.

Damn my Babe should negotiate some of the Rangeman contracts she wouldn't even have to work at it she would have the customers telling us what it was they needed without us even have to explain why we thought they needed it. She was good.

"Babe I want you safe." I tried to tell her that was being honest with her even with what I had said.

"I will be safe with the seven or eight of you I will be more than safe besides I am not going in empty handed. I plan on having my weapon with me I just hope he won't force our hand and make me use it." Interesting she was going to willingly carry her gun and just like when you carry a gun you hope you don't have to use it but if the situation arises and you have to use it you better be prepared, ready, and capable of using it even if it means taking another's life. If you aren't agreeable to that then you really shouldn't be carrying the gun at that point they become a danger to yourself and those that are around you. Effectively if you are unable to use it you will have just given the enemy a weapon one they may not have had prior to taking yours.

I took a deep breath I really couldn't ask for more from her besides her agreeing to stay here at Rangeman but she was right we could and would protect her. "Okay Babe if you want to come with us then you can come with us." I tell her really I didn't have anything else to say other than okay even thought my heart head, and body were screaming no.

She looked at me "I have to get going to my training but I want for us to have dinner with everyone who is going tonight and I want to chill out with them in the living room so make sure whoever it is that is going to deliver our message is up here no later than six thirty. If Cal, Hector, and Slyder are coming then they will need to know more of the history between Joe and I. They will need to know what I shared with You, Lester, Tank and Bobby. I know it will be a repeat for you all but I think under the circumstances it is necessary. If they are going to deliver a message on my behalf they need to know what they are walking into both present and past." She tells me.

When did my Babe become such a thinker, when did she start to become one that thought before she acted I am not even sure if she has realized it or recognized this side of her yet but as she was learning, growing in her abilities, becoming more secure in herself and confident the changes that she was making were simply amazing and I loved her more for every single one of them if that was possible because I always thought she was perfect the way she was, still still was perfect only her confident more self secured way made her somehow more perfect.

I quickly made the decision to invite the guys up and not tell them why not tell them my Babe's decision I was going to let her tell them, I was going to let her show this side of her they will be so proud of her. They will be so excited to see her soaring.

FrankPOV

I am sitting here watching television like every other night waiting for my wife to put dinner on the table. She is in the kitchen working away on whatever it is we are having tonight. I have replayed the scene the night Stephanie walked out saying she was no longer in this family over and over in my head.

Part of me was glad that I had stood by my wife. I mean that is what a husband should do right stand by his wife, stand by the woman he loves. I am just not sure standing by your wife, and the woman you love against your daughter is so ideal. But then again that is almost an impossible decision how do you decide between your wife and your daughter. I have to live with my wife I don't have to live with my daughter but that doesn't mean that I don't love my daughter and miss my daughter.

It had only been a little over a week and I did miss her. I still couldn't believe Morelli had slapped her. I have never liked that boy and I really didn't understand why my wife wanted our daughter with him so bad it wasn't as if he has ever been good for her. But I chose to stay out of that both in my wife, and my daughter's life I refuse to get in involved in the Morelli and Stephanie union, reunion whatever you want to consider it.

I understood how she enraged Morelli but I still didn't agree that violence was the answer and in my opinion violence against someone you claimed to love should never happen regardless of excuse. But being a man and understanding how jealous a man can get I can see how Stephanie excited those feelings in him when she said what she did about Ranger. How that could have affected Morelli and to that I was trying to be a little more understanding even though I did not agree, and didn't condone that behavior.

I have also been replaying the accusations that she raised against my wife and I briefly wondered if she was right. Had my wife cheated on me with other men? I always questioned if she had cheated on me with Morelli's dad but when he died I sort of let all of the wondering, and suspicions die with him. But hearing what she said was it true? Had she and had there been others, if so were there still others? I couldn't help but wonder and question it.

My wife had always been attentive, had always had dinner on the table, had always taken care of the house, and had tried to raise our daughters the way she felt would give them a happy life. I can't really fault her for any of those things. I stepped back and allowed her to do what she felt was best, I allowed her to raise our daughters as she wanted without interfering without getting involved. I didn't know how to raise girls, and since I didn't have boys I allowed my wife to take over that responsibility while I worked, and brought home the money to support our family.

The past several years of our marriage things between us had sort of mellowed out a little. Our sex life had dropped off to almost nothing. Not that I had really done anything to keep it alive so I am just as much at fault as her so there is no fault or blame to pass to her.

I sort of thought that our aging her going through the change of life us become mid-lifers as they called it was the reasons for the lack of desire between us because earlier in our married life even when our daughters were young and growing up we had always had a healthy desire for each other and sex even to the point of taking advantage of time when our daughters were in school or away with friends.

If anyone is to blame I can blame her mother for coming to live with us. I mean who can concentrate or think about sex when you have that old bat running around listening, watching, and making comments. Since she had found out that Stephanie moved out of her apartment Edna had moved in to it. I doubted that Stephanie even knew that. But it definitely seemed to be working for all. She was happy there and I was happy she wasn't always here.

I don't think since the night Stephanie walked out of this house with Ranger she has contacted anyone in the family or spoken to anyone even though I know her mother had tried to talk to her. If she had I had not heard about it and I can't believe Edna had talked to her she wouldn't have been able to keep it to herself when she comes for dinner as she does every night.

Since Edna moved out and even slightly before that my wife's and I sex life had begin to pick up. She was to the point now of almost the way it was when we had first married those younger years of our marriage. In some ways she is better she has become more adventurous and had experimented with things that she had never done before. Sex with her was once again exciting, it was fun, and I looked forward to that time with her.

She was almost to the point I would have label her insatiable but I made sure she was satiated every time sometimes even more than once. So things here were good in the sex department. I do however wish that she could let go of this notion of wanting Stephanie with the Morelli boy but if it made her happy, and her being happy made our home happy and ultimately me happy then I wasn't going to get involved. She always seemed to know the best when it came to our daughters so I wasn't questioning her now.

If Stephanie did decide to go back to Morelli it isn't like he would be the worst case he was a detective with the police force he wasn't like his dad although that slap did have me a little worried that he had that aspect of his dad in him. But I had never seen it prior when he and Stephanie were on better terms so it is possible that was just because of the stress of the situation that caused him to lash out. We have all had moments like that when we did something that was out of character something we weren't proud of.

Really after all why should the culmination of a man's life be decided by in a single incident in his life? So while I may not really care for the man maybe he would be okay for my daughter after all. My wife seemed to thank so.

**Please take a moment and leave a review. Let me know your thoughts…I love every review it does wonder for my soul and wonders for my fingers! Don't forget to check out the accommodating website and my writers journal…I put sneak peeks into the chapters in them! **

**You can find it all at www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com There are playlists there for the party and songs that are mentioned through the different chapters, pictures of the characters along with their bio as I see them in my head, as they are in my story. There are pictures of some of the clothing, and places that have been in my chapter, as well as pictures of cars, trucks, motorcycles from the Rangeman compound. I hope you enjoy it! Leave a comment there as well if you wish!**


	35. Chapter 34:Delivering a Message Pt1

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

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Chapter 34: Delivering a Message PT1

LPOV

What the fuck. I am at my desk, and I see Beautiful pass by heading to the mass of cubicles. I know she has defensive driving training with Vince, Woody and then Tank. I had sort of planned on hanging out with her as Ranger said when she left the building he would like a core team member with her. We had sort of figured since I was her best friend I could sort of tag along without making it look like I was a bodyguard. Of course she knows I would protect her and guard her but it wouldn't feel like I was limiting her, I was effectively just hanging out with my friend and that is true she is my best friend and I love every minute I am with her.

I hear her ask Cal if he wants to go with her this afternoon, and then I hear her ask Slyder, What the fuck? Why didn't she ask her best friend? I can't help but wonder and I can't help the little bit of jealousy that creeps through me thinking that she had asked Slyder over me. I could understand Cal more than Slyder even though truth be told I wasn't exactly happy she picked him over me either.

Feeling slightly hurt I sat there trying to focus on the fucking work in front of me. Binkie had accidentally backed one of our SUVs into a pole while on surveillance way to be aware of your surroundings there Binkie. Not to mention bringing attention to yourself as you hit the pole.

The pole was fine but the SUV well the SUV suffered some damage not a lot but broken tail light, dented bumper to the tone of two thousand forty five dollars. I had the estimate from Al and I needed to approve it so he could get started on the repair. At least he didn't blow the fucking thing up had my beautiful been driving it hitting the pole would have somehow created a spark that would have managed to ignited the gas tank ultimately resulting in blowing up the SUV. Crazy shit like that happened to her all the time.

Just thinking about it made me laugh a little and once again conjured up those feelings of being left out and disappointed that she didn't ask me to go with them. I was getting ready to pick the phone up to call Al's when she called my name.

"Lester?" Looking up she was standing in my doorway. Her bag on her shoulder it seemed like that bag went with her to all of her training sessions. It had sort of become the carry all I didn't even know bags could stretch to hold that much. She had everything in it but the kitchen sink. If she thought there was a remote chance in hell of needing something she had it in that bag. I was beginning to wonder how she continued to pick it up and carry it around but women and their bags they will always confounded me.

I mean how could they need that much stuff? I mean a man carries everything he needs in his pockets we don't need a purse or a bag to carry anything we need. Yeah I know there are man bags but a badass wouldn't be caught dead carrying one. Hell I wouldn't be caught dead carrying a purse unless my Beautiful asked me to. Then I would and only hoped the guys wouldn't see me doing it.

"Yeah Beautiful what's up?" I ask her schooling my voice so I didn't sound too excited after all I wanted her to ask me to go with her but I don't want to come off as a pansy after all I may willingly at times flush my man card for her I don't want to also appear pathetic desperate, I do have some reputation and dignity that needs to be held on to.

"I am going to head out for training with Vince and then Woody I asked Cal and Slyder to join me but thought I would also ask you, are you busy this afternoon?" She said her eyes twinkling.

"Nope not busy at all" I tell her obviously lying as my desk is covered in stuff that needs my attention but it can all fucking wait. Time with my Beautiful is more important especially when she is going to be out of the building and with the things going on I wanted to be with her.

Getting up from my desk I pick up the estimate from Al's and meet her at my door. Cal, Slyder join us as we make our way to the garage to meet Vince.

SPOV

I think my ESP is working better every day or maybe it is just working better with those that are close to me. I don't know. I was asking Cal if he wanted to come with me this afternoon and I could just sense that Lester was hearing me. When I asked Slyder I got a feeling that Lester was disappointed. I just somehow knew it. I could tell I could feel that Lester really wanted me to ask him and didn't understand why I had asked the two over him.

I don't know how I knew it, I don't even know if it was actually true as when I walked up to Lester's office he was busy looking at something and reaching for the phone so I am not sure what I interrupted him doing. But when I asked him he jumped at the chance not too excitedly though but then I knew he lied when he said he wasn't busy. I could see the work on his desk that I knew he was putting off and part of me felt guilty for asking him after seeing that but I still couldn't shake the feeling that he was happy I had asked him sort of as if I had made his day.

Maybe I am way off base or maybe it is because he is my best friend that what I felt was real I don't know. But it makes me happy to make my best friend happy so reasons and why for's don't really matter do they?

We make our way to the garage with Slyder and Cal joining us and Vince is there waiting for us. I see the questioning look on his face as well approach him. I briefly wonder if he thinks I question his ability to protect me after what happened last time we were together alone in the car. But nothing could be further from the truth.

"Vince these guys are going to join us today, I asked Cal because I wanted to spend some time with him since he got shot. I haven't really had much time with him I explained. I asked Slyder because he is new in town and thought maybe he would like to take in some sites while we drive around town." Looking at Lester I say "I asked Lester just cause I think he got his feelings hurt when I didn't ask him and asked Slyder and Cal."

Lester shook his head "I did not" he said like a two year old denies something. I just smiled at him.

"Lester I wanted you to come with us just as much as you wanted to come. You're my best friend, of course I wanted you to come with us." I tell him, allowing him off the hook.

He pulled me to him wrapping his arm around me and plants a kiss on the top of my head. We make our way over to the SUV and all climb in. Slyder, Cal, and Lester in the back, Slyder got the middle seat I guess that is what happens when you are low man on the totem pole that was one crowded back seat but no one complained. I hopped in the driver's seat, Vince hops in the front passenger seat after all he is my instructor this hour.

"So Vince, were to today?" I ask him completely ignoring the back seat passengers I continue "What's on the agenda today what are we going to learn?" I ask him. He just smiles at me.

"Bombshell we are going to drive around both in town, the busy areas, the highway, and even a little rural areas and you are going to work on maintaining distance between yourself and those around you so you always have an exit planned and available should something happen you have an escape route. Meaning you have distance in front, distance beside, distance behind your vehicle. You will find it is hard to control this but there are ways to do it and you will practice some of them and get a feel for it."

I nod and off we went out of the garage we had been driving for maybe twenty minutes when I felt it. Shit, fuck, damn it to hell. What the fuck am I going to do? It can't be, not now, it isn't time. When I pulled up to the next stop light I quickly grab my phone and pull up my period tracker app. I look at my last period dates and sure enough my period wasn't supposed to start now. I still had five more fucking days. I wanted my five fucking days.

You know Mother Nature can be a bitch and today she was giving me a double dose of bitch. I mean fuck not only was she stealing five God damn days from me she had to make it start right now when I am driving around Trenton with four of my brothers who happen to be some of the best looking men Trenton had to offer. What the fuck?

I see Vince looking at me questioning me. Probably wondered why I growled I couldn't help it when I realized I had in fact been robbed of five damn days a part of me was pissed and then add on the top that they are with me and I have no supplies to speak of in my bag or purse. Before the light changed, I quickly double checked on the off chance I had one that had been put in there previously and not needed it but no such luck of course not that would have been too easy.

I was going to have to find a way to pull into a store so I could buy some and then use the restroom without letting them know. I don't want to have to say sorry guys started my period early got to go buy some supplies and then find a bathroom. I mean you can't just tell your brothers stuff like that. That's embarrassing and personal. Hell I didn't even want to tell Carlos or for him to find out but I knew there was no way around that as we wouldn't be having sex for the next several nights at least not until this bitch has left the building.

I am just thanking God Bobby isn't with us he probably would have known it. He would have understood what Period Tracker was and sitting in the back seat he probably would have been able to see me. I was pretty confident that Cal, Slyder and even Lester wouldn't have much of a clue so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Food, Food is the one thing they will believe I need and let me go into the store to get. I can tell them that I am having a major craving for Tasty Cakes that I have to have them now. "Guys I am going to drive over to the stop and shop I have a huge craving for some Tasty Cakes. I need them like now." I tell them. I hope they buy it.

"Beautiful I thought you were giving up simple sugars as part of your diet? Your test is coming up in less than a week, you sure you want to binge eat before the test?" He questions me of course he would fucking say that. What the fuck, I am sorry I asked him to come with us now.

"Lester so help me fuck, if you don't shut up and just let me go get a tasty cake so help me God I am going to kick your ass out of this SUV and make you walk the fuck home." Oh man PMS has kicked in. I Instantly felt guilty the moment the words left my mouth but I was a woman on the edge I was a woman on a mission and it really wasn't Tasty Cakes I was after, it was much more important even though now I really wanted the Tasty Cake too now that I had thought about them.

I pulled into the stop and shop and found the first parking spot I could find. I quickly cut the car off grabbing my purse I quickly exited the vehicle and went to make my way to the store noticing all of my brothers had gotten out following me. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I quickly stop and turn around "Guys you don't need to come with me why don't you just wait in the car, I won't be but a few minutes." I tell them hoping they will turn around.

No such luck, they just kept walking towards me Vince speaking up I think I scared Lester "Bombshell Ranger would have our asses if we let you go in there by yourself and something happened to you. You know you have a stalker." He tells me.

Yeah I know I have a stalker and right now I am more concerned about the potential mess I am making of my clothing than my damn stalker. I like these underwear they are my wonder woman underwear and I want to save them. Fuck. "Guys I seriously doubt my stalker is hanging out in the stop and shop waiting for me to walk in." I tell them that made perfect sense to me as I continue walking backwards towards the store watching them continue to follow me.

They weren't taking no for an answer damn mercenaries I swear sometimes you just wanted to slap the training out of them. "Okay then you can come in but you are not allowed to follow me and you are not allowed to watch me, deal?" I ask them pleading I am grasping at straws here and coming up empty, fuck. I really needed a Tasty Cake now, or maybe a Boston Crème, or maybe some of my favorite two men Ben and Jerry, or maybe some chips, or how about some chocolate yeah pure chocolate that's what I needed.

I was fine an hour ago how the hell did all of this just happen to me? Why does all of this just happen to me? Oh yeah I remember because Mother Nature is a vile bitch from hell that sets out to make every woman's life a living fucking nightmare for one week out of every god damn fucking month of their lives for the best of years of their life. I mean it starts when you are about twelve at least it did for me, and doesn't end until your fifty something if you are lucky and then when it ends could it just leave you in peace? No, you are left with hot flashes, mood swings, body changes, hormone imbalance not to mention your chances of getting osteoporoses like fucking doubles or some shit. I have yet to look forward to that shit.

See how Mother Nature is a vicious life sucking-bitch from which there is no escape well unless you are man and men well they don't have any of these fucking problems, go figure. Adam was just fucking guilty as Eve but no Eve had to be the one that got all the bad stuff. What did Adam get? I tell you what he fucking got a slap on the back probably a form of a congratulatory slap for tapping that. So he got kicked out of heaven and had to start working for shit so did Eve it wasn't like she got to stay there. She got kicked out and had to take her fucking problems with her. Men I hate them.

LPOV

Damn Beautiful's attitude went from happy to bitch in like point zero two seconds. I saw her grab her phone and she looked at something and then growled. I instantly went on alert but she didn't seemed too upset after she put the phone away after looking in her purse for something. I am not sure she found it or not.

When she announced she needed Tasty Cakes I couldn't help but question her about it. She had been so good this past week and you could see the changes to her body. I didn't mean to upset her but when she came back at me she was out for blood. I swear I wasn't expecting that. I once again found myself wondering what was it that she had read on her phone that had her so upset.

I wondered if she had received a text or something or an IM that was upsetting her and she didn't want to tell us about it.

When we pulled into the parking spot she couldn't get out of the vehicle fast enough we were struggling to keep up with her. She tried to get us to wait in the car but I think at this point she had acted strange enough that we all knew something was up something wasn't right she wasn't acting like her normal self. We weren't about to let her go into a store unprotected not when she had a stalker, Morelli, even her mother harassing her it just wasn't going to happen.

I had to smile when she finally caved that we could come in but couldn't watch her or follow her, that sort of defeats our purpose doesn't it? What the hell is going on with her?

She was muttering something but I couldn't make out most of it every now and then I heard bitch, I heard something about nature but wasn't sure what it was about did she want to take a hike or something? I also heard something about someone named Adam but for the life of me I couldn't figure out who Adam was and how Beautiful knew him.

I followed her at a distance keeping my distance as to not to alert her while she was thinking about whatever it was that was going through that Beautiful head of hers. I am sure the others were just as confused as me. I mean I am her best friend I know her better than anyone well almost everyone barring Ranger and I had no idea what was going on with her.

I look over to Slyder and Cal and they both motion to me questioning me what's going on I shrug my shoulders and shake my head I had nothing. I look at Vince and he is just as confused as we are. Women I swear this is why men never know what the hell is going on with them. This is why men never know what to say them or how to say it because they can change gears at warp speed, they can flip on you and you have no idea as to why. I love my beautiful but at this moment not knowing if she is safe not knowing what that phone said and not knowing what she is doing is more than a little nerve wracking.

Keeping my eyes on her only trying to remain hidden from her I watch as she makes her way to the personal hygiene isle of the store where they have the feminine products I mean who labels this shit. What the fuck is a personal hygiene feminine products anyway. I quickly take a look and see her grab a box off the shelf and tuck it under her arm. Taking another quick look I watch as she grabs a small pill box off the shelf just down from the box she grabbed.

She quickly looked around her checking to make sure she was alone I almost got caught watching her. I backed away from the aisle and quickly ducked down the aisle as she made her way up to the front of the store. I watched her walk over to where the Tasty Cakes were and she picked up five tasty cakes. Oh hell she is going to make us all eat one so she won't feel guilty and so she will have another chance to oust us in front of Rangeman. When she got in line I took my chance to go down the aisle I had seen her on. When I saw it was tampons, and Midol she had picked up the pieces all fell together and I almost busted out laughing. Her yelling at me earlier now made perfect sense.

I briefly wondered about the aisle labeling again why not just say tampons and pads? But whatever I grab my phone and send a text to Cal, Slyder, and Vince. 'All Ok, B has a visitor and needed supplies. Watch out PMS is on board.' I am not sure if that was the thing to say or not. I remember my mom always saying she had a visitor when I was growing up. For a while I would look for someone to visit and never understood how she could say she had a visitor when no one was visiting but as I grew up and learned about the birds and the bees I figured it all out.

Why Beautiful felt like she just couldn't tell us I don't know. I mean we are grown men who have known about the birds and the bees for a long time now we had all had girlfriends we were fully aware of 'that time of the month' and what it meant for women and we also knew to avoid them like the plaque during it and not get in their way or piss them off if we valued our lives.

I walked up to the guys and you could see the laughter in their eyes even though they were schooling their bodies. They wanted to laugh at the extent she wanted to go to cover this up. Like we wouldn't understand her situation, hell had she told us we probably wouldn't have made an effort to join her inside but because we didn't know what was going on we weren't going to take any unnecessary chances.

SPOV

Whew I had made it down the checkout without them seeing. Placing my purchases minus the Tasty Cakes in my purse I made my way over to the guys. I handed Lester the bag with the cakes in it "I need to run to the restroom really quickly but grab us some drinks and we can eat these in the car." I tell them.

Lester nods and I head towards the bathroom to take care of my little problem. I was washing my hands when in walked Joyce the Barnyard slut of Trenton, or better known as Ass Fuck.

She narrowed her eyes at me as she turned her nose up. "So if it isn't the Rangeman Whore. Why they finally let you out of that fuck prison they have been keeping you in?" She asked me. Like I wasn't at the club the other night I mean what the fuck, is she that forgetful? Well I will have to kick her ass again to remind her.

"What do you mean? I go out when I want and I think we already established who the fucking slut is you goat fucking bitch." I tell her. She was pissing me off. My piss off button was already pushed with Mother Nature robbing me and now this, a run in with Ass Fuck, my piss off button might actually send me to a whole new level of pissed off.

She looked at me stepping closer to me as though she was going to try to threaten me narrowing her eyes at me she said. "You were tough the other night when you had all of your mercenaries around you your thugs that you fuck, how about now when it is just you and me?" I could only think one thing bring it on bitch because I would love to beat your ass, leave you hugging the public toilet after giving you a toilet flushing you will never fucking forget.

I squared my shoulders raised my head up set my eyes on her if I could see myself I think I just pulled off the Rangeman blank stare that makes mortal men piss their pants. I briefly saw a flicker of fear run across her face a flicker of maybe this was a bad idea. Oh it was bad idea already she just didn't know how bad. Make a move bitch I am ready.

Some people just didn't know when to leave well enough alone and obviously Joyce was one of them. I could tell she was questioning herself and I really didn't have time for her to make up her mind I had a Tasty Cake waiting on me. I slipped my hand in my purse pulling out my stun gun I held it hidden from her sight. Pretending as though I was bored of this and was going to step around her I put it to her arm and pushed the button.

She sunk to the ground. I could have just left her there but someone may have found her and offered her help too soon. So I drug her to the nearest toilet stall. I dragged her ass in wrapping her arms around the bowl I put her head up on the seat. I contemplated flushing her but didn't I just hung her head down in the seat before stepping around her I snapped a picture with my cell phone after all I had to have a picture of this one maybe I would post it on Facebook, that would be worth setting an account up for and having friends . I closed the door and then using a coin I locked the door by putting it in the slot of the lock thing on the outside of the door and turning it.

Now she can hang out for a while without being disturbed. I once again wash my hands after touching Ass Fuck who knows what the fuck she has I just hoped washing my hands was enough to kill it. I headed out to met my brothers and to eat my Tasty Cake. At this rate I might decide not to share and eat them all.

CalPOV

I had followed Angel to the restroom. I hated when she went to public restrooms. It was the one place we couldn't watch her, we couldn't secure. At least with this store's restroom there was one way in and one way out it had no windows as it was in the middle of the stockroom in the back of the store.

I still was concerned though it was part of my training. When there wasn't an area we could cover, clear, or access there was the potential for a threat. Threats even potential threats didn't sit well with me when it came to my Angel.

We all understood the need after getting Lester's text had we known from the beginning we would have been able to clear the restroom. We would have watched it until we knew it was clear and then we would have double checked it before she got here.

But because she felt she needed to hide from us what was happening we weren't able to do what we normally would do while protecting someone. It was sort of funny she didn't want us to know and would go to the extreme she did to keep us from finding out but she should know we would find out because we always had our ways.

Before I could stop her Joyce went into the bathroom. I briefly thought about going in and checking on my Angel but I knew she could handle Joyce. Anyone else and I would have probably gone and checked on her but Joyce, I knew Angel could handle her.

It wasn't but a few minutes after Joyce went in that Angel came out smiling. "Everything go okay?" I asked her and she briefly blushed. "I meant with Joyce, I saw her go in but I wasn't close enough to stop her." I told her.

Her smile became evil while she nodded her head. "Everything went just fine Cal, I have a picture I want to show you all. You know Joyce came in, she was a little drunk and I don't think she can handle her liquor very well. She's currently praying to the porcelain gods." She told me you could hear the humor in her voice and I couldn't help but think are you the pot or the kettle with her talking about someone who couldn't hold their liquor. But I couldn't hold back the laughter at what I could only imagine she had done to Ass Fuck.

We make our way to the front of the store Lester saw the look on her face and he raised his eyebrow at me questioning what had happened. I wasn't giving anything away I would never spoil her fun and right now she was having fun so I shrugged. When she reached them she pulled out her phone.

"Guys, I have something to show you. I had a run in with Ass Fuck in the bathroom." When she mentioned her nickname all the guys tensed for a moment I know they were going through the possibilities but seeing her okay they were just trying to figure out if she was really okay.

We all know how Angel can appear okay and not really be okay. We have all experienced it. We all see it with every distraction she does. She appears all is okay. She appears all is cool but we all know all is not okay and all is not cool. That it is just and act to keep up from worrying about her.

I could tell Slyder had no idea what she was talking about. She looked at him and realized it too. "Slyder Ass Fuck as was I call her but her name is Joyce Barnhart I also call her Barnyard. She is the town whore, the town slut and she fucks animals, I think mainly goats and ducks but I am not sure it stops there. I am only going to warn you one time. She has long red curly hair, she has a decent body but it is all fake, she wears really tight pleather outfits, which I am sure give her the worst yeast infections with sweating and the not breathing issues of faux leather. She has about twenty sexual diseases maybe more and if you touch her your dick will fall off."

I still laugh when she says that. More likely if we touched her Angel would cut our dicks off because she hates the woman. Of course she has every right to hate the woman.

Slyder was laughing at her description but my Angel put an end to that.

"Slyder I am serious here, it's not funny. She will try with you, one just look at you, but two you are Rangeman and she knows all Rangeman are my brothers and she would do anything to sleep with a Rangeman and especially Ranger himself. She would just love to rub it in my face. I will tell you more about her later. But I am serious don't touch her or you will lose your dick."

I could hear the bit of warning the bit of not being sure if he would listen to her if he would stay away from her. Not knowing him well she didn't know his type, she only assumed that since he was so much like Lester that he was the playboy Lester was and he was every bit the playboy, she was right. But I knew he would stay away from her because like us he would do whatever to make her happy and when we filled him in on her story and her history with Ass Fuck he wouldn't touch her with Vinnie's dick.

VincePov

Bombshell had given Slayer the same warning she had given us all about Joyce I had to laugh when she called her Ass Fuck. She could come up with some names when it came to Joyce. But when she showed us the picture she had snapped with her cell phone I thought we would all piss ourselves laughing.

"Guys now I swear I didn't do anything, Joyce came in drunk. She got sick and started praying to the porcelain gods all on her own." Yeah and my dick is two feet long.

Lester spoke up "Beautiful I am sorry to say this but this" he motioned to the picture "looks like it has everything to do with you." He continued to laugh while he shook his head.

I look around and see we are making quite the scene everyone is watching us standing there with her laughing. Boy when did we stop being such bad asses? Oh yeah I know the answer to that question the day that a curly brown haired, bright blue eyed, little girl walked into our lives became our sister and stole our hearts, that's when.

But her response had us almost rolling on the floor. "Okay maybe I had a little hand in this, I helped her to the toilet because I could tell she wasn't going to make it and nothing is worse than laying in your own puke." Like she would care if Joyce puked and laid in it Stephanie would only hope she was face up so she would choke on it.

Slyder gave her questioning look. She looked at him and paused "What?" questioning his look then continued. "That's my story and I am sticking to it. But I am seriously thinking about opening a Facebook account because wouldn't this picture be best posted out there for the world to see?" She asked.

I briefly wondered if she understood how Facebook worked that in order for the world to see it she would have to be friends with them, but I thought it best to drop it. I am sure Ranger would not want her having a social networking page after all anonymity was his name. She was going to have to settle for texting that picture to her friends in the burg I am sure it would spread faster than posting it to any Facebook page.

We made it out of the store and stepped into the parking lot when there was a voice yelling at Bombshell. The voice was enough to make you cringe, like nails on a chalk board. You just wanted to put an end to the noise it was so fucking annoying.

"Well isn't it Stephanie Michelle Plum my ungrateful disappointing bitch of a daughter." I wanted to shoot her. Stephanie froze.

I saw her reach for Lester's hand, I saw the slight shake of her hand and fingers as she reached out and pure anger rolled down my back. I unknowingly unwillingly took a step closer to Stephanie to protect her at all costs even against her true bitch of a mother. To think that a mother could speak to a daughter like that is unfathomable.

My mother would rather die than talk to any of us like that. My brother, my sister and I have at times disappointed our parents. It happens you know everyone is their own person makes their own choices and sometimes those choices aren't the smartest choice aren't the choice that someone else would have made for us if it was their choice to make but at times in a person's live the choice becomes theirs to make not their parents.

Even though they may not have always agreed and we may have at times disappointed them they never stopped loving us and they would never ever in a million years ever speak to us like the way Bombshell's mother just spoke to her.

Slyder surprised me a little although I don't know him as well as the others I do know him and I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised he stepped closer to her as well we were all closing ranks around her to protect but also give her our strength and show her she had our support and our love even if she didn't have her mothers.

The ice cold tone that came from Bombshell almost had me backing the fuck up though. I didn't know she could become that cold. "I told you the last time I talked to you that you were never to talk to me again. That if you saw me on the street you needed to walk the other fucking way." Holy shit, is it wrong that hearing that I have to control what is happening in my pants before my two foot dick makes an unwanted appearance.

"Stephanie seriously did you think if I saw you I wouldn't talk to you? You have made some really bad choices and you need to grow up. You need to come to your senses. You need to leave these thugs you need to act like a proper young lady and stop doing what you are doing with every one of these men and you need to move back home. You need to live like a proper young lady for a while so that Joseph will see that you are still the woman he wants to marry. With the way you have been acting young lady he is questioning if he wants to still marry you. If he decides not to marry you what will everyone think? Honestly Stephanie do you only think about yourself these days? Do you not think about me, your mother? Your father? Joseph? Once again you are nothing but an embarrassment and a disappointment is this what you want to be your whole life a huge disappointment? Is this what you want for your family? For Joseph?" She asked.

I was stunned what did she think Bombshell exactly did with us? Did she honestly think what I thought she was insinuating?

LPOV

Mother fucking son of a bitch how the fuck did I miss that bitch walking up to us. Fuck I need to be more aware of my surroundings Ranger is going to fucking kill me when he finds out. I was here to protect her not laugh with her. I know we always laugh and joke with each other but I should have been paying more attention I let my guard down and that fucking bitch moved right in.

Stephanie had grabbed my hand the second she heard her mother's voice. I wanted to shoot the bitch just to shut her the fuck up. This is all my Beautiful needed. Her confidence had taken a major hit the night at the club but the test had gotten most of that back maybe more and now this how much more could she take of their god damn shit. How much more could she take of the roller coaster her life seemed to be she had extremely high highs and extremely low lows that couldn't be good on ones mental health.

At this point I was seriously just considering killing them all and letting god sort them the fuck out. Did she really need all this fucking shit in her life anyway? But Beautiful surprised me a little when she warned her mother telling her that she should have walked the other way.

Of course that just lead her mother into the rant of all rants that had me seething to the point I was seeing red. She wanted her with Morelli even after all of the shit he had done to her. What kind of a fucking mother was she?

Beautiful motioned to her face "You want me with Joseph, the same Joseph that did this to me." She pointed to her face "and this" she pulled up her sleeve showing the bruises on her arm where he held her. Images of that night flashed thru my mind the fear the hatred and the monster in me awakened with the memories.

Her mother responded "honestly Stephanie if you would grow up and act right that would have never happened. Be the proper burg woman you are supposed to be. Become his wife have his children that would never have happened and you and I both know it but you have to throw these thugs in his face you have to rub your whore of an ass all over them and you expect that your future husband your fiancé won't get jealous and get mad at you. Honestly you are lucky he just left those bruises I am sure you deserved far worse. I can only imagine what he saw in that club. I know I heard about it and you were being quite the little slut. I heard with the way you were acting you made Joyce seem like a perfect little Christian burg girl." Is she fucking serious? Joyce and perfect little Christian should be banned from being allowed in the same sentence.

Beautiful's hand tighten on mine and I felt her shake oh fuck she's getting to her I thought when she spoke up and her voice sent chills down my spine.

"Seriously you are going to stand there and compare me to Joyce? I am engaged but it isn't to Joseph" she said Joseph as though it was a bad word "I am engaged to Ranger and I am going to marry Ranger and if I choose to have babies it will be his babies. It will be babies that you will never see, you will never touch, you will never know. I told you I am done with you and nothing proves more how you truly feel about me than what you just said. I never want to see you again. I never want to talk to you. I don't give a fuck what you think, what anyone else thinks of you. Here's a fucking news flash for you, you hateful bitch of a use to be mother, I don't give a fuck what anyone thinks other than my true family."

Her mother snorted "honestly Stephanie we are your true family." She said.

"No, you are not my true family. I have told you before but since you didn't listen when I told you in the privacy of your home maybe you will now that we are in public where everyone else can hear it as well." Fuck how I failed to notice the crowd that had gathered. Ranger's going to send my ass to awareness training in the form of him kicking my ass on the mats from now until hell freezes over.

Beautiful continued "My true family is my brothers, you know them as thugs, murderers, and gang bangers. Honestly mother for someone who is so quick to label them that but not afraid to call them that I question your sanity. True murderers, thugs, and gang bangers well they probably would have kicked your ass by now. These men are my brothers my true family, and I love them all. You well you gave birth to me other than that I can't say much. Growing up you were too busy fucking Joseph's father to do a whole lot else. I am surprised that I or Valerie aren't a half sister to the Joseph you love so much because I am about certain you were fucking him long before I or she was born. The only reason you married Daddy was because he wouldn't marry your ass and beat you nightly which quite honestly is what you fucking deserved." Holy shit was that true?

She continued her voice loud enough for all to hear "You didn't think I knew that did you, I can tell by the look on your face oh and that guilty look on your face says it all, everyone watching knows I am right. I am telling the truth. You thought by pointing out my failures in life and calling me a disappointment and embarrassment that it would distract people from what you were doing. You were right you pulled off the distraction but you failed to distract one person, me. I saw it all. I know it all."

She squeezed my hand and I squeezed hers back in show of support and love, she continued "Now you have pissed me off to the point that I am fucking telling it all for all to hear how my use to be mother was the whore, the woman who couldn't keep her legs together for a Morelli man, how she cheated on her husband for all those years. How she wanted a Morelli man so fucking bad her whole life that she would force her daughter into a relationship with one even though he has hit her now on two occasions and all he wants to do is change her and make your daughter fucking miserable. But you want a Morelli to be part of your family so bad you don't give a fuck about anyone other than what you want."

I could tell Beautiful was holding on for all she was worth she was pissed but she was about to break down I could hear it in her voice. She took a deep breath before continuing. "I swear I wouldn't be surprised to hear you were fucking Joseph the only thing stopping you is he probably wouldn't want your old used up pussy knowing his father had been there. Then again he probably wouldn't care seen as he is fucking Joyce, Terry, every street walker on Stark Street, and anyone else that will touch his disease riddled dick he might as well be fucking you too."

Damn I am so proud of her. Even while I know she is upset she isn't showing it and she is showing nothing but self confidence and strength. Seeing her like this makes me hard as hell damn I hope no one notices if Ranger finds out that will be just one more reason on his list for kicking my ass and killing me.

Hold up what was that look on her mother's face? I saw that. When Beautiful accused her of fucking Morelli holy shit I saw that flicker, she has fucked him. Damn she didn't know he was fucking those other women or the hookers I bet she let him fuck her bareback. Oh fuck now the pieces are falling together. I tug on Beautiful's hand we have got to go and we have got to go now.

I take a quick look at her mother's hands and her fingernails oh fuck, no way. I am almost certain I have seen those nails before. No fucking way. What the fuck is this going to do to her? No way can I tell her this. This is going to crush her she may have said it but I know she never meant it and she would never actually dream that it was happening. Fuck maybe I really should just fucking kill them all I am good enough no one will know what the fuck happened to them just that they were here today and gone tomorrow fuck I doubt they would even be missed. I have to get to Ranger now. We got to get to Rangeman now. Knowing the connection now I feel certain Morelli is going to show up any minute, if he isn't already here. Fuck why hadn't it clicked before now?

The monster inside me was looking more forward to delivering that message especially if Beautiful was right and I was quite certain she was more than right.

SlyderPOV

I was trying to follow the back in forth between Stephanie and what I quickly learned was Stephanie's mother and I quickly learned there is no love lost between the two. I was a little surprised at first but then when her mother said the things she said I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

When Stephanie stood up for herself she was amazing. Her eyes shooting daggers of cobalt blue ice her voice was so cold it would have frost bit your ass if it had been directed to you. She was strong, she squared her shoulders and she tore into her like a lioness tears into a gazelle. She was fucking beautiful and yet there was a part of me that prayed I would never be on the receiving end of Stephanie's true fury.

I wasn't familiar with all the dynamics but in listening I had put together that Joseph and Morelli were the same guy and that was the guy that had put the bruises on her. Her mother wanted Stephanie to marry him why I am not sure. She also wanted Stephanie to move back home and become a proper behaving girl what the fuck did I just drop into leave it to beaver land? It sounded almost as if her mother expected Stephanie to just turn into June fucking Cleaver.

I didn't say anything, only moving closer to close rank around Stephanie to protect her. I forced myself not to say anything when all I wanted to do was intervene and stop her mother from hurting her more. Hearing her talk to Stephanie the way she was made me want to rethink my policy against hitting women especially hearing how open she was to the whole idea of a man putting a woman in her place maybe she should lead by example.

But I am glad I didn't when Stephanie lit into her mother it was something of pure beauty and I found myself filled with pride for her. I was so fucking proud of her. When she accused her mother of cheating and accused her of having sex with the same man she wanted Stephanie to marry I wasn't sure if I was hearing her correctly. There was something I was missing here. This whole situation was fucked up and I obviously really had no idea how screwed up things were in the life of Stephanie the Bombshell Bounty Hunter.

I saw Lester stiffen, I saw him scan the parking lot and I saw him tug on Stephanie's hand. I instantly knew by the change in him that something wasn't right and that he wanted out of here and he wanted out of here now. I briefly wondered what the fuck had happened. I found myself automatically scanning the parking lot looking for potential threats.

A crowd had gathered listening to her and her mother go back and forth. I had seen a few snap some pictures with their camera phones I saw a few others texting. Clearly telling others and sending pictures of the two, I guess people are interested in the Bombshell Bounty Hunter's life.

CalPOV

My Angel had just dealt with Joyce and now she had to deal with her mother. If there was ever a woman who deserved to be slapped it would be that bitch. Her voice cut through you like a knife and was annoying as fuck!

I knew she didn't need this right now. We were all worried earlier when she was driving and jumped on Santos that something had upset her but when he discovered the problem we had all relaxed and when she came out of the bathroom she was happy because she got to release some of that pent up frustration, aka PMS, on Joyce the Barnyard slut. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving person in my opinion Joyce deserved anything my Angel wanted to throw at her.

Now this run in with her mother may not go at all as smooth or have the happy ending the Joyce run-in had. I was very happy when she held her ground, when she stood up for herself. I was shocked when she accused her mother of fucking Morelli. Now that would be funny as shit if it were true. I can't imagine even Morelli going anywhere near her with his dick. I mean it isn't that she is that bad looking she actually had a half decent body for a woman of her age but God how could you deal with the mouth, how could you deal with the person while you were fucking her? Not to mention it would sort of be like fucking your mother, who the hell would want to fuck someone that reminded them of their mother?

I saw Lester tug on Stephanie's hand. I had seen her hand shake in his I knew she was drawing her strength from him but his tug was different. His tug said he wanted to get her out of here. His tug said he didn't think she was safe. His tug said there was a potential threat. I quickly scanned the parking lot and didn't see anything I would deem a threat. I mean a crowd had gathered and they were taking pictures of the two having a showdown in the middle of the parking lot but I didn't deem any of these people a threat. I briefly wondered what it was that Lester knew or sensed.

When Lester tugged harder on Angel's hand she turned and looked at him taking her attention away from her mother. Lester spoke up "Beautiful we need to leave, we need to go. I am surprised someone else hasn't joined the party yet." He was afraid Joe was going to show up. I saw fear cross her face for the first time since stepping out in the parking lot.

I instinctively stepped even closer to hear and I grabbed her hand when she reached for me her hand shaking. I was still thankful that she wanted me. That she felt secure with me that she felt like I could and would protect her after what happened in the Club a few night ago now. She nodded her head turning back to her mom her mom was watching our interaction with disgust on her face.

"Honestly Stephanie you need to the hold the hands of two men and not even one of them is the hand of the man you claim you are in love with and are going to marry. Really what kind of woman does that? I tell you a woman who is a whore and a slut, that's who?" Her mother yells at her.

Stephanie stepped forward, us stepping with her towards the vehicle she wanted out of here. The fear that he may show up had her moving she wanted to be in the vehicle where she felt safe but she looked back to her mother.

"I have told you once, I will tell you again never speak to me again never approach me again or I promise you, you will live to regret it. You are no longer my mother, you are no longer my family and you come at me again and I will defend myself if that means I have to shoot you to do it, stay the fuck away from me."

Holy shit, my Angel meant business threatening her mother holy fuck I have a hard on. She hasn't let go of my hand as we make our way to the vehicle. She looks at Vince.

"Vince I know I am supposed to be doing my training but I don't want to drive anymore I just want to go back to Haywood, can we do that?" I know what she wanted. She wanted Ranger. He nodded his head.

Lester, Angel and I walk up to the back she looks at me "Cal will you ride in the back with me and Lester? She asked as if I would say no, I wouldn't say no to her not ever. I nodded and she smiled but you could see the argument had taken its toll and the fear of him showing up was worrying her. We all climbed in the one door Lester moving all the way over to allow room for her and I the reason he hadn't gone to other side was because she never let go of his hand for him to go to the other side.

I was looking more forward to delivering that message tonight. Seeing the fear in her eyes feeling her hands shake within mine oh yeah I am going to enjoy delivering this message. Fuck with my sister you fuck with me and even though he was a cop I don't think he really wanted to fuck with me. I would happily snap him like a fucking twig.

SPOV

When Lester told me that he expected company without saying Joe's name a bolt of fear shot down my spine. He was afraid he was going to be coming here and He didn't want him finding us in the parking lot in the open. I didn't want him confronting us out here.

He wanted to get us out of the parking lot as fast as possible before he showed up. He knew it was only a matter of time. I couldn't help the fear I felt and I cursed myself for feeling it. I cursed myself for allowing the fear to make me run. There was a part of me that wanted to stand right there and wait for his pathetic fucking ass to show and fucking dare him to speak to me. Dare him to fucking look at me or attempt to touch me but the fear was too strong. I hadn't fared so well the last couple of showdowns and I was scared shitless of him and I hated it.

I couldn't do it. I needed a lot more courage and strength. I really needed Carlos I needed the Ranger side of Carlos not the man side of Carlos. I needed his fearless mercenary side. I needed the man Carlos to hold me comfort me make love to me but I needed the strength courage and fearlessness of Ranger to face Joe.

I briefly wondered if I would truly be up for facing him tonight as I had planned and hoped earlier today. I needed to be able to kick his ass if not physically I needed to take him down a few notches verbally I needed to show him that I wasn't some push over that he couldn't control me, he couldn't demand things of me, he couldn't tell me what to do. I needed from to know he had no power over me.

I wasn't someone he could slap around and throw around that I was a fighter, that I stood up for myself even against him someone bigger and stronger than me. Even if he could kick my ass I still would stand up and fight for myself. That I stood up for what I wanted, for those I loved, and for myself. That I wasn't a weak frail woman that he could strong arm into what he wanted and I was never going to be what he wanted ever.

I needed to be able to do it I needed to face him stand up to him and show him I will fight him tooth and nail that he doesn't scare me that he has no hold over me. Knowing I needed to be able to do this and being able to do this was beginning to look like two different things and I was seriously questioning myself now if I had it in me to do what I needed to do if I could do what was necessary.

I laid my head over on Lester's shoulder when we got in the car. I wasn't going to cry, I wasn't going to cry I kept saying to myself over and over and every time I felt like tears were about to come. I closed my eyes to further help keep the tears at bay. I was going to be strong I am not going to let what my x-mother get to me. I was officially writing her out of my life forever and I am not going to cry about it I am not going to cry over her. She is an evil bitch a vindictive bitch a selfish self centered bitch and I am better with her out of my life than I ever was with her in my life.

No matter how many times I repeated that, part of me still couldn't help be surprised and sadden at some of the thoughts that were going through my head there was still that part of me that wanted to love my mother and wanted her to love me. There was a part of me that wanted to have a life with my mother for god sake she was my mother I mean who wouldn't want a relationship with their mother?

I was sad for losing a mother but she wasn't the mother she wasn't the idea of what I thought of when I thought of a mother. It wasn't her it was the idea of a mother and what that role meant to me that I missed that saddened me that I no longer had in my life. I know I never really had my idea of what a mother would be to me but I guess I had always hoped that one day we would be able to have that but it was clear now that would never happen that it was never going to be something that we ever had, that I was ever going to have in my life at least not with my biological mother.

When I felt like I wasn't going to be able to hold the tears back anymore I turned my head into Lester's shoulder hoping that it would help to further hold the tears back. The tears weren't there because of what had happened, or the fear that Joe was going to show up and do something they were there for the thoughts that saddened me the thoughts and realizations of things in my life that I had missed out on all my life the thoughts of what I would never have that was causing the threatening tears.

I still had Cal's and Lester's hand I hadn't let go of either of them when we got in the car and even sitting in the vehicle I hadn't let go of them. I didn't look at them but I didn't think that either minded. I could feel their strength, their support, and their love. Everyone was quite in the SUV as Vince drove us back to Haywood. I guess no one knew what to say. I had just sent a message to my mother for her never to talk to me again that if she came at me again I would protect myself I would defend myself even to the point of shooting her. The really sad part was I meant every word.

VincePOV

Fuck, I am driving the SUV back to Haywood. Ranger is probably going to kick my ass this is the second time I have taken Bombshell out for training and the second time she comes back crying. Fuck, I am two for two and not on the good side of the scoring board. The only good thing is that I didn't have to call Ranger and have him come and get her like last time. That was good.

She had been cornered by both Joyce and her Mother now her x-mother according to Bombshell still though Ranger was going to be pissed at me. I would probably end up with monitor duty for a month and all of my Bombshell training sessions cancelled. It was clear I wasn't doing a good job of keeping her safe.

I know the other guys were with me but it was my training session it was my ultimate responsibility it was me that should shoulder the responsibility of keeping her safe and secure during our sessions not to have to rely on the other guys tagging along to do it and this is the second time now she has been cornered on my watch, hello third fucking world country.

I could have killed her mother and felt fucking good about it. Especially now looking back at her with her head on Lester's shoulder what kind of cold heartless fucking bitch person talks to someone like that especially when that person is your daughter?

I couldn't help but think about my mom again. How much she always supported and loved us still does even though we are grown adults my mom still cares about my sister, my brother, and me. She still wants us to check in with her to make sure we are all okay she still wants us to tell her about our lives and she still offers her advice. Not that we always take her advice seriously we all allow her to give it because we know she does it out of love for us.

My sister Nicole and my brother Brian are both successful people. My sister is a lawyer with a prestigious law firm in Boston and my brother is one of the best orthopedic surgeons in the country he is flown all over the country and even the world to operate on professional sport figures knees, ankles, etc. Both are married but so far neither of them had children.

I chose the military for my career and then joined Ranger when Rangeman started to grow and I decided that I no longer needed to get my ass shot at on a daily bases that I was getting too old for that shit.

I had worked with Ranger in the military and I respected him and when I learned about Rangeman I couldn't wait to be part of the company. Not only because it was the best when it came to security, not because we got to hunt down the bad guys, and not only because we protected peopled I had strived my whole career to protect, Americans. It was all of it and a chance to work with one of the best men I knew.

I remember the day I told my mom and dad that I was coming to Trenton to work here that I was retiring out of the Army with fifteen years of service. They were happy they were excited they felt like they had their boy back and while I explained my job wasn't without dangers it wasn't the life of a service man at least the service man I had been because there was no behind the desk job for me in my military career I was all soldier from day one.

My mom Janie and my dad Tom Davidson were proud of me had always been proud of me. Proud of all of us and their support of us had never faulted I don't know how my life would have been without them and it breaks my heart that Bombshell never had that. She never had anyone support her not until Ranger came into her life. Not until her brothers came into her life. It was incredible that she became the amazing woman she is when she never had anyone ever raise her up, support her, and love her for her.

The thought of that made me sad but it also fucking infuriated me and I literally wanted to beat the shit out of something in an attempt to right the wrong that has been committed all these years.

RPOV

I was sitting in my office going over the payroll for final approval when Tank walked into my office. I looked up annoyed at the intrusion. Tank knew payroll needed to be approved today and he knew that it was an all day thing going through payroll for the five different Rangeman offices.

It was either Tank or I that had to finalize payroll for all locations for all men. If my men wanted to be paid and I know they did then I needed to get this done. Tank was willing to do it when I was out but if I was here the job was all on me as he hated it.

While we pay good money, and we treat our employees well all overtime is accounted for and all has to be approved first by the managers of the employees, then by the core team member for that Rangeman branch hopefully before the overtime is worked and then it was sent to us. It was rare that we determined overtime wasn't to be granted but on occasions it happened. When it did happen usually those individuals were fired as it was a gross misuse and they were taking advantage of our generous pay scale.

Tank looks at me "Man I don't know what's going on but I just got a text from Slayer saying to cancel My Little Girl's training sessions for the day and clear your workload." What the fuck.

I quickly pull up their tracker and see they appear to be headed back to Rangeman. Fuck! "Have you heard anything from her, Santos, Cal, or Vince? Heard anything other than what Slayer texted you?" I asked him. He shook his head no. Fuck! I hadn't heard a damn thing. What the hell could have happened?

I key into the sound of their SUV and there is nothing no one is speaking and there are no noises well at least she isn't hysterical or crying at least I can hope. I wondered what the hell happened. It wasn't lost on me this was the second time Vince had taken her out and the second time she had come up unable to continue her training sessions.

Tank was standing there with me us listening to whatever was going on in the vehicle to give us any insight into what had happened when his cell phone beeped again. He looked at it and said "Lula"

He pulled up the text and showed it to me "Is it true my girl threatened to kill her mom? BGV says she threaten to shoot her if she speaks to her again. BGV also says that her mom is Fucking Super Prick, is that true?"

She also sent a picture of my Babe facing off with her mother. You could see fury on my Babe's face she was pissed. Her eyes sparkling blue but appeared cold as ice. She looked hotter than hot. Holy shit.

What the hell? Part of me wanted to laugh and part of me wanted to fucking kill that bitch and that son of a bitch. If it was true and they were fucking each other as disgusting as that would be it would devastate my Babe. I seriously doubted there was any truth to Morelli fucking my Babe's mother but it is was obvious by the picture and other texts that my Babe had had a run in with her mother. Fuck that is all she needed.

I briefly wondered when Lula started calling Morelli Super Prick instead of Super Cop. It almost made me laugh. "Lula's now calling Morelli Super Prick." I told Tank and he nodded "She started calling him that after the club. I tell you he really scared her that night she didn't know what to do. Connie helped calm her down but she was about hysterical." He told me.

I could understand that. While Lula could talk a tough talk she wasn't tough she didn't like confrontations and she didn't like fighting. She was scared and after the life she had lived and what she had survived I could understand why.

I am a little embarrassed to say that I never thought about Lula or Connie that night I was too focused on my Babe. I think we all had been focused on her and I do feel a little guilty that Tank wasn't able to comfort her for having been left to deal with Morelli. I swear that fucker needs to just go. I briefly wondered about shipping his ass to a third world country. I mean I could do it. I have done it.

My men didn't fear being shipped to a third world country for no reason. I had done it. I know of a few right now that are on the border of being shipped Morelli is just one of them. I had shipped two contract workers when they fucked up an account and caused us to almost lose a million dollar account. They weren't supposed to have been the ones on that account and thought they would take it to prove themselves worthy of full time Rangeman jobs. The only thing they proved was what colossal fuck ups they were and I literally boxed their ass' up and shipped them to what I will refer to as an undisclosed location. It's amazing what you can drop from a cargo plane don't worry I let them attach the parachute onto the box.

We continued to listen to the sounds in the car but no one was talking and that alarmed me. She was upset if she wasn't talking and laughing especially with Lester and now Slyder there and or talking to Cal then something was wrong in the world of my Babe. I felt my fist tighten and my jaw clench with the thoughts that were running through my head. Something had happened with her mother. But how was that possible I mean she was supposed to be driving around how did her mother get to her?

I watched the blip on the GPS getting closer to Haywood and just for the sake of being curious I pulled up Morelli's blip and I saw that his car was sitting still somewhere downtown it was the general direction of where my Babe was coming from but I had no idea if he had been close to her. The texts said nothing about him. Fuck I hated when I didn't know everything there was to know when it concerned my Babe. I had no idea what she would need when she got here but I was willing to give whatever I could to make her feel better.

MPOV

I was on a scene of a crime when my phone rang and it was Momma Plum. I quickly stepped outside walking to my car and answered the phone. "Momma, how are you today?"

"I am fine, how is my son?" She asked me.

"I am fine just working a case right now what can I do for you?" I asked her briefly wondering why she was calling this time of day.

"Joseph I just got a call from Mrs. Templeton that Stephanie has been seen down at the stop and shop. I am headed there now to talk to her and I thought maybe you would like to join me if you can. Maybe together we can talk some sense into her. Maybe together we can make her see the mistake she is making with her life." She tells me.

Fuck, I really can't leave but I really wanted another chance to make Stephanie see my point of view. She was going to have to come to her senses soon if I was going to marry her. I mean she might just keep on to the point that I wouldn't want her I might fuck whores on Stark Street but I don't want them for my wife not with their used up pussy's.

I motion to one of the cops "Something just came up I need to go take care of." I tell him as I hop in my car heading to the stop and shop. I get there and I see the scene before I pull into the parking lot. I pull over and park on the street just down from the entrance watching the scene unfold as Stephanie and her mother are saying things to each other back and forth.

I can see the fire in Cupcake's eyes and it makes me hard from here. God I loved to see that fire I loved it when she would get pissed off at me. I know I hated the talking back, and yelling at me and when we got married that would stop but part of her when she would do it would just make me so hard. I wanted to control it there was a part of me that was just begging to be able to beat that into submission.

I scanned the group of thugs, whoremongers, heartless mercenaries she had with her today. I am surprised Ranger lets her out without him. I start to pull my car in the lot and I see someone that I can't believe I am seeing again. Holy shit, fuck it can't be him. I took a closer look I couldn't really tell but it looked like a guy I remember from the Navy. I will never forget the ass beating he gave me.

I never knew what I did to piss him off but he had hated me from the very beginning the first day I met him he hated me for some reason. I never asked him, I never really cared to know. He went on to fly jets excelling in all of his classes, and his training. I was hoping it wasn't him I knew he would remember me and I really never wanted to see him again. I decided to not pull in on the off chance it was him.

I need to do a little more surveillance I needed to check in with Doug and see if there are any new Rangeman that have come on board. I really hoped if they had it wasn't the guy I remember from my days in the Navy. I mean he was a Navy pilot he flew jets but he also threw a mean ass right hook and was fast as lightening. My jaw will never forget that right hook I took from him.

I pulled the car back out into the street and I pulled back over a little ways further I didn't have as good of a view but I could still Cupcake and her mother going at it and I could still the band of thugs she had with her. I knew one was Lester, I knew the other one was the same guy that was riding with Cupcake the day I pulled her over and I recognize the other one was the one that I had shot at the club guess I didn't do too much damage to him as he was standing in the parking lot, what a shame.

I wish I knew who the other thug was it's been a few years now since I was in the Navy so I could be mistaken and I hope I was mistaken I really didn't want him in Trenton.

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	36. Chapter 35: Delivering a Message Pt2

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

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Chapter 35: Delivering a Message Pt2

RPOV  
I continued to listen to the sounds from the vehicle but no one was saying anything. I imagined from the picture and from the texts everyone was lost in their own thoughts. I just worried about my Babe. It seems like every time she makes some progress to healing and getting her confidence, and self worth going in the right direction there is someone there waiting for the chance to tear it all down.

I swear just those thoughts, the thoughts of someone tearing down my Babe sent pure rage through my body. I swear I am about this close to just dealing with all of them so they can never come at my Babe again. If it wasn't for the fact that, the bitch was her mother and the fact that I never truly wanted my Babe to see that true side of me I think I would caved before now.

I know she knows I can be lethal, I know she knows I have killed people before both during missions and not. She knows I operate on my own code of ethics and what I believe is right even if the world says it is unlawful to do some of the things I have done. I don't give a fuck what they think sometimes the bad guy just has to die to right the wrong and prevent more carnage in the world. Not that I believe I will rid the world of all the crazies, scumbag, mother fuckers out there but the ones I have well that is one dangerous predator off of the streets. That makes someone's world a little safer and the acknowledgement of that is all I need to keep me doing what I do.

While she knew this about me she had never really seen that side to me. She has seen me pissed, she has seen me filled with rage but never to the point of actually ending someone's life. I hope she never did either because I know seeing me that way would change the way she looked at me. Seeing what I am capable of would change her. I never wanted that. I never wanted her to look at me in fear, to be afraid of me. While I am capable of a lot I have never, and would never be capable of hurting her.

But seeing her afraid of me would honestly kill me. I wanted to be in the garage waiting on them but I also wanted to hear. I knew I could key it in to my ear comm but decided to wait until they got a little closer. According to her blip they were about ten minutes away.

I still couldn't believe Lula's text about Morelli fucking my Babe's mom what would have given her that idea? Why would that be going around the burg grapevine? That is what BGV mean burg grapevine. I briefly wondered if that had anything to do with their confrontation.

I hated that I didn't know what had happened. I hated that I didn't know what state she was in but I knew she would need comforting. I was relieved that I didn't hear any crying but on the same hand I heard no laughter, or talking and for my Babe to be in a car especially with the guys that were with her and no one talking or laughing that was setting off warning bells.

I checked Morelli's blip again just to see where he was now and I could see he was on the move but going the opposite direction that was good. I didn't want to have to worry about him stopping them on the way here.

I wasn't sure exactly what my Babe would need so I held off on giving Tank the payroll stuff. I knew how much he hated it and while I didn't love it I didn't mind doing it not nearly as much as he did. I got up out of my seat. "Tank, I am going downstairs to meet them. I will let you know if I need you to take over doing the payroll." I told him.

He nodded "okay Rangeman but I think I will head down as well. Little girl and I had training this afternoon I want to make sure she actually wants to cancel training before I make other plans." He tells me. I know to some degree this is true I also know that he just wants to be there to be there for her.

We walk out of the office heading towards the stairway and run into Bobby. I have no doubt when he finds out we are going down to the garage to meet my Babe that he won't want to join us.

"Where are you heading to?" Bobby asks us I guess he thought we were heading out of the office. There was a time Bobby wouldn't have dreamed of asking us that. Even though he owned a part of Rangeman and would have had every right to ask he wouldn't have. My Babe had changed that about us about Rangeman.

Looking at him "We are heading down to the garage to meet my Babe. She had a run in with her mother today and I believe she is upset."

He looked worried "how bad was the run in?" he asked me. I shook my head telling him I wasn't sure. I knew I had seen the picture and she looked strong but with my Babe looks can be deceiving you only needed to watch her at a distraction to know how true that was. I also had the text messages but I wasn't going to repeat those not until I had talked to her. The Burg grapevine isn't always known to be accurate. It is fast but never been known for telling all of the truth.

As suspected he falls right in with us and we make our way to the garage. We were standing there about five minutes when they pulled in. I could tell by the looks on Vince's and Slyder's face that this wasn't going to be good. Fuck!

Soon as the SUV was parked I was at the passenger door. Opening it I saw my Babe's head tucked into Lester's shoulder and her holding both Lester's and Cal's hand. You could see the tight grip she had on them. I wouldn't say it was a death grip but it was a firm grip that spoke volumes.

I then saw the look on Lester's face that said we need to talk and we need to talk soon.

"Babe" I called to her and her head shot up off of Lester's shoulder she still had her eyes closed but I had to smile when I saw her take a deep breath in. She smelled the air confirming it was me. Something about her doing that just sets me off. I love that she takes comfort in my smell, my presence.

"Carlos?" she questioned

"Yeah Babe it's me, is there a reason you won't open those beautiful blue eyes of yours?" I asked her. I really needed to see those eyes. They were the gateway to her soul, the gateway to her thoughts, emotions, her heart and I needed to see all of that to make sure she was okay and to see what was going on with her.

She slowly opened them as if testing the water so to speak. Speaking of water I could see the tears swimming around in her eyes threatening to fall. Now I knew why she had her eyes closed she didn't want to cry. She didn't want to cry in front of the guys. I know she hated it when she cried in front of them and there have been several incidents now when she had cried.

She gave me a slight smile but it didn't reach her eyes. I held my hand out to her and she grabbed my hand. Stepping a little aside I gave room for Lester to exit the car while I helped my Babe out of the car and into my arms. She wrapped her arms around me and hugged herself to me. My body instantly felt the weight lift as realization hit it that my Babe was okay and in my arms where no harm could reach her at least not without going through me first.

"Babe let's go upstairs, do you want to go up to seven or do you want to go to five?" I asked her. I privately was hoping she would say five as she could hang out with me or with the guys while I finished that damn payroll. I wasn't sure about leaving her yet. She wasn't crying but she was saddened.

She looked at me funny almost as if I had lost my mind. I would have smiled under different conditions. "Carlos I have my training time with Woody." She told me.

"Babe first of I would like for you to tell me why you are so upset. I would like to hear what happened. Tank got some confusing text from Lula, and then finding you sitting in the back seat between Lester and Cal your head buried in Lester's shoulder you holding both their hands. I can see you're upset. Let's talk about it okay?" I really didn't want her going back out not until I heard from her and the guys what had happened.

She nodded. She looked at Lester "Lester, grab the bag along with the drinks, don't forget them." She told him I briefly wondered if this was how her mother was able to corner her.

Taking her hand in one hand and placing my other hand at the small of her back I lead her to the elevator. I knew it would be too much to ask her to go up five flights of stairs, actually make that six since we are in the garage. We all pile on the elevator and I see her looking around at each of us accessing us.

I look at her questioning what she is thinking. She just shrugs but finally says "I was just trying to calculate our weight to make sure we didn't exceed the maximum capacity I don't really want to plummet to my death because some of them didn't take the stairs." I just shook my head.

Sometimes she could come up with the damnedest things granted we were a bunch of big men but we didn't exceed the maximum capacity of the elevator. I thought it was funny how it was them that didn't take the stairs and not her that didn't take the stairs.

We made it to the fifth floor without plummeting to our deaths as my Babe so eloquently put it and we all went to my office.

I sat down on the sofa and immediately pulled my Babe in my lap holding her close to me. I felt her weight rest back against me as her head landed on my shoulder. God how my body wanted her I swear I think I could live to be a hundred and my body would still respond, still want, and still crave the touch of my Babe.

BPOV

We went into Ranger's office. Ranger took Bomber over to the couch and pulled her down on his lap. Lester and Slyder joined them while Tank and I took the chairs across from the sofa and Cal and Vince pulled the large chairs that usually sat in front of Ranger's desk over.

Bomber sat there for a minute before she looked at Lester "Lester, you brought the bag?" she questioned and he nodded holding it up for her to see. She smiled at him.

She took the bag and reached in taking out five Tasty Cakes and drinks. She looked around the room at us "um I only have five I didn't know we were going to be coming back here had I known I would have brought more." She said.

I had to smile. She always thought about us no matter what. I spoke up "It's okay Bomber but I am surprised to see you eating that. What made you stop and get them in the first place?" I questioned her. She looked at me and her face blushed. Why the hell would she blush? But she recovered quickly and told me.

"I was driving down the street and all of a sudden I had craving for them and I had to have them. That is why we went to the store. I had to have a Tasty Cake so I went in and got one for each of us and Lester well he got the drinks."

I had to smile because I knew for a fact that she had hidden tasty cakes in the cabinets of the break room so she did in fact have enough for all of us but in order to get them, and to tell us she would have to expose her dirty little secret and she wasn't about to let anyone know that she had contraband in the break room even though most of the guys knew it hell I suspect we all knew it to tell you the truth.

But we let her believe we didn't know it and we left her contraband alone. What would be worse than eating contraband and getting caught by Ranger? Eating Bomber's contraband and getting caught by both Ranger and Bomber. Not only would he be pissed about us eating that shit, he would be more pissed we stole it from her. Not to mention what Bomber would do to us for eating her emergency stash.

So we all pretended we didn't know it, we all pretended we didn't see her climb up on the chairs and reach to the top of the cabinet behind a package of oatmeal packets that no one liked the flavor of so they had sat there forever.

She looked a little guilty for a minute "I know my test is coming up on Sunday and I promise this is all I will have but I have to eat the cake. I deserve to eat the cake." She told us

Ranger shaking his head "Babe". He said, his Babes can be their own language this one I knew said I can't believe you are going to sit here and eat that shit, that shit will kill you. I had to smile at her.

She had a Tasty Cake in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. She picked up a Tasty cake and motioned to Slyder "Slyder you ever had a Tasty Cake?" she asked him. He shook his head no and you could see the shock resonate throughout her. In a tone that proved she was shocked she said "You have never had a Tasty Cake ever? Not one? What is wrong with you people? Are you all born this way or do you just never enjoy the finer things in life?"

Oh we enjoyed the finer things in life, it just wasn't food. Slyder smiled at her I knew he wanted to say something so bad but refrained. I knew it was hard for him because like Lester he was a big teaser but he had just gotten to know her and I could tell he liked her he didn't want to overstep any boundaries. She had left her self wide open like she usually does so I knew the effort he was making to not say something that would embarrass her. His effort spoke volumes of how much he liked her and how much he already respected her.

We were all a little worried about her mental state so that may have been a factor as well. Ranger spoke up "So you stopped to get Tasty Cakes, and your mother cornered you?" He questioned I could see the look he was giving the other guys and this wasn't going to go well for them. They should have known to prevent this. They shouldn't have let her stop and if there was nothing to do but stop one should have gone in and gotten the cakes not all of them and certainly not Bomber leaving her accessible like that exposed to a situation they couldn't control. They were trained better and I knew they knew better after all they were some of our best men including Lester her best friend and member of the core team we knew he knew procedures to follow and was trained in them.

Ranger was going to have all of their asses. They were just lucky as hell that things didn't go worse for her. Had that happened well we wouldn't be sitting here right now. Ranger would be kicking all of their asses on the mats at the same time. I know because I would be there ready to patch their asses back up after he was done with them.

Bomber once again blushed and whispered something in this ear but I couldn't hear what she said I was too far away. He barely nodded but whatever she said he had agreed or acknowledged it in some way.

She looked around at us and then at the clock she opened her cake and took a bite moaning at the taste. Damn those fucking moans of hers.

She speaks up after she swallows "Guys, Carlos. I am fine actually. I don't want you to worry about me. I know I looked upset and I was and still am but it isn't because of what I told my mom, it isn't because I put her in her place. It isn't because of anything she said to me, well maybe a little but not directly." She took a deep breath as if to gather her thoughts.

"I will tell you all more later but know that I am saddened not at what happened between my use to be mother and me today as much as just the general acknowledgement of what I will never have, what I have never had and never will truly know and that is a mother. Someone who should be supportive, should be my best friend, someone who drives me crazy but in a good way but loves me more than anything not because I do or become what she wants but because of who I am and what I do. That is why I am sad, that is why I held back the tears." She looked at Lester

"Lester if I ruined your shirt with my rogue tears I am sorry but they were determined tears and I couldn't stop them." She told him I had to smile at the idea of rogue tears with a mind of their own.

He shook his head, like he gave a fuck about a few tears on his shirt. He could care less. He would rip every shirt he had to shreds if it would somehow comfort his Beautiful. Hell for that matter we all would.

She looked at us "Well you all have work to do and I have training to get to I already missed most of my time with Woody. I don't want to miss anymore time. Tank you still game for training with me?" She asked Tank.

He was smiling. He nodded "I wouldn't miss it for the world little girl" he told her. One thing you had to respect and love about her was her heart. She had the heart of a lion. The spirit of a true warrior no matter what life threw at her she rolled with it. Some were harder than others but she always pulled herself back up and kept on going. It was what made her excel in her training, excel in the world of bounty hunting because she never gave up, she never gave in no matter how hard it got.

I know there were times when she felt like she was going to cave hell I thought she was going to cave but she had managed to get through them without caving only making herself stronger, and somehow better. She was a survivor of sorts. Hell I have known men that couldn't handle half of what she had dealt with in her life before they needed professional counseling and here she is so beautiful, so seemingly untouched by it all.

I don't tell her how proud of her I am often enough.

TPOV

Well my little girl wanted to train. I wasn't about to turn her down after all if she stayed here Ranger would end up going up stairs with her and I would get stuck with that fucking payroll and I hated doing payroll.

"Little girl I told Woody to take a surveillance shift so we can go ahead and get started whenever you want just let me know when you are ready." I told her.

She smiled "Tank honestly I am fine, I am pretty much ready right now. Let me run upstairs for a minute and then I will be ready." She tells me. I nod.

She gives Ranger a kiss and then gets up he goes to follow her but she stops him with her hand "It's okay Carlos I am fine. I am just running up to get something I realized I left this morning." She tells him.

Lester chuckles yeah I know bad asses don't chuckle but he did and if I had my video camera ready on my phone I would have tapped it and forwarded it to every man in Rangeman because there times Lester could be such the fucking little girl.

She looked at him and he just shrugged and she left heading up to the office. Soon as the door closed Lester started.

"Man she didn't stop for Tasty Cakes, she bought them but they were just an excuse. Beautiful has a visitor." He said. She had a visitor. What the fuck is he talking about? I looked at him raising my eyebrow at him. He rolled his eyes. Yes he rolled his eyes at me it would have made my Little girl proud as hell, any Jersey girl would have been proud of that eye roll. I swear she was rubbing off on him.

"Her period Tank, She started her period." Well he didn't have to spell it the fuck out for me. Not that I don't fully understand women have periods, and what happens during their periods hell I have had girlfriends for a long time and understand the happenings of a woman's body a long time ago it still doesn't mean I wanted to talk about it. I especially didn't want to talk about my little girl being on her period."

"Santos damn you didn't have to come out and say it." I tell him and he just looks at me.

"Well it wasn't like you were following me when I tried to skirt around saying it the first time. So I thought I would just spit out for you." He told me. Gee thanks fucker was all that came to mind.

Lester went on "Beautiful stopped at the store to get supplies, she didn't tell us she told us it was to get Tasty Cakes but I followed her and I saw her grab a box of Tampons and a bottle of Midol in addition to the Tasty Cakes she bought." I think we all sort of cringed at the words Tampons and Midol.

I know we are bad asses, I know we are all men who are all familiar with periods and the woman's body but still the idea of Tampons makes us cringe. We would rather not think about it, we would rather not know about it, touch them, buy them, or know of their existence. Any man who willingly goes into the store and buys his woman tampons well he is whipped, about as much as Ranger is.

I bet he would buy her Tampons if she asked. Oh fuck it if she asked any of us would go buy her tampons and midol no matter how fucking stupid we looked or felt. We would do it because we love her, because none of us were capable of telling her no. I just hope that she would never ask me to do it at least if she does a have a whole building of men that I can delegate the task to.

Lester broke me out of my thoughts when he started talking "She didn't just have a run in with her mother." He started and we all froze. I saw anger flash through Ranger's eyes as Lester continued. "She also had a run in with Joyce aka Ass Fuck." He told us. I still have to laugh when I hear that my little girl had given her that nickname it was so appropriate yet so funny at the same time.

He started laughing. "Joyce cornered her in the bathroom. You have got to have her show you the picture on her phone. Beautiful came out telling us how she can come in to the bathroom drunk about to be sick and how she had helped Ass Fuck to the toilet. Well she took a picture and Joyce was hugging the toilet with her head hanging in it. Beautiful said something about opening a Face Book account to post the picture for the world to see."

She wanted a fucking Face Book account? Lester had to be shitting us I could see it now The Bombshell Bounty Hunter Face Book Page. Now that would draw a huge list of friends it would be disaster of epic proportions after all just in the people she meets now we can't keep the fucking stalkers away from her just let her post her pictures all over the internet for all to see and all to friend and see how many fucking psychos, whackos, and stalkers she picks up. We would end up being a full time shop of keeping the crazies away from my little girl.

Lester's smile faltered and he continued "It was when we walked out into the parking lot that her mother cornered her. I tell you that woman is an evil bitch and it was all I could do to control myself from killing the wicked witch of the east."

I saw the others agreeing with every word then Lester got serious. "Guys she said something to her mother that I think is actually true. I know Beautiful just said it to be saying it because she was pissed but I saw her mother's reaction and trust me Beautiful was dead on with her accusations and when she finds out it is going to crush her." He took a deep breath. "I need to go talk to Manny and take a look at the pictures we have but I think we are even holding on to the incriminating evidence. I don't know how the hell we are going to break this to her. But I think her witch bitch of a mother is fucking that piece of shit cop. I think those pictures her stalker" he stressed stalker "sent her are pictures of that cops fucking dick and well parts of her mother that I never wanted to see." He said. Holy shit

Ranger roared hearing Santos accusations. He was ready for blood. He was ready for the kill. I could see it. I knew Lester could see it too as well as any man that had served with Ranger. Ranger was the best for a reason. He was completely lethal with or without a weapon. He and Lester shared something that the others of us didn't have.

While we were lethal, we were dangerous, we were highly trained Lester and Ranger well they had something else that went above and beyond. They had the ability to become nothing but solider, nothing but warrior and it had saved all of our lives many times. Without them and without their ability we wouldn't be sitting here. We all knew the debt we owed them not that they would ever hold us to that debt.

Ranger and Lester when in ultimate solider mode had one goal it was survival, survival for themselves, survival for their team, and survival for their loved ones. The monsters that lived within them were ruthless, were guiltless, there was no empathy or sympathy if there was a threat it was leveled, if there was an attack it was neutralized. It didn't matter how bloody, how dangerous, how crazy the plan, It didn't matter if you or anyone else stood between them and what they felt was safety for them, their team their loved ones you had better rethink your stance or you had better be okay with being dead.

There was no questioning, there was no second guessing, there was only action there was only death for all involved. I had lived through it I had seen it with my own two eyes even though I barely could believe what I was seeing but I knew what lied beneath them I knew what they were capable of and as big as I am as mean as I am and for what I am capable of because it, it doesn't touch Ranger and Lester in that mode. I had seen them take down twenty highly armed and lethally trained men just the two of them unarmed at the time.

One is bad enough but somehow the monster that lies within them has the ability to recognize each other and when it comes out in one it comes out in the other and then well then you want no one around them. Well unless they are the bad guys because they won't be bad guys for long they will be dead guys.

For the most part these monsters were well under control but my little girl strained their control. She strained all of our control when she was in danger, when she was being harmed, hurt. It was difficult for us to control our anger at the injustice towards our sister. But we didn't have in us what Ranger and Lester had in them and for that it had made for some very sticky situations in the past. Stark Street was just one example of how she pressed our ability to control ourselves.

Now that she had come into Ranger's life and had made us all family it was going to be even sticker with every new situation that found its way to my little girl. For every heart she wins here she also wins a warrior a solider that will fight for her that will kill for her that will do whatever it takes to keep her safe.

I am far from excluded when it comes to that list that is why I know the potential trouble we could all face should something happen that points back to us.

"Rangeman you have got to pull yourself together and control it, man." I tell him. He looks at me his eyes glassy black, his nose flared, his jaw clenched this was the monster the enemy faced and lost to. "Man I am telling you get your shit together my little girl is going to come through that door any minute now and she isn't going to understand why you are like this. Unless you want to share with her, what Santos just told us without any proof then you are going to scare her seeing you like this. Put the beast away Rangeman and control yourself." I told him.

I don't think I have ever had to tell him to put the beast away hell most times when I saw it we were knee deep in shit in a third world fucking country and the odds were not in our favor it was moments like that I loved that it existed, I welcomed it and I loved to see it work its magic. But it didn't belong here and he needed to get control before someone got hurt.

I saw him struggle but when I mentioned my little girl he calmed down even more. He was reigning the beast in more and more when there was a soft knock on the door and in walked my little girl. She had changed clothes and had her bag with her how she could not have had everything she could possibly need in that bag astounded me.

I just hope she now had her supplies so there would be no further need to make a pit stop while we ware training. She went to Ranger touched him and I saw his eyes soften he was back. Whew I knew soon as we left he would be in motion he would be tracking down anything he could find to either prove or disprove Santos theories.

"Carlos, Tank and I are getting ready to go for my training. Did you remember to ask the guys about tonight?" She asked him. So he had told her our plans for tonight. He shook his head no. No the fucker hadn't said anything to us.

She looked at us "well since you all are going to be coming if you want Carlos told me about your plan of paying Joe a visit I want to come with you. I want to deliver a message of my own, if I am able to do it." She added and I clinched my jaw and fists at the thought of how that fucker makes her feel unsure of herself I could fucking rip his head off at times. "However, before we go I want to have dinner with everyone that is going and I want to make sure we are all on the same page when it comes to him and I want to go over your plan. I want to know what our plan is going to be." She told us and I couldn't help the bubble of pure pride that filled me. That is my little girl. She had no idea how exciting it was to see her strong like that.

I got up and headed towards the door with her following. She knew we would all be there for dinner she knew we would never say no.

LPOV

Soon as Beautiful and Tank walked out of the room I was in motion. Pacing back and forth like a caged tiger. I felt like a caged tiger. She was my best friend fuck I loved her more than I had loved any woman, more than I ever would love any woman I believed certainly never loved any other woman to date the way I love her.

Yet now I have this horrible thing I have to tell her. I didn't even have to look at the pictures to know what I was going to find and for that it made my stomach tight. How the fuck are we going to tell her this?

Not only is your x-boyfriend a fucking psycho that is stalking you leaving these things for you to find and sending you the boxes but the pictures that he sent well they showcased your mother. You tell me how exactly do you tell someone you love, your best friend that fucking news? I was livid and the monster within me was shaking the bars begging to be let free.

The beast in Ranger sprang free when I gave them the news I discovered today and mine awoke with him. We wanted blood there was no doubt about it someone was going to pay for this and pay dearly. I questioned my sanity for going tonight especially if Beautiful was going after all I never want her to be that close to the monster within me. I never want her to see him to experience what his true capabilities are and I suspected Ranger felt the same way.

After making a few more back and forth trails I decided to bite the fucking bullet and take a look at the pictures I could have been mistaken I could have been imaging things but I wasn't too confident in that little bit of denial I was handing myself.

It occurred to me that Slyder didn't know anything about the stalker only that she had one, he hadn't seen the things left behind for her to find and I contemplated not even bothering to show him but at the last minute I caved he needed to know everything if he was to properly protect her.

Looking at Slyder "Hey man you want to go with me to Manny's office he has some things I need to look at and you need to see." I tell him. He nods and we make our way out of the office. Leaving Ranger, Cal, Bobby, and Vince to continue to discuss what happened today.

SlydersPOV

We made our way to Manny's office when we got there we found him going over evidence. Looking at the stuff I got a funny feeling I wasn't about to like what I was going to hear. Somehow I had a feeling all of this was tied to Stephanie.

Seeing the stuff the sick letters, the sick pictures, seeing how they were bunched together it infuriated me that a man would do this to a woman. I knew there were sick fucks out there but it never stopped pissing me off. I hated when a man disrespected a woman. I was a player I would be the first to admit but there was never a time I took advantage of a woman.

Every woman I have ever been with knew what she was getting. One night they knew there weren't going to be any phone calls, or any repeat visits so to speak. I made it clear, I never did anything that wasn't consensual and I never made a woman feel uncomfortable by doing anything that she wasn't a hundred percent comfortable with or that she didn't trust me a hundred percent not to hurt her if she felt as though she wanted to experiment. Men who took advantage of women made them feel uncomfortable made them feel as if they couldn't say no pissed me off.

Looking at the stuff laid out and the letters and the pictures it just made me mad. I looked at Lester "You think Stephanie's x-boyfriend and her mother are who are pictured here?" motioning to the picture. He nodded. What a sick fuck.

Manny not having heard Lester's theory before jumped to his feet "Lester are you telling me that the mother fucker in these picture are of that fucking prick cop and her mother?" Lester picked up the bag containing the picture looking at it and nodded.

"Yeah Manny I am sorry to say it is her. I recognized her nails today when she cornered Beautiful at the store. See how the person in the picture has white tipped nails only instead of clear polish painted over it like most people do she uses a light pink to go over them. See the light pink? Not many people do that but Stephanie's mother is one of them. I am sure they make her feel more feminine or something being pink I don't know but they are her hands."

Hearing him say that seeing the picture it really made me want to puke, I know bad asses don't lose their lunch over pictures and thoughts but just thinking about this fucked up situation and then thinking we would have to tell Stephanie well made me want to puke.

How had she done it all of these years? How had she dealt with that woman I met today? I don't know who this x-boyfriend of hers is. He has several different names the guys here mainly refer to him as the Morelli, fucking cop, fucking prick, dick sucker, they had all kind of names for him especially behind Stephanie's back it got real creative. Her mother called him Joseph, and I had heard her say Joe.

Thinking about his names something clicked I knew a scumbag ass fucking cock sucking prick from basic I never liked him I hated him from the moment I heard him open his mouth. You know the type of person the person that should remain the fuck silent because by opening their mouth they only prove to everyone around them how fucking dumb they really are. Well he was one of those people. Basic had been several years ago but if memory served me right his name was Joe, I couldn't remember his last name for the life of me. It wasn't like I tried to get to know the guy. I had kicked his ass the first time I saw him and he steered the fuck away from me every chance he got after that.

I never apologized because I wasn't sorry he deserved every fucking thing he got that night. I only hoped I taught him a little lesson about how to treat women. It would be almost as much odds as winning the lottery for this to be the same Joe after all how many Joe's are there in the world?

Manny was shaking his head in disbelief that it was Stephanie's mother in the picture. He looked at Lester. "Lester man that is fucked up if it is in fact her as you say what the hell is that going to do to my wifey?" He asked. Lester just looked sad and shook his head shrugging his shoulders.

Manny continued "She can't ever manage to catch a fucking break can she? No matter what happens she always has someone standing at her feet ready to tear her world down, ready to bring her down on her knees. She is the most wonderful woman god could have created. She trusts us, just look at us we aren't all that trustworthy looking guys. She accepts us for who we are what we are past, present and future and never questions any of it. She never questions our motives, our reasoning's, our choices in life she just accepts us the way we are. Why can't she get that same acceptance from the people in her life? Man this is going to crush her. She has been sent pictures of her x with her mother by someone who she thought was a stalker only to turn out it has been her x. Those threatening things he has said in those letters. How afraid she has been of him. I swear I want to fucking kill him. I want to end him." He said

I am not sure he meant to say all of that but as realization had set in he was pissed as well as all of the rest of us. I wondered how the other men of Rangemen would take this news. I wondered if any would take it upon themselves to pay a visit to this x boyfriend before we had the chance tonight.

Manny must have been thinking along the same lines as I had been. He spoke up "You better keep this news from Hector. If he finds this out he will kill that mother fucker before he has the chance to take his next breath. You know how protective he is of her, you know how much she means to him and you know he has no control when it comes to threats. He is going to see him as a threat no doubt when he realizes he is her stalker. There will be no stopping him, no changing his mind, and no preventing him from killing that fucking prick. Not that I care about his worthless piece of shit life. In my eyes the world would be a better place with him buried face down six feet under but I am not sure how WIfey would deal with that even though she is scared of him." He said.

I had to agree she had a gentle soul that filled your life with light that brought happiness and life into the soul of what was to believed soul less men she was a firefly that lit up your blackened heart, your blackened soul like the fireflies light up the blackened night sky showing the world there is lightness within the dark, there is good within the dark, there is hope. I briefly wondered who brings the light to the firefly's world when someone tries to take that away.

I had to agree with Lester and Manny this is one fucked up situation.

HectorPOV *spoken in Spanish*

Something was happening. I could feel it. I could feel the pulsing through my veins. Something was coming down and it wasn't going to be good. I knew there were no new threats against me I had killed them all. I could only assume the pulse I was feeling was for my Angelito. Her life had been rocky lately with her stalker, and her x boyfriend terrorizing her.

I couldn't ignore the pulse that beat through me. She was in danger I knew it I wasn't sure where the threat lied but I knew there was someone, something that was threatening her and it made me uneasy, restless, and slightly worried. Worrying wasn't really my thing. I mean it is hard to worry when you don't care for anyone. But Angelito had changed that I cared for her, I loved her she was my sister. I protected her and my sensing knew that I was needed. They were calling to me telling me she needed my protection.

I got up from my desk and I made my way to Manny's office when I got there Slyder and Lester were there and they were looking at the evidence from Angelito's apartment and the box she had received.

"Any new developments in who her stalker is?" I asked them I knew something wasn't right. I almost felt stupid for asking as I personally knew Manny had gone over every shred of evidence multiple times and had found nothing but I knew there had been a change the pulse told me.

The vibration through my veins told me she was in danger, she wasn't safe. I wouldn't rest until she was safe. Until this pulse was gone. Lester, Slyder and Manny all had different looks and I could tell they didn't want to share their news with me. Little did those three fuckers know neither I nor any of them were leaving this room until they told me. If I had to force them to tell me I would force them.

While I had come to feel about them as brothers because of my Angelito she was still more important and she came first even before my own life much less theirs. Manny shook his head you could see defeat in his eyes well maybe you couldn't but I could.

He motioned to the pictures and the evidence. "Lester here has put it all together. We know who the stalker is and who is photographed in the pictures and it isn't good, Hector." He told me. I took a step forward. My fingers itching to find out who it was I get to kill.

Once again Manny shook his head "Man don't get things like that in your head. You aren't going to like this but I am not sure what can be done about it." I can tell him what can be done about it, the fucker is going to die that is what is going to be done about it. I felt my fingers twitch vibrating up my arm.

Lester jumped in "Hector you can't do anything the stalker he is her x boyfriend, the man in the pictures. The woman well the woman is her mother." He told me. I don't do shocked I am a badass I am an x gang banger I don't do shocked being shocked will get you dead. But I had to admit this time Lester had me, I was shocked.

Her fucking mother and that fucking cop? Were the two in the photos and the fucking cop was her stalker. What the fuck. How fucking sick is that? No that mother fucker was going to do die it was only a matter of time. The pulse vibrated through me as though warning me again of the danger she was in.

She wouldn't be in danger long from that fucking cop. His days were numbered I would bide my time and I would make it look real good so good in fact the police would want to give him a fucking award of course then all his lies, and pictures of him with prostitutes would all come out and they would think again before handing him any fucking award or medal.

I turned to walk out and Lester spoke up "Hector some of us are going to pay Morelli a visit tonight to deliver a message to him if you want to be included come up and have dinner with Beautiful. I know how close you are to her so I thought I would offer you a chance at a little pay back but Hector we have to leave him living." He said to me.

I nodded as I walked out he had to live him living didn't mean I had to leave him living. That fucking prick of a pig dick sucking cop was as good as dead someone may as well call it and sign his death warrant he had done that the second he started this deadly little game with my Angelito. It isn't that his game was deadly for her, it was deadly for him and his time was coming so he better be asking God for forgiveness now because he won't have the opportunity later.

RPOV

I had called Ella and told her about the additional guests for dinner. She probably was already prepared for the mouths to feed. I still called and told her out of respect. Ella does an amazing job taking care of me, my men, and my Babe. She doesn't get paid enough even though I pay her well and all her living expenses are covered but still for the work she does I am not sure it is enough.

The whole showdown with her mother had gone around Rangeman like a wild fire every man knew about it every man wanted a piece of her mother and that fucking cop. I had been sitting in my office from the time everyone left finishing up the payroll there has got to be a better way. I realize it was payroll for five divisions but seriously did it have to take a whole fucking day to approve.

Lester tapped on my door. I motioned him in thanking fuck for an interruption from the fucking paper work. My eyes were becoming crossed. He wasn't happy you could see it in his eyes. He was about this closed to being pissed.

He came in closing the door behind him and sat down in the chair across from me. I leaned back taking a moment to stretch out rolling my head taking the tension off of my neck. He sighed yeah sighed and then started talking "I went to Manny's lab and looked at the pictures, I was right it was her hands." He tells me.

Hearing this brought red to my eyes and anger coursed through out my body. I knew I had to control it but the thought of him and her mother, him being her stalker just infuriates me. I try to reign in my anger, the beast within I had already lost control earlier and risked scaring my Babe not to mention the lives of my men. I had to keep control.

Reigning it back in for the second time I asked him "What are we going to do? How are we going to tell her this?" Trying to figure out what to say the words to use I mean how do you tell someone that your x boyfriend is your stalker oh and he is fucking your mom the pictures he sent you well that was of him and your mom.

"Santos I want a tracker on her mother's car, I want someone following them I want to know where they go I want pictures of them together where you can see their faces. More faces and less other parts, do I make myself clear?" He nodded. I had seen enough of Helen Plum and Morelli to last me a life time I didn't need so see anymore and I doubt my Babe would need to see anymore. Fuckers I could kill them and feel so God damn right about it. The world would be a better place and my Babe would be free from all their shit. A true win-win-win situation but alas I have to think about her and how she would feel about me, about us if we did that. Fuck some days it just felt like you couldn't fucking win.

"Are you up for tonight?" I asked him I am seriously wondering if I will be able to keep myself under control and allow that fucker to live. I can't kill him in front of my Babe and she is planning on being there yet I am not sure I can control myself enough with everything I have learned today to keep from killing the fucking prick. This is going to be a test to my control tonight. I just hope that I fucking pass it and don't end up scaring my Babe.

Lester shrugs his shoulders probably feeling the same way I am but then he speaks up "But we have a bigger problem than you and me cousin." I look at him questioning his statement what could be a bigger problem. He looks at me smiles and says "One word, Hector" oh fuck.

I look at Lester "he knows?" Lester nods, oh shit if we don't fucking kill him Hector will. No questions asked, no remorse, no regret, no thought he will just end his life. I shook my head "not good" I said and Lester agreed.

"Rangeman he is coming tonight with us." He told me, I only nodded in acknowledgement of his statement. Lester turned heading towards the door. I tried to focus back on the fucking payroll but my mind kept drifting to thoughts of my Babe. What this was going to do to her, how she was going to handle this. I couldn't help but think and even worry a little. This however is something I am going to keep from her until we have further proof I am not taking a chance with this one a chance that Lester may have been wrong. I will track her and if they have been they are still doing it we will catch them and then I will be forced to tell my Babe and crumble what's left of her former life at her feet.

Just the thought of us having to tell her of us having to bring her world down around her made me seething mad I wanted blood, I wanted that fucker dead. I would like to say I would be happy with Hector taking care of it for me but that would be a lie. I wanted that fucker's blood on my hands. I wanted to see the life squeezed out of his worthless piece of shit body. I wanted to be the one to take his life and send him straight to hell where he belonged. The beast within me wouldn't be appeased until he had taken his life.

SPOV

Tank and I had just finished my training and we were heading back to Rangeman. I was doing my normal routine of checking for a tail, watching for potentials hazards, and trying to always maintain an escape route while driving. My zone so to speak and I was getting pretty good.

I had picked up both Binkie and Zip tailing me they were being sneaky trying to use two different cars. They even used cars that weren't black but I spotted their tail. I could tell it made Tank very proud of me he just smiled but I could see I had impressed him and that made me very happy.

While I was checking for more tails I spotted him. Fear shot through me and I almost panicked. There was the instinct to just fucking floor it back to Rangeman and pray that he couldn't catch me. I mean he drives a piece of shit detective car. I on the other hand am in a Rangeman vehicle that has been customized for their needs. This is one of the special vehicles that Tank selected this is one they use for guarding people when they have someone important they need to guard.

This vehicle has bullet proof glass, steel reinforced doors, tires that won't go flat or you can run on flat I am not sure how that works, and an engine that is capable of out running most normal cars on the street.

Tank must have picked up on my panic attack and my fear as he looked back to see what had my attention. I heard him growl so he had seen him. I knew I was safe with Tank after all he guarded Ranger and Ranger has some nasty enemies to hear him speak of them. I knew Tank could keep me safe and would keep me safe but that didn't help the fear that had grasped me but I had to hold it together I was driving. I had to keep myself together in spite of my fears.

I kept repeating to myself he can't get me, he can't get me. Even if he pulls me over he can't get me out of this vehicle unless I open the door. I made sure the doors were locked I knew they were already but it was just something I needed to double check to help me get control of my fears. With shaky hands I held onto the wheel resolving myself to keep control of the vehicle, of my fears, of my feelings.

I came up to a stop light remembering to leave room for an escape I left enough room in front of me I was heading straight as that was the way back to Rangeman but if I played my cards right just at the right second I could get around the car in front of me and turn right. If I did it at the exact moment when that light turned green for them then I could escape and leave Joe. I could then floor it and get out of his sight before he had the chance to turn on the street.

I stopped bidding my time watching that he hadn't gotten out of his car attempting to sneak up on us and watching to see where the lights were. The second I saw the light turn I floored it sliding by the car in front of me and turning right as the cars that were coming straight through the light fell in behind me.

I raced up the street as fast as the vehicle would take us. I came up on other traffic heading the same direction and I took the chance and went around them. I knew I couldn't do a simple u-turn back to the direction of Rangeman I had to come up with another plan. I had to go a different direction. Joe wasn't stupid he would have known where I was heading he would be looking for me along those streets and I knew I wouldn't be able to avoid him if I went that route back. I would eventually have run right into him and he would have been waiting for me especially since I had broken like three or four traffic violations but my goal was for neither him nor anyone else to catch me.

I made several turns and with the help of the GPS in the vehicle I found another way back to Rangeman that took us way out of the way added like forty minutes or more onto our trip back but in the end the plan worked and he had no idea where we went. I had successfully dodged Joe and technically the police. I was feeling pretty good about myself.

We pull into Rangeman and I couldn't help but let out the soft sigh that we were back home that he couldn't touch me within these walls. We get out of the car and head to the elevator.

"Tank thanks for taking me I am heading up to seven. I need to shower but I will see you for dinner right?" I asked him and he nodded.

"Little girl I wouldn't miss it for the world" he adds and I couldn't help the smile that broke out across my face not that I would have tried to stop it. He gets off on the fifth floor and I continue up to seven.

BPOV

We all gathered at Ranger's office to head up for dinner with Bomber. Ranger, Lester, Tank, Cal, Hector, Slyder and myself are all going to join Bomber for dinner then we are going to pay Morelli a little visit later tonight.

I would be lying to you and myself if I said I wasn't nervous with the information we had all learned today I knew Ranger and Lester were on edge but when I saw Hector had joined the ranks I wasn't sure this visit was going to leave Morelli with his life.

I knew there would be no holding back Lester and Ranger even with all of us it probably wouldn't work we would fail. They would take us out if they had to, to get their goal especially if they lost control of their inner demons.

But add Hector to the mix and it was bad as bad as they came and I wasn't sure going was our smartest move. Yes I wanted him to know he couldn't harm my Bomber our light our life but I wasn't sure ending his life would be the right thing to do but at this point he had dealt himself this hand and from my point of view he was holding all eights and aces. He was holding the dead man's hand because he was a dead man it was only a matter of time and it was only his actions that brought it on himself.

If the fucker got lucky tonight and harmed a single hair on Bomber's head he would only pray for death because I am fairly certain death wouldn't come fast enough for him. We all wanted blood, we all wanted revenge but for those three it went even deeper than that. Something I couldn't explain. Something I am not sure any of us truly understood or could truly grasp.

We made our way up to the apartment she was waiting on us all dressed in black, I had to smile she was channeling her inner Ranger, her hair pulled back, her black cat boots on, her black cargo pants and her black t-shirt with her dog tags, and her hounds tooth necklace. She was a sight to behold. As always she was totally beautiful, totally hot, and completely unaware of it all.

I had packed my medical bag earlier I think I packed everything I could because I had no idea what would happen. I had to be prepared for all combinations from Bomber, to one of my brothers getting hurt to patching up Morelli who no doubt was going to be hurt if not killed and ripped to pieces tonight. I even had a few syringes of a drug capable of temporary subduing a rhino or elephant that would take Ranger, Lester, and Hector down if needed. If they got out of control, I just hope that I can administer it before they actually killed him front of Bomber.

SlyderPOV

We walk into the dining room and we all find a chair. This table gets more crowded by the day and I have a feeling that is all because of the little girl sitting across from me, my Incendia. My firefly. I have a true love for Latin it is one of the things that I actually enjoy and love. I love learning it, hearing it, and speaking it. Only not many people speak it anymore.

I feel it is a powerful language that is dying more and more every day. Very little do you see anything written in Latin anymore. Very little do you hear people speaking the ancient language but I happen to enjoy it and I often use it. My tattoo on my upper chest is in Latin, it means the truth shall set you free. Incendia is Latin for firefly I feel the name suits her because she does bring light to our darkened worlds. To our darkened souls she tell us that it is the light within that matters and by her being in my life I can see light within my own soul and I am sure some of the other men or Rangeman felt the same.

I should call her vixen because it didn't take any time for her to pull me under her spell the spell of the bombshell bounty hunter, Stephanie, my Incendia.

We had just finished another uncomfortable meal. I mean the meal was fine the company was fine the uncomfortable part is what was happening in my pants and the pants of all of the other men around the table with the exception of maybe Hector as he sort of is immune to her moans and sounds of enjoyment while she is eating.

I love hearing them don't get me wrong but they do have me shifting rather uncomfortably and while I try my best to control it and not show her that I am hard enough to drill through diamonds, I am in fact supporting a huge hard on that I am trying to control.

Once I have myself under control and I suspect it is the same with all the other guys we make our way into the living room. We all take up seats around the room Ranger and Incendia are sitting on the sofa her sitting on his lap with her legs extended over Lester's lap he is rubbing her bare feet.

She sighs at how good it feels. I under my breath both thank Santos and curse him because if she starts making those same noises she was making at the dining room table there is no way I am going to be able to hide my reaction.

After a few minutes of no one talking she shifts a little taking her feet out of his reach. "Guys I asked you all here tonight because if you are going with us" she motioned to the core team Ranger, Tank, Bobby, and Lester "you need to know the whole story, the whole ugly truth between Joe and I." She told us.

I had a bad feeling. I hadn't met this Joe, but I knew from things the guy said him and Incendia had a long history together and that he has never treated her the best. She continued.

"As some of you know Joe and I have a long history. Longer than some of you even realized. I have known Joe practically my whole life and from the time I was six he has been a pain in my life one way or another." Holy shit they have known each other forever.

She looked around the room "I am not telling you this to make you mad at him although it probably will. I don't want you to be mad I just want you to know everything before you step foot in that house tonight. I plan on confronting him and I plan on taking back my life tonight if I have the strength to do it so I don't want anything that I may say take you off guard. I want you to know everything that has happened between him and I, so I don't surprise you. You will need to control your tempers tonight and having this information ahead of time I hope will make that possible." She told us.

I could see Hector, and Cal paying as much of attention as I was. I was wondering what the fuck had happened between them.

She took a deep breath "The core team already knows all of this I shared it with them back a week or more ago when Joe and I had another one of our huge fights and I caught him fucking Terry in his bed." I wasn't sure who Terry was but it wasn't really important.

She continued "Like I said our relationship goes back a long time. The first encounter I had with Joe was when I was six and Joe was eight. He talked me into going into his father's garage with him under the guise of playing trains. Well he played train alright only he was the train and I was the tunnel." I saw red I could see Cal and Hector were seeing red as well.

I wondered if the chair would hold up against the grip that Cal had on it. I looked around and even the core team was seeing red I suspect even though they had heard the story before hearing it again enraged them just as it enraged us that were hearing it for the first time.

She continued "Needless to say my mother wasn't too pleased when I told her. My next encounter with Joe was when I was sixteen and he was eighteen. I didn't know it at the time but Joe was scheduled to leave for the Navy the next day. I was working at the tasty pastry and it was right at closing time. I was alone in the store standing behind the counter when he came in and locked the door behind him." Wait a minute tasty pastry?

She said he was leaving for the Navy and Tasty Pastry no fucking way his name was Joe, no fucking way. I have a feeling I should have played the fucking lottery the odds of me winning couldn't have been anymore than this Joe being the same Joe I remember from Basic.

She pulled me from my mental revelation and I feared what she was going to say next. "He came behind the counter and well proceeded to talk me out of my pants. He fucked me behind the counter on the floor when he was done he got up took some cannoli from the case, walked out the door without a backwards glance. He left for the Navy the next day taking my virginity with him but not before writing about it all over the bathroom walls of several places throughout the burg." She told us.

Yeah I was sucking in air trying to calm myself but it was what Lester said that had me grasping for control. "Beautiful that wasn't exactly how that went down. You skimmed over an important piece of information. He had locked the door, he didn't ask your consent and you never gave your consent for him to do what he did. He raped you honey you have to see that. You have to see that he stole from you that night and he has been stealing from you ever since."

Hearing Lester's words I was gasping for control I wanted to see a picture just to verify it was in fact him but I knew it was. I still to this day remember his story it stuck with me and it was why I beat the living shit out of him. It was why I hated him from the moment I heard him. It was why I loved to torture him every chance I got.

I couldn't even look at Hector or Cal because I knew seeing them pissed would enrage me even more and I had to control myself. Finally I was able to speak "Incendia do you have a picture of him." She looked at me weirdly and I realized I used her nickname for the first time.

"Stephanie, Incendia is Latin for firefly. You remind me of a firefly with the light in your life so if you don't mind that I call you Incendia I would like to." I shrugged. She smiled brightly I think she liked most of her nicknames. She nodded it was okay.

She reached for her phone "I think I have a picture on here that Lula took of him when she was telling me I had to make a decision between Carlos and Joe. It was when I was dating Joe but she knew I was in love with Carlos. Only at the time I didn't know Carlos loved me and wanted me as much as I loved and wanted him. Carlos and I have had a history of not being honest with our feelings for one another and letting stupid stuff stand in our way of being together." She told me as she handed me her phone with his picture on the screen.

I took one look and it was all I could not to crush the phone in my hands or throw it across the room. It was him that fucking asshole. "Oh man" I say out loud and she looks at me.

"What Slyder, what is it?" She asks me.

"I know him, I know him from the Navy." I tell her. I see her freeze.

She asked me "you were friends with him?" I shook my head no.

"Not exactly friends" I tell her "I remember him from basic training. I walked into the mess tent on the first day and I hear this guy bragging to anyone and everyone who will listen to him how he had gotten a piece of his girl before he left for the Navy. How he had taken her virginity. How he had laid claim to her by having sex with her. He said that he had taken her on the floor of the Tasty Pastry a local Pastry shop in his home town. He had taken her virginity for himself and by doing so he had claimed her for all the eyes of his hometown and just to be sure his claim was known he wrote about on the bathroom walls of anyplace that was still open that night."

I saw her eyes swim with tears but I continued the story she needed to know it all. "He said that you put up no resistance to his advances but that you were rather fridged but that he suspected that had to do with you being a virgin but when he got out of the Navy he would make sure you knew how to please him." Remembering him going on and one about this girl he had stolen the virginity of made me just as mad as it had made me that day.

"I felt like there was more to the story. I always felt like he took more than that he was given. I always felt like his story bordered on rape. That is why when I heard it, it enraged me. I waiting until later that night when he was making his way back to his barracks I jumped him and beat the shit out of him because of his story. I didn't know the girl but I felt like she needed to be avenged that she had been done so wrong and no less by someone who had joined the Navy like I had. Someone who was pledging to protect and defend our fellow countrymen and he was going to do something like that before joining. I beat his ass to the point they put him on bed rest for a week of basic training. After he recovered I made sure to make his life hell."

"We weren't in the same training group so I didn't have too much access to him but when I did I made sure his life was hell. For some reason his story enraged me more every time I saw him and I had to give a little pay back for the girl he walked out on with her virginity." I told them. I had no way of knowing I would met her I had no way of knowing not only would I met her that I would find myself loving her that I would consider her a sister that I would consider her someone I would protect above and beyond anything else. Now knowing it was her that he was talking about I didn't do enough damage I didn't inflict enough pain. I should have done more, I should have killed him and none of this would even be happening right now.

"Had I known I would met you, had I known I would consider you a sister, had I known you would love my brother and consider yourself a member of my other brothers lives I would have killed him then." I confessed to her.

She got up off of Ranger's lap walked over to me sat down on my lap and wrapped her arms around me. Hugging me to her, I wrapped my arms around her and held her. It was an odd feeling that we had been connected that many years ago. That not even knowing it was her I had stood up for her I had defended her I had avenged what he had done to her by beating the shit out of him. Only if I had known what would come I would have done more. He would have had one of those unfortunate accidents at sea.

She raised her head up "well there is more I could tell but you guys sort of know the rest of it. I was a dumbass and let Joe back into my life when he went FTA and I brought him back in to the system as my first skip. I thought he had changed, I thought that he had gotten his life together with the help of the Navy and by being a detective with the police department. I thought he had avoided the Morelli men curse but nothing could be further from the truth if anything he is worse because he hides behind his shield and uses it to protect himself with. I should have known better but I was stupid there is no doubting that." She told us.

SPOV

I had told them everything about Joe and confessed to how stupid I had been letting him back into my life but nothing more I could say I had been stupid I should have known better with all the bad blood between us with all the history that he was never going to change but I had let him back in.

"Let's talk about the plan for tonight. I know you all have a message you want to deliver but I am going as well and I have a message of my own that I want to deliver to him. My message if I am able to do it. I am going to be taking back my life, I am going to be taking back my freedom, and I am going to let him know that I am no longer scared of him. He no longer has control over me." I tell them.

They smile at me but I continue "I am not certain I am going to be able to do this as I am afraid of him. I am scared of him. I know you will all be there for me and you will all protect me and keep me safe never doubt that I trust you completely when it comes to that but he still scares me. I can't help it."

I tell them. I move back to Carlos' lap because he has the ability to calm me to reassure me when no one else can. I need that now I need his strength I need his courage and by sitting on his lap I hope some of it seeps into my bones, into my soul, into my spirit.

I lean back against Carlos tucking my head under his chin in the indent his chest makes as it leads to his shoulders and neck. I feel my tense body relax under his touch. Breathing in deep I smell his signature scent that both calms and excites me in other ways and I find myself once again cursing mother nature for keeping him from me.

Lester once again grabs my feet and starts massaging them and it isn't long before I am giving into the sleep that wants to claim my body.

RPOV

I know my Babe is asleep sitting on me her body lying against me listless. Looking at my men sitting around us watching her sleep in my arms it is on one hand very peaceful for us to see her like this see her sleeping trusting us to keep her safe keep her well and watch over her while she sleeps on the other hand it is disturbing to all of us to think how fast she can and does fall asleep. It isn't unknown to me she has fallen asleep before on surveillance shifts or while she was riding down the road with me or my men. I don't give a shit that she falls asleep she could sleep through her whole shift and I wouldn't give a shit about that I just like it when she is more aware of her surroundings.

Tank spoke up "He followed us tonight on our way back to Rangeman." He said. I looked at him and briefly wondered why the fuck I hadn't been notified about this sooner. I questioned him raising my eyebrow "Rangeman don't go off he didn't stop us and my little girl here used her training and out maneuvered him on the streets. She came up with a plan and executed it using exactly what we had trained her to do it was pure brilliance on her part. I didn't offer any assistance she got us back here without him finding her again." He told me.

I had to smile at the thought of her using her training effectively to avoid him stopping her. To keep herself safe she had used her training. Once again she succeeded in making me so proud of her.

BPOV

We had sat around while Bomber slept and formed a plan for tonight. There were eight of us so we decided to take two vehicles in the first one was Ranger, Tank, Bomber and Lester. In the second vehicle were Slyder, Hector, Cal, and myself. We had decided to strike after midnight knowing that the neighborhood where Morelli lived where mostly older folks lived we were banking on them being in bed. To keep from drawing attention to ourselves one vehicle would up pull up out front while the other would pull down the alley and come in the back door.

Ranger woke up Bomber about half hour before we were scheduled to leave. She woke up and excused herself went into her bedroom to finish getting ready.

When she came out I had to laugh she had taken Ranger's face paint and put two black lines under eyes on the ridge of her cheeks. I briefly wondered if she thought she was going to a football game instead of delivering a message to Joe.

She looked at us and asked "What?" not understanding why we were smiling and some of us laughing.

Lester spoke up first "Beautiful what's with the lines on your face?" He asked her

She smiles "I am making a statement Lester, tonight I am a soldier." She said just as matter of factually. None of us could argue with that so we dropped it. Soldiers in TV painted lines under their eyes soldiers in real life painted their whole damn face.

Ranger smiling said "Lead the way Babe." He effectively had let us know that he was letting her have lead on this little mission of hers and ours she was in charge and we were to listen to her. I am not sure she caught the significance of his statement but we all did and he knew we all heard him loud and clear.

We made our way to the cop's house just as we had planned. I was a little nervous about being able to control seven completely pissed off mercenaries, including myself in that count, and then add Bomber. Above and beyond everything else I had to make sure Bomber was safe and not harmed in anyway. If she got hurt or harmed it would be all games off, all messages off, all gloves off. It would be the death of one Joe Morelli.

I can't tell you the pressure on me right now because there are so many unpredictable things that could go so wrong. We make our way to the back door. I know they are at the front door I don't bother to wait for them to let me in I just open the door and we go in.

The dog is there to greet us. Stephanie pets Bob on the head and proceeds to take him outside and puts him on the line out in the back yard. She knows we would never harm him but she doesn't want him getting in the way he could distract us, or end up getting hurt trying to protect either the cop or Stephanie. We know he loves them both it isn't his fault his owner is a piece of shit that doesn't deserve protecting.

We silently make our way up to his bedroom. I briefly wonder if he is alone and if isn't what we are going to do about it. We hadn't really talked about that. We get to his bedroom door and miracles upon miracles he is alone.

Stephanie cripes up to his bed side table opens the drawer and extracts the gun that he has in there. She puts it on the floor and kicks it under the bed where he can't reach it. She then does something that none of us expects.

She reaches into the small of her back and draws her thirty eight special. She puts it to his head and cocks the gun. The clicking of the gun being cocked brings Morelli out of his sleep. When his eyes open she presses the gun to his head harder.

His eyes widen as he takes her in. She reaches for the lamp and turns it on. She wants to be able to see him and him see her. He starts to move but she pushes the gun harder. "Joe move another inch and I pull the trigger do you understand me?" He stops dead at the sound of her voice and feeling the gun being pressed into his head. She doesn't have it on his forehead she has the gun pressed against the side of his head just out of his sight of the gun.

She speaks again "Joe I am warning you, you try and move an inch you try and disarm me and you are a dead man I have a backup" she shows him her right hand that is holding her Glock. "I will shoot you first and ask questions later, that is something I learned from one of my brothers." She said and I had to smile because there is only one of us that would have told her that and it was Hector. Had he been teaching her how to use a gun with both the right and the left hand? I briefly wondered.

I looked at Ranger and I could see the pride in his eyes along with the general shock of her actions. He didn't know this was part of her plan. None of us knew her plan. She did in fact have a plan though we all now knew that much.

He went to say something but she cut him off before he could get a sound out "You don't get to talk, you don't get to say one fucking thing. It's time for you to listen. It's my turn to talk." She looked at Lester.

"Lester do you have my bag?" she questioned he nodded "Bring it to me" she asked him. He stepped towards her with the bag. I briefly wondered what she was going to do. She handed him the gun "keep it pointed at him if he fucking flinches you shoot the fucker, do I make myself clear?" she asked him. He nodded pointing the gun at Morelli. I am sure he was secretly hoping Morelli would flinch I knew he would love to blow the fucker away.

She reached in the bag and pulled out the duct tape. Holy shit! She ripped off a section and just taped it across his mouth she didn't stick it to something first that was going to hurt like a mother fucker when it was ripped off.

She continues "now that's better, you will now keep your fucking mouth shut without me having to shut you up. You will now listen to what I have to say. We are all here to deliver a message to you. The message is to leave me the fuck alone. That means no more following me, no more coming to places where you know I am, and that means you do not speak to me, you do not touch me, you do not call me. Do I make myself clear?" She jabs the gun further into the side of his head until he nods that he understands her. "Good" she says.

"You see you no longer have control of me. You no longer tell me what to do. You no longer can strong arm me into doing anything. You can no longer lay a finger on me. So help me god the next time you touch me the next time you hurt me will be the last time you ever fucking breath. It will be your last breath you ever draw into your body. Understand?" Again she jabs the gun into the side of his head and he again nods. Her smile is ice cold, it is leer that would give Ranger's beast a run for his money.

Holy shit she was hot as fucking shit is it wrong that I have to control what is happening in my pants seeing my sister being this forceful this demanding taking back her life her confidence her self worth holy shit.

"Joe I want you to take a good look at me. I am a soldier I am in training and I will kick your ass if you come at me again. I will fight you and if I can't bet you by myself I would be willing to bet you that one of my brothers can and will kick your ass. Take a look around Joe these are my brothers and my future husband standing in your room and for every one that is standing here tonight I have one more back at Rangeman all with a single goal of kicking your ass at my say so. So fucking just give me a reason any reason to say so." She tells him.

"I have a message for you but everyone one of these men also have a message and I will be willing to bet you that my message will be the least painful of the bunch. You will be lucky to still have your life when we leave here tonight. Actually I am not so sure yet as I haven't made up my mind. I just might pull this fucking trigger and get it over with right now." With that she pulls the trigger on the gun held to his head and the gun clicks and he flinches at the sound.

"Damn" she says. "I have always had a bad habit of carrying my gun with only one fucking bullet in it. Usually Ranger fills it for me guess he didn't realize it only had one bullet in it. I guess that makes you a lucky fucker Joe. Ranger has just effectively saved your life. I think you should tell him thank you." With that she reaches over presses against the tape making sure it is good and stuck and rips the tape off.

Holy shit I know that had to hurt. I see his eyes widen she jabs the gun in his forehead. Lester is still holding her other gun on him. To my surprise, to Lester's disappointment and I think even to Bomber's disappointment Morelli doesn't flinch. She calls him on it too.

"Very good I see you can listen when you life is at stake you didn't flinch. Now I think you have someone that needs to be thanked." She told him pressing the gun into his forehead just to make sure he listens to her "Joe I promise you this gun has a single bullet in it don't force me to see if the next trigger pull is going to be the one with the bullet." Her only and last warning to him as she jabs the gun into his head he is going to have one major bruise there not that I give a fuck.

For the first time tonight Morelli spoke "Thank you" he said it tersely but Bomber didn't let it go

"Joe the man saved your life, at least for the moment you could give a little more heartfelt thank you. Could you not I mean you are breathing right now because he didn't fill my gun with bullets something that I didn't think to check when I left our home this evening." She emphasized our home.

I saw hatred and rage flash through his eyes and I briefly wondered if she wanted to pull his tail but then I realized that is exactly what she wanted. She wanted him pissed, she wanted him out of control insane over the things she was going to tell him. Oh shit here we go is all I could think when I realized what she really wanted to do.

She once again jabbed the gun in his head he nodded "Ranger I would like to thank you for saving my life." He said she nodded and then ripped off a new piece of duct tape effectively tapping his mouth shut again.

"See you can follow directions under the right pressure." She told him. She looked at Lester smiling that he had her other gun still drawn on Morelli. "Lester I am sorry you didn't get the chance to shoot him, he didn't flinch maybe all hope isn't lost he is going to have a lot more to say maybe next time he will flinch and you will get your chance." She told him shrugging.

"You see you now have some apologizing to do. You took a cheap shot and shoot one of my brothers. Did you think I would just forget about that? It was only a flesh wound but you pulled the trigger on one of my brothers, you fucking piece of shit. Did you think I wasn't going to get revenge for that? Did you think I was just going to forget it and allow you to hurt what I consider mine? You should know I am not the same girl you thought you could brow beat, you could control, you could tell what to do. I am not her not anymore. I will stand up for myself I will stand up for those that I love and I will stand up for my brothers at all costs. So unless you want me to pull this fucking trigger again I suggest you apologize to Cal for shooting him and before I have to remind you make it sincere because the only reminder you are going to get again is me pulling this fucking trigger."

He nods in understanding. She reaches over and once again rips the tape off of his mouth after making sure it was good and stuck. Damn I swear I flinched that time. She jabs him with the gun to get him talking. "Cal I am sorry about shooting you." He says she jabs him again. "I wasn't thinking when I pulled the trigger I was drunk, I was jealous I was wrong." He told him.

Stephanie nodded and once again tore a fresh piece of duct tape and put it across his mouth. Looking at Lester she shrugged "well maybe next time". He just smiled at her.

"Joe you ever hit me again, you ever push me, shove me, throw me again and this gun will have all of its bullets that is until I unload them in your ass. You are to never touch me again, never speak to me again, and never confront me again. I am never going to come back to you. I am marrying Ranger and I am never having your babies if I have babies they will be Ranger's babies not your devil spawn." She told him.

I wonder how Ranger was reacting to that news that she was going to have his babies. I look at him and he still has the look of pride on his face. He is enjoying this as much as the rest of us. She continues.

"I have someone special I would like to introduce you to Joe" she motioned to Slyder, who leered at Joe and I saw him pale slightly more than he already was. Bomber continued "but I think you two have already met each other. You were in basic training with him but I don't think you were buddies as he beat the shit out of you because you were talking about me. You were telling anyone and everyone who would listen how you had effectively claimed me made me yours because you stole my virginity but you left out you did it by raping me." He made the mistake of shaking his head no and Bomber pulled the trigger not a second delay. He moved she pulled the trigger.

The gun clicked again she just said "Damn" shaking her head. "I thought for sure the bullet would be in that chamber guess not maybe the next one, one can only hope." And she shrugged. I swear to God she was so cold it felt like ice running down my spine hearing her words. I silently prayed that I was never on the receiving side of Bomber being pissed off. I swear she might make me a true total badass piss myself. She was more effective than Tank.

She continued "You did in fact rape me didn't you?" She asked him. "You never asked you just took, you didn't ask me if it was what I wanted you locked the door and you took what you wanted. I never said yes to you if anything I asked you wait but you just shook your head and proceeded." She told him

She jabbed him with the gun "Admit it you piece of fucking dog shit have the balls to admit it." She told him once again jerking off the tape "tell me you raped me and left me on the dirty floor of the tasty pastry having stolen my virginity having robbed me of my virginity something that a girl only has once in her life to give to the guy who she loves the most and you stole mine." She moved the gun from his head and jabbed them into his dick and fucking pulled the trigger without hesitation. I think we all flinched at that one including the fucking piece of shit Morelli. Lester fired a warning shot that landed into the pillow beside Morelli's head. The gun had a silencer on it he was just joining in the fun. We all knew that is where Lester had aimed he hadn't missed.

"Tell me she said" and he nodded

"I am sorry cu..." But she cut him off

"Joe if you value your life you won't call me that ever again. Fucking call me cupcake one more time and I will kill you where you stand Joe." She told him. He nodded she had pulled the trigger three times now she only had five shots in that gun if it did in fact have a bullet in it which I had no doubt it had she had one more pull without a bullet but the question was which chamber the bullet was in the last one or the second to last one. I doubted at this point if Bomber cared.

"I am sorry Stephanie." He started but she cut him off again "Joe you know for you, you only get to call me Mrs Ranger, or Mrs Manoso I am not your friend, you are not my friend you don't get to call me by my first name. That is reserved for friends and you are not one of my friends now nor will you ever be, you fucking prick."

She jabbed him with her gun her way of saying get the show on the road. "Mrs Manoso I am sorry." He said but she wouldn't let it go at that.

"Sorry for what, what is it you are sorry for? Sorry for yelling at me, sorry for hitting me, sorry for throwing me across a floor and having a three hundred pound man land on me, sorry for shooting my brother, sorry for knowing me, sorry for playing train with me, sorry for raping me. What is it exactly you are sorry for Joe? Sorry for trying to change me, sorry for trying to control me. You are going to have to spell it out Joe because I have no idea what you are sorry for. With all you have done to me it could be a lot you are sorry for." She told him.

He once again tried to skirt it "Sorry for all of it." He said she just shook her head and said something that I thought would make my spine frost over "Apology not accepted the only apology I want is you fucking dead." With that she put the gun back to his head and pulled the fucking trigger.

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	37. Chapter 36: Reclaiming Your Life

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

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**This chapter is a little different than my other chapters. I hope you enjoy it. I had a lot of fun writing it.**

Chapter 36: Reclaiming Your Life

SPOV 

The whole way to Joes house fear had consumed me. I wondered how I would respond when I saw him, I wondered if I could tell him the things I so desperately wanted to tell him. I wanted to take back my life. I felt like he had stolen my life from me and I wanted it back.

Just my level of fear was enough to prove how much he had taken from me over the years. How his behavior had affected me him forcing himself on me when he pulled me over, him hitting me and throwing me across the club floor just a few nights ago now.

How he had in fact forced me to have sex with him when I was sixteen years old. All of those scenes were flashing through my head. With each scene the fear notched up another level and panic was starting to set in.

I was in the car with Carlos, Lester, and Tank my other brothers were in a second car that was supposed to go to the alley behind Joe's house. The closer we got the more I wanted to turn around, the more my stomach tightened and the more I felt like me tagging along was a bad idea.

I knew I needed to do this I needed to reclaim what he had stolen from me. I needed my confidence back. I needed to reclaim what I had allowed him to take from me. I still felt like he held some control over me and I needed to get that back. I needed to tell him that I wasn't his to control. That I didn't belong to him, that I never belonged to him, and that I never would belong to him. I just wasn't sure how I was going to do it. I wasn't sure how I was going to tell him when just the thought of him sent fear and terror coursing throughout my body rendering me almost useless and definitely speechless.

Why did he have that hold over me why did I fear him so much? I mean I worked with and considered some of the meanest bad ass men Trenton had to offer my brothers. I trusted these men with my life. I was never afraid of them. Okay so maybe there was a time but it had been a while back before I got to know them. Even then I was only intimidated because of their size never because I truly feared they were hurt me something told me they wouldn't something told me I could trust them and I did without question.

Why did I fear I Joe? I knew I couldn't trust him, I also knew from past experience with him that he didn't mind hurting me. I also knew that giving the chance he would but ultimately I knew I wouldn't be able to stop him. He was much stronger than me. He was much bigger than me and without some sort of weapon in hand to hand combat with him I would lose.

I think those combinations were what caused me to fear him. I have heard that for someone to defeat you the easiest way is for you to fear them. Fear makes you do irrational things, it makes you unable to do things when necessary, and it will defeat you even if your enemy is less than you. Fear is a powerful tool. Why do you think armies have so many people, so many intimidating weapons, it isn't that you have to use them it is to intimidate to put fear into those that may threaten you to show that you have the power to defend what is yours that you are willing and able to use them even though you choose at this moment not to do so. It instills fear in your enemy and the fear prevents their action.

Joe will win because I fear him. He will win because I am afraid of him. He has terrorized me and because of my terror he will ultimately win because the fear and terror will allow him to win. The knowledge of that the realization that he would win sent rage throughout my body.

I was glad my brothers and Carlos weren't talking they were all lost in their zones because it gave me a chance to gather my thoughts get control over my fears and it was working. The rage was burning hotter than the fear.

The thought of him defeating me of him winning of me being unable to reclaim my life and living in fear of him for the rest of my life because of it caused me to roar in anger, roar in hurt, roar in disgust for how I had allowed him to have this power to begin with. I steeled myself that very moment that he wasn't going to win, that I wasn't going to fear him, that I was taking back what was mine and I didn't care what I had to do it.

I would harness my inner Ranger I would draw strength from him. I would draw strength from my brothers who would be standing beside me in that room. I would take what they would willingly give me and I would use it to take Joe on. I would use it to defeat Joe at his own game. When I left there tonight Joe was going to fear me. He was going to be afraid of me. I was not only going to take back my life, reclaim my life reclaim what he has stolen from me but I was going to steal something from him. I was going to steal his sense of safety. He would never feel safe again as long as he and I resided in the same city he would never be safe.

I was going to make him fear me. He would fear what I can do, what I would do, and what I am capable of. He won't know what hit him, he has no idea what I am what I am not capable of and if he thinks he does then he doesn't know me. I will take him down. If he comes at me, at my brothers, at anyone I love and consider family I will defend myself. I will defend them. I will defeat him, and I will make him live in fear of me as I have lived in fear of him.

Carlos pulled me out of my mental preparations "Babe, you okay?" He asked me. I nodded that I was okay, not trusting my voice to not betray me. I knew if I asked him to he would turn this car around right now and take me back to Rangeman. I wasn't dumb enough to think that they all didn't know the emotions that were running through me from my fear and terror to my determination. They were the Merry Men he was Batman I mean they knew it all there was no hiding from them so I didn't try.

I knew better to even try besides I needed them. I needed their strength I needed their courage I needed their support but most importantly I needed the beasts and monsters that lie within them I needed to be able to deliver my message and make him fear me. I needed the beasts and monsters that made men piss themselves the beasts and monsters that were capable of defeating the enemy under impossible odds including fear. I needed them to guide me without remorse, without regret, without sympathy Joe was the enemy and I needed to see him as the enemy from the beasts point of view.

Not my x, not the man that I grew up drooling over, not the man that I had wondered if it would actually work out between us because he said he had loved me. That wasn't who I was paying a visit to tonight who I was paying a visit to tonight was the man who hit me, who threw me across a room, who stole from me, who made me fear him, and who wanted to control me. He was my enemy our enemy and I needed the beasts and monsters to help me focus on my real objective and that was reclaiming my life, eradicating my fear, gaining my freedom and hopefully with their help I would be able to put the fear of God in him if not the fear of God then at least the fear of Stephanie or better yet the fear of Mrs. Manoso in him. When I was done he would ever want to fuck with me again not if he was a smart man.

RPOV  
I was worried about my Babe. I would much rather her stay back at Rangeman where I knew she would be safe. However I knew that wasn't going to happen. I was proud of her that she wanted to confront him that she wanted to reclaim what she felt like he had stolen from her but I was still worried.

I knew we would protect her, I would protect her but anything can happen and Morelli wasn't exactly playing with a full deck lately. He had done several things that would prove that he is probably on a psychotic break especially learning that he was her stalker. That he had sex with her mother and then sent her pictures of them together. The thought of that caused me to clamp down on the stirring wheel as the hatred for him ran through my body and fingers.

I still wasn't sure how we were going to tell her that once we had more physical evidence but I would worry about that another day right now I had to focus on my Babe and make sure she was protected and successful in her mission of taking back her life.

Driving over to that fucking cop's house I had been trying to control the rage within me. I had been trying to control the beast within me that just want to slice his throat open and watch the bright red blood run down his neck as he gurgled his last breaths.

Having my Babe beside me actually helped me control the beast. I knew I couldn't lose it in front of her. She would fear me, she would never look at me the same she would know what I was truly capable of and that would change me in her eyes. I could never let her see that.

I could feel the emotions rolling off of her for every mile we grew closer to his house. I could feel and smell the fear, the terror as it notched up with each passing minute. The closer we became the worse for her it got. I could imagine what she was feeling I knew that feeling I had at points in my life been afraid I knew how it made your stomach tighten, your hands and body shake, how it claimed your abilities to function.

I just waited to see if she would decide to go back. If she would decide that this was something that she wasn't able to do. I knew my Babe, I knew she wouldn't. I knew she would dig deep within herself and find the courage find the strength she thought she got it from us, from me but in reality she had it all along within her and it was something that made me love her more than I thought possible. It was what I saw in her that separated her out from every other woman that had crossed my path.

It was what drew me to her like a moth to light on a darkened night. I saw it the first time I met her when she squared her shoulders and flashed her blue eyes at me in anger when I first told her that Bounty Hunting wasn't for her. She looked so white bread yet when she squared her shoulders and shot back at me that she was doing it with our without my help because her shoes hurt her feet, and her car well her car was something of a mess. I had to smile. Even thinking back now it brought a smile to my face and little brought a smile to my face especially back then.

I don't know the last person that challenged me probably one of my dead enemies. I can't remember the last person that challenged me and lived to talk about it and here was this white bread girl from the burg to say she won my heart that would be an understatement she had me hook line and sinker only I didn't know it at the time. I guess I should have known it there really was no reason not to know it but I didn't want those feelings, those feelings had no place in my life.

My life was nice, it was neat I had it all wrapped up in a perfect little package of discipline, hard work, men that listened to my every command, my life was efficient, it was a life that was spent keeping my body in shape, making lots of money and it was completely and totally boring. I had no idea how boring until my Babe with her beautiful blue flashing eyes, her brown unruly curls walked into that diner stealing my heart, stealing my breath and stealing my life. I should have just cuffed her to me that day and laid claim to her.

I will have to say I have never regretted it the only regret I have is taking so long to make her a part of my life. Now that I had her I couldn't imagine my life, our home without her. I couldn't go back to the way it was.

I felt the shift in the car, as the tide changes, and I knew she had made her decision I knew she had a plan and I knew it was going to be simply amazing to watch her in action. I knew she had found that strength, courage and power that lies beneath the surface with her. I knew she had found it and I had no doubt she wasn't planning on using it to deliver her message to Morelli that fucking prick of a cop.

We pull up to the front of the house and waste no time getting in the front door. Bobby, Slyder, Cal and Hector had come in the back door. I noticed Stephanie handing Lester her bag while she grabbed Bob and put him outside petting his head. I hoped if started barking wouldn't wake up the fucking cop I wanted to surprise him I wanted to make sure he wasn't armed especially with my Babe in the room. I didn't want to take any chances that she could get hurt by him again.

We made our way up stairs my Babe leading when she silently walked into the room I couldn't have been more proud of her she had walked in silently she hadn't woken him. She went to the dresser and retrieved his gun setting it on the floor she kicked it under the bed. I couldn't help the jealousy that sparked through me. Though part of me was proud that she had effectively disarmed him in taking his gun and putting it out of his reach the other part was jealous.

Her knowing that he kept his gun in the night stand beside his bed made me think about how she spent nights with him in this room, having sex with him. We made love they had sex. Even knowing that she was mine as much as I was hers it still didn't calm the wave of jealousy that washed through me.

I am not sure what I was expecting my Babe to do I am not sure what I thought she was going to do how she was going to deliver her message but what she did I know I wasn't expecting. She took her thirty eight special five shot out of the small of her back and she pressed it to the side of the fuckers head.

His eyes shot open when she cocked the gun by pulling the hammer back. Holy fucking shit seeing her do that was hotter the hell. I could have taken her right there in front of all my men and Joe she was so hot. My body screamed for her.

Hearing her voice helped tone my body's reactions a little bit as her voice was like ice washing over you sending chills throughout your body and I silently prayed that I would never be on the receiving end of that tone of that voice. I prayed that I would never fuck up our relationship to the point that she felt like she needed to use that voice.

She pulled a second gun and held it in her right hand threatening him if he tried anything she would shoot him with her backup gun. When she said that she would shoot him first and ask questions later I had to smile. Looking at Hector I saw the pride in his eyes I knew he would be the only one to teach her that. The rest of my men didn't have that mentality if they could refrain from using their gun they did however, Hector well he didn't see the world the way we did. If there was a threat it was neutralized anyway by any means and no he never paused to ask questions first.

My pants were so damn tight I think I was in jeopardy cutting circulation off to important parts of my body that I would really be upset and regret if they fell off due to lack of blood flow. It was painfully tight and my Babe had just begun.

She taped his mouth telling him it was her turn to talk and she tore into him. I saw her leer at him and the beast within me responded. Her look drew him closer to the surface as I fought to keep him contained. The look on her face made him want to break free made him want to stand beside her as I wanted to stand beside her. He connected with her as though he connects with the monster that lies within Lester. He would be her backup, he would fight beside her, and he would defend her. I still fought to keep him controlled within.

I know I jumped a little when she pulled the trigger the first time. I think all of her brother's did as well. While none of us would give a fuck if he was dead and hell everyone of us in the room wanted him dead wanted him scattered across the fifty continental states we didn't want his blood on her hands.

We all knew what it meant to have someone's blood on your hands. We all knew the price you paid as a human being the price you paid as being a member of society the price your soul paid when you took another man's life. Especially a life in up close quarters where you looked into their eyes and they looked into your eyes the look they gave you the moment they realized they were dead men standing.

That it was only a matter of seconds before their life would end. The look they gave you when the shock the revelation of what had happened hit them. The look that said you pulled the trigger faster, you had sunk the knife in them the look that said you had taken their life from them. It was something you never forgot she would never forget and none of us wanted her paying that price.

It was that very price that her existence in our lives, in our world absolved us of. Her being there said we were good honorable men that deserved a seat at the table of humanity in spite of the horrible things we have all done. The crimes against humanity that we had all committed be it for the right or wrong reason it doesn't matter at that point. It was her in our lives that saved us we couldn't let her bare the same crosses that we all had bared for so many years, too many years.

I couldn't help the pride and smile when she made the prick thank me and apologize to Cal. When she forced him to say it with some sincerity I wanted to just smile. That is typical of my Babe here she was reclaiming what he had stolen from her and she thinks about us and makes him apologize to Cal and Thank me. Although he shouldn't be thanking me because I know for a fact that gun was fully loaded because I had loaded it myself. So she had come prepared. I had every reason to believe the gun held one bullet in it the only question was which chamber it was in.

She generally looked disappointed when she pulled the trigger and the gun just clicked. She even told Lester she was sorry he didn't get a chance to shoot the fucking cop when he didn't flinch. I wasn't sure if Lester would follow her orders or not. I really didn't want him killed in front of her. Killed yes, but not killed in front of my Babe for my Babe to witness it.

But I was stepping back and I was letting my Babe run this the way she wanted. She was reclaiming her life, she was getting back the power that he had stolen from her the last thing I would do would be step in and interrupt her or take it from her by stopping her. She was a thing of pure beauty.

It was the next words that she said that had me reeling. I heard her say that she was never coming back to him that she was marrying me. She went on to say that she would never have his babies that if she ever decided to have babies that they would be mine. I hadn't thought about having anymore children but when I heard those words images flashed through my mind of my Babe round with my baby. The thought of my Babe big with my baby caused lust to flow through my body like hot lava. I only thought I was turned on by her actions tonight that did nothing to me compared to what those images did flashing through my head.

It was all I could do to stay standing in that spot and not grab her and take her right there. My need for her was so strong that I wondered if my control would break. I could see myself grabbing her and making a run for the car only hoping I would make it. I knew I would never wait until I got back to Rangeman but I wasn't about to let her brother's and God forbid her x witness us in the act of bringing a new life into this world.

I hope my face is showing the pride I have her and not how insanely horny I am feeling right now. I really don't want to have to explain this to my men. I try to get myself back under control. I can't lose focus. While my Babe has this handled I can't allow him to gain the upper hand and harm her if he does he will be a dead man.

Lester is holding Stephanie's gun on him she has pulled the trigger two times now and it has just clicked the third time she pulled the trigger everyone of us flinched as she had shoved the gun into Morelli's dick and pulled the trigger but lucky for him and all of us it just clicked again holy shit. That may have taken care of the problem in my pants. Even though I don't like the fucker none of us do I think everyone of us including myself felt that one. It's a guy thing one guy gets nutted we all feel the pain.

When she asked him to apologize to her to admit he had raped her he started to call her cupcake and she stopped him dead in his tracks telling him that if he ever called her that again she would kill him where he stood if I was Morelli I would forget that name like fucking yesterday because only a fool wouldn't see the truth to that statement only a fool wouldn't believe her. Then again I never figured him to be too smart after all he had pissed off the kitten standing in front of him little did we all know that she had the ability to become a lioness ready for the kill.

When she forced him to call her Mrs. Ranger or Mrs. Manoso my heart swelled with love my body filled with pride at hearing those words on her lips. She was mine she was telling him she was mine and she was forcing him to call her by her married name even though we weren't married yet. I stress yet because we are making it official as soon as I can. I want her round with my child, I want her having my last name I want her completely and totally.

True to my Babe style she gets him to say he is sorry to her and what does she do? She tells him apology is not accepted. But what she says and does next completely shocks me she tells him the only apology she wants from him is him fucking dead and she moves the gun back to his head and pulls the fucking trigger.

LPOV

I had no idea what we would be walking into I had no idea what Beautiful had planned I really didn't even know she had a plan. We get into his bedroom, how the fuck can you be a cop and not hear eight people walk into your bedroom not feel their presence? I mean how the fuck had survived as a cop this long?

I know we are all trained and I know we were all silent even in our large number but still you would think he would have some kind of honed senses that says I am not alone, that someone is watching me. But he doesn't stir. Stupid fucker is all I can think.

Beautiful goes up and gets his gun from his night stand kicking it under his bed so he has no way of getting his hands on it, brilliant idea making sure that he was unable to arm himself. I had no idea she had planned what she did next. She pulled her gun from the small of her back and she put it to his head cocking it. The noise of the gun being cocked snapped him out of his long night's slumber. This isn't a visit from Santa Claus fucker.

She quickly asks me for her bag that she had handed me and I had carried for her. I know don't say anything at least it doesn't look like a purse and no I didn't carry it by putting it on my shoulder. I suspected she wasn't sure she could be silent carrying her bag after all the fucker must weigh fifty pounds. I once again find myself wondering what the fuck does she need all of this stuff for.

Her voice snaps me out of my pondering thoughts the tone of her voice sends chills straight to my balls. I briefly wonder if shrinkage could occur by just hearing her voice. You know the way it does when ice water hits your balls and dick. I resisted the urge to shudder at the thoughts. It didn't take her long before I was having a much different problem and would have welcomed the fucking shrinkage.

She was strong, her voice was ice, her eyes were fire and I wondered which of the three would consume that poor dumb fucker, which had pissed her off for the final time, first. I also found myself praying that she would never have reason to direct those eyes and that voice in my direction. But watching her made me harder and hotter than hell.

She asked me to hold her glock and by the weight of the gun I knew it was loaded. A good soldier a good marksman always knows by the weight of the gun if it is loaded or not and I would say by the weight of the gun I was holding it was fully loaded.

When she told me if he moved, if he flinched to shoot the fucker the monster within me smiled. He took glee in the fact that I might get to kill this fucker. Not that I wanted to do it in front of Beautiful but the monster within me didn't care he just wanted blood. See the monsters that reside within Ranger and I don't have a conscience it doesn't care it is incapable of caring that way. The only thing the monsters in us cares about is keeping ourselves, our team, our loved ones safe and alive when there is a threat against us.

Typically these monsters have resided inside us controlled and only unleashed when necessary for our survival when on missions but Beautiful here has a way of bringing them to the surface because of how furiously protective we are of her. It is our on conscious our own caring for her that keeps us from killing in front of her, keeps us from ending this fuckers life once and for all tonight.

The monster within me recognizes the leer from Stephanie and wants to respond. I feel him smile I feel him pushing me further to join her. I never knew she had it in her, I am still not believing my eyes seeing her this way seeing a monster within my beautiful.

Her words wash over me as a cold shower bringing me back to reality back to being focused on him with the gun in my hand, my finger just itching to pull the fucking trigger and end this fucker's life and the monster within me begging me to edging me on to just do it. Daring me to do it and even convincing me the world will be better without him in it. But I maintain control and I refrain from firing the weapon.

It would be so easy. It would be easier than taking candy from a baby a baby would cry this fucker would never have the chance. Bullet between the eyes and this fucker wouldn't know what hit him. My finger twitches in anticipation. When Beautiful pulls the trigger on her gun my heart leapt forward.

It was only when I heard the click that I realized the chamber was empty and I questioned when had that happened. I happened to know that all of her guns remained loaded now that she was training. She had planned this, she had removed the bullets and I found myself wondering if she had removed them all.

When she had called herself a soldier I had to smile, she was training hard in some ways harder than a soldier trains. She had earned that right that standing among us and while she never went to the armed services I don't think anyone would question her abilities as a soldier at least not in front of me they wouldn't. When she told him she would fight him and if she couldn't win then we would. I welcomed the opportunity.

I would love kicking this fucker's ass there was no doubt that I couldn't kick his ass my bet would be in less than a minute he would be unconscious lying in a puddle of his own blood. The monster within me jumped when she said we could kick his ass at her say so, he wanted the permission he wanted her say so.

She then pulls the trigger again and the monster within me watches closely for the flinch because he had permission with the flinch to end this fucker's life when he didn't flinch there was disappointment. I had to get control if not, Morelli wouldn't survive this night.

I smiled when she made him thank Ranger for not loading her gun. I wanted to laugh but I held it back biting my tongue only keeping her gun drawn on him daring him to fight her daring him to try something. While I wouldn't kill him in front of her for no reason if he harmed her or fought her I knew I would never control the monster within. Her being in the room or not I wouldn't not tolerate the monster within me would not tolerate her being harmed her being in danger again and not acting.

I just couldn't not after what had already happened to her. Not after what I had allowed the guilt I carried from that night was enough I couldn't and wouldn't bare more.

Seeing her putting the tape on and rip it off made me want to flinch duct tape hurt like a bitch when it was ripped off I am sure he won't need to shave around his lips for a while. Knowing she was inflicting pain and scaring him a little with her gun held to his head her threatening and then pulling the trigger only to hear it click made me proud of her. I am sure he will be pissing himself before the night is over I only hoped that my Beautiful was the one to make him do it, it would be so cosmic in a sense of how he had made her afraid terrorized her. Now knowing he was stalker knowing what he had left her I loved that she currently had the upper hand and she was using it all to her advantage to get her message across to him.

If the poor dumb ass fucker didn't listen to her message, to our message then he was seriously one dumb mother fucker because it didn't take an expert in body language, and expert in reading people to know that Beautiful meant every word she said. She was dead serious and she fully intended to follow through with everything she told him.

She made him apologize to Cal for shooting him. She made me him call her Mrs. Manoso I just about shit and I couldn't help the bubble of jealousy I know she is all his but hearing her name containing the last name of my cousin just sent it a little closer just made it more real how she would never be mine.

I can't say that it didn't hurt a little, that there wasn't a twinge of jealousy because there was but I knew he was her life and she was his and I would never come between that I would never be able to break that apart and I would never try. I loved them both too much to do that to either one and it wasn't like I could give her what he did. I knew I could never make her that happy. They were true soul mates.

Lastly she accused him of being her rapist of raping her and the monster within me growled I wanted him the monster wanted him hearing those words enraged me and I saw red. I briefly remember pulling the trigger on the gun but thank god I had at the last second aimed for the pillow beside his head just sending him a message instead of splattering his brains. I could have killed him he knew it but I at the last moment because of my Beautiful, I spared his life.

When she told him that his apology wasn't accepted and the only apology she wanted was him fucking dead then she pulled the trigger. I felt my heart lunge into my throat I really didn't want his blood on her hands I wanted it on mine. I wanted it on Ranger's or any of her brothers but not hers anyone's but hers.

TPOV

My little girl was pure beauty her strength her courage was something to behold. Watching her tell Morelli that she was taking back her life was something that I couldn't describe. My emotions were all over the place. One minute I was worried if she could do this, if she could face him the next I was so fucking proud of her. It didn't take long for me to be shocked by her actions, turned on by her actions, and scared for her actions all in the matter of minutes.

She was sending Morelli a message and if he was a smart man he would fucking listen to her. He should listen if not for what she was saying and what she was promising for the sheer fact that she had us backing up her every word her every promise to him. We were itching for an excuse to kick his fucking ass to China with or without the rest of his body parts attached would make no difference to us.

I watched as she pulled the trigger and I couldn't help my eyes closing praying that the gun wasn't loaded when I heard the click I breathed a sigh of relief I had no idea I was holding. I didn't want her tarnished by his blood, I didn't want that burden on her shoulders to have to carry for the rest of her life.

Even though she hated him, even though she was afraid of him, even though he had wronged her in so many ways some ways which enraged me beyond what I could believe I still didn't want his life on her conscious.

For her to have to live with remember and she would remember she would remember his eyes, his face, she would remember and it would eventually consume her. It would burn her like a flame burns a candle eventually it would engulf her and she would be no more like a candle the only thing left a puddle of wax and some smoke when the fire burns out.

I know lord knows I had enough eyes, faces burned into my soul. My soul wasn't like hers. her soul was pure mine was tarnished and had been for a long time the last thing I wanted on this earth was to have my little girl's soul tarnished because she took another man's life.

I know she has taken a life before but that was in self defense, that was in protecting herself it was either her life or his and I am glad it turned out to be his but in this case that wasn't exactly the case tonight. It may come to that point at some point and I hope it would be once again the other person's life and not that of my little girl but tonight it wasn't self defense, tonight it wasn't to protect yourself against someone harming you tonight was nothing but calculated, it was planned it would be nothing but cold blooded murder and my little girl didn't need that on her hands.

I listened to her as she made him thank Rangeman and apologize to Cal and I had to smile at my little girl making him do that. I had to smile when she told him that she was marrying Ranger that she would have Ranger's babies and I briefly wondered how Ranger would feel about that that.

When I looked at him I had my answer he was love struck as they got. From the look on his face I would be willing to bet if my little girl said so he would be trying to get her pregnant tonight at least he would be practicing tonight.

I doubt that many people could see the thoughts racing through Ranger but I could I could see the love swimming in his eyes as he pictured her. I imagined he pictured her round with his child, I imagined he pictured her carrying his baby and I could literally see his heart melting. Hell he loved that baby and it didn't even exist yet. He was in love with just the thought.

I almost laughed when she made Morelli call her Mrs. Manoso personally I liked the Mrs. Ranger better that definitely sent a message. I also found myself flinching and reaching for my balls when she shoved her gun in his dick and pulled the trigger. I would have sworn there wasn't a fucking thing that could make me sympathize with that fucking prick but her pulling the trigger on his balls well that drew sympathy from me. Hell my balls were aching at the thought of what could have happened had there been a bullet in the chamber. Lucky for Morelli, lucky for me there was no bullet and the gun only made a clicking sound.

Watching her listening to her she made me proud she was reclaiming what had been taken from her she was reclaiming her life, she was making him acknowledge what he had done she was letting him know that his behavior from now on would not go unpunished. I felt myself wanting to slam my fist into my palm to show the true power behind her words that we would enforce her words back her words as well as the gold in Fort Knox backs the American dollar.

While that wasn't doing such a great job lately as the American dollar was suffering I would however do a better job enforcing Stephanie's rules making sure Morelli obeyed every fucking single one down to the letter.

None of us had moved other than Lester and now that he was holding her gun on him he hadn't moved we were all reveling in and enjoying watching Stephanie work her magic all the while I am sure praying a little that we were never on the receiving side of that anger, of that pure hatred. Her eyes flashing ice blue and her voice so cold that I am surprised we didn't see puffs of frozen vapors rise from her lips as it does on a cold winter morning.

It sent a chill through your body yet she looked so hot doing it if it weren't that she was my sister I would be having a difficult time controlling myself as it is it wasn't without difficult at times and when I saw her strong, confident, standing up for herself not taking any shit from anyone. When I saw her flying as only she could fly it was difficult to control.

I am a big man, I am known for my size after all my name is Tank for fuck sake need I say more? Well as big as I am you could have blown me over with a feather when Stephanie had finally made him tell her he was sorry. She had pressured him pushed him into saying the words and then just as matter of fact told him that his apology wasn't accepted her voice so cold the words burned their way through you it was what she did after that I found myself in disbelief that I found myself in almost shock. You could have just knocked me right off of my feet with the gentles touch maybe even a forceful blow or a light breeze. She told him the only apology she wanted from him was him dead, she put the gun back to his head and pulled the fucking trigger.

CalPOV

I knew my Angel had it in her. She had that fire within her that burned bright but she never felt confident to use it until tonight. I am not sure what happened exactly from the time we left Rangeman until we got here but I could see it in her the moment I laid eyes on her.

I could see it in her walk, I could see it in her mannerisms. She walked up to Joe's room with purpose, with a goal. The goal was to reclaim her life. Reclaim the hold he had over her because of the fear she felt for him.

If she was afraid if she feared him I wasn't able to see it and I could read my Angel extremely well. I had to smile the anticipation building in me. I knew she was going to deliver her message to that fucking piece of dog shit eating prick of a fucking cop.

I knew my Angel needed to do this she needed to reclaim what he had stolen from her. I didn't know until tonight just how much had stolen from her all her life. Part of me wanted to just say fuck it and kill the fucker and be done with it. It wouldn't be the first time I did that for a friend.

My best friend in high school she was beautiful her name was Audrey and she had her whole life ahead of her. We were best friends we both had parent's in the arts and we knew the long hours of spending time alone while our Parent's worked, rehearsed or performed.

We spent a lot of time together we partied together we got in trouble together we talked and could tell each other anything. When we got out of High school our lives too different paths she went to college I went to the Navy.

I hadn't been in the Navy for a long time several years I was a Seal but had just graduated when I had some leave so I went to visit her. When I saw her I knew something was wrong. She wouldn't tell me at first but I found out that her boyfriend at the time was abusing her. Needless to say before I left for service the boyfriend was no longer a problem for my best friend.

She never knew what happened only that he left a message that he was leaving town. Oh he left alright he just didn't leave by any means of transportation he didn't leave in a way that he could ever come back. His leaving was a one way ticket, a one way ticket to hell which I hope he is still enjoying his stay to this day. I personally wouldn't mind sending this fucking cop who shot me, and terrorized, stole from, and who raped my Angel all those years ago. I would personally deliver my travel plans for him to him even personally escort him on his way.

The click of a gun pulled me from my reflections holy fuck she had pulled the trigger. There were no bullets but she had pulled the trigger with her gun pressed against the side of the fucking cops head. Fuck!

I knew she was on a mission, I knew she had squared her shoulders and was taking on her enemy head on but I had no idea this is what she was going to do holy shit. She was hot her eyes sparkling blue the flashes of hatred of anger of bitterness blasting through like daggers all directed at that piece of shit.

Rage boiled through me looking at her seeing her like that seeing those feelings run across her face and knowing he was the reasons for making my Angel someone who was so filled with light, with goodness, with nothing but acceptance and trust and he was the cause of these feelings.

That she had to experience these feelings because of this mother fucking cock sucking prick who didn't deserve to breath the same fucking air as her. He was the reason she hurt, she was mad, she was bitter, he was the reason she was unsure of herself, and he was the reason she was not confident in herself. He was the reason she felt like her life was not worthless he had made her feel like she wasn't good enough when she was the best woman I had ever known.

She was my sister, my chosen sister. He had tried to tarnish her by his hands, by raping her but what he didn't understand is her light burned brighter and that would never happen in our eyes, in our hearts but he had tried and for that I wanted his life. I wanted that fucker to scream, I wanted him to beg, I wanted him to pray to God to die. Death was too easy. Hell was too easy this fucker needed to suffer. He needed to pay for every second he had known my Angel and for every second he tried to darken her world by his existence.

Her words pulling me from my wrath hearing my name on her lips calmed me. Her making him forcing him to apologize to me I didn't want his apology I wanted his spilt blood. I firmly believed in eye for eye, tooth for tooth and he had spilled my blood I wanted to spill his only I wanted to spill only a whole lot more.

Internally part of me smiled at her feeling the need to get the apology from him. That is why I chose her as my sister she is an incredible woman she is loving, she is giving, and for some reason she felt like we deserved a place in her life. She was protective over us trained killers, trained mercenaries she wanted to protect us she wanted to have our backs instead of letting us protect her.

I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I knew I should have been watching him to see if he tried anything but I knew Lester had him he had made it known by sinking a round into his pillow beside is him. She was beautiful, she was practically glowing as she was taking back what was hers. She was taking back her life and you could see her flying.

While she had pulled the trigger a few times and the gun had just clicked I didn't want the gun to actually go off and her end his life. I couldn't stand to see the light in my Angel deem and if she did in fact take his life her light within would pay the price for that. I wanted it on my soul, my soul was already black, I already questioned if I still had a soul anymore. It wouldn't matter on my soul black can only get so black and then it can go anymore and I had reached that blackness years ago.

She almost pulled a smile from me when she told him to refer to her as Mrs. Ranger or Mrs. Manoso but I refrained I wanted that fucking cop when he looked at me to see the killer I was, I wanted him to see my deaden eyes, I wanted him to swallow as he took in my conditioned body my trained body that could snap his neck before he had a chance to blink. I wanted him to take in my stare my flaming skull tattoo and known what I was capable of. I wanted him to know that he should fear me.

Rage flowed through me more when she was listing all of the things that Morelli could be apologizing for all the wrongs that needed correcting all the injustices he had committed against my Angel and lived to be able to fucking apologize for.

It was what she did when he finally apologized trying to lump everything into one little I am sorry. Who the fuck says that? Oh I am sorry fuck you I wanted to scream. I wanted to scream take your sorry and shove it up your fucking ass.

But when my Angel told him his apology wasn't accepted and that she wanted his apology to be him fucking dead as she moved the gun from his dick to his head and pulled the trigger I found myself completely and fucking speech less. I had no doubt my mouth wasn't hanging open at the statement but I be fuck if I could do anything about it.

HectorPOV *spoken in Spanish*

I am partly surprised Lester told me about their plans tonight and offered for me to come. Usually they consider me a little of a loose cannon or trigger happy depending on how you want to think about that. I am surprised that they trust me that I won't just kill that fucker where he lays. But I don't.

It isn't for the lack of wanting to. It isn't because I give a fuck that he is a cop or that he is a Morelli like any of that meant anything to me if anything it in an odd way gave me more reason to want him dead. It didn't mean fuck to me.

I would end his life just like I have ended any other life without thought without hesitation. The list was long the ways were varying and none of it made a fuck to me. The only thing that made a fuck to me was my Angelito and because of her I would refrain from doing what I wanted to do more than anything.

She saw me better than I was. She made me strive to be a better person to live up to the person she thought and saw me to be. For that purpose alone I couldn't take his life in front of her. I couldn't change that about her. How she looked at me, the person she saw me to be.

I had planned the ways his life would end by my hands. I thought about it dreamt about it from the time he started scaring my Angeltio. No one scares her no one harms her without answering to me I don't give a fuck who they are. Cop no cop, Rangeman no Rangeman it doesn't matter. Bottom line if you try to harm my Angelito you will answer to me. You will answer to my knife. It is only a matter of fucking time.

If you doubt me just ask any of the Rangeman who have allowed her to be hurt. Bobby let her fall from the ropes on the obstacle course. He wasn't there anticipating her falling she fell on her back. When they got back to Rangeman and he walked back into this office he found that his office wasn't vacant, I was there waiting for him. I would be willing to bet he will never allow her to fall from that rope again or anything else for that matter. He will be there to catch her the next time.

They were my brothers because of her but she came first. I watched her put the gun to his head and cock it and part of me wanted to stop her. The other part couldn't have been more proud of her. When she told him that she would shoot him first and ask questions later I felt my chest fill with pride. I had taught her that. I had instilled that in her. I had taught her that if she felt her life was in danger, if she was in a dangerous situation that for her to pull the trigger first and ask questions later.

I had told her to trust her instincts trust her spidey sense and act on it the moment she felt it not to wait to never question it because it would never be wrong. Shoot first never allow your enemy the chance of the first shot, the first attack.

I was a little concerned how close she was standing that he could disarm her. I knew I could but I doubt he was as trained as we were but he was a cop so he wasn't without training and I wasn't sure how much he had.

I felt my fingers ghosting just above my knives. My throwing knives for me they were every bit as lethal as any gun I carry. I am just as accurate and I would be willing to bet almost as fast with any knife as I am with a gun.

I watched him for any signs that he is going to retaliate that he is going to try to defend himself or attack her. She will be successful tonight in taking back her life, reclaiming her life I would make sure of it. I knew the importance of that. While I never had a person like she had I had a gang and I had to reclaim my life from the gang.

For me it wasn't one person to face it was multiple people who wanted to harm me but the underlying reasons were the same and I understood her need to do this probably more than another man standing here with us. I understood her need to say this is my life and I am going to live my life the way I want. See gangs take that away from you. They tell you how to live your life. Who your friends are and who your enemies are and they could change daily depending on the leaders of the gangs.

I had grown tired of it even though I was top of the gang there was always something higher something that controlled who you could be how you lived when you were in a gang. I would support my Angelito in anything she wanted but I knew the importance of this the need for this and I would be sure she was successful in her endeavors to reclaim her life.

When she asked Lester to hold her gun and keep it pointed at the cop I relaxed a little because I knew Lester wouldn't let him touch her. He wouldn't let that piece of shit cop hurt her. He would sink a bullet in his brain before the shithead's finger twitched toward her.

I watched Angelito as she reclaimed her life as she took back what was hers as she put fear in him. She made him swallow his pride and thank Ranger for not loading her gun when she pulled the trigger and it only clicked. She made him extend an apology that we all knew was never meant to Cal for when he shot him but Angelito didn't let it go and she once again pulled the trigger only for the gun to click.

I didn't want his blood on her hands. I would gladly accept his blood on mine. For me it did not matter when you had killed as many people as I have killed one more wouldn't matter sometimes there were just too many sins too many crimes against humanity to ask forgiveness for and I had long passed that number. There would never be forgiveness for me and I was okay with that.

She wanted him to fear her she wanted to steal away some of his comfort some of his life like he had stolen from her she wanted him to live in fear and I would make sure her wishes came true. He may never actually fear her but I could promise you, promise her that he would come to fear me.

With each click of the gun his fear was raising I could smell it and it made me want to smile. I could smell the fear rolling off of him and I am certain the rest of her brother's here standing with us could smell it too. Her forcing him to call her Mrs. Manoso brought out some jealousy and some rage in him I could see it in his eyes but he remained still and quiet. He didn't want to call her Ranger's name. He didn't want to admit that she belonged to Ranger but she forced him to.

I found my fingers ghosting my knives again as she was listing the things that he could be sorry for God how I wanted to end his life. How I had not done it before now was a little perplexing. I didn't know about their history but learning how he had taken advantage of her as a child and then later raped her at such a young age stealing her innocence well that was enough reason to end the fucker's life and my fingers twitched with desire.

I didn't need any other reasons to justify his death not that I ever really needed to justify but I didn't kill for no reason I may be a monster for what I have done but I wasn't a monster that made me do what I did there is a difference not that it is judged any differently In the eyes of our beholder but to me it was a difference and I could live with that difference.

My fingers itched to just sink one of my knives in his throat from where I stood it would be rookie throw. My fingers itched to feel the cold steel, to feel the weight in my grip, to feel the flick of my wrist the release of my fingers at the exact moment they yearned for that feeling and I had to control myself before I did something that I would ultimately regret. While I wanted his life, I didn't want to take it in front of my Angelito.

When he finally apologized for everything by saying a simple I am sorry my Angelito did something I did not expect, I didn't not anticipate, something that I wasn't sure she was capable of she told him that his apology wasn't accepted that the only apology she wanted was him fucking dead and she put the gun against his head, against his temple and she pulled the trigger.

SlyderPOV

I had only known my Incendia for a couple of days but I couldn't help the feeling of having known her forever. It was like I had known her my whole life. I was defenseless against this little blue eyed woman. The Bombshell Bounty Hunter was one hell of a woman and I could see why the guys loved her, respected her, and wanted to spend their time with her. I could see why they felt like she was their sister because you couldn't help wanting to protect her, wanting to keep her safe.

She accepted me open arms no questions asked. She never even asked me what my real name was she just accepted Slyder and instantly folded me into her family of brothers. I wondered if she felt the same thing I felt the connection we had. It was nothing romantic about it. I did appreciate her body what man wouldn't and her moans well they wrecked havoc on my body but she was Ranger's. There was no question about that and I would never come between that not that I would be able to but I wouldn't try.

I couldn't believe her x was that fucking prick I had beat the shit out of in basic training. I couldn't believe it was her that he was talking about. My mind was still reeling I knew his story infuriated me the moment I heard it but I always wondered why. I mean I respect women don't get me wrong, I would never wrong a woman knowingly or willingly but I am a guy and I have heard men talking about their conquests before and since him and never found myself enraged to the point that I was that day it was almost as if he was talking about my sister or my mother as I don't have a sister at least not until now.

I knew there was more that he wasn't saying. I knew it didn't happen the way he was saying I knew in my soul he had taken advantage, he had more forced her than not to have sex with him. He never said it but I instantly knew it how I knew it I will never know but I knew it. It enraged me and while running to the Navy may have saved him from charges being placed against him had the girl been inclined I didn't let him run away. I beat his ass for it. I made sure he paid for it.

I just didn't make sure he paid enough for it. I should have inflicted more pain. I should have made sure he never made it back from his little short tour at sea.

We made it to his house relatively quickly and we wasted no time getting inside. I was surprised when we were all able to walk into his bedroom without him stirring. What a stupid fucker. Even though I saw combat from a different point of view I was more aware of my surroundings than him. There would be no way in hell that eight people would be able to walk into my room and I not know it sleeping or not.

I didn't know what to expect not knowing my Incendia well. I hadn't seen her like this before. I had seen her playful and having fun. I had seen her upset. I had gotten a brief view of how strong she was when she stood up to her mother and what's her face, ass fuck. I had seen her inner strength in her training today but I don't know that I would have thought her capable of what she did.

Putting her gun to his head cocking it bringing him out of his deep sleep you could see the confusion on his face, you could see him take us all in and her in and the almost shock. When she flipped on the light and the true depth of the position he was in hit him you could see him unsure of himself. You could see the fear in his eyes and I loved it that she was making him afraid that we were making him afraid.

His eyes met mine and I knew he remembered me I could see the look. He remembered our last meeting he remembered his ass beating and part of me just wanted to smile that I had left such a long impression on him.

I almost jumped when she pulled the trigger I wanted to protect her. I didn't want her to pull the trigger. It wasn't that I wanted the fucker's blood on my hands but I would take it before I allowed it to be on her hands.

I know I am not innocent I have probably ultimately taken more lives than any man standing in the room as the missiles from my jet probably took out hundreds if not thousands at a time I wasn't stupid I knew what I was doing but it was never close hand. Never hand to hand and there was a difference.

It wasn't that I was scared, it wasn't that I wouldn't do it under the right circumstance I just hadn't had the right circumstance but something told me this fucker could push me to the right circumstance and I wouldn't hesitate a fucking moment.

The gun just clicked no bullet in the chamber. I breathed a sigh of relief for her. I had to smile when she made him thank Ranger and apologize to Cal and I found myself cringing again when she pulled the trigger.

I knew eventually the chamber would contain a bullet I knew enough to know to heed her warning that there was a bullet in one of the chambers. Her voice was strong. It was cold as ice freezes over the arctic waters her voice could have frozen water. Her eyes flashed blue as a fire that burns so hot the flame appears blue that was the color of her eyes.

Seeing her like this definitely affected my body there was no denying it I suspect every man in the room was affected well with the exception of that fucking x of hers that fucking cop that no good washed up couldn't cut it as a mess hall boy of a never should have been Navy man. Part of me was embarrassed that he served in the same branch as I did that they would fucking let him in. It was a disgrace his performance his ability. I seriously hoped he hadn't bragged about being there to anyone.

When she told him that she had someone for him to meet and she referenced me I just stood there starring at him as he took me in. I already knew he remembered me so I was able to just stare at him hoping that it would raise his level of fear slightly. I may have experienced war from fifty thousand feet in the sky or more but that didn't mean that I was a push over. Standing six two weighing in at two twenty all muscle I am no pushover I am not a little boy and I don't scare. You can't fly the big boys and be afraid. There is no fear when you are flying Mach six.

When she pressed her gun into his dick and pulled the trigger I know we all flinched a little and I know I had the urge to grab my balls out of sympathy empathy something or maybe just to assure myself mine were fine fuck if I know the urge was there but I didn't act on it. Damn I hope I am never on the receiving end of that temper, of that amount of hatred from her. I hoped I would never fuck up that bad.

Remembering him laughing and telling his version of the story in the mess hall that night and hearing her listing to all of the things he could be sorry for all of the things he had done to her what she had told us tonight and what I had found out earlier from the other guys rage bubbled through me. It crept through me like a cold damn night seeks its way into your bones.

I was ready to kick is his ass again, I was looking forward to the feel of my fists hitting his flesh, I looked forward to hearing the crack of his bones, hearing his grunts if not screams of pain from my punches, elbows, and kicks. When she told him that her message would be the least painful of all of the messages he was going to get tonight she was dead on.

While hers may come with some psychological pain in thinking your life is about to end every time she pulls the trigger and he hears the click of the gun's chamber being empty. I have no doubt there is a single bullet in the gun and I only wonder when his luck will run out, would she actually put a bullet in his head at this point seeing her I think she was perfectly capable of doing it. She was perfectly capable of shooting him in the head I only feared what it would do to her after the fact how she would handle the guilt and there would be guilt. There was always guilt no matter how close or how far away you were when you ended a man's life there was guilt. If not for the life you took then for the act itself.

When she finally got him to say he was sorry for everything her whole lists of wrongs he has committed against her she took on an appearance that I couldn't explain her voice became hardened with an edge that felt like it could slice you in half. She looked at him a second and I will never for the words she said. If I lived to be five hundred years old I would never forget those words. Apology is not accepted. excusationis non accipitur, in Latin. She told him apology is not accepted and the only apology she wanted was him fucking dead. I could see what she was going to do before she did it but I wasn't able to stop her she put the gun to his head and pulled the fucking trigger.

JPOV

Today had been one of those days. First I get a call from Momma Plum that Cupcake is at the Stop and Stop grocery store. I head over there only to discover that she is with a bunch of those fucking thuds she wants to make everyone believe are her brothers when we all know she is fucking every one of them.

Then while I am watching her mother confront her and watch them exchange words back and forth I see someone who looks like someone I knew from the Navy. I wish I could say it was a friend but it was no friend of mine. He kicked my ass practically the first day at least it was the first time I had seen him.

I had to leave the scene of a crime to go and of course word got back to my chief that I had left and he wasn't happy. I knew I could talk my way out of the trouble after all emergencies come up all the time right? All I needed to tell him was it was an emergency and I had to leave to follow up on something.

That was the convenient part of police work there was an always an excuse for where you were informant, a lead, following up on information received the excuses were numerous and they had always been good for me. I could go meet a woman at a hotel. I could spend the afternoon getting a freebie on Stark Street, because cops got the freebies unless they wanted to go to jail.

Blow job kept them out of jail. All the while I had the resources, the excuses, and the cover that being a detective offered. Hell I didn't even pay for the hotel rooms the department did after all I was meeting informants. The department couldn't complain I was pulling in my share of gang bangers, drug dealers, and just general bad guys.

I wasn't able to get to close to Cupcake as they carted her away to their waiting SUV before I could pull into the lot.

I later found her again out driving around town and I tried to follow her. My goal was to pull her over but I wanted something legitimate and she wasn't giving it to me. I was about to the point where I was just going to do it and make something the fuck up when she actually gave me exactly what I wanted but she effectively evaded me. I am not sure how she got that lucky but she did.

I searched for her for over an hour but never saw the SUV again. So I gave up. I went and picked me up a freebie something to work the anger out on as I let her satisfy me earning her another get out of free jail card. I then went home after picking up take out. If Cupcake were here I wouldn't have had to have eaten takeout I would have had a home cooked meal because that is what she would be doing.

Cooking my meals and waiting for me to come home. I had an early morning so after the game went off I went to bed. Had it not been for my early morning meeting with the chief I would have had some company tonight.

I had been asleep maybe an hour or so when I heard a distinct clicking. The sound of a gun being cocked my eyes shot open and I almost had to do a double take my bedroom was filled with men and Cupcake was standing beside my bed with a gun to my head that she had cocked.

She turned on the light so I could see them all better I am not even sure I at first all I could feel was the cold steel of the gun pressed to my temple. All I could see were seven extremely pissed hired killers and thugs in my room. The very men that Cupcake is fucking probably every chance she got.

I briefly thought about disarming her grabbing the gun from my nightstand drawer and ending this right here right now but I wasn't stupid I knew the way the assholes were circling my bed I would never shoot them all before they shot me. Before the killed me, at most I could possibly get two before they killed me but that would be two very lucky shots. I went to move but she stopped me saying

"Joe move another inch and I pull the trigger do you understand me?" Her voice is what stopped me I hadn't heard that tone of voice from her ever. I briefly found myself wondering when she had gotten that voice. I didn't think Cupcake had it in her to pull the trigger but still decided to see what she was going to do

I felt the gun press into my head with her warning. I knew with how close she was standing to me she was in a vulnerable position and I knew I could disarm her with ease. I just had to bide my time.

There is a chance in disarming her I could actually use her gun to shoot one of her brothers so there was a possibility I could get three at the tops. I was decent job not an expert but decent. I was better than Stephanie that was for sure.

As if she read my mind she speaks again "Joe I am warning you, you try and move an inch you try an disarm me and you are a dead man I have a backup" she said as she showed me her Glock in her right hand waving it slightly for me to get the full picture. She then told me "I will shoot you first and ask questions later. That is something I learned from one of my brothers."

Her brothers meaning the thugs and killers standing around me just like them to turn my Cupcake my future wife into a cold blooded killer capable of holding a gun on me her future husband. When I got her away from them she would be taught a very hard lesson that she never speaks or treats me like that. My hand itches to smack her now and put her in her place.

I went to tell her to put the gun down but she cut me off as soon as I opened my mouth. She cut me off before the first sound made it out telling me "You don't get to talk, you don't get to say one fucking thing. It's time for you to listen. It's my turn to talk." I didn't appreciate my future wife bossing me around nor did I appreciate that she was holding a gun to my head. I would be willing to bet if she didn't have that gun on me she wouldn't be this brazing with me.

She had bound to know that I would get revenge I would teach her a lesson for treating me like this especially if front of these thugs and killers they had no place here in my home, in my bedroom what would one day be our bedroom. She would pay for that as well.

She called Lester's name "Lester do you have my bag?" she questioned he nodded "Bring it to me" she asked him. He stepped towards her with the bag She handed him the gun "keep it pointed at him if he fucking flinches you shoot the fucker, do I make myself clear?" she asked him.

He nodded and pointed the gun at me. She proceeded to tape my mouth shut with duct tape. The bitch would definitely pay for that. With Lester holding the gun on me I was less confident that I could be successful in overcoming her. Overcoming the situation I was in. Something told me even if Cupcake wouldn't pull the trigger Lester would.

Once she has the tape on my mouth she continues talk "now that's better, you will now keep your fucking mouth shut without me having to shut you up. You will now listen to what I have to say. We are all here to deliver a message to you. The message is to leave me the fuck alone. That means no more following me, no more coming to places where you know I am, and that means you do not speak to me, you do not touch me, you do not call me. Do I make myself clear?" She said thinking that I was going to listen to her message. Like hell she was my future wife and I am going to be her husband and if a message is to be delivered I am going to be the one delivering it.

She jabs the gun into the side of my head until I relent and nod that I understand her only to appease her not because I am going to follow a fucking thing she says.

"Good" she says but continues.

"You see you no longer have control of me. You no longer tell me what to do. You no longer can strong arm me into doing anything. You can no longer lay a finger on me. So help me God the next time you touch me the next time you hurt me will be the last time you ever fucking breath. It will be your last breath you ever draw into your body. Understand?"

Again she jabs the gun into my head and once again I nod to appease her. When she smiles t is a leer that I have seen before but not from my Cupcake. It is a leer of someone who is dead serious someone who is set on doing what they have set out to do. Being a cop we ran into them just a part of a day's work but you knew the type. It was the type you knew you were going to have to shoot them more than likely kill them because they weren't going to surrender they weren't going to give into your demands and they would kill you no questions asks. Much like Ranger the cold blooded killer standing in my room in front of me watching us. For the first time since she woke me a little fear bubbled through me at the thought that she may be able to pull the trigger after all.

She calls my name drawing my attention to her and away from my mental assessments "Joe I want you to take a good look at me. I am a soldier I am in training and I will kick your ass if you come at me again. I will fight you and if I can't bet you by myself I would be willing to bet you that one of my brothers can and will kick your ass. Take a look around Joe these are my brothers and my future husband standing in your room and for every one that is standing here tonight I have one more back at Rangeman all with a single goal of kicking your ass at my say so. So fucking just give me a reason any reason to say so." She tells me and I briefly scan the room taking in the men with her.

My eyes land on Slyder and it is him. I thought it was but this confirms it, it was him here in Trenton. Just my luck and of course he would be friends with Rangeman as if they needed anymore men.

Hearing her words "I have a message for you but everyone one of these men also have a message and I will be willing to bet you that my message will be the least painful of the bunch. You will be lucky to still have your life when we leave here tonight. Actually I am not so sure yet as I haven't made up my mind. I just might pull this fucking trigger and get it over with right now." Fear bubbled up even more in me and something told me what she was going to do. The words no more left her mouth and she pulled the trigger. I couldn't help the flinch when I realized she had pulled the trigger.

It was her sincere disappointment when I heard her say "Damn" that I couldn't believe. She wanted me dead.

She moved her head from side to side and said "I have always had a bad habit of carrying my gun with only one fucking bullet in it. Usually Ranger fills it for me guess he didn't realize it only had one bullet in it. I guess that makes you a lucky fucker Joe. Ranger has just effectively saved your life. I think you should tell him thank you."

Like fuck I would tell that son of a bitch thank you. She reaches over presses against the tape making sure it is good and stuck and rips the tape off. I nearly come up off the bed I know that tape has torn off layers of skin as well as hairs. I fill my eyes sting from the pain but thank fuck they stayed dry I wouldn't want her to think she made me cry.

When she jabs the gun in my forehead and once again pulls the trigger effectively telling me to thank Ranger or else. It was all I could do not to flinch and not to make a sound of being relieved that there was no bullet in that chamber. She would pay for this but it was obvious tonight wouldn't be the night.

She speaks again "Very good I see you can listen when your life is at stake you didn't flinch. Now I think you have someone that needs to be thanked." She said pressing the gun into my forehead this time.

"Joe I promise you this gun has a single bullet in it don't force me to see if the next trigger pull is going to be the one with the bullet." She tells me jabbing my head again with he barrel.

Not wanting her to actually shoot me I decided to speak up by just saying "Thank you" although by my tone anyone should have known I didn't really mean it. But Cupcake spoke up

"Joe the man saved your life, at least for the moment you could give a little more heartfelt thank you. Could you not I mean you are breathing right now because he didn't fill my gun with bullets something that I didn't think to check when I left our home this evening." I heard her emphasis on our home and jealous rage shot through me the only home Cupcake was going to have is here with me.

She once again jabbed the gun in my head and I nodded relenting yet again because of the fear she may pull the trigger again. So I said "Ranger I would like to thank you for saving my life." I said and Cupcake nodded and then she ripped off a new piece of duct tape and once again tapped my mouth shut.

She looked at me and spoke "See you can follow directions under the right pressure." I would see what she could and would do under the right pressure when I got the chance and I was going to make sure I got the chance after tonight. She looked at Lester and smiled and then told him "Lester I am sorry you didn't get the chance to shoot him, he didn't flinch maybe all hope isn't lost he is going to have a lot more to say maybe next time he will flinch and you will get your chance." She told him shrugging.

Fear rose a little more because I knew he would kill me. Cupcake, it was fifty fifty if she could actually do it but Lester I knew he would shoot me. Hell that is who probably taught her to shoot first and ask questions second as she put it. I put nothing past Ranger and his men all of them were psychos, killers, thugs, and trouble makers. They all belonged behind jail but we could never find anything on them to put them behind jail. Okay I could never find anything.

Cupcake focused back on me "You see you now have some apologizing to do. You took a cheap shot and shoot one of my brothers. Did you think I would just forget about that? It was only a flesh wound but you pulled the trigger on one of my brothers, you fucking piece of shit. Did you think I wasn't going to get revenge for that? Did you think I was just going to forget it and allow you to hurt what I consider mine? You should know I am not the same girl you thought you could brow beat, you could control, you could tell what to do. I am not her not anymore. I will stand up for myself I will stand up for those that I love and I will stand up for my brothers at all costs. So unless you want me to pull this fucking trigger again I suggest you apologize to Cal for shooting him and before I have to remind you make it sincere because the only reminder you are going to get again is me pulling this fucking trigger."

If it wasn't for the fact that she had her gun pressed against my forehead I would probably think she was hotter than hell at this very minute and a part of me would want to control that piece of her. But it was me she was holding the gun on and she had proved she had no problem pulling the trigger so with every threat my fear level went up a little. She only had five shots to begin with and she had pulled the trigger twice.

I nod again more to appease and to prevent her from pulling the trigger than I care to apologize to the fucking thug with a God damn flaming skull tattoo on his forehead. She once again rips the tape off of his mouth after making sure it was good and stuck and jabs me with the gun to prompt me to talk. "Cal I am sorry about shooting you" I tell him but she jabs me with the gun again prompting me to continue. "I wasn't thinking when I pulled the trigger I was drunk, I was jealous I was wrong." I told him. It wasn't true but I couldn't think of anything else. Not that he gave a true fuck about my apology.

Stephanie nodded and tore a fresh piece of duct tape and put it across my mouth, this was getting old. Cupcake Looked at Lester shrugged and said "well maybe next time". He just smiled at her.

She got my attention back on her once again by calling my name. "Joe you ever hit me again, you ever push me, shove me, throw me again and this gun will have all of its bullets that is until I unload them in your ass. You are to never touch me again, never speak to me again, and never confront me again. I am never going to come back to you. I am marrying Ranger and I am never having your babies if I have babies they will be Ranger's babies not your devil spawn." She said and I wanted to scream. She was marrying me she was having my babies she would not be having Ranger's anything it would be over Ranger's dead body before I allowed it.

While I was raging about her confession of what she was going to have with Ranger she continued "I have someone special I would like to introduce you to Joe" she motioned to Slyder, he just leered at me. The reminder of our last encounter when he beat the shit out of me flashed through my mind and I really wish he wasn't standing in this room.

Before I acknowledged anything she continued "but I think you two have already met each other. You were in basic training with him but I don't think you were buddies as he beat the shit out of you because you were talking about me. You were telling anyone and everyone who would listen how you had effectively claimed me made me yours because you stole my virginity but you left out you did it by raping me." I couldn't believe he had beat my ass because I was talking about her I remember me telling the story to the guys but I had no idea that was why he hated me why he had kicked my ass. When I heard her say I had raped her I went to defend myself and shook my head only for her to pull the trigger.

The gun clicked again she just said "Damn" shaking her head. "I thought for sure the bullet would be in that chamber guess not maybe the next one, one can only hope." And she shrugged. Hearing her words and hearing her tone caused the fear to raise even more. I once again thought out how I could get to my gun in the nightstand.

She continued "You did in fact rape me didn't you?" She asked me. I didn't move but she continued "You never asked you just took. You didn't ask me if it was what I wanted you locked the door and you took what you wanted. I never said yes to you if anything I asked you wait but you just shook your head and proceeded." She told me.

She jabbed me with the gun again almost yelling "Admit it you piece of fucking dog shit have the balls to admit it." jerking off the tape she continued "tell me you raped me and left me on the dirty floor of the tasty pastry having stolen my virginity having robbed me of my virginity something that a girl only has once in her life to give to the guy who she loves the most and you stole mine." She moved the gun from my head and jabbed it into my dick and fucking pulled the trigger without hesitation. I couldn't control the flinch and fear that ran over me. Lester fired a warning shot that landed into the pillow beside my head holy fuck he would shoot me that was just him saying he was willing. I was for the first time completely afraid of how this night was going to turn out. It wasn't looking good only getting worse by the minute.

"Tell me she said" and I nodded.

"I am sorry cu..." I went to say but she cut me off.

"Joe if you value your life you won't call me that ever again. Fucking call me cupcake one more time and I will kill you where you stand Joe." She told me.

I nodded she had pulled the trigger three times now she only had five shots in that gun if it did in fact have a bullet in it which I had no doubt at this point she had one more pull without a bullet but the question was which chamber the bullet was in the last one or the second to last one.

"I am sorry Stephanie." I started but she cut me off again.

"Joe you know for you, you only get to call me Mrs Ranger, or Mrs Manoso I am not your friend, you are not my friend you don't get to call me by my first name. That is reserved for friends and you are not one of my friends now nor will you ever be, you fucking prick." She tells me and once again rage consumes me at the idea of calling her by his last name. She is mine she will have my last name. That is if I live past tonight which is looking iffy at this point in time.

She jabbed me with her gun prompting me I went for the easier of the two as most people referred to him as only Ranger I chose Manoso. "Mrs Manoso I am sorry." I said but she didn't let it go at that.

She said "Sorry for what, what is it you are sorry for? Sorry for yelling at me, sorry for hitting me, sorry for throwing me across a floor and having a three hundred pound man land on me, sorry for shooting my brother, sorry for knowing me, sorry for playing train with me, sorry for raping me. What is it exactly you are sorry for Joe? Sorry for trying to change me, sorry for trying to control me. You are going to have to spell it out Joe because I have no idea what you are sorry for. With all you have done to me it could be a lot you are sorry for." She told me.

I decided to just blanket it all for my sake of health at the moment "Sorry for all of it."

The next thing out of her mouth had me gasping "Apology not accepted the only apology I want is you fucking dead." With that she put the gun back to my head and pulled the fucking trigger. I couldn't help the terror that shot through me the fear that shot through me and I couldn't help or prevent myself from pissing myself because of it.

When I heard the click of the gun and I opened my eyes from my flinched positioned where tears had pricked my eyes and a big wet spot covered the front of my boxers thankfully so far the covers remained over my lower half so hopefully they would never know that I pissed myself.

It was bad enough that I was coward down with my eyes shut and now filled with tears they didn't need to know that she had caused me to piss myself.

She looked at me "Joe you had better heed my warning and stay the fuck away from me. I will defend myself, I will defend my brothers you have my promise. I will shoot you if you threaten me. I came here tonight to tell you that. That I am taking my life back, that I am no longer afraid of you, and that you have no control over me. Do yourself a favor and find someone else I am taken and not by you. Don't make me come back with a fully loaded gun." She stepped away from me but she raised her gun and fired it this time the gun went off and the bullet lodged itself in the headboard of my bed about two inches from my head causing me to flinch and cower again.

She turned to the guys and had it not been for Lester I would have taken advantage of her back turned to me. She turned to them and grabbed the covers jerking them off of me effectively showing everyone that she had caused me to piss myself.

Lester was the first to start laughing but it wasn't long before they all laughed. The only ones not laughing was Stephanie and Ranger they were starring at each other the way I have seen them do before, the way I hate.

She turned and looked at me and she joined in with the guys laughing for a moment then just like that her laughter stopped and she said "Boys, It's your turn make it painful." Oh Fuck!

**Please take a moment and leave a review. Let me know your thoughts…I love every review it does wonder for my soul and wonders for my fingers! Don't forget to check out the accommodating website and my writers journal…I put sneak peeks into the chapters in them! **

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	38. Chapter 37: Charges

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

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Chapter 37: Charges

JPOV  
What the fuck? Where the fuck am I? Ugh. Why am I laying here on the sidewalk? What happened? I briefly think back trying to remember what the fuck happened. I remember going home last night, I remember having dinner and going to bed, in my bed. Everything after that is a little fuzzy.

Damn my head hurts but then again everything I have hurts. I look down to access my body why it is hurting so much and I realize I am laying here in the street in my boxers which clearly show I had peed myself and all the memories came rushing back.

Stephanie coming into my room with her band of thugs that follow her around like some fucking kind of puppy follows a kid. What was I thinking wanting that bitch for my wife? She had come to deliver a message. The message was leave her alone or die. Clearly I had survived but I don't think it was for the lack them trying to kill me.

I remember all the times she pulled the trigger on the gun she held to my head and dick and all the clicks it made all the way down to the last one and I remember the level of fear I felt and how I couldn't help it at the end because I just knew hearing her words, and then her pulling the trigger I was a fucking dead man. But the gun clicked but by the time that had happened I had pissed myself in front of her and all those fucking thugs.

I would get revenge for what she did to me. When she was done I remember her telling those heartless bastards that it was their turn and to make it painful and trust me each one made it painful. Each took their turn. Punching, hitting, kicking me. It was almost as if it was a game and they all got a turn.

They all told me to leave her alone, to never bother her again, to never touch her again or attempt to make her fear me again but fuck that. I felt every fist every foot and I knew I would have some injuries only I didn't know yet which ones as I had chosen not to get up or move yet.

I looked around and I was on a side street behind a bar at least I wasn't left on Stark Street not that this street was much better. This was Washington and it was just off of Stark Street but at least gang members tended to not hang out in this area. This was more where the after work get a drink type or the town drunk hung out in town, so it could have been worse.

I remembered when the guys were finished with their messages as they referred to it more with their fists and feet than with their mouths Stephanie had them hold me while she filled me with a bottle of Jack.

Normally I wouldn't have had a problem drinking the Jack but this was sort of forced. They held me down while she poured it in my mouth forcing me to swallow or drown. Again I curse the bitch. I wrecked of it. I like to drink and I could barely stand the smell of myself. She would pay and she would pay dearly.

She didn't know it yet, but if I wasn't going to have her then no one would have her and I was to the point where I no longer wanted her. She had sealed her fate, she had officially done it she had made me not want her. But that didn't mean that I was going to allow her to be with anyone else. I just wasn't planning on letting her be period. Ranger and all of those fucking thugs that she thinks of so lovingly and that think of her as a sister would live to regret the night that they fucked with me. They would be sorry for what they did.

I would bid my time and make them think that their message was received I will wait for their guard to be down. I will wait for them to think that I am no longer a threat to Stephanie, or them. I could be a patient man if necessary and now called for patience.

I briefly wondered if Doug and Mike could help me or if I should just cut them free after all if Ranger found out I found information from them and continued to get information he may not believe that I was no longer a threat then on the other hand if I cut ties with them then I wouldn't be able to keep an eye on her, decision decisions.

I had decided to try to move when I heard a car coming down the alley. As it got closer I saw it was a police car. I cursed under my breath. Not knowing who was in the car I knew there was no way they wouldn't see me. Fuck they probably had been called because of me. I mean who wouldn't call if a guy was lying in a back street behind a bar in his boxers. Before the first police car reaches me another one is right behind it just fucking great.

I should have known they would have been called, I know protocol enough to know that on calls like this there is always backup I only hope it is one of the rookies one of the ones that just joined the force or a friend of mine. Someone that I can con, bribe, threaten to not say anything to any of the other cops.

The car came to a stop just in front of me. I was looking at the car when Carl and Big dog climbed out. Fuck. So much for no one knowing they had the two biggest mouths at the station and they never let anyone live anything down.

I didn't think it could really get any worse until I saw Eddie making his way toward me great. Now Stephanie would hear all about this. Not that she didn't already know but she would know how the cops treated me and teased me, fuck.

"Joe, what the hell man? What the fuck happened to you?" Carl asked me.

Before I could answer him Big Dog spoke up "Man do we need to call a bus?" I shook my head no. I didn't think I needed to go to the hospital. I mean they had beaten my ass but they didn't do any major damage at least I didn't think so. I don't think they broke anything only bruised everything.

I didn't need to further my embarrassment and humiliation by going to the hospital. Eddie spoke up next. "Joe what happened? Are you sure you okay man? Tell us who did this?" He asked me.

I debated should I tell them and then I thought why not. Maybe I could get charges filed against all of them. Looking up at the three men standing around me I thought I would tell them but leave out a few details. Like the stain on the front of my boxers wasn't whiskey.

"Ranger, some of his men, and Stephanie did this." I told them and I swear the fuckers almost busted out laughing. I could see them holding it back. Why the fuck would they think I would make this shit up.

"Look help me up, I told you who the fuck did this." I told them letting them see my anger at their behavior. Mother fuckers.

Eddie spoke up first "You said Stephanie did this? Why would she do this? Stephanie? Like as the Bombshell Bounty Hunter of Trenton Stephanie? A s in my wife's cousin, Stephanie?" He asked me like he couldn't wrap his head around it being the Stephanie he knew. Fuck yes it was her I fucking know who Stephanie is. I could feel my Italian temper raising.

"Eddie who the fuck you think I am talking about. Yes Stephanie, Cupcake whatever you want to call her." I told him. I raised my voice so he could get the fucking hint that he was pissing me off with his stupid fucking questions. I wasn't about to call her the Bombshell Bounty Hunter that was names that those thugs called her and I wanted nothing to do with them.

He just shook his head as if he still didn't get it. Carl had a smile on his face as he reached down to help me up on my feet. I couldn't help but grimace when he grabbed my arm and pulled on it. Slowly he pulled and I got my feet under me. The pain flowed through me and my only solace was that Stephanie would soon feel the same pain as well as her fucking thugs.

I accessed my body and had no broken bones well maybe a couple of cracked ribs but my legs, arms, wrists, and fingers weren't broken. I am sure I was more bruised than anything. I could tell by the feel of my face that my eyes were swollen a little, my lip was a little swollen but not bad as they had focused their attention on my body not so much the face. I think it was Slyder who punched me in the jaw again busting my lip.

Carl looked at me "You want us to take you home or do you want to come to the station and press charges?" He asked me but I could tell he really didn't want me to file charges. He probably didn't want it to be him that had to go to Rangeman and accuse them.

I looked at him "Carl, drop me at home do you really think I would want to fucking walk into the station looking like this?" I tell him.

"Joe if you are going to press charges you will want to get pictures of any damages." He told me I knew it made sense we certainly had told many of victims that before. I just nodded

"I still want to go home. Maybe you can call Robin and have her bring the camera to my house while I give you my statement and we can file the charges from there." I tell him. He just nods but I can tell that isn't what he wanted to hear.

I wasn't stupid I knew none of them wanted to walk in Rangeman with this accusation especially accusing Stephanie along with the rest of them. But too fucking bad they needed to do their fucking job.

We make our way to my house. I rode with Eddie who hadn't said anything more and I welcomed the silence my mind seeing the whole crew locked up for what they did to me making me smile. They would be sorry they fucked with me and that would only be the tip of the ice berg as to my plans. When they lost Stephanie they would be sorry. I would be sure to let them know that their night of delivering a message cost the her.

Carl must have called Robin on the way because she was parked in the front of my house when we got there. We walked in I showed them upstairs to my room. To show them the holes in the linens and the head board of the bed along with the mess that was left in my bed. I knew whiskey had to be all over the place because I remember chocking on it and spitting some of it out.

When we walked into the room the room was pristine. There was no smell of Whiskey the bed was made, I pulled the covers back and saw they were fresh linens. Actually they were new. I looked at the head board I saw the hole but it was different. I felt it and there was no bullet and the opening had been changed slightly to appear as though a knot from the wood had popped out it was smoother than a bullet hole would have made not to mention the size was off for any bullet as it was a little oval shaped.

I looked around the room and saw that the rug had been vacuumed and even appeared to have been shampooed but it wasn't wet when I put my hand on it. How in the fuck?

I looked at them "Ranger, Stephanie, and six of his men came into my bedroom last night and did this to me. They said it was pay back, but I have no idea what they were paying me back for." I told them.

I went to the laundry basket and looked and no sheets. I went to the trash can and looked and there were none. I slowly made my way downstairs and checked my trashcans downstairs and even outside and no sheets, nothing from the bedroom to have indicated any clean up or cover up.

Looking at them "those aren't my sheets I tell them. My room has been totally scrubbed" I told them. Looking at Robin I said "You ready to get these shots so I can make my statement and file the charges I needed filed." I asked her.

She looked at me like the others looked at me like they weren't quite sure I was right that I was telling them the truth. The fuckers weren't going to believe one of their brothers in blue? I mean what the fuck?

"What? You don't believe me you think I am making this shit up?" I asked them motioning to my bruised body. They shook their heads no.

Carl was the only one to speak up "No, we know you didn't make that part up we just aren't sure you are right about Ranger, Stephanie, and his men did this to you. I mean you smell of Whiskey we find you behind a bar that you have been frequenting lately, not to mention you have been having a tiff with Stephanie that has had you drinking more than usual. So we are a little unsure as to what to believe." He said.

"Well I am telling you what happened. I want charges filed. I want charges against Stephanie for attempted murder of a police officer, I want all the others to have charges files for assault of a police officer, I want them all charged for breaking and entering as they broke into my home. I want them all charged for kidnapping as they held me hostage and then took me against my will out of my home and dropped me off at the bar. I want them all so charged with reckless endangerment for dropping me in the alley way." I told them hoping I had listed all the charges I could get on them.

They all looked at me Big Dog spoke up "Morelli those are some serious charges. We will need names for the others that were here. Do you know their names?" He asked me.

I knew a few of them from hearing Stephanie talking about them. Not that she said much to me but I would occasionally hear her talking to Lula and occasions she would say something to me if she was working with one or if one was tailing her when one of her stalkers was causing her problems.

I answered him "Well I know one was Tank another one was Lester. I know ones name was Slyder he was in the Navy with me. There was the guy with the Tattoo on his forehead I think his name was Cal. There was a black man there that I think his name is Bobby but I could be wrong. There was also a guy who had all kind of tattoos and he had three tear drops on his cheek but I don't know his name." I told them.

I then added "maybe you can get one of them to spill his name when you bring them in. I want them all arrested." I tell them as I pop a few aspirin and down it with a beer, fuck it. They were watching me but eventually took the pictures, took the statement and filed the charges.

Eddie and Carl decided to leave and go to Rangeman to talk to them and hopefully arrest them while Big Dog and Robin made themselves at home on my sofa.

RPOV  
I woke up with my Babe in my arms and I couldn't help but the smile that slowly spread across my face from the memories of last night replaying in my head and they were definitely having an effect on me. I mean normally I was hard in the mornings that is just something that happens but these memories was making me hard to the point that I was going to be waking up my Babe for another round.

Last night standing in Morelli's room seeing my Babe so strong, seeing her take back her life as she says take back what he stole from her was so fucking hot. Once she had finished she turned to me faced me and I told her how proud I was of her. How much I loved her. How much she meant to me. How I wanted her to have my babies, if she wanted them. How I wanted her to marry me. No words were actually spoken only our eyes locked on each other but we both fully understood each other.

She wanted to know if she had overstepped in saying some of those things she was a little unsure but she should have known I wouldn't have cared. I didn't care that she made him call her Mrs. Manoso if anything it made so fucking hard. I didn't care that she said she was going to have my babies I actually loved it. But She and I had never talked about it hell I had never even thought about it but when I heard the words and saw those images it was definitely something I knew I wanted.

Of course all she knew about me was that I didn't want any because of the stupid shit I use to say to her. While some of it was true my life is difficult, our life is difficult and to some degrees it is a very dangerous life I could keep her and our children safe so it wasn't impossible.

Remembering how she told me and my men that it was our turn and to make it painful brought another smile. We had done just that but we stopped short of causing any real damage. I mean he may piss blood for a week, and it may hurt to breath deep for a few weeks but he would live. He had no broken bones he should consider himself lucky after what my Babe did that he was still living because it was very possible last night that she could have killed him.

When we left I had my Porsche waiting for us. Manny had brought it over. He was there to take care of any problems at the scene. I knew the fucker would file charges so that is why I wanted him out of the house. I hadn't fully planned on what Stephanie did but it worked perfect when she poured the whiskey down his throat forcing him to drink it.

I wondered where she learned her water boarding techniques further sending home the fact that I never wanted her that pissed at me ever. Being water boarded was no fun. I would know I had lived through it once. The fuckers who did it didn't live through it but I had and I could honestly say I never wanted it to happen again. Nothing like feeling you were going to drown only you weren't in any fucking water.

I left the guys to deal with dropping the fucking cop off and Manny to clean the scene I knew they would never find anything and I already had our alibi lined up just waiting for the police although I couldn't make it that easy for them. I didn't want to seem so ready for them.

I hope my Babe would play along and not say something wrong she wasn't very good at lying well at least not to us but then again we were experts. Fuck we were almost like human lie detectors I doubted the cops would be that good. When she ran distractions she was good enough to make them believe her the cops would believe her so long as she followed my lead.

I was so hard the whole trip back I barely remember driving. I get her to our bed only for her to stop me. She stopped my advances saying that as much as she wanted to make love to me she couldn't because of her period. I remember her blushing at her statement and I could feel my stomach tightening more at the thoughts.

If it wasn't that I needed her right then so bad more than I needed air to breath or water to drink I think I would have laughed at her ideas of not wanting to have sex while she was on her period. I don't mean laugh at her. Just that she didn't think I would want to, she thought I would find it gross, she didn't want to mess up my sheets, or for Ella to see the evidence.

To be so bold in some ways she can be backward and awkward in others and I absolutely loved that about her. I wouldn't change her somewhat innocent views of the world for nothing in the world. It took me some time to convince her that I didn't care. That nothing about her repulsed me or grossed me out that I would always want her when she was both on and off her period. That I didn't give a fuck about the sheets and Ella wouldn't give a fuck about any evidence. That she was a woman and understood and further more would never say anything she loved my Babe as if she was a daughter.

She blushed even more when I told her about Ella understanding. Finally I picked her up and went to the shower where I knew it would be easier for her. I slowly undressed her and then stepped out of the bathroom while she took care of her business. When I heard the water running in the sink I stepped back in gathering her in my arms.

Feeling her skin against my skin sent me higher I barely made it in the shower before I had her in my arms her legs around my waste me ready to enter her. I stopped pausing looking at her. I wanted to make sure she was completely on board with this if not then I would do something else even if it meant a cold shower. I would never do something without my Babes consent without her wanting it just as much as I wanted it.

"Babe are you okay with this? If you really want me to stop say the word and we will stop. I never want you to feel pressured. I never want you to think you have to do something because I want it or I will enjoy it when you won't. I never want you to feel that you can't tell me that. Anytime anyplace you can tell me and I swear to you I will stop. This is something that I share with you and it will always be with you not just me." I tell her trying to stress to her that she is the one with all the control always has been always will be.

She looked at me smiling with tears in her eyes and I briefly thought she was going to say no. Which while I would be disappointed because I wanted to be connected with her after tonight I wanted to make love to her feel our connection but I would be just fine with her saying no not tonight she was here with me and I would just hold her if that is all she felt comfortable with.

She said "Carlos it isn't that I don't want you I want you to make love to me I want to feel you inside me completing me in the only way you can. I am just not sure with everything." She motioned to her lower stomach area "I have never done it during…well you know." She said not wanting to say period out loud in front of me. Blushing the whole time she was saying it making me want her more.

"Babe, it's your decision. If you want to try and see what it feels like and if it is uncomfortable or painful in any way you can tell me and we will stop, I will stop Babe never question that. I never want you to hurt or be uncomfortable when we are making love." I told her. It was the truth I never wanted that between us I only wanted love and giving of ourselves, myself to her and her to me. I secretly hoped she would try because I really didn't want to have to wait however many days to make love to her.

"Carlos I know you will stop I never questioned that I know you would never force me, make me feel as though I had to do anything. I trust you completely I trust you implicitly with everything my body, my heart, my love, my everything." She said. I brushed my lips across hers and gave a little pressure so she could feel me kiss her lightly but I kept it light. She was in control she was telling me where this was going.

She pulled me closer consuming my lips feeling her tongue swipe across my lips I open my mouth for her and her tongue slips in and I deepen the kiss. My dick is throbbing with need but I put that at the back of my mind and just enjoy the kiss for all its worth. Letting the feel of our kiss wash over me like the scent of a summer rain. Something that is so familiar yet so easily looked over because of the joys of other things so I just enjoyed the kiss enjoyed the feel of her tongue tasting me of me tasting her enjoyed the feeling of her lips soft and yet plump pressed against mine how they almost felt like velvet as our lips moved in rhythm together.

I loved the weight of her body in my arms. Feeling her pressed against me feeling her weight against me I could hold her like this forever and never tire. I just thank god I was strong enough to hold her like this and I vowed there would never be a day when I wasn't strong enough to hold her like this.

My hands were cupping her ass holding her to me god how I wanted to be inside my woman but once again I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind. I wouldn't act on any of them. Not until she said it was what she wanted and then it would be very slow I would make love to her.

She wiggled against me and I knew what she was saying but I wanted words. I wanted the words. "What is it that you want Babe?" I whispered in her ear as I nibbled her ear lobe and pressed a faint kiss just below it on the side of her neck. I felt the urge to mark her but refrained for now. I didn't want to lose control not before she said the words.

My babe pulled back cupping my face she said "Carlos, I want to give you everything. I want to give you me all the time. Please let's try this. I will tell you if I need to stop. I want you I need you." She ended it with crushing her lips onto mine and that was all I needed to bring her down on my hardened dick to sink myself deep inside her velvety folds until I was completely wrapped up by my Babe's beautiful body.

I moved her slow and easy down on me I didn't want to be too rough. I knew enough about a woman's body to know it didn't feel the greatest at this time and I didn't want to do anything to make it worse. I was hoping by me giving her orgasm after orgasm it would actually make it better. I had no intentions of stopping tonight. Not until neither of us could move, could scream, or could function enough to continue.

I put my back to the shower wall not wanting to put her back against them and her have to feel the contrast from the warm water to the colder tiles leaning back a little I was able to bring her down on me farther and I wanted to yell out at how fucking good it felt. I felt my eyes roll back and I know I heard a growl that I think came from me.

My eyes refocused on my Babe and her head was thrown back her hair trailing down her back to the point I could feel it tickle my thighs. God she was a thing of beauty her breasts jutting out towards me as though she were offering them for my feasting delights. I knew she was just like that because of the ecstasy of the moment but I took advantage of the situation and let my tongue savor her tight nub of a nipple before I pulled it into my mouth suckling it teasing it with my tongue. I could feel what it was doing to her as fresh juices from her ran down me and pulled further at those strings of my control.

My control to keep from just taking her but they held. Moving her easily up and down back and forth making sure that I remained bury deep inside her. Only moving her only an inch at the most but enough to cause friction between us that had us both moaning in pleasure.

I could feel her walls tight around me hugging me grasping me and I knew she was close. I wondered if this was a time that she would hold on to the edge and let me drive her orgasm higher or if she would just let go and let it wash over her let herself fall in ecstasy. I increased the speed and motion just enough to push her a little more but hopefully not too much where I made it uncomfortable for her. But when she screamed and she bucked her own body more against mine I knew it was what she wanted. She wanted to feel the orgasm wash over her but she needed more to let herself drop over the edge into her orgasm.

I picked up the speed and pushed her further down on me sending me deeper and I had to hold back my own orgasm as that extra spurred in me the need. The need to cum inside her the need to hear her name echoing off of these walls as I scream her name from the pure pleasure that she is giving me. I feel her shake in my arms. The muscles in her body contracting and I know I am giving her the same amount of torturous pleasure, like me she is holding on. She is holding on to the edge refusing to drop too soon before she can milk every ounce of pleasure from me and return it back to me tenfold.

My body feeling her moves on its own and picks the pace up further as my lips wrap around the soft skin of her nipple and then suck her breast into my mouth causing her to yell out. I release her nipple and my lips find the sensitive skin of her neck and this time I pull it in leaving my mark on her. God just the thought of that causes my balls to tighten my stomach to tighten a little further I want to cum so bad my body is ready to mutiny over my mind.

But my will and mind hold for now they won't hold forever eventually my body will win the battle but for a little while longer I can give my Babe everything she needs. I can make her writhe in ecstasy I can make her heart race and pound more I can make her scream until she is unable to scream I can make her muscles contract to the point that her body goes limp in my arms. I know the power I have when it comes to making love to my Babe and I know what I can do to her body.

It wasn't but moments later before she was screaming my name coming to pieces in my arms that I let go and came with her. Both or names echoing off the walls as we came unglued or bodies spasm together as we both fell from the edge into our orgasm.

Remembering our night together wasn't helping the situation I knew my Babe would be tired we had made love most of the night. I think we finally crashed at like zero four hundred this morning and it was only zero six hundred. I knew if she was going to do her training today she needed the next two hours of sleep but my body wanted her so bad. But I remained in control and just appeased myself by remaining there holding her instead of heading to the gym.

I suspected Demon and Reggae would be pulling into the garage around zero seven hundred I had them booked on my jet out of Boston early this morning. They were part of the alibi. They needed to be here before the cops showed up at our doors.

My Babe started to rustle and I pulled her to me tighter to me hoping that she wouldn't wake up on one hand and hoping that she would on another. When I buried my head in her curls and nuzzled her she sighed and was headed back to dream land. She had training at zero eight hundred this morning and I wanted her to get as much rest as she could.

I would wake her in time to get ready for herer training. I had planned sniper training out of the building today and work in the shooters alley at the compound but I suspected our cop friends were going to throw a wrench in that plan.

DemonPOV

I can't believe Reggae and I are going to finally be able to meet the bombshell bounty hunter. We have only wanted to meet her for over two years. Ever since we started hearing stories about this beautiful girl that things tend to go boom around especially her and Ranger's cars.

I still remember the story about his boxter blowing up and the garbage truck landing on it I mean who the hell does shit like this happen to? That was a sweet ass car.

We arrived in Newark at the airfield at zero six hundred the flight was fine as it was private jet. It was the only way to fly we didn't have to deal with airport security we just drive to hanger hop on the jet and take off. When we land we just pull out of the hanger and head on our way the best of all worlds.

You only needed to sit beside one screaming child after a long mission or a long take down out of state and know you never wanted to do that again. Not to mention the danger it put us in and the people on the plane when we were returning from missions. We weren't always right in the head directly following a mission.

Screaming children screaming adults or over packed aircraft just isn't good for that situation our bodies and minds are too focused on our survival we don't always make the best decisions when it comes to civilians in that frame of mind. It took days sometimes week to get to the point you could feel safe being around civilians again without fears of hurting them accidentally because they set us off.

We walk out of the hanger and waiting for us are Binkie driving one vehicle with Cal riding along and Zero driving the other vehicle with Slyder. What the fuck is he doing here? Last I heard he was still flying the big boys. I was glad to see him and briefly wondered if he had started working for Rangeman.

Walking up I bump fists with the guys along with Reggae. I hop in the car with Zero and Slyder while Reggae hops in with Binkie and Cal.

"Hey man how long you been in Trenton?" I asked Slyder.

He looks over the seat "haven't been here long just got in town on Saturday evening." He told me. I nodded.

"You on leave or are you out?" I asked him.

"Out man I finally took that retirement. I was hoping Ranger had an opening and could use me." He said. Oh I had no doubt Ranger wouldn't find a place for him the way Rangeman was growing in all the cities I had no doubt there wouldn't be a place for him. Especially add the fact that half of us already know him and trust him it was a no brainer.

"So man have you had a chance to meet the Bombshell Bounty Hunter?" I asked him I didn't want to seem too excited but I was in fact excited to meet her. I heard so many stories as the guys here in Trenton they just went on and on about her when visiting Boston. In the beginning I really wondered if she was real because how could one person be all the things they said she was and still have the things happen to her that they would tell us about. It didn't seem possible.

He looked at me smiling "Yeah man I met her and let me tell you she is infectious." He said smiling almost laughing. What the fuck did that mean infectious? Is she sick with something we could catch? What the fuck I really wanted to meet her. Maybe I could still meet her if I put on gloves and a mask I wondered.

I bet the men of Rangeman Trenton were about to go ballistic if something was going on with their Bombshell. I couldn't help it I had to ask I had to know. "Man is she sick or something?" He started laughing shaking his head. Well at least she wasn't sick but he didn't have to fucking laugh at me, fucker.

"Why are you laughing? You are the one that said she was fucking infectious you stupid fuck." I told him letting him know that I wasn't appreciating his fucking humor.

"Man it is an expression, fuck where the fuck do you hang out at? She is beyond beautiful inside and out and you will find yourself drawn to her. She is something else and you should have seen her last night, Holy shit." He says. I can see he was proud of her.

"What happened last night? I assume that is why Reggae and I were called to come in first thing this morning. Something happen to her?" I asked.

He shook his head "naw man she is fine. She has been having this problem with an x boyfriend of hers. He has been harassing her, man handling her, scaring her. He is a fucking prick but he is a fucking cop. Well Ranger had put up with his shit for long enough and decided to pay him a little visit Rangeman style." He told me and I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face.

I had never met the Bombshell but because of the guys and the stories I have been told for the past two years I felt like I had known her and I didn't like hearing someone was manhandling her or giving her a hard time.

"I hope whoever paid the fucker a visit did a number on his ass that is if the fucker is still breathing. Dead would be even better." I told Slyder.

"Man eight of us paid him a visit and my Incendia was one of them." He told me. His fucking what? What the fuck was an incendia? He must have followed my confusion.

"Demon it's my name for her Incendia it means firefly." He tells me. Okay I sort of like that.

"So tell me what happened" I tell him anxious to hear what happened. She had faced the man causing her problems that is good. It's always good to reclaim what those fuckers try to steal from you. My sister had a son of a bitch that tried to harass her tried to man handle her of course he is somewhere at the bottom of the ocean probably having fed a few sharks along the way. In those cold northern waters it wasn't uncommon for a great white to be swimming just off shore. And since his ass was chum when I threw it in I figured a few sharks had a meal on him.

My sister didn't get the opportunity to face the fucker in her life but that was okay my sister wasn't strong enough she would have caved to his pleadings of forgiveness and the oh I love you and will never hurt you again false promises all of the sons of bitches make. I could feel my anger raising and I needed to get control of it. Now wasn't the time to lose it to anger over the past and over a girl I had yet to meet.

Slyder spoke up breaking me for my thoughts "Well it was Ranger, Tank, Lester, Bobby, Cal, Hector, myself and Incendia." He tells me but continues "She was brilliant" he looks at Zeo and said "I bet you haven't heard this yet as we were late getting back last night."

Zero shook his head that he hadn't heard saying "no I haven't heard yet. I had early shift this morning so I hit the sack early and then we left this morning first thing."

Slyder continued "well we get there and we sneak up on the cop sleeping. How eight men could walk in your bedroom I don't fucking know but we snuck up on him and my Incendia pulled a gun held it to his head and cocked it which did wake him up."

Holy shit she had held a gun to a cops head. "Was it loaded?" I asked him. Thinking maybe the gun wasn't loaded. He nodded. Holy shit she had held a loaded gun to his head.

"Man let me tell you it had one bullet in it. She pulled the fucking trigger too. She pulled the trigger three times with the gun to his head and one time with the gun on his dick and balls. With each trigger pull she sent her message home and his fear escalated. The last thing she said to him was that his apology wasn't accepted and she put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger that was the forth pull. The gun clicked so she didn't kill him but she did make him piss his boxers and bed. Fucking baby that he was, I was just glad he didn't shit himself. She then turned to us and told us it was our turn and for us to make it fucking painful. I tell you man she was a thing of pure beauty."

"Well I hope you all made it painful like she said." I told him. Sometimes they fucking went too light on people. He nodded.

"Yeah man he will be pissing blood for a week. He has several cracked ribs, probably a broken nose although I don't think we did too many face shots I know I busted his lip for him a reminder to keep his fucking mouth shut. But it was my Incendia at the end that surprised us yet again when she had us hold him and she fucking water boarded him with a bottle of Jack." Slyder said.

Holy shit she had water boarded someone no fucking way. "Are you fucking serious she water boarded him?" I asked him. He nodded and added..

"Man I know what the fuck water boarding is. We held him down while she filled his mouth with the whiskey until he was fucking chocking and gagging on it. He was fucking drowning on it she was forcing him to swallow it." Damn. It was looking like the Bombshell was a woman who you didn't want to piss off.

We had brought our audio files from the take down we did last night with us I was curious what Rangeman wanted that for and why he wanted us here but after hearing this I think I am starting to put the pieces together.

MannyPOV

I had cleaned up the scene at that fucking pricks house. I had cleaned up any evidence that any of us had been there. The stupid fucker didn't have an alarm system, or video so I didn't have to worry about any of that. I can't even believe he thought he was safe or my wifey was safe when she had stayed with him with no fucking alarm. I briefly wondered if Ranger knew that but of course he did he knew everything.

I am so glad my wifey is here living here where I no longer have to worry about her. I no longer have to fear getting that call that someone has invaded her home. Hell as it was anyone could walk right through the front door her locks were for shit. She had no idea how many nights I had sat out in her parking lot just keeping watch over her place.

Just making sure that, that night she was safe. I knew I wasn't the only one that had done the same I knew for a fact there were nights Lester, Hector, Ram, and even Cal have spent sitting in her parking lot watching for the bad guys. I know Ranger kept a watch too but I never saw him then again we wouldn't see him unless he wanted to be seen. These were times outside when Ranger ordered us to not that he had to order us to do it we would have done it anyway during those times. These were times when it was on our own time, our own loss of sleep to watch over her and make sure she was safe.

I even watched over her when I knew that fucking cop was there and after hearing how he allowed eight people to walk into his room and remain asleep I knew I was right in keeping watch over her. He would never be able to protect her. If one of our enemies came after her she would be dead before he even woke the fuck up. He would never have been able to do shit to protect her. He was so far out the league he didn't know the fucking league existed.

I may not have been military but I was fucking trained and there is no way in fuck eight people could walk into my bedroom and I not know it. Fuck I would know it before they hit the door and they would be dead before their foot crossed the threshold.

Once I had his place clean I made my way back to Rangeman and I started working on the alibi. It was brilliant. Ranger let me know that as soon as Tank and Stephanie made it back Rangeman yesterday he had the private jet fly up to Boston.

He also told me that Demon and Reggae would be flying back down this morning and they would have audio and video I would need to complete the alibi. So I set about fixing the alibi looking forward to the expected company. It was a little before seven when they came walking into the lab and we started working on the audio and video feeds they brought with them along with ones we had acquired.

CalPOV

I had training with my Angel today. This morning my hour training with her was after Rams and this afternoon I had the first session with her for fighting and self defense. I loved when I had training with my Angel. After watching her last night you could see how her training was allowing her to find her confidence, her strength and I hoped that would always be the case.

She was so strong, she was beautiful and I had never seen her fly as beautifully as she did last night. Reggae had wanted to know about her in the car ride back to the shop. I couldn't help but tell him how proud she made me. How that fucking cop had treated her, how he had attacked her how he had shot me but that she got her revenge.

She made him piss himself as she put the fear of Mrs. Manoso in him although truthfully I think it was more along the lines of fear of Mrs. Ranger in him. I still wasn't thrilled with her pulling the trigger she could have killed him last night and as beautiful as she was taking back her life reclaiming what he stole from her I didn't want his blood on her hands.

When Ranger and she left after we each took our turn sending him our own painful messages although in my opinion he still got off easier than he should have. We should have at least broken a few bones to make him really remember the force of our anger but we didn't. Oh he had a few cracked ribs and a possible broken nose but beyond that, that was it well besides the bruises he would have lots of those.

When they left we jerked his sorry ass out of the bed and quickly drove him to the bar it was closed by the time we got there. We all left him with a little reminder of the lessons we had taught him in his bedroom and then we made sure his lights were out before we left him. We wanted them to find him in the morning.

Before we left though we took the video feed from the bar. We would return it a little later before anyone got there but after Morelli was found. We monitor the police bands so we would know the minute he was found by his brothers in blue.

There was no doubt the fucking prick wasn't going to press charges and try to name us all that is if he fucking knew our names. He was too busy calling us thugs and killers to really bother with the simple thing of a name. But he knew the most important one and that was my Angel. This was all for her.

Regardless let him try naming us it isn't like it will go far. My phone rings and I smile seeing it is Manny. I answer "Yeah".

"Bro we have that video ready. It needs to get back to the bar." He told me and I just smiled.

"Okay man I will take it just have Demon or Reggae meet me in the garage with it, if they aren't busy they can tag along for look out for me" I tell him. I will slip the tape back in and none will be the wiser.

I had just put the tape back and was heading back to Rangeman when I decided that my Angel deserved a special treat this morning. It was time for Demon and Reggae to be introduced to my Angel's favorite food group, the Tasty Pastry more specifically Boston Cream Donuts. I slipped in and bought a dozen. I figured this morning it would be a full table for breakfast.

I was pretty certain every guy from last night would be there along with Demon and Reggae because they were dying to meet her. Not to mention Ram had first training session with her this morning so I was pretty certain he would weasel his way in. Not that she would care she loved Breakfast with her brothers and we loved breakfast with her.

SPOV  
Soft strong lips drug me out of my sleep. The feel of his lips on my neck, shoulder, face. The feel of his arms wrapped around me holding me to him. The feel of his strong chest pressed against my back my head leaning back on his strong shoulders resting on his strong arm. No wonder my nights are so peaceful when I am wrapped in Carlos the man, and Ranger the warrior. He was both he was all, and he was all mine.

He really was like two men wrapped in one body. He wasn't bi polar. He wasn't schizophrenic if that is what you are thinking. It's just hard to explain. He was Ranger to his men, to his enemy, to his work but to me here lying in this bed beside me he was Carlos. He was tender, he was loving, he was in some ways soft something that Ranger never was.

"Babe" I hear him call my name.

"Hmmm" I respond wondering how he knew I was even awake because I hadn't moved a muscle or spoken a word I was sure of it. None of that was out loud.

"Babe please don't say I am soft. I am a lot of things but soft isn't one of them." He told me as he nudged me just to proof the point that he was definitely not soft especially one part of him was never soft.

"Oh I am not hard all the time Babe, just when you are around me. I find you impossible to resist." He says as he turns me toward him covering my body with his, his lips finding mine.

Now I could get on board with this kind of wake up call. "Babe" shit out loud again, oh well who the fuck wouldn't want this wake up call. I mean he the man is sex walking.

Carlos freezes on top of me. He doesn't move a muscle. His head pops up. I know something isn't right with him acting like that. "What's wrong Carlos?" I ask him.

"Babe we are about to be invaded." He tells me and I freeze. Invaded, invaded by who how could someone get up here and how did he know someone was here. Had the police shown up was it Joe delivering a little payback. I have to say I am a little worried about that.

He stroked my cheek and chin getting my attention. "Babe, calm down its okay it's just your brothers they have gathered at the door. I would say about ten of them in total. They are currently debating to just come in or to knock first." How the fuck does he know that, how does he know there are ten?

How the hell can he hear that no way he can hear into the hallway from here in the bedroom? I strain trying to hear but I hear nothing. Looking at him I say "well maybe if we ignore them they will go away" already missing my morning sex because I know now it isn't going to happen. Damn sometimes my brothers really could be a pain in the ass.

Carlos rolled off of me on to his back sighing he was missing this just as much as I was. "Babe why don't you hop in the shower I will go met the breakfast moochers at the door." He tells me I can tell he is less excited than I am at the moment.

I roll over on top of him sitting on him "Carlos we can just ignore them. They can't unlock the door. They can't get in unless we let them in." I tell him as I push myself against him. The ghost of a smile that I love so much crosses his lips.

"Babe before I am done with you they will have figured a way to break the door down or worse Ella will show up and let them in she can always unlock the door even when they can't." He said effectively bursting my little bubble of hope that I would get what I wanted the most.

"Okay fine I will hop in the shower but you tell them, that I am more than a little upset with them this morning. They kept me from getting something I wanted." I tell him as I give him a kiss and rolled over off of him and off the bed. Disgruntled as they get I make my way to the bathroom.

I couldn't help look back and see my beautiful Cuban sex god rise out of bed looking like something that came down from Mount Olympus his fine tight ass, his beautiful v that his back made from his wide beautiful shoulders to his narrow trimmed waist to his beautiful hips and strong legs. Just looking at him made my knees weak made my breath catch made my stomach tighten and made my juices flow. Holy shit I was getting out of bed with that fine ass man to go take a shower because my brothers didn't know to fucking wait until I came down there. It's so not fair.

Not that I really cared I did love my brothers and I enjoyed every moment with them only I didn't want them interrupting my Cuban sex god loving time. Somehow I was going to have to draw the line. I mean really is it too much to ask for a girl to get a little morning sex without her brothers showing up derailing her?" Definite cock blockers if there ever was a cock blocker.

I quickly showered, washed and conditioned my hair. Getting out I dried off and ran some moose though my hair. I quickly dried it, well as quickly as this mop of mine dries and then threw it up in a ponytail. I quickly put on a little bit of makeup mainly mascara and lip gloss and made my way in to the closet.

Carlos was putting on his clothes. I smiled as I saw his beautiful ass just before he pulled his cargos in place riding low on his hips. Damn that is one fine man. I love knowing my sex god went commando. I pulled out my clothing for the day it was training day today marksmanship and self defense so I dressed in my cargos but not knowing what we were doing today I packed my bag with my camos just in case we were back in the woods at the compound. I put my tennis shoes and my workout out fit in it just in case if I didn't make it back to the apartment I would have my gear with me.

"So are they all waiting for me? Or did they start without me." I asked him. He smiled.

"Babe they wouldn't start without you. They love eating with you. Besides there are two people who you get to meet from our Boston office with them this morning." He tells me.

Great just when I was ready to give them down the road for interrupting me this morning there are two new guys to meet. "Great well let's get this over with I am starving." I tell him just as my stomach lets out a growl that I am not certain wasn't a lion or tiger hidden in there somewhere. Even I looked just to make sure. Carlos looking at me shaking his head with his eyebrow up, what I can't help it.

We make our way out of the bedroom into the hallway and I can hear their voices and Lester's laughter. Hearing his laughter makes me want to laugh. I remember the day when I would have thought someone laughing in another room was laughing at me but today it just made me smile. I knew Lester would never laugh at me. With me yes, but not at me he was my best friend, he wouldn't do that.

I walk into the room and the room is packed. Lester, Slyder, Tank, Bobby, Cal, Hector, Ram, and Manny were all standing there along with two guys I had yet to meet. Sure as shit there were ten, how the fuck? The two new guys must be the guys from Rangeman Boston.

Before I had a chance to introduce myself to them Lester grabbed me in a hug. "Morning Beautiful" he said as he gave me a kiss on the cheek. I wanted to be mad at him for being a coitus interuptus but how can you stay mad at him when he calls you beautiful first thing in the morning.

"Beautiful I am not sure what coitus interuptus is but you are beautiful all the time." He says and I blush three shades of red I had said that out loud, fuck. At least I hadn't said Cuban sex god interuptus thank you Sheldon.

Lester starts "Beautiful are you thanking Sheldon from Big Bang Theory?" then he put it all together of course he would, fucker. "Interuptus oh I saw that episode, remember we watched it together we were laughing so hard at how …" yep he put it all together. My face turned even redder and he started laughing.

Carlos came to my rescue "Santos mats 0500 every morning for the next week." He tell him and I just smile. Serves his ass right, no one else would have known what I meant had he not had to spell it out for everyone. What a great impression for the new guys from Boston who are now snickering at the whole situation or maybe just Lester earning mat time. I might as well introduce myself as sex fiend at this point.

Now all the guys are laughing and Ranger just says "Babe" with that hint of a smile. Damn I swear I am broken. See what happens when I don't get my morning sex? With that Tank chocks, Lester hits the floor, Slyder is holding his knees trying to catch his breath from laughing, Ram is probably more red than me. Hector is just smiling acting as if he hadn't understood anything I just said but if you looked close enough you could see the laughter in his eyes. The guys from Boston well I don't know what they are doing because I just shut my eyes willing the ground to open and swallow me whole right where I stand.

Hector comes to my rescue by offering me a hug which I gladly accept as he whispers in my ear "Give me the word Angelito I will shut them up." I smile at him. He always knows what to say. Cal was next with the rescue when he stepped forward his face bright from his morning laugh.

"Angel I stopped this morning and picked these up for you. If you need to eat them all and don't let them he pointed to Lester, Slyder, and the new guys have any feel free to do so." I love my brothers. I knew that box that was from Tasty Pastry and I would be willing to bet you inside would be Boston Cream Donuts. I briefly wondered if Boston Cream Donuts came from Boston hmm something to think about later on.

"Cal I love you" I tell him as I hug him and he hugs me back. "Come on guys let's eat I have training in a few minutes and I can't be late Ram wouldn't be very happy with me." I tell them smiling while I give Ram a wink.

Ram speaks up "Bombshell I am just glad you are up. I remember a time not so long ago that getting you up this time of morning took some serious negotiations and downright begging." He was referencing the time he was tasked to bring me to the morning meeting and I didn't want to get up he had to bribe me McDonalds for breakfast that was after he was my pillow for a little while. I just smiled at him.

As we make our way into the dining room I wonder if we are all going to fit but we manage brining in chairs from the kitchen. I am finally able to once again look at the guys from Boston. "Hi, I am Stephanie but you probably already knew that huh?" I tell them. Not sure after that impression I left with them what to say.

They just smiled. One with the dread locks spoke up first "Stephanie my name is Reggae. Well at least that is what the guys call me." He has a beautiful Jamaican accent.

I give him a finger wave saying "Hi" but repressed then man I so desperately wanted to say thinking maybe I would offend him.

The other guy speaks up "They call me Demon, nice to meet you." He says demon why the hell would they call him demon? I look at him and see a cross hanging around his neck so he isn't like a devil worshiper or anything. He shakes his head smiling

"No I am not a devil worshiper." I turn three shades of red once again. I swear some days the filter between the brain and mouth was just nonexistent.

I said the only thing I could think of "good to know." Which was completely stupid thing to say but honestly what else do you say? I want you to worship demons?

"Nice to meet you both, you are the first guys I have met from the Boston office." I tell them.

"We know" they both said. Hmmm I will have to think about that more

I bite into my donut and the world stops for a moment. Everything is perfect as the chocolate and the sugar hit my tongue. If I can't have morning sex with my hot Cuban sex god then this is second best. I moan I can't help it. It taste so damn good and I haven't had a Boston Cream in a while. The cream flows into my mouth from the center and I moan even more.

How can one not love these things they have everything to love? Chocolate coating on the outside, soft fluffy fried dough that is just the right firmness yet soft and sweet that like semi melts on your tongue and did I mentioned fried? Then the crème is yummy sweet creamy goodness. It was an orgasm in a food.

I was in my own world of enjoyment lost in the taste of my donut my little piece of heaven. I never saw all of the looks of pain the adjustments that were going on to make sitting more comfortable. I really didn't care I was completely wrapped up in my delicious goodness to notice.

EddiePOV

I can't believe Carl and I are doing this. We are about to walk into Rangeman and ask to speak to Ranger and Stephanie and proceed to arrest them on charges that Morelli has filed. They had worked him over pretty good if they had done this. I couldn't see them really having a reason for doing this.

I mean Stephanie was living at Rangeman she was dating Ranger everyone knew that and for what everyone knew Morelli hadn't said too much to anyone about it. I had heard the burg gossip about a few altercations between Morelli and Stephanie but besides the time she came in and got the restraining order she hadn't filed any further complaints or said anything to me about problems.

I know I am probably not someone she would come to but I am her friend, I am married to her cousin if she was having a problem with someone on the force I would expect her to come to me and tell me about it.

I hope they realize I come in peace. I mean no harm only doing my job. Hopefully Stephanie being family will keep them from killing me when I cart Ranger, Stephanie and six other Rangeman out of the building. We pull up to the curb. And I look at Carl, "You ready to do this?" I asked him and I could see he was no more ready than me.

But we get out of the car and make our way to the front door. Opening it we go in to the lobby. Looking around there are two men at the front desk area. I had never been in the Rangeman building but everything screamed money. High end everything. From the marble floors shining to the area oriental rugs there was no question they were real to the beautiful Black leather furniture that screamed Italian and the artwork that hung on the wall that screamed museum quality. I had no idea Rangeman did this good.

The front desk was marble and rich wood but I had no idea what type it scream exotic wood. The men behind the desk broke me out of my pondering and probably a little bit of drooling. Who wouldn't want to work in these conditions?

"How may we help you officers?" One of the men asks us. He stands and he is tall I would say six five at least. Holy shit, we are going to die. I briefly wonder if the job or Morelli is worth this. I mean in the history of Rangeman not one cop to my knowledge has ever stepped in the front door of Rangeman or confronted a Rangeman for anything. Hell most wouldn't even pull them over when they were speeding and here were about to arrest their boss and the girl who had their hearts.

I speak up I hope my voice is more confident and self assured than I am truly feeling at the moment. "I need to speak to Ranger and Stephanie." I tell the men.

One of the men picks up the phone dialing a number I only hear one side of the conversation. "Men in blue down here in lobby asking to speak to Ranger and Stephanie" the man says. I note he never said hello, hi or any of greeting and then he just hangs up never saying any form of good bye. No doubt about it we were going to die.

He then looks at us "someone will be down in a few minutes. I was told to show you to a conference room." He stands up and he isn't as tall as the first man already standing but he is no push over he is still much bigger than me and even larger than Carl.

We follow him down a hallway and he opens the conference room door. Once again it is obvious how much money Rangeman has. You can tell this isn't typical office furniture. The conference room has a wooden table a beautiful solid wooden table, black leather high back chairs, has state of the art television and video system and once again the art on the walls look like it was taken out of a museum.

We were there about ten minutes when Ranger and Stephanie came through the door.

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	39. Chapter 38: The Alibi

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

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Chapter 38: The Alibi

RPOV

I wasn't surprised when Zip called me from the front desk to tell me that the men in blue were here. I had been expecting them all morning. I was only surprised it took them this long. It was going on ten and my Babe and Ram were training in the gun range.

When I had gotten the call from Zip I snuck down to the gun range slipped in and was watching her and Ram working together. He was showing her some breathing techniques as well as adjusting her stance a little here and there so she could be more balanced and feel more solid so that her body could absorb the recoil from the gun more without it affecting the shot and causing her arms to fly all over the place.

The sight of her holding and firing the weapon sent a thrill through me. I loved watching her train she was such a natural at everything. I know she worked hard, I know she trained hard, studied hard she didn't want me to know but I had caught her studying on her computer at night. Doing whatever it took to be the best she could be.

I hated to interrupt her you could see her concentration on what he was telling her, she was in a grove. I didn't want to startle her because well let's face it she is holding a gun with live ammo I would rather not have a bullet hole in me so I cleared my throat getting her attention. I knew Ram already knew I was there but he wasn't going to interrupt their lesson for me. I could tell he had no intentions of that because of his body language he was pretending to not see me so he wouldn't have to acknowledge me.

Anyone else anywhere else his ass would be mine on the mats in less than ten seconds. But because he was training my Babe I let it slide. I figure he didn't want to break her out of her groove and if I wanted to get her attention I would. Unfortunately in this incident I had to get her attention.

She looked over her shoulder seeing me she immediately lowered her weapon and relaxed her stance smiling at me. "Babe" I said I know it was probably stupid sounding but it just came out. She smiled at me "Ranger" she said playing me, baiting me.

I know it is crazy but I liked it when she called me Carlos, and not Ranger. I know she tended to call me Ranger around my men and only a few of them would she call me Carlos in front of but it wasn't necessary I wanted her to call me Carlos all the time. Ranger was the man I was when there was an enemy, when there was business to do, when my men needed their ass kicked and Stephanie was never in any of those categories. For her I was just Carlos.

For now I let it go but I will bring it up to her later. "We have someone waiting to talk to us. Seems Morelli filed charges." I told her hating that last part. I saw fear cross her eyes, I saw panic, and I saw pure rage. She was pissed. I needed to defuse this situation before something was said that couldn't be fixed.

"Babe relax, I have it taken care of. Just follow my lead, don't offer anything contradictory to what I say, don't let anger make you say something in this case that will lead to trouble. I already planned on him doing this and I have everything lined up. Just take my lead and we will all be fine." I told her. Hoping she would just trust me and follow without me having to spill every little gruesome detail to her now. We really didn't have time for that. I couldn't let the cops know this stuff was ready…it had to look like it was being produced as they asked not that it was ready for them.

She looked at me as if accessing me and then nodded. I smiled kissed her beautiful lips as I could no longer resist the woman before me. Wrapping my arms around her as her arms rested on my chest. God I don't know why I waited so long for this.

I keep my hand on the small of her back as I escort her out of the gun range and up to the first floor conference room off of the lobby.

We walk in and Eddie and Carl are sitting at the table waiting for us. I can smell the fear, I can tell they are nervous but honestly they have nothing to fear. I was ready for them. They just didn't know it yet.

"Hey Eddie, hey Carl" my Babe said greeting them with a smile.

"Gentlemen I was told that you wish to speak to both Stephanie and I. What can we help you with?" I ask them as we take our seats at the head of the table her sitting to my right. I wasn't going to waste any time with pleasantries it wasn't my thing.

I could tell they were unsure what to say or who was going to say what this was a little fun although for My Babe's sake I felt bad it was Eddie after all he was a friend of hers so was Carl but Eddie was family after all he was married to her cousin or something like that.

Eddie finally swallowed and started.

"Ranger, Stephanie we are here today because Joe Morelli has filed charges against you both along with six other of your men. The charges range from breaking and entering to attempted murder." Attempted murder no shit. Let me guess who the fuck he is charging with that.

He looked at my Babe "Stephanie he says you held a gun to his head and pulled the trigger, is that true? Did you do that?" He asked her but I cut in. I didn't want her to have to tell him a lie.

"Officer Gazzara did he say when all of this happened? Did he say when Stephanie here held a gun to his head?" I asked him.

He nodded "Yes. He said it happened last night that you all broke into his home and attacked him while he was in bed sleeping."

I nodded hearing his words. "Did he happen to say what time this supposedly happened?" I asked him. I could tell Eddie was getting more nervous with each of my questions because I purposefully was allowing some of my annoyance and some of my anger to seep out in my voice. I wasn't going to hurt him only needed to play the part had he come in here to my place of business accused me, my Babe, and my men of doing this out of the blue I would be pissed and as far as he knew I wasn't expecting him.

Eddie swallowed and then nodded "He said it was a little after midnight that eight of you broke into his home and came into his bedroom where Stephanie woke him up by holding a gun to his head. He said that she proceeded to pull the trigger four times while the gun was held to his head and …ummm genital area where the gun just clicked because there were no bullets. He then said that she pulled the trigger the fifth time where a bullet was fired and hit the headboard of the bed." I almost laughed when he said genital area he didn't know what to say but had he said dick in front of my Babe I may have had to flatten him.

He continued "Ranger he said that after Stephanie fired the shot but you and your men beat him. He had bruises over most of his body area, a broken nose, some cracked ribs, a split lip, swollen eyes, and extremely bruised kidneys. He also said that you forced him to drink a whole bottle of Jack." I didn't force him I only held him while Stephanie forced him to drink it. Never in my life had I been so turned on.

"Eddie why would he accuse us of this?" I asked him "Stephanie, my men, and I weren't even in town last night." I saw My Babe look at me from the corner of my eye and I willed her to not give it away or act surprised about what I was going to say to them, to go along with me. Eddie and Carl just looked at me.

Carl spoke up this time "Ranger he said you did it. He named you, Stephanie, Lester, Slyder, Tank, Bobby, along with a guy that has a flaming skull tattoo and a guy that has a bunch of tattoos along with three tear drop tattoos. He was pretty adamant that you all were in his bedroom threatening and beating him last night and then left him behind a bar on Washington." He told me.

God this was good. Just hearing the recount brought back memories of my Babe and my body wanted to respond. I had to will it not to in front of the cops.

"Well officers I assure you we weren't even in Trenton last night when he claims this happened. He has been giving Stephanie a hard time lately. I think he takes her leaving him for me hard and well he is trying to get back at her and he is trying to harm my business as well." I tell them.

Eddie speaks up and I have to say it rather impresses me as many men would dare to challenge me, then again Eddie had no idea what I was capable of only that he was smart to fear me. "Ranger do you have any proof that you weren't in town last night?"

"Eddie we flew out of Newark last night at twenty hundred hours landed in Boston in twenty two hundred hours and we collared a skip at zero one hundred hours this morning and then we were back on a plane flying home at zero four hundred hours. We got back to this building at zero seven hundred hours this morning. Is that good enough for your proof?" I asked him. I knew any officer worth his weight would want proof I just wondered if they had the nerve to ask me. This was the good part.

Carl spoke up "Ranger I hate to ask you but you have any proof to backup your accounts for you, your men, and Stephanie here last night?" Part of me wanted to be mad that he wouldn't accept my word. I know my nose flared at him. The government trusts me, I out rank every one of these officers and he is going to question me for proof. Of course most of them don't know where I stand or my ranking with the government and I like it like that.

I was in fact lying so I drew in some air to control the anger that was flowing through me at his accusations even though I knew to expect them and wanted them as I wanted this to get back to Morelli with proof that we couldn't have been in Trenton last night but it didn't prevent me from still being pissed at him for not just accepting my word.

I picked up my cell and called Manny "I need the audio tapes from last night, get the flight manifests from our flights both last night and this morning, get the video feeds from Boston Rangeman of our arrival, as well as the feed from the hanger where the jet is. Get both feds us boarding and leaving the plane. I need them as soon as you can gather them. Have Reggae, and Demon bring them to the conference room on the first floor beside the lobby." I hung up.

"Officers if you would like to wait a few minutes my men will be in a few minutes with all the proof that you requested." I told them. I had no doubt that my men hadn't finished with the feeds.

I continued "Did you think to look at the video from the bar he claims we left him behind. I wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't been in the bar and had an altercation with one of the other patrons of the bar and decided to just name us when he got caught." I thought I would help them along a little in the pursuit of the truth.

We had been sitting there about fifteen minutes when there was a knock at the door. "Enter" I told whoever it was and in walks Reggae and Demon. I nod at them as they hand me the packet of requested information

I motion to the empty chairs and they take a seat. I pull out the documents to scan them to make sure they are what I wanted before I just hand them over to the officers. The flight manifest from yesterday evening at twenty hundred has Stephanie, Lester, Tank, Bobby, Slyder, Hal, Cal, Hector, Ram and me listed on it. The one from this morning has the same names but added are Reggae and Demon.

I hand them the copy of the manifest which appears to have been faxed from the Newark airport just minutes before Reggae and Demon joined us in the room, I pop the DVD into the player and turn on the big screen in the room. The video starts playing and we watch as two SUVs pull up to the hanger with the jet and all of us get out of the SUVs and pile onto the plan including my Babe who until this moment hadn't even seen the black jet I own. I know it says Rangeman and we do use it for Rangeman but it is my personal jet it isn't owned by Rangeman. Rangeman actually has its own jet which usually stays in Miami for that office since this office is closest to Boston we use my jet for those two offices.

The video ends when we board the plane and the plane taxis toward the runway. The video stats again it is of us exiting the plane there are two SUVs waiting for us when we get off the plane and you can clearly see Reggae and Demon standing in front of them. The video ends with us entering the vehicle and driving off. Then the video starts again with us pulling into Rangeman Boston garage, you can see where it says Rangeman Boston. The video ends with us entering the elevator. The next video has us exiting the SUVs and boarding the plane this time Demon and Reggae are with us for the flight back.

I then pop out the DVD and hand it to them they can continue to watch it and see us exit the plane in Newark. The date and time are stamped on the video from the video feeds where the footage was taken. Even I was impressed had I not known what really happened last night I would have been convinced I went to Boston.

I then popped the audio in and played the audio of the take down. You could hear my Babe's voice talking to the skip as she had done thousand times and finally you could hear the take down where my voice said he was being arrested for missing his court appointed date. You could hear Tank make a comment as well. Fuck my men were good! I guess that is why I pay them so fucking good.

Once the audio ended I popped it out and handed it to the officers as well. "There you have it officers proof that Myself, Stephanie, Tank, Bobby, Lester, Slyder, Cal, and Hector were nowhere near Trenton last night around midnight as officer Morelli has accused us of being. I don't know what happened to him but I can assure you it wasn't us." I pointed to each person in the picture that was provided from the footage at the airport so they could clearly see each man that he brought charges against.

Again I was impressed with my men. I knew they were good but this impressed me and I don't impress easily unless you are my Babe. They were able to put Stephanie in the video as if she were there and had never stepped foot near the jet. "Officers which bar was he found at? Rangeman does the security for some bars and if we did the security for the bar then we may have video." I asked them.

Carl spoke up "He was located behind the Wet Whistle bar." No shit, I just shook my head.

"Well we don't do security for that bar so I wouldn't have access to the video security feed." I tell them we wouldn't even consider doing security for that bar. The owners are too sleazy. They have no moral no standard of conduct for how they do business. In my opinion they were one disaster away from completely being shut down.

I stood up reaching for my Babe to join me "Officers I think you have everything you need to prove that my men, Stephanie, nor myself was anywhere near Morelli's house last night. If you have further questions please let me know." I turn to walk out of the room I was done.

My Babe spoke up "Eddie, Carl it was good seeing you. I am sorry Joe made you come all the way over here to question us but I hope you realize he is just trying to lash out at me. He is just trying to do whatever he can do to get me to come back to him. I am not going to come back and I think he sees that now and is just lashing out in anger. I am sorry he wasted your time but it was nice to see you both."

She tells them and I can't help but smile at how she had completely made it look like it was vengeance on Morelli's side that caused them to have to come here today. I opened the door putting my hand on the small of my Babe's back we had some training to get to.

EddiePOV

We watched the video feed, listened to the audio feed, saw the manifest from the flights both to and from Boston. It was no doubt that they had all been in Boston during the time that Morelli said he was attacked. We had proof, video, pictures, audio track, what more could we want? I knew he was full of shit when he said Stephanie threatened his life.

I knew Stephanie could be formable opponent if you pissed her off but she wasn't cruel, hateful, or uncaring she didn't have it in her to be those things and I knew that there was just no way she could hold a gun to his head and pull the trigger even knowing the gun wasn't loaded. She just wouldn't do that.

I gathered up evidence he had given us. The two guys he had called in stood when we stood and exited the doors with us. When I was in the hall way I stopped looking at them. "I have a question what time did you pick up the Rangemen in Boston?" I asked the men.

Without even thinking about it one of the men said "twenty two hundred hours" I nodded that was when Ranger said that the plane landed that is when the manifest said it landed so I was happy with that answer. I took another look around before exiting taking in once again the expensive art work on the walls as I make my way out of the conference room and back out to the lobby.

I don't know about Carl but when I walk through the main door heading to the car I felt myself taking a calming breath and relaxing a little more.

We hop in the car and head to the bar to see if they have a security camera that we can get the video from last night to see if we see anything to find out what really happen to Morelli. It was clear from what Ranger had given us that they weren't responsible for whatever happened to him.

Looking at Carl "Carl man what are your thoughts? It is clear Ranger, Stephanie nor his men did this to Morelli who do you think did this to him and why do you think he would accuse them?" I asked him.

Carl responded "Eddie I have no idea. I know Morelli is trying to get Stephanie back but I wouldn't think he would go as far as accusing her of attempted murder to do it." He said shaking his head as if he was trying to understand

I nodded I really didn't have anything else to say.

SPOV

I didn't know what to say I saw the evidence that we were in Boston and I almost flipped I hoped I held it together to point that Eddie nor Carl picked up on anything but I didn't even know Rangeman had a jet let alone how they got video footage of me getting on the plane, off of the plane and footage of me at the Boston office that I never have seen let alone laid a foot in.

Thinking about it, it is a little scary what they can do with video. Once Carlos and I left the room we went straight to the compound. We were working in the shooters alley and I was focusing too hard on not shooting the good guys and shooting the bad guys to ask Carlos about the video and audio feeds we had heard.

Carlos had walked me through the shooter alley telling me what to expect. Different things would pop up or out behind things some were innocent people such as hostages, women, even men without guns those I wasn't suppose to shoot but the bad guys had guns and those I were suppose to shoot. There were even some emergency responders such as police, firemen, and emergency crews that I also wasn't suppose to shoot.

He explained completing this course was one of the tests requirements for Rangeman employees. He also told me not to try to remember as the course will change. Great! What pressure. Do you know how hard it is to figure out in a second if you are suppose to shoot someone that hops out after you or not and when you decide to shoot you have to hit your target? It is very difficult. It sounds easy but I say try it. You will find yourself shooting that innocent that emergency worker I wrote off the cop a shot I mean I had already pulled the trigger on a real life cop just because the guns chamber was empty at the time well that is just semantics.

I was sweating by the time I was finished going though the alley not because it was hot, not because it was physically enduring but because it was stressful. I was trying to do my best. I was happy that every time I fired my weapon it hit my target.

When I walked out of the alley Carlos wrapped me in his strong arms and I once again found my self thanking God for these arms, loving the feel of them wrapped around me. I laid my head on his chest not even caring that my sweaty forehead was ruining his shirt it just felt so good I did it before I thought about it.

I felt his lips on my hair and his voice washed over me like a warm shower the way the warm water droplets just make you instantly relax and give you that feeling of wanting to say ahhhh I felt myself wanting to say ahhh even more hearing his words of praise.

"Babe I am proud of you. You did great. Every target you fired at you hit in the kill zone, even the cop." He said and I felt myself puff up my chest puff out with pride in my performance and in myself.

He pulled me over to another part of the building and put a vest on me with sensors. He then put one on himself and then he gave me a special gun a laser gun. Oh boy we were going to play some laser tag. I had always secretly wanted to do this but never had the chance other than when I rescued Carlos and that really wasn't the same as this will require a little more action because will be in the room together gunning for each other.

I looked at him "So we going to see who can kill who the fastest?" I asked him and he winced a little.

"Babe we aren't exactly killing each other. Its more we will see who can set the other's laser vests off first." He said I just smiled he didn't like the thought of us killing each other and he is the one that says he isn't a softie.

"Babe" he said oh yeah he was ESPing me. I just smiled at him but I offered no apologies.

"Okay let's do this." I told him, pulling the charge for my gun activating it. He nodded and we stepped into the room. It was darker with some lights strategically placed and there were large barriers. I went to the other side of the room. Suddenly there was a countdown and go stated so I guess that was my queue.

Carlos had seen my approach in the woods when I rescued him and I told him what I did before I rescued him so I knew my approach needed to be different as he would be expecting me to lie in wait for him. So I was going to do the exact opposite I was going to come at him full on. Something that he wouldn't be expecting from me my only hope was element of surprise.

He was the best. I was up against the best. No matter who else I would face in this room none of them would be as good as Carlos or in this case Ranger. He was the best. I stuck to the darkest areas trying to allow that to give me the most cover but I would be willing to bet Ranger would do the same. As it would be his training. He is use to the shadows that is where he works, that is where he is most dangerous, that is where he is smoke.

Those thoughts caused me to change my path and I moved to the lighter side only here I would have to be careful I wanted to draw him out but I wanted to go on the attack for him. I wanted to make sure I did the exact opposite of anything he would expect. He would expect me to keep to the shadows and lie in wait for him. That wasn't happening. I was going to make my way down on the lighter side of the room and then come up behind him. To back track and attack from behind him some place he would never expect me to be is behind him.

It was my only chance of getting him and then my chance of not getting caught or being seen by him was slim. I needed a distraction but I had no idea how to make a distraction that would keep the attention off of me. Not having time to think about it I made my way down the room looking for him while I was going and only hoping I wasn't putting myself out in the open too much.

Of course I had no idea where he was he could be lying in wait for me, but I sort of doubted it. He was smoke you couldn't hear anything you couldn't see anything. You would think you were in the room alone only you knew you weren't. You knew he was there hunting you and I tell you had I not known this was fake and this was just laser guns I would have been scared shitless.

I felt like he could sense my body heat, he could smell my blood pulsing through my veins, that he could smell my fear. I felt like he was tracking me like the lion tracks the gazelle. How the lion tracks, lies in wait until the time to pounce and when that happens there is nothing left for the gazelle to do but die. I thought I was sweating during the shooter ally well this was sweat on a whole new level and part of it was fear. Okay most all of it was and I knew he wasn't going to hurt me it was just the idea of him on the hunt for me that had me so worked up.

I can't imagine what his enemies must feel when they knew he was hunting them. Fuck if I was them I would just surrender or shoot myself to put myself out of the misery of being scared shitless of the man in black, the man of smoke, the man with predator eyes. Holy shit this thinking isn't helping me. This is Carlos and he isn't really hunting me. He has a laser gun for fuck sake. I can do this. I can hunt him. What do they say the hunted becomes the hunter? Yeah I can be the lion, the lioness and we all know she is actually the true hunter. She is the one to be feared the most. I can become the lioness.

I stood behind one of the barriers trying to get control of my breathing, my fear, my heart rate, and my sweating. At this rate I am a little concerned if I could fill the room up and drown in my own sweat. I wiped my hands on my pants to try to dry my damp palms. After taking several deep control breaths I was better. I was becoming the hunter and my prey was Ranger. Like every predator when on the hunt for its prey I took a deep breath in through my nose taking in all the scents. I was searching for the one scent that would tell me where he was.

Bulgari, I was searching the air for his scent. I knew it would tell me where he was and how close I was to him. That with the electrical pulses I already have when he is near me will be enough to hunt him in true lioness fashion.

I draw in another deep breath through my nose being careful to be as quiet as possible I made my way to the end of the barrier. I once again replayed in my head I could do this, I could be the huntress. Holding my weapon in ready position I quickly took a peak around the barrier nothing was there to be seen but part of it was pitch black. Had someone been standing in that area you would have never seen them. I knew he wasn't there I would have felt him so I quickly made my way to the next barrier. This time I made my way to the other end. I didn't want to stick to one area or be predictable, in this case predictability would get me dead well dead in the sense of losing the game.

Sniffing the air and being very cautious in my movements with exposing myself I made my way down the room. I would have thought at one point I would have passed him after all I started at one end of the room and he started at the other end of the room and we were hunting each other. Searching for the other you would have thought at some point we would have met depending upon how fast we were moving.

I should have paid more attention in algebra classes when we talked about the two trains leaving stations at the same time at what point do they meet in the middle or along the path depending upon their speed, etc. Who thought that shit would actually come in handy and be able to be applied in the real world? I mean who really gives a fuck about two trains leaving a station? At that point in time I had better things to worry about like my hair, my makeup, my friends, and being cool. Who would have thought it would come back to bite you in the ass years later? Fuck.

I break myself out of my thoughts of math classes which could give anyone a headache and it isn't like it's going to do any good now I can't go back and pay attention to what they were saying now. I focus back on the task at hand. Sniffing the air I try to figure out if I am even close to him and I smell nothing. He can't just turn his scent off when he wants can he? Probably because he is fucking batman!

For some reason those thoughts make me very warm in a few strategic places and I have to once again force myself to focus on task at hand, hunting Ranger. Focus on hunting Ranger so I can tag him with my laser gun before he tags me and not jump his bones and fuck him silly right here on the floor. Personally I liked the prize hiding behind door number two over number one but I was in training right now so I tried to once again gather my thoughts and focus on the mission at hand.

I finally reach a point where I am almost certain that I have passed him unless he is pulling my trick of lying in wait for me. I couldn't really see him doing that as it just wasn't the type man he was. He was the face his fears, face his threats and meet them head on or even attack before being attacked kind of man, not that I was someone to fear, or a threat but still it is his training, his approach wouldn't change because it was me he was hunting, even if the hunting me was just a game of laser tag.

I turn and make my way back down the room only on the opposite side the darker side. I was now hunting Ranger in Batman territory complete darkness. I held up my hand just to see if I could see it and of course I couldn't make it out, fuck. I could fall over his ass and never see him. Occasionally some ambient lighting would lighten up my path but for the most part I was making my way in almost total complete fucking darkness.

I sniff the air again as I make my way back down the room. I don't smell anything but with every step my neck tingles. I am getting close to him or he is getting close to me from behind. I stop at one of the barriers putting my back to it watching the area behind me just in case he was actually behind me. Having my gun at the ready for any indication he is closing in on me. He is close I can feel him even though I can't seem to smell him yet.

I take a step closer to the end of the barrier when I decided that if he was behind me he would have taken his shot if I just couldn't see him. Still watching behind me I stepped closer to the end again. Looking briefly around the corner I see nothing. So I send up a quick prayer as I quickly step out from behind the barrier to go past it still looking behind me a little my eye caught movement. I jerked around and found myself screaming. Ranger was standing in front of me.

He had been close alright, right on the other side of the barrier. We stepped out the exact same moment but were both looking behind so we never saw each other until that moment and I screamed he didn't jump or flinch or anything he just pointed his gun at me as I pointed mine at him. Smiling, we both pulled the trigger setting off both of our vests at the same time.

Holy hell hunting him had me so worked up I couldn't help or control what happened next. I didn't even bother to turn off the blaring vest, I was so focused on what I needed I never heard it. I jumped into his arms wrapping my legs around him grinding myself on him until I made us both moan. I felt him grow more under me and there was no doubt in my mind what I was going to get. I was going for the prize behind door number two.

JPOV

I had been sitting there with Big Dog and Robin my eyes heavy from the beating I had taken at the hands of those thugs and Stephanie. I was glad they were quiet as I was thinking of my revenge and just how I would pay those fuckers back for this. They thought they could pay me a visit in the middle of the night to make a statement. They thought wrong. I don't give up and I don't give in. Fortunately for them Stephanie had made me never to want her again but unfortunately for them I wasn't going to let anyone else have her either. If she was going to be taken away from me then I would take her away from them. It was only a matter of how I was going to do it.

We were waiting to hear from Eddie and Carl that they had made the arrests at Rangeman. After all they were all fucking guilty of assaulting a police officer if nothing else could stick. I was pretty certain that they wouldn't be able to prove the part about Stephanie holding a gun on me as they had managed to clean up after themselves pretty well.

We had been waiting for them for about an hour and half or so when they pulled back up in front of the house. I knew something had to be wrong. If they arrested them it would take them longer than this unless they let other officers make the arrest and they came back here to tell me the good news. When they got out of the car they were carrying something but I couldn't make out what it was.

They got to the door and I opened it for them and we all filed back into the living room. Eddie spoke up first.

"Joe I don't know really how to tell you this, but first are you certain that Stephanie, Ranger, and six others from Rangeman did this to you?" Was he fucking serious? Of course I was certain I wasn't making this shit up of course I knew who had done this to me.

"Eddie of course I am fucking serious, I know who did this to me. I know who it was that broke into my home came into my bedroom threatened me, beat me, and then left me in that alley behind that bar. I am not fucking crazy Eddie." I told him pissed as all hell that he could come in here and question what I had told him to begin with. I think I can see where this is going and it is going to no arrest for those fucking thugs and that fucking whore.

"Joe, hear us out. Carl and I went to talk to Stephanie and Ranger to make the arrest but they have proof that says they couldn't have done this. Fuck they weren't even in the city last night when you said this occurred. They were in Boston." He told me. In fucking Boston like fuck they were they were in my bedroom with Stephanie holding a fucking gun to my head. I couldn't help but feel the roaring in my ears and the heat from my body at how much my blood was boiling hearing him say that.

"What the fuck do you mean when you say they were in Boston last night? They weren't in Boston they were right here standing in my bedroom." I repeat to him. Trying to make him believe me for what reason I have no idea I am a fellow officer he should take my word before that of all others regardless of anything. Especially my word over a bunch of fucking thugs that weren't worth wiping the dirt off the bottom of my shoes.

Carl got up and walked over and put a DVD into my dvd player and turned it on. There on the screen was Stephanie and a bunch of those fucking thugs getting on a plane date and time stamp on the camera stated it was yesterday. "They must have changed the date of that tape and gave it to you no way was she on that flight or the rest of them as they were here last night after that flight took off." Carl handed me the flight manifest. I read the names of the manifest when it took off and when it landed. "They could have doctored this as well." Carl pointed to the fax headers where it came from the Newark air field.

"I don't know how they did it but none of this is true all of this is doctored." I told them. They showed me footage of them arriving in Boston, pulling in Rangeman Boston I wouldn't have believed it but from the video you could see Boston Rangeman. All the times coordinated. How the fuck did they do that. Was I fucking dreaming? No way they were fucking here but I was starting to see how Carl and Eddie were starting to disbelieve me and now add Big Dog and Robin were as well. Fucking great just great.

They popped out the DVD and then played a tape for me that had Stephanie's voice on it. I gathered she was doing one of her distractions jobs. I hated those fucking jobs when we were dating. How they could make her pawn herself out to get some fucking skip to follow her out of the bar was beyond me. Why she would do it was even bigger questions with me other than she just liked acting like a whore and a slut. I should have taken advantage of that when I had her and forced her to be a slut for me if she wanted to act like one I should have treated her like one and maybe she would have stayed more willing after all that is how all those fucking thugs treat her and she seems to just love them. Another reason for taking her away from them if you ask me she isn't going to be their slut if she wasn't willing to be mine.

Finally another tape was played this time from a camera that Carl had hooked up to the TV. It was a security feed from the bar maybe it would show them dumping me there and prove I was right. But when I saw me walk in the bar at eleven o'clock I knew this wasn't going to be what I wanted to see.

I had sat at the bar for over an hour throwing back shot after shot and then it showed me having an altercation with a guy at the bar. It then showed me fighting the guy along with two of his friends and them beating me up. Finally it showed them dragging me to the back door where they threw me out. What the fuck? I hadn't been near that bar last night.

"I don't know how but I wasn't at that bar last night I was here." I told them but I could tell all four of them didn't believe me. Why would they? If the shoe was on the other foot I wouldn't have believed them either, I would have thought they were crazy, just like they thought I was crazy right now. So I shut up I didn't want to look even more stupid than I was already looking to them.

Now it looked like I had falsely accused those thugs and killers along with Stephanie when in fact they were here and they did do this to me. They would fucking pay for this. I wasn't sure how but they would fucking pay for this. I would find a way to pay them back for doing this to me and then making me look like a fucking fool in front of my fellow officers.

"Joe, I assume you want to drop the charges you wanted us to file. Good thing for you we never filed them with the station so we can just pretend this didn't happen. Do yourself a favor and just let Stephanie go. You doing stuff like this isn't going to win her back. In fact it just upsets her more and makes her madder at you. I know that you don't like letting go of her but find someone else and move on for both of your sakes." Eddie tells me. I nod what else could I do.

I was made to look like the crazy x that wouldn't leave her alone and wanted to harass her by filing these charges since they had a documented alibi which I know and they know is bullshit but there is zero way for me to prove it.

Carl spoke up "Man we all know how bad you had it for Stephanie, she is an awesome lady but unfortunately it didn't work out for you two and she found someone else. Let her go man nothing good is going to come of you pursuing her and now that they know you filed these charges against them when they were clearly out of town they know you are trying to get to her it isn't going to be good. Ranger isn't exactly known for his people skills and he isn't known for being nice or understanding when it comes to her. He will protect her we all know that. You should have seen some of the looks he gave Eddie and I when we mentioned your name and the charges. Man if looks could kill all of us including you would be dead right now. I don't know about Eddie but just walking in that building had me nervous. Joe do yourself a favor move on find someone else you won't win against Ranger. You mess with him, you will disappear we all know it but none of us will be able to prove it." Carl told me.

I could only think fuck you to his long winded fucking speech. I am not afraid of that fucking thug and I will mess with him and I will rip them apart when I take Stephanie from them. I can in fact hurt them all and that is what I am planning on doing. I know their Achilles heel so to speak and it is Stephanie they showed their hand last night. They just didn't know it and I planned to use it against them.

Not wanting to tip my hand to them I just nodded in understanding them. Robin tapped me on the shoulder "If there is anything I can do just let me know. If you want I can fix you something to eat, you hungry?" She asked me.

I just nodded. If I felt better I would have her stick around and lick my wounds for me but I am not sure I am up for that level of physical activity all though I could just lay there and have her suck me that might be pretty good after the day I have had.

I need to call Momma Plum and let her know what her daughter has done now to her son. I am also going to tell her that I am not going to be her future son-in-law but I will always feel like she was a second momma to me and I hope she will want to continue to meet me after all one more fucking and sucking me is a good thing. Not to mention it will be a way to get back at Stephanie for all she has put me though.

DougPOV

I can't believe it. What the fuck? Now there are two more people that have come to this office. I don't know where these two came from as I only briefly saw them but they seem to know all of the guys and they seem to be friends with that bitch immediately. I mean I have worked here the whole time and she hasn't so much as said anything to me unless she had to like the day she was at the front desk.

She wouldn't even seem to know I exist and since the club the other night she hasn't so much as given me a look but then again no one else has so I guess that is a good thing because I suspected some of them to tell Ranger and I thought he may call me to the mats. So for that I am thankful.

I still had plans for this bitch and I had everything set ready to go I just needed to figure out which day was the better day. I opted for the day that she works out right after training session so that would either be tomorrow or Friday I just needed to decide which day would be the easier of the two.

I wanted Lester and Slyder busy as they had taken to working out with her in the gym. They needed to be doing something else. I would also prefer for Ranger to be out of the building the rest of the guys wouldn't even notice and for the guys in the control room well it would just appear that the gym was empty. When in fact we would be in there I would finally be getting a piece of that ass that I so rightfully deserved especially since she was giving it to all of the other guys. I just needed to make sure I got the drugs in her water bottle. That way they could take affect and then it would be easier for me to have my way with her.

I watched on the video as she was working out with Lester and Slyder beside her the thoughts of her soon being mine made me hard. I couldn't help running my hand over my hardened dick as it ached for what it would soon be getting. I thought I would try my luck and see if I could work out in the gym while they were there.

I got up and headed to the gym. When I walked in Lester stopped me. "Man the gym is closed." He told me.

"If the gym is closed then why are you all working out in it?" I asked them. I was wondering if they would tell me the truth. I also was scoping out how easy it would be to access her bag with her water bottle in it without her seeing me. It would be nice if she just let me workout then it would be easy access.

She spoke up "Doug, your name is Doug right?" I nodded

"Doug I am not comfortable working out with a bunch of guys that is why the gym is closed between twelve and two." She said.

"Well you are working out with two guys what's one more?" I asked her hoping she would take the bait. If I could get an invitation to work out with her I would be half the way there especially if Lester and Slyder heard her invite me to join them. Then I would have a reason to be here because she had invited me.

She chewed her lip a little bit thinking. "I work out with these two because Lester is my best friend and they are both my brothers. I am sorry but I don't know you well enough to feel comfortable working out beside you." She told me.

"You will never feel comfortable around me if you don't get to know me. I am not a bad guy." I tell her. I really hope she buys it I sort of feel like the big bad wolf trying to convince Little Red Riding hood that I am her grandmother. But I so desperately want the invitation. I can see irritation on both Lester's and Slyder's face. They clearly don't like what I am doing but they are letting her make her own decision another bonus if you asked me.

I could see her thinking more. I wondered what she was thinking about so hard. She finally shook her head and said. "That may be the case but right now I don't know you well enough. I work out hard and I need to feel comfortable and not subconscious of everything I do in order to get a good workout in. I don't feel that way with these guys but I am afraid I would with you as I don't know you and I think you would be judging everything I did so my answer to you is no. The gym is closed to you during this time. I have a whole lot more brothers in this building that would like to work out with me and I don't let them either for the same reasons and I wouldn't say yes to you and no to them and I don't want a gym full when I work out. So the gym is going to remain closed. If you have problems with that take it up with Ranger." She told me.

She knew I would never take it up with Ranger like he would agree to open the gym during those times at my request. Well it remaining closed is actually music to my ears because if she did open it then there would be many more guys down here working out with her.

Now I just needed to make sure Lester and Slyder were busy so they couldn't work out with her and that would give me the opportunity to do what I had planned. I would just have to figure out exactly how I would do it now that she basically told me I wasn't welcomed in the gym when she was here.

I nodded "well hopefully you will at least try to get to know me and then maybe we can work out together some time in the future." I tell her as I make my way out of the gym.

LPOV

That fucking dumb fuck. What the fuck was he up to? Wanting to work out with us like fuck if we would allow him to work out with us what was he fucking thinking? We didn't even like his stupid fucking ass you think we wanted to fucking work out with him? The only thing I wanted to do was call his dumb fucking ass to the mats and fucking kick the living fucking shit out of him for even asking Beautiful if he could.

He had some fucking nerve. But since he had asked her and I knew better than make decisions for her I let her make her own decisions I was just thanking fuck that she had told him no. If she had said yes I would have found a way to nicely convince him that it wasn't going to be good for his fucking health if he did work out with us. I would work him so fucking hard that he would regret the day he ever decided to work out with us and it would start with a sparring match on the mats were I would proceed to kick the living fuck out of him. There would be no pulling punches during that fucking fight.

I hate that mother fucker and I have no real reason to other than the times that he put my beautiful in danger but there was something about him that just wanted to set me off and especially today with the way he was acting. Telling my Beautiful that he wasn't a bad guy who the fuck says that?

I am not a bad guy I mean really it almost reminds me of pedophiles that tell children they have candy for them to lure them into a trap. Fucking psycho son of a bitch, I am a nice guy. Nice guy alright is about to get my size twelve boot up his ass. Let him tell her how fucking nice that feels when that happens.

I look at Slyder and I can see that he has similar thoughts going through his head. I look down at beautiful on the bench doing her set of bench presses and she is lost in her workout not thinking anymore about dumb fuck Doug. I shouldn't be I should be concentrating on spotting her as she is lifting a heavier weight today but I can't shake him from my thoughts. Something about that fucker isn't right and it is bothering me.

I look at Slyder one more conveying my thoughts about that dumb fuck and I see him nod letting me know he felt the same. About that time Beautiful gasped and I caught the weight just before she dropped it on herself when her arm gave out. Fuck that was close. I need to clear my head and pay more attention spotting her. Fuck I let a weight fall on her and Hector and Ranger will kill my dumb ass.

SlyderPOV

Doug was a dumb ass coming in here asking if he could join us. He wasn't one of us he didn't fit in with us and no he would never be allowed to work out with us. I could see the look on Lester's face and he was pissed at him for interrupting us for thinking that he could work out with us. I felt the same. I was also pissed he put Stephanie on the spot.

I knew she hated to tell him no but that she truly didn't feel comfortable with him and rightfully so he was like a dirty old man stalking a teenager. Creepy the way he leered at her. You could just see the disgusting dirty old man come out in him and I wanted to beat the fuck out of him for it.

I looked at Lester conveying to him that this dude isn't right that something is off with him. I could feel it and when he referred to himself as not a bad guy yeah right only bad guys say shit like that. Good guys don't have to tell you they aren't bad they don't have to make excuses for themselves. Fucker was nothing but bad news, bad vibes, and bad dude and not in a good way like the rest of us. I mean we were all bad dudes but it was in a totally cool way he wasn't that way he was just bad and I didn't want him anywhere near my Incendia.

After we finished our workout we all got some water and then we proceeded to the mats where it was self defense training today was Cal then Hector and Lester for the last two hours. I was going to hang out with Stephanie the entire time. Lester said his good bye kissing Stephanie on the check as she returned his kiss and hug. He headed for the showers saying he would be back in two hours. It wasn't but a few minutes longer that Cal walked in.

We had worked some fighting techniques with Cal. Cal was a seal and use to hand to hand combat so we went over several techniques for rendering someone incapable of attacking you. He showed her how to take out a knee, how to take out a throat, a nose, even a crotch and I was the punching bag thank you so much Cal for that one. My Johnson was fucking thanking him on that one too. Luckily she didn't go all the way through or I would be singing soprano for a month and probably would never be capable of having children.

We had worked some awareness with Hector. I knew this was one of the things that he worked with her hard on I don't think they ever did anything else but awareness training for her to rely on her senses and her spidey sense as she called it. Today he had blindfolded her and we both were to sneak up on her and soon as she sensed us being there she would attack where she thought we were. She did amazing well I was impressed. As soon as we stepped in to her striking zone she had us even with the blindfold on and not being able to see us she knew where we were and she would strike out attacking the large padded punching tethers we were holding.

If we stepped behind he she would strike with elbows and back fists until she was able to turn herself to fight us head on for the side she would throw a side kick turning to attack with her fists she was beautiful the way she moved and the way she could tell when we approached her I wasn't sure but she knew where we were even though every time we moved. We even at the end both approached her and she fought us both drawing us closer together by moving so she was attacking us both from the front instead of opposite ends like we had approached her. I can say I was extremely impressed by her abilities. Hector and the others had trained her well in a short time period. Of course a lot is said for how much she had put into her training as well.

When her hour with Hector was over she wiped his tear drop tattoos giving him a kiss on the cheek he kissed he forehead and said his good bye and left. We got some more water sitting down

"That was amazing you did good. You are incredibly good for the short time the guys told me they have been training you." I told her.

She beamed a smile "Thanks. I have been working hard." She told me, I nodded.

"I can tell. I know this isn't easy stuff to learn but you make it look easy and beautiful. You should be very proud of yourself. I know the guys are." Lester walked in at that moment I had to laugh looking at him. Even Stephanie giggled.

He had on black pants and a black t-shirt but on the t-shirt in pink letters it said My Best Friend is a Chick.

SPOV

When I saw Lester I couldn't help but laugh at his shirt. I couldn't believe he would wear a shirt like that here in the Rangeman building or anywhere else for that matter. It said on the front in Pink letters My Best Friend is a Chick.

Lester spoke up "What? What's so fucking funny?"

I just motioned to him "your shirt it's funny." I told him.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I just got it today, I ordered it a week ago and it finally came today." He said making no excuses about it. I just shook my head.

"I just didn't think you would wear something like that, I mean you are wearing pink." I told him. He just nodded.

"Yeah well I could have gotten a pink shirt with black lettering and I almost ordered it but figured Ranger wouldn't let me wear it in the building so I got the black one with pink lettering I think it looks pretty good on me and my best friend does happen to be a chick." He said pulling me in for hug. It wasn't until he reached for me that I noticed he had something in his hand.

"Besides" he said "I have something for you as well." He held up the shirt in his hand and it was in fact pink with black lettering that said My Best Friend is SEXY. I couldn't stop laughing. I quickly pulled off my Rangeman t-shirt and pulled on my new pink shirt. Part of me didn't want to get it sweaty but the other part of me couldn't wait to wear it.

Lester just beamed. I hugged him thanking him for my super cool shirt. He picked me up hugging me to him. I should have known him coming baring gifts was only to make up for his plan of today's training. After thanking him we got down to more training where Lester and Slyder proceeded to kick my ass six ways from Sunday on the mat.

Today was what if I am attacked Day and him and Slyder proceeded to attack me and I had to defend myself and get myself free sometimes I won and sometimes they won okay most of the time they won I won't lie but fuck they are twice as big as me and fucking three times or more stronger than I am what the fuck do they expect? I mean at one point Slyder held me in the air for twenty minutes while I tried to free myself and only managed to do it because my foot made contact with his umm…well let's say privates by accident and he fucking dropped me to grab himself.

But at least I learned how to get out of that hold. Lester laughed while Slyder just held himself and fell to his knees. See that's why genitals on the outside were a bad idea.

I did feel bad I knelled down "Slyder I am sorry, I never meant to. It was an accident." I told him and he nodded. He knew I would never mean to kick him there. I walked over and got my water bottle for him and gave him it so he could get a drink to help him get himself back together. He finally got to his feet rubbing himself as one would do an area they got hit in hard.

"You okay?" I asked him. He nodded taking a few steps finally letting go of his balls. Damn I felt bad. Lester was still giggling and I gave him a look that made him shut up maybe his ESP was working and he understood me to say he was next if he didn't shut the fuck up. I felt bad enough his laughing was just adding insult to injury.

After a few more steps almost hobbles he finally spoke "Damn let's not do that again, okay?" I had to giggle this time but nodded in agreement.

"Okay I will try not to do that again. Not that I meant to do it that time. I was just doing what you said and trying to free myself. I guess I now know how to break out of that hold huh?" I asked him and he somewhat laughed nodding his head.

"Yeah I would say you have that one down." We got back to work and I think to give me a little payback they both proceeded to completely kick my ass. I left the gym hobbling to the elevator which is nothing really new after a training session with Lester. He may be my best friend and I may be his best friend but when it comes time to training me on the mats he doesn't hold back. Not that I want him to hold back but he doesn't hold back. He just kicks my ass and it is learn to defend myself and fight back to the best of my abilities or get the shit further kicked out me.

I left Lester and Slyder in the gym they wanted to talk about my training. I wanted a bath a nice long hot bubble bath to rest these aching sore muscles of mine and soak the new bruises I knew my body would have after today's training. I needed Calgon to take me away.

RPOV

I couldn't believe my Babe how she had snuck up on me in the laser gun area had circled around and come up behind me. It was perfectly ingenious plan on her part and one I didn't expect her to do. We had met because I was head back down the room after determining she wasn't on her end. I was sort of shocked to see her there and we both pulled the trigger at the same time. Of course we knew we were because of the smiles on our faces but what she did next blew my mind.

She jumped in my arms wrapped her gorgeous sexy legs around me and started removing my clothing as fast as she could. I wondered if she remembered she was on her period or if she no longer cared after our night together with me making love to her and letting he know that none of it bothered me.

I couldn't help but respond to her my dick growing achingly hard as she ground herself into me her fingers working fast as possible to drop my pants which she knew I was commando. I quickly grabbed the fob and turned the video off before my pants hit the ground freeing my swollen and aching cock. My hands gripped her ass and I wanted to rip the cargos from her body.

Soon as she had my pants down her hands went to her own clothing and she was shredding layer after layer I put her down for her to remove her pants as I removed my boots and pants from my ankles.

I grabbed my handkerchief from my pocket and when she jumped back in my arms I caught he with one arm and the other hand went to work quickly removing her tampon and wrapping in the handkerchief I was hoping that she didn't even notice me doing it. I wouldn't want her to feel subconscious about that.

I pulled her to me lower her down on my cock entering her tight warm core I wanted to yell out from the wonderful feeling it sent through my body almost making my knees weak. Somewhere in the back of my mind I head the vests still alarming but I didn't give a fuck right now the only thing that had my attention was my beautiful Babe who needed me.

She was so wet the feel of her almost had me cumming like a school boy with her being the aggressor the one to attack me it had me so fucking hard. Damn I know I am not going to last nearly as long as I wanted to I was too turned and too worked up on to last.

She broke her lips from mine saying something that I knew would be the death of me. But what a fucking way to go was all I could say in response to that.

"Carlos fuck me. I need to feel you fuck me hard. Take me fuck me now. Thinking of you batman hunting me and me hunting you in this room made me need you so much that I had to have you right now right this minute. Fuck me batman."

With that a roar busted through my chest in response and my assault on her picked up until she was screaming my name and holding on for all she was worth while I was pounding my cock in and out of her as if it was a matter of life or death and for me I think it was a matter of both at the minute.

Us both breathing heavy as we took from each other exactly what we needed at that moment until we both came so hard that neither of us could hold on to the edge and we fell in glory sated state of our orgasms.

I leaned back against one of the walls while she was just like a limp dishrag lying on my chest her arms hanging down. We both had sweat running down our bodies from our love making. We were both breathing heavy trying to catch our breath. Neither of us wanted to move an inch. I was still buried deep inside her. My dick was definitely the most happy when it was buried in my Babe.

It never wanted to be anywhere else but buried inside her. Whenever I removed myself it always protested and I didn't blame it. Fuck if I had my way I would remain buried in her at all times it was the only time I felt truly whole.

When we got back to Rangeman after our training and lovemaking she went to the gym to do her work out and I went to my office to see what needed my attention. I knew there had to be something that had piled up on my desk from being away. It seemed all I had to do these days was step away from my desk and there would be another pile of papers needing my attention when I got back.

Walking into my office I saw the pile of papers waiting for me. Fuck. I knew it but damn I was hoping it wouldn't be the case. All of the offices were slammed lately but especially the Trenton office. We had several large implementations going on and several contracts that were currently in negotiations that would bring even more work. But that also meant more profit and more success for Rangeman.

I was thankful for Slyder wanting to come on board as well as Stephanie I knew they would both be positive additions to Rangeman. I wasn't sure how the contactors were working out I would talk to Hector about them later. But I wasn't too impressed so far and would have probably fired both of their asses before now if it had not been that we needed the help so bad.

I noticed some paper work from the Boston office. Fuck. I knew this wasn't going to be good. Looking at the paper work it was a customer's contract that was for twenty million dollars twelve million would be pure profit for Rangeman. The only requirement the customer wanted to meet with me in Boston to discuss the contact before signing. I am sure they just wanted to meet the CEO of Rangeman before investing their money.

It was Tuesday and they wanted to meet me on Friday. Fuck thanks for the warning, fuckers. Like I would have a clear schedule with that short of notice what the fuck did they think I did sit around with my thumbs up my ass?

I pulled up my calendar to review my meetings. On Friday I actually had a light schedule so that was good. I had the morning staff meeting at zero eight hundred I could still do that. I had a lunch appointment with a client that I could ask Lester to take for me. He would do well with that client and probably make a better sale than me it would also be a good opportunity for Slyder to go with him and see what happens in our client meetings as he would be an asset there. I also had a fifteen hundred meeting that I could ask to be rescheduled to another day it was with my lawyer while it was important I could do it earlier in the week it would cost me more but since it involved my Babe I wanted it done this week so it was worth it.

I pulled up the gym footage watching my Babe work out with Slyder and Lester. Damn she was hot working out. I felt my dick stirring and decided I needed to focus on the papers in front of me. I left the footage up so I could steal a look every now and then while I was working. I was going to hate being away from my Babe. Hopefully I wouldn't be an overnight trip.

I responded to the meeting request that I would be able to do a lunch appointment and make reservations if that worked for the client. I wanted to fly up and back in the same day. I could leave right after the morning meeting and be back before my Babe's training ended. That way I would be able to wake up with her and go to sleep with her. I didn't want to impact her training by taking her with me and I wasn't about to go a night if I could help it without her being by my side without being able to make love to her. I had spent too many nights alone in my bed without her to do it willingly now.

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	40. Chapter 39: Listen to your Spidey Senses

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

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Chapter 39: Listening to your Spidey Sense

SPOV

I made it up to the apartment and I could tell that Carlos had just gotten there as he was walking out of the bedroom still taking off his T shirt. Damn my man is fine.

He smiles I knew he had ESP'd me and I was okay with that. I hobbled over to him and I could see that he wasn't too happy I was hobbling.

"Babe?" he questioned me. I just shook my head.

"I am fine Carlos. Just training, Lester and Slyder hold nothing back during fighting and defense training. Once I take a warm bath it will be better." I tell him. Hoping that he will let it drop.

"Babe it is one thing to hold nothing back but it is another thing to hurt you." He reaches for his phone. I know he was going to call Lester.

"Don't Ranger, I am fine. I want them to train me as they would anyone else and that is what they are doing. They are making me better even if they are kicking my ass doing it." I tell him. I know he could make them stop training me the way they were but I felt like this way was making me learn faster and better so I didn't want to change the way I was being trained even if it led to me limping for a little while.

"Babe let me fill the tub for you." He told me as he picked me up and carried me into the bedroom where he deposited me on the bed while he went into the bathroom. I heard the water come on for the tub. God I could just fall back and be asleep in minutes I loved the sheets on our bed. Our bed, god I loved the way that sounded. God, how I loved sharing our bed with him every night every morning lying in his strong beautiful arms feeling his body as it makes love to me.

I heard him shut off the water and then he came into the bedroom to get me I was stretched out across the bed almost asleep.

"Babe?" He said as he gathered me in his arms. I didn't even answer I just put my head over on his strong chest and let him lift me and carry me into the bathroom where he sat me on the counter. I secretly loved this when he did this.

He went to raise my shirt "Babe, your best friend is Sexy?" He questioned reading my shirt and I just smiled and shrugged then said

"He seems to think he is and I guess I would agree only I have you and no one compares to how sexy you are." I tell him smiling.

His lips curl up in to the smile that I love seeing on his beautiful face saying "good to know, Babe, good to know." I couldn't help returning a smile hearing those words.

He helped me out of my clothes then removed his clothes picking me up placing me in the tub he crawled in and sat down guiding me between his legs leaning back against his strong chest resting my head on him I proceeded to fall asleep wrapped up in what felt like pure heaven.

RPOV 

I knew my Babe was exhausted when she walked into our apartment tonight. I saw her limping and hell flew into me. I was ready to call Lester and Slyder to the mats and beat the shit out of them. I know they were supposed to be training her but they weren't supposed to be hurting her. I would find a way to stop that even though my Babe said for me to leave it alone. There are things I would do for her all she had to do was ask. But I can't let her be hurt even if it is for the good of training her.

I didn't realize she was as exhausted as she was the minute she laid back against me in the bubble bath she was practically out. She was like a limp dish rag laying against me and I had wished I had skipped the bubble bath and just put her to bed and let he sleep their more comfortably.

The warm waters of the bath would probably do wonders for her muscles. I knew how hard she was working out and training and I knew how sore her muscles had to be. I was just surprised that you never heard her complain about them. You never would know how sore they were and I knew they had to be sore. I knew how it felt to train as hard as she had been training and I knew what it made your arms, stomach, and legs feel like.

I start to rub her legs massaging them as she's sleeping on me. I then begin to rub her arms hoping to massage out some of the soreness. I will remind her when she wakes up she needs to drink plenty of water while she is working out and afterwards to help remove the lactic acid that builds up in the muscles. That is what causes muscle cramps that and lack of potassium. I will also encourage her to drink more Gatorade on days when she is working out for longer than hour.

We had been in the tub to the point that we were starting to shrivel. The water wasn't going to get cold as this tub maintained the temperature you set it at so at hundred and one degrees it was warm and very relaxing but looking at her fingers she was turning into a prune and so was I. I decided it was time to get out.

Shaking her slightly to wake her up didn't work I shook her a little harder. I knew I could stand up with her in my arms but stepping out I had no place to put her to dry her off so I wanted her to wake up.

"Babe, it's time to wake up time to get out of the tub." I whisper in her ear and she stirs a little bit opening her eyes she gasps.

"Carlos, I fell asleep I am so sorry." I just shook my head

"No need to be sorry queirda its just time to get out unless you want to turn into a prune." I told her smiling.

She sighed but then stood up with me following her. She stepped out before me. I grabbed the towel and wrapped it around her wet beautiful body. Soon as she was covered my eyes protested the towel hating its very existence.

I wrapped a towel around my waist and pulled her beautiful body to me. Kissing her my lips had missed the feel of hers. They had waited all they were willing to wait.

We made our way out of the bathroom. "Babe, Ella brought our dinner while we were in the tub you hungry now or would you like to take a little longer nap before dinner?" I asked her she shook her head no as her stomach made clear what she wanted.

She got dressed in a pair of pajama shorts and tank top that looked so good on her. I was definitely going to have to pay Ella more for her clothing selections for my Babe.

It was a black tank top with pink edging and pink lettering across the front it said Got Secrets? The shorts were short with the same pink edging at the waist band and it had a pink heart on one side of the one leg. It displayed her body beautifully the hard work she had been doing in the gym completely paying off. With that outfit she could probably convince me to divulge a few of my secrets.

We were just about to sit down to have dinner when there was a knock on the door.

LPOV 

Slyder and I had hung back in the gym when Beautiful left. I wanted to talk to him about dumb fuck Doug and see if he got the same weird vibe I got from him. Once she had cleared the gym I turned to him motioning to the mats to see if he would like to do a little sparring with me.

It would help hone in his fighting skills before the test he was going to take with Beautiful on Sunday. As we began to fight each other I brought up dumb fuck.

"Man did you get a weird vibe from Doug today when he came in the gym?" I asked him and he nodded.

"Yeah I was going to ask you about that. Did you get the same feeling? Him saying he wasn't a bad guy was almost as if he was basically saying he was one." He told me and I couldn't agree more. I nodded my head.

"Yeah that is what I was thinking reminded me of a pedophile after a child or something fucked up like that." I told Slyder.

"The night we went to the club he sort of tried dancing with her and I think he got a little too close for Stephanie's comfort and she ended up telling him no. She was dancing and he just walked up behind her and started grinding his dick into her back side." I told him

Slyder looked at me "I hope you put him in his place and told him if that if his nasty dick touches her again he will be fucking dickless." I hadn't said that, in fact I hadn't said anything I let her handle it.

"No I didn't say anything. Tell you the truth I had sort of forgotten about it happening until now. Beautiful handled it she told him that she didn't want to dance with him. I can't remember her exact words but I had no reason to believe that he would stick around and try to dance anymore with her. I asked her if she wanted to tell Ranger but she said she had handled it and I thought she had so I had no reason to think otherwise and then when Morelli pulled his shit well I never thought about what Doug did after that."

Slyder nodded. "Man when trouble seeks her out it seeks her out doesn't it? Lester, I am telling you now I don't trust Doug, I don't know what he is up to but he is up to something. He wanted to join us too bad this afternoon. He wants something I don't know what but it has to do with Stephanie and I don't trust him." He told me.

I nodded "Yeah I saw that too. I don't trust him either he has already endangered her life a couple of times here doing dumb fucking things like giving her a package that arrived for her at the front desk that could have contained god knows what because he didn't follow procedures to have it scanned first. He also failed to record the audio from the vehicle she was driving the day Morelli stopped her on the road and proceeded to molest her while holding a gun to her head. We have no reason to consider him safe to be around her or trust him with her safety." I told Slyder.

I saw the anger in Slyder's eyes and I wasn't sure if it was directed at Doug or Morelli truth be told probably both I know I was more than angry at the both of them.

I proceeded to kick Slyder's ass on the mats but he held his own fairly well for a flyboy that didn't see hand to hand combat. He could be a formable opponent with the proper training. Once we were done we made our way to the showers.

Looking at Slyder "I am going to get cleaned up and then I am going up to seven to crash their dinner. I want to let Ranger know what we talked about. I really don't trust Doug and I think he needs to know what happened both here this afternoon and at the club. You want to come?" I asked him and he just nodded. Like me he wouldn't give up the opportunity to spend time with Stephanie. None of us would if given the chance.

HectorPOV *In Spanish*

I still can't shake this feeling I have. The pulse that beats through me telling me danger is close, danger is near. I can't shake the feeling that it is aimed at my Angelito even though I can't figure out what or who it is that is threatening her.

I know that fucking cop isn't done with her it was clear when he filed those fucking charges but we had that covered. Ranger knew to have that covered and he had us working on the alibi before we even visited him.

I just couldn't believe that the pulse I was feeling was coming from him. We left him pretty beaten up even though he had no broken bones he would still be hurting like a bitch for awhile and really incapable of attacking and harming my Angelito at least in the immediate future.

Even knowing this didn't stop the pulse. It was telling me to be aware of my surroundings to not lose focus, to stay on guard that danger was close to her. I knew enough about the feeling to know to trust it. It had never failed me and I knew it would never fail her because that would mean I would fail her and that just was unacceptable. I trusted that feeling with my life and I had no doubt that I couldn't trust that feeling with her life.

Now I only need to figure out where the danger was coming from. Where the danger lie and I would be waiting for it before it ever reached my Angelito I will neutralize it.

I decided that I would talk to Ranger to see if anyone new was threatening her. If so I would make it go away. I would resolve the problem before it became a problem.

I decided to do a little investigative work on my own without anyone's knowledge or permission. I walked into Manny's lab he was busy working on something but he would stop for what I wanted.

***Spoken in Spanish***

"Manny, man what are you up to?" I asked him. He raised his head up answering

"Not much just working on some evidence here." He told me I nodded I didn't need any further explanation.

"I need you to come with me if you can. I have some phone tapping I want to do from the lines and need you to be my eyes and ears on the ground." I told him. He nodded and stood.

"We need to borrow a truck first." I told him as we made our way to the garage. We were going to borrow one of the tucks from the telephone company we would return it when we were done. I only needed it to reach the power line safely and seeing the truck no one would question anything as we were just working on the lines.

Manny driving takes me over to the phone company where I proceed to commandeer a bucket truck, along with a couple of jumpsuits that they had lying around. I drove the truck to the meet up location and we proceeded to drive to Morelli's street where I placed the tap on his line. We then drove to her parent's house where I also placed a tap on their line. That way we could be tapped into every conversation that was had on either of their home phones.

I returned the borrowed truck and jump suits no one being the wiser. Seriously it is pitiful had their security been Rangeman that wouldn't have been possible. I guess I should thank my luck that we weren't and move on but it's always nice to have more business. So I leave a Rangeman card in the truck in plain sight. This is supposed to be secure grounds which obviously it isn't. Someone will get it and hopefully they will be smart enough to call the best.

I make it back to the point where Manny is waiting to pick me up and we head back to Rangeman to setup the recordings for the taps. I am anxious to see what we hear.

***End of Spanish***

MannyPOV

Hector and I make it back to Rangeman and we head straight for his office. We walk through his lab and the two dumb fucks are there working on something. I am not sure why everyone is calling them that other than they appear to not get it and they have allowed my wifey to be dangerous situations even one time in the building with all of us here. For that I have to believe their assessments are right and they are dumb fucks.

Mike at least acknowledges you but Doug he avoids he doesn't want to acknowledge anyone and he sort of wants to be left to himself. I can relate to that I am not the friendliest guy either but something about him I just don't like. You ever met someone and you can tell he is just untrustworthy even though you have no grounds to think it? Well that is Doug.

We make our way back to his office where we proceed to finish with the taps and get them recording. We no more start the taping and we hear her mother on the phone talking about Stephanie. God some days it would feel so good to ring that woman's fucking neck.

She is telling everyone about the altercation they had outside the grocery store the other day but she is leaving out a few key points and twisting the story to make my Wifey look like the bitch. I felt my fingers curl into my palm and I wanted to punch the fuck out of a woman. I almost shocked myself that I actually wanted to hit a woman. I actually wanted to hit a woman at this point in time more than probably any man that wasn't harming my Wifey in my life. I needed to calm down and resolve myself that the stuff I was going to hear on these tapes was going to upset me but we were looking for more evidence. We were looking for something concrete that could lead us to physical evidence that can be obtained legally unlike these wire taps. These were highly illegal and if we got caught we could pull jail time not that we would get caught.

It isn't the first time that illegal wiretaps led us to information we needed and it isn't the last time we would use them either. We didn't always follow the laws of man, land, and country when it came to finding the truth, protecting those we vowed to protect, or catching the bad guys. For my Wifey well there wasn't a law that any of us weren't willing to break to protect her and make her world safe as we could make it. Her world was dangerous all of our worlds were dangerous but we would do whatever it took so hers could be a little safer even in this dangerous world she chose to be in.

I looked at Hector speaking in Spanish I told him "Don't let the dumb fuckers know about this. Let's keep this between you and me until we have something to share with the core team. I am not sure we can trust them." I told him motioning to the guys out in the lab area and he nodded.

I swear he was listening to the tapes but he doesn't understand English so I am not sure how he knew what they were saying but there were moments that I could have sworn I saw him listening and when I say listening I mean listening and understanding what was being said.

I shook my head thinking I had to have been seeing shit Hector doesn't know English well enough to listen to the taps while I made it back to my lab I had some evidence to continue to go over.

LPOV

Slyder and I make our way up to seven to intrude on my best friend and cousin's dinner. I briefly wondered if they would have enough dinner to share with us. I could eat a little something and a meal with my beautiful well that was better than a meal alone in my room or with the guys in the rec room any day.

I knock on the door and wait for them to answer. When Ranger answers the door I tell him "hey we came up to talk to you about something that is bothering both of us." He looks at us and nods.

He opens the door to let us in. "I have something to tell you to." He tells us and I briefly caught the edge in his voice before both of our asses were bouncing off the hard floor of the entry foyer. What the fuck?

Hearing the nose Stephanie ran into the room to find us wiped out and Ranger standing over the both of us. "Carlos what happened?" she asked him and he turned smiling at her as she made her way closer to us.

"Nothing Babe, they are fine Lester just tripped and fell and took Slyder down with him." Like fuck I tripped but I knew better than correct him I like my head attached to my shoulders. So like dumb fucks both Slyder and I nod in agreement. Well I don't know if we are dumb fucks or not but we both understood in that moment we either agreed with him or we died. So we made our choice, life, and fucking agreed.

She walked over to us offering us her hand to help us get up. We stood up both rubbing our asses where they bounced on the hard floors.

"You sure you two are alright? I could call Bobby to take a look at you. Did you hit your head?" She asked us and we both shook our heads no. It was our asses that took the brunt attack this time.

Ranger spoke up "Babe they landed on their asses I don't think Brown would want to see that. Besides their heads are harder than their asses so regardless what hit they are fine." She looked at him as if trying to figure out what really happened but then dropped it and turned and look at us.

"So what brings you up here tonight?" She asks us.

"Can't we just come up to spend time with our friend, my best friend?" I asked her and she nods and smiles at my statement.

"Yeah you can but somehow since you were with me most of the afternoon and Slyder was with me all afternoon I don't think that is why you are here. So Spill it Santos because you aren't hiding shit from me." She tells me shocking me at the last part. I sort of didn't want her to hear this because one I told her I wouldn't say anything about the club and two well I didn't want her to worry about Doug for no reason if in fact we were off base. I however couldn't seem to shake the feelings and I knew I wasn't off base at least not this time.

"Beautiful we wanted to talk to Ranger about something that we both noticed today and it does involve you but I don't want to worry you about it. I don't want you to get upset as it may not be true." I tell her.

She nods her head. "Well we were getting ready to eat I am sure there is enough for you two if you want to join us?" She asks looking at Ranger. He nods like he would tell her no for something she wants. If she wants us to join her then he wouldn't mind other than having to share her.

"Thanks Beautiful." I tell her as we start to make our way to the dining room. She stops by the kitchen to get us a plate and silverware. She hands them to us.

I can't help but revel in her beauty. She has no idea how beautiful she is and her working out has made her even more beautiful. Her arm and shoulder definition are shining through with the top she is wearing. She sits down and I can almost feel the hard on starting to come on just thinking about her moaning her way through dinner.

Sure enough soon as she puts the food in her mouth and the moan escapes her lips my dick is responding and I am thinking of everything short of grandma Mazur in a bikini, okay fuck it I am thinking of Grandma Mazur in a bikini to control it.

It is sort of like torture that is pure heaven. You love to hear it and for that is heaven but how you have to control your body from reacting it is pure torture hard to explain. I can tell that Slyder is also doing whatever he can to control himself without making it look to obvious. I think I will introduce him to Grandma Mazur that may help him by giving him something to think about that makes your dick want to jump back inside to find a place to hide from her bony fingers. But then again maybe not it is sort of fun watching him being tortured by it without the good defense we have.

I look at Ranger and he is watching us and I can tell by the look on his face he isn't really happy with us but for the fuck of me I can't figure out what we both did wrong. I mean I haven't said anything off the wall, or done anything off the wall in a while. I even gave her a shirt so that isn't it. I know it says my best friend is sexy but he wouldn't care about that.

She opened her eyes after savoring the first bite. "Okay guys what is it that you wanted to talk to Carlos about that involves me?" She asked us.

"Beautiful I know part of this I told you that I wasn't going to tell Ranger. Because you and I had both thought it was handled but I am not so certain that is the case now. I think there could be more even though I have no proof other than an odd feeling I got this afternoon." I told her.

"You think something is up with Doug?" She asked both of us and we both and nodded in response.

I corrected her slightly "We think something is up with him." I said motioning back and forth to Slyder and myself.

Ranger spoke up at that moment "Santos what happened that you thought was handled and when did it happen?" I swallowed because I knew that wasn't all to that question the next part was go to be why the fuck wasn't I told about it even if you thought it was handled. I would see mat time for this when Beautiful wasn't looking.

So I bit the bullet and told the story about the club "Well it was the night we were at the club. He was there as well. Not with us but just showed up at some point during the night. We were dancing to a faster song she was standing in front of me and Doug approached her from behind trying to dance with her he got rather close to her." I told him not sure I wanted to tell him that he rubbed his junk on her.

Stephanie spoke up then "He tried to grind himself into my ass but I stopped him immediately soon as his stuff touched me." She said almost shivering with the reminder. I saw Ranger's jaw twitch oh fuck he was pissed but Beautiful continued. "Carlos please don't get mad he didn't know I wasn't dancing with the guys that way. I danced with Lester, Cal, Woody, and Hal but I wasn't grinding on them and they weren't grinding on me but we were standing close even though we weren't touching but seeing us dance with it being dark he may have thought it and thought he would try dancing with me. I told him that I wasn't interested in dancing with him. That I didn't give him permission to dance with me and the next time he thought he could take liberties with me that he'd better ask me." Oh yeah remembering her saying that to him made me smile. She was so fucking beautiful standing up to him. Standing up for herself.

I interrupted "well she didn't put it in those words exactly if I remember correctly it was you better fucking ask me but close enough Beautiful." She looked at me laughing.

"Carlos honestly Lester asked me if I wanted him to tell you and I told him no that it wasn't necessary to tell you that I had handled the situation. He had left and he said no more to me and hasn't said anything to me until today." She said

Ranger looked at her "What did he say to you today?"

"He didn't really say a whole lot and nothing that I think warrants their concern but you know how protective my best friend can be and it appears now Slyder too. They are true big brothers." She said smiling at the both of us.

"He came into the gym while we were working out and asked if he could work out as well. I don't think he wanted to work out with us per say but just workout the same time we were working out. He has come in before during the closed hours but Bobby and then Cal told him the gym was closed. That was before I started working out with Lester and now Slyder. I guess he saw these guys working out with me and thought it would be okay to work out in the gym." She said.

I butted in "that isn't all he said Beautiful. He did come in to work out but he tried to pressure you into saying yes. Even down to telling you that he wasn't a bad guy and that you just needed to get to know him, which I never want you to do by the way. Something is off with him. I mean how many people tell you they aren't a bad guy or they are a nice guy and how many of those people actually end up being nice guys. It is creepy. That is what I wanted to tell Ranger." I told her. I know it made me sound like a total candy ass but I didn't care this was my Beautiful's safety at stake.

"Babe what did you say to him what did he say to you?" Ranger asked her again.

"Well he asked me if he could work out and I told him that I wasn't comfortable working out with him. That is why the gym was closed because I wasn't comfortable working out with a bunch of muscle bound guys. I don't want to be subconscious of the weights I lift. They are difficult for me but a piece of cake for you guys and I don't want to feel like I am a baby because I am lifting twenty five pounds and struggling and beside me someone is lifting a hundred like it is a feather. Slyder and Lester don't make me feel like that they make me feel like a superhero for lifting the twenty five." She said and my chest involuntary puffed out with pride. I would work out with her every day for the rest of my life if I made her feel like a superhero.

I could tell that Slyder's did as well feeling the same way as me when did we turn into such fucking pansies? She continued. "So after I told him that he asked me again saying that he wasn't a bad guy that I just needed to get to know him to be comfortable around him but then I thought I wouldn't open the gym to him and not my other brothers so I basically told him again no that if the gym was to remain closed to my other brothers than it was to remain closed to him. He left after that he didn't seem upset or anything. Really I don't think there is anything to worry about with him."

Looking at Ranger I wondered how he felt. "Rangeman I am telling you right now something is off with this fucker. I sensed it and so did Slyder." Slyder nodded and then added.

Ranger, Incendia "I know you think that there is nothing to worry about and I hope there isn't but both Lester and I felt it please trust us that we have your safety and wellness at hear. We don't accuse others lightly especially without proof but something is off with him. If nothing else just keep your eye out for him and be aware of your surroundings when he is near you especially if we aren't. When he said he wasn't a bad guy all I could feel and think is yeah right. No one says that unless you are bad guy. It is like when someone says I am going to tell you the truth you can bet you ass it is a lie they are telling you. It is something people do subconsciously when they try to hide something or cover something up and trust me he is trying to cover something up. He isn't a good guy beware of him Incendia please don't trust him to be alone with him." He told her.

Ranger spoke up "Babe has your spidey sense gone off in any of the times he has been around you?" She shook her head no and added.

"No. I don't feel particularly drawn to him like I'd care to get to know him but I haven't felt in danger when he is around me either." He nodded at her response I knew that went a long way with Ranger because he trusts and relies on her spidey sense as much as he does his own senses. He knows they would never fail her.

Ranger then spoke up "Okay, I am calling him to the mats for rubbing his dick on you, all my men should know better than that. That should be enough to teach him to stay away from you. Hopefully he won't come into the gym again during your work out time. If he does Babe I want to know about it." She nodded.

He then added "Babe I want you to carry you panic button with you while you are in Rangeman even in the gym just in case he does try something." She nodded she would. We finished eating in peace just listening to her moan so I am not sure how peaceful it was trying to control our dicks but it was definitely pleasurable.

I knew before I left here tonight I was going to have to ask her about her shirt. Got Secrets? Oh I have a few that she could force out of me under the right circumstance and pressure. I was trained by the best to not divulge secrets no matter the form of torture but those instructors didn't know the Bombshell Bounty Hunter that was Beautiful, my best friend. The government should contract out to her. She would have all of the enemy's secrets within minutes without having to use unsavory tactics but even if she couldn't coax them to tell them well she was a mean water boarder.

Ranger pulled his phone off his hip dialing a number he started talking in Spanish, he was talking to Hector he was asking him to come to seven so we all could talk to him about dumb fuck Doug some more just the highlight of my fucking night. But this involved the safety of my Beautiful and for that I would endure anything no matter how painful.

SPOV

After everyone left last night Carlos and I were able to spend a few quiet moments together. These are moments I treasure. I mean we don't need to talk although sometimes we do but it isn't necessary. Feeling his strong arms around me, me pressed against him holding him is all I need to make my life feel like I have purpose. I know that sounds crazy my life has purpose without a man but he just fulfills my life in a way a partner has never done before.

I never felt this way not with the Dick, not with Joe, not with anyone else. I can see myself growing old with him. I can see myself having children with him. I can see myself having a life with him and still being able to be me. What is more amazing is that none of those thoughts give me hives or make me want to run from the room or building screaming in panic.

I really hope I am able to pass the test on Sunday. It is now Wednesday morning and I am laying in the arms the arms of my lover. Thinking about last night puts a smile on my face just thinking of what he can do to me how he can reduce me to a pile of lifeless bones with just a look or a touch. I don't want the days to begin because I never want the nights to end.

"Morning Babe" he whispers in my ear and my heart smiles my body warms with the feel of his breath across my ear and cheek I can feel the glow on my face from my smile all from hearing his voice.

"Morning" I tell him and wonder if he feels that same way, if when I speak to him he feels the same way I feel every time I hear his voice. Does he feel that everything is right with the world when he hears my voice? I can't help the sigh that escapes my lips and he pulls me closer to him snuggling down deeper in the covers our bodies molding to each other both of us wishing the night would never end.

With groans and protests we both get up to start our day. My day is training physical fitness training in the morning and defensive driving this afternoon. I can only pray that I get that training in it seems something always messes up that training. Namely Morelli hopefully that won't be the case today. I really need my training if I have a snowballs chance in hell of passing the test come Sunday.

I hop in the shower after him as he only takes like a five minute shower which I can't fathom, hell it takes me five minutes to get the right temperature and setting on the shower head. Then I have to shampoo and condition my hair, wash my body, shave, and exfoliate I mean how the hell does he stay in the shower five minutes and still have softer hair, and softer and silkier hair than I do I tell you life isn't fair. Not to mention he doesn't have to worry about zits I mean his pores wouldn't act up and inflame hell they would be too scared, fuckers.

Finally ready we make our way to the table to have breakfast. It had become our ritual every morning eating together talking about our plans for the day, every evening eating together talking about our day. It was comfortable, it was what couples do and it felt right between us. Even when the guys joined us it still felt right, still felt intimate between us, it just felt easy never forced. I can't say I have ever experienced these feelings before with anyone and it is something so simple. I think someone once said to reveal in the simplicities of life and I now know this is what they were talking about.

Carlos looked at me "Babe I didn't get a chance to tell you last night that I am going to have to go to Boston on Friday for a meeting. There is a large contract they are about to sign and the owner wants to meet with the head of Rangeman before signing." He no more got the words out that my spidey senses started going off.

"Carlos how long are you planning on being gone?" I asked him wondering if he was going to be gone over night or the weekend.

His lips curl up "Babe I don't want to go but the contract is too large for me not to go. I plan on flying up right after the morning meeting and flying home right after our meeting. I am not going to spend a night without you if I don't have to. I would have you go with me only I know you are training and your test in scheduled for Sunday so I didn't want to interrupt your training. So I am flying up and flying back on the same day." He told me but my spidey senses were still setting off warnings.

"Carlos any chance this contract isn't real? Any chance someone is trying to get you to come to Boston for another reason?" I asked him. I didn't want to sound like the girl friend who didn't want her boy friend out of her sight. I didn't want to be an alarmist either but I needed to find out more. I needed to find out why him telling me he was going to Boston was setting off my spidey senses. Something was wrong I knew it and I was afraid it wasn't safe for him to go.

"Babe the contract is real, the customer is real. Is there a reason you are asking me this?" Damn now he is going to think I am the fucking psycho girl friend who can't be without her man. Fuck.

"I don't know it's just when you mentioned being away having to go to Boston on Friday my spidey sense started alarming me. I don't know why but something just felt off something felt not right. I am worried about you and I don't know why." I told him confused.

"Babe I don't think there is anything to worry about. I will have the guys in Boston backing me up in the meeting. The head of Boston Rangeman Anthony will be with me." He told me.

"Well maybe it isn't the meeting that has my spidey senses going off maybe it is something else with you going flying up or flying back, I don't know. Maybe I am just crazy." I tell him thinking it is very possible at this point.

He shook his head "Babe I have said it a thousand times and I will say it again always trust the spidey sense it has never failed you, it has never failed me, and it has never failed our company." Hold up did he just say our company? But before I had a chance to ask him to explain that comment further he continued.

"Babe if I take Tank with me does that make you feel better? He will have my back from the moment I leave this building until I get back." That does make me feel better my spidey sense calmed a little but I was still a little on edge about him leaving and couldn't really say why. I knew Tank would watch his back that they would watch each other's and if something was amiss they would be there for each other.

I nodded "Yeah knowing you two will be together to watch each other's back in case something is wrong makes me feel better. Not that I need to tell you this just remain aware of your surroundings because the spidey senses aren't gone only I am happier that you have back up that I know and trust with your life and mine." I told him. I can't believe I just told batman, the man in black, Mr. Smoke himself to remain aware of his surroundings when was he ever not aware of his surroundings.

His lips curled up in an almost smile at my comment. I am sure he found humor in the woman who was never aware of her surroundings and who everyone in the building could sneak up on funny for telling him to remain aware of his surroundings. But I couldn't help it, something was wrong I just didn't know what.

RPOV  
I had to bite my tongue not to laugh. Had my Babe known that she would have thought it was funny that I had to take that much of a step to refrain from laughing. I didn't want her to think that I was laughing at her so I held it in.

I hadn't planned on taking Tank with me but after Stephanie told me her spidey senses were alarming her at my comment about going to Boston I thought it would be best to pay attention to them and bring back up with me that I trusted with my life.

I knew her well enough and I trusted her instincts enough to know that if she sensed something was wrong than it probably was something wrong. I wasn't about to ignore her senses no more than I would have ignored my own. If bringing Tank along made it so I was able to come back to my woman in one piece it would be a simple enough thing to do. Wasn't like there wasn't plenty of room on the plane for him or it would cost me an absorbent amount of money to bring him along fuck even if it did I would pay it for her peace of mind and for mine.

I wanted to laugh at her telling me remain aware of my surroundings when she is never aware of her surroundings although since her training she has gotten a lot better. But before that hell she was oblivious to her surroundings. She doesn't realize how much she has become aware of her surroundings since her training.

"Babe if it is okay with you Slyder will probably tag along with you during your training again today as he wants to refresh his skills a little for the test on Sunday as well. He will be taking the test alongside you." She nodded and smiled. I was a little worried that testing them together wouldn't be a great idea but when she smiled I knew she was okay with it.

We got up from the table put our dirty dishes in the sink and headed for the door. The work day was about to start for me and the training day was about to start for her I just hoped today wouldn't end with her limping her way back into our apartment this evening.

I did have to smile at the memory of the look on the faces of those two fuckers when I showed them to the door last night. I was actually grateful they came up and told me about Doug. I would put him in his place later today on the mats. But it also gave me the opportunity to show those two fuckers how quickly I could make them fucking limp permanently when I bounced their asses off the hard floor the moment they walked in. They didn't know what hit them and if they ever caused my Babe to limp again they wouldn't know what hit them again.

I made it clear to them when I escorted them out and they fully understood why the ass bounce I gave them when they walked in. I all but told them you ever make my Babe limp again and I will make it so their biggest and longest appendage will be their short little pencil dicks they both shamelessly carry around.

It was a promise I fully intended on keeping if I ever found out that either one of those fuckers were the reason behind her limping again. It is one thing to train her but to kick her ass until the point she is limping that won't be tolerated even if they are her brothers her best friend and love her. I won't stand by and allow that to happen ever. They should just consider themselves lucky I gave them a fucking warning instead of two broken knees.

ZipPOV

I had been in the gym waiting for Stephanie with Hal. Hal had Physical Training with her this morning at zero eight hundred and I was on the schedule for zero nine hundred but since I was excited to get a chance to train with her and I didn't have any other commitments I thought I would just hang out with them. Hal had told me that he was going to go out running with her so I knew he was happy to have someone else tag along for backup.

Her life had been difficult lately with the fucking cop and her stalker along with her training and I had even heard her family life had been tough on her. She had a fight with her mother at the grocery store. I don't understand how people treat her the way they do. I personally loved her and I loved working with her. I couldn't wait until she smoked her test and became a full time Rangeman working alongside us.

She made it down to the gym at zero eight hundred right on time. I tell you she is one beautiful woman you only need to look at her to know it. To see her dressed in her workout shorts, her tank top, her curly brown hair pulled up in a pony tail and those big blue eyes smiling the way they do when she looks at you it is hard not to love her. It is hard not to respond to her but we all know she is boss's woman and if we look or touch her the wrong way we are minced meat.

Slyder joined us about a minute after Bombshell came through the door and Lester was a matter of seconds behind him yelling for us to wait up as he was trying to jam his foot into his sneakers. He had on a T-shirt that said My Best Friend is the Bomb and I just about busted looking at it. Yesterday he had worn one that said My Best Friend is Beautiful.

Stephanie giggled when she saw it he would probably be the only one that would be able to say or wear something like that without pissing her off. She loved him and he loved her and she knew he would never tease her about all the things that went boom around her.

Lester held up a shirt for her it was a tank top that said on the front My Best friend has Balls. I just shook my head and wondered how long it would take for the boss man to kick Lester's ass on the mats for that one. Handing it to her she just laughed pulling off her tank top and pulling on the one he gave her. I had to turn my head to keep from my body reacting to seeing her in her sports bra and shorts.

Hal spoke up "okay how about since we have half of Rangeman with us we take a run outside this morning and run to the compound?" The look she gave him was beautiful and again I had to control myself from laughing out loud.

You didn't need ESP to read what she was thinking. She was thinking like fuck I am running from here to the compound. I also believe she questioned if Hal had lost his ever loving single brain cell that allowed him to know how to spell and write his own name. Okay maybe I add libbed a little on that but she was definitely questioning his sanity.

Actually Hal is an extremely smart guy only made one dumb decision that he will never be allowed to live down and that was handing Bomber his stun gun so she could stun his ass. We were watching in the control room and could see what was coming a mile away but Hal he didn't have a clue well not until he felt that zing but it was too late by that time.

We headed for the stairwell and Bomber went for the elevator. We all looked her at her questioning why not take the stairs after all this is supposed to be physical fitness and you are going to take the elevator down three floors? She shrugged reading our minds and said "What you fuckers want me to run like a hundred miles or something like that, I am taking the god damn elevator if you don't like it fucking sue me." I couldn't hold it back I had held it back too long and busted out laughing along with the others.

Before we all made it into the stairwell she yelled you "You better wait for me if you expect me to run that far I am not doing it by myself." We all threw up our hands for her to see that we heard her and we went to the garage to wait for her. None of us would have thought about leaving her behind. We were trained never leave a fellow soldier behind.

Finally she exited the elevator and we made our way out to the street. Two in front two in back with Stephanie in the middle we started down the street. We started out slower to warm our bodies up but as we progressed we sped up and to my surprise Stephanie stayed right with us. I didn't even hear any heavy breathing coming from her and zero complaining. Unlike what I have heard from other guys that had taken her running when her training had started.

I was looking forward to my time with her. Since we were going to the compound I was going to show her my favorite part of the compound I was almost certain she hadn't been to this area of the compound as I hadn't heard any of the guys talking about having taken her there.

We made it to the compound and I don't know about the other guys but when the gates closed behind us I breathed a sigh of relief. Having her on the streets running with us is fun but she is our responsibility and with the dangers that have been in her life lately it really put me on edge looking and watching for anything that may be a threat to her. So knowing we were safely in the compound I was able to relax.

We made it over to the far corner of the compound where the zip lines were. There were towers and trees that all contained zip lines. Looking at her I told her. "Today we are going to fly." Knowing how much she had always wanted to fly.

She beamed and I couldn't hold the smile from my lips that she elicited when her face lit up with excitement.

We walked over and got geared up the way the zip lines were we could go from station to station without having to climb down and back up the towers or trees. I helped her get in her gear explained how she would be connected the line and how to control how fast she went. I told her where she needed to use caution and then hooked myself on the line.

I loved this. They didn't call me zip for no reason. They called me zip because I love zip lines I loved the thrill and I loved the speed from them. I was the fastest I was the best, when there was an insertion or extraction that involved a zip line you wanted me on your team.

Before I took off I hooked Bombshell's gear to the line showing her how. I demonstrated how she should stand to push off and explained how to hold on and then I let myself fly down the line. When I got to the next station I stood on the platform and motioned for her to follow me. I knew I had struck gold when she kicked off and started squealing like a kid on Christmas morning that Santa had been really good to.

I didn't bother waiting for the rest of them. Once Bombshell had made it to the station and was standing on the platform she grabbed me hugging me.

"Thank you for helping me fly" she told me and my heart felt as though it had skipped a beat at her words. I kissed the top of head replying

"It was all my pleasure Bombshell." And it was all my pleasure any of us would do anything to be the one to make her this happy to put that smile on her face, fuck we would fight each other for the chance. I don't think I have ever really thought of any other woman in my life like Stephanie. I have a brother James but no sisters. So girls are sort of I don't know foreign to me especially girls like Bomber. I mean Bomber was the girl you wanted to take the grocery store versus the girl you just take to bed.

She was the girl you wanted to be with and not just get with its all confusing a total new concept for me as I am use to sleeping with the ladies I have never been on a date that breakfast didn't end up as part of the date. Not that I will ever have a chance with Bomber but she was the girl you take home to momma, you take home to family because you were proud to be with her you respected her too much and liked her too much to just sleep with and send her on her own like all the other women I had known. Not that I didn't respect them but this was different. It felt so different it felt foreign almost alien.

She was definitely an anomaly to me but one I would love to experience with another woman that I could have and claim as my own. Before I could get too lost in my thoughts and dreams it was time to kick off to the next station. I gave her a few pointers on form and technique along the way but our hour together was up way sooner than I wanted. I was just glad she had some fun while we were together flying throughout the trees and towers of the compound.

BinkiePOV

I pull up in the compound and park I knew where they would be with Zip having training. They were going to be over on the zip lines. I wasn't sure how I was going to top that training hour as we all knew Stephanie loved to fly and that was about as close as you were going to get to the feeling of flying. Not to mention it was a good upper body and core workout one Stephanie would realize in a few hours. Right now she was having too much fun to notice just how hard she was in fact working.

I am the youngest Rangeman at just twenty four years old I may be the youngest Rangeman of all the offices. I was in the military Navy Seal to be exact. I love the water. I joined the Navy right out of high school and was in for four years. While I excelled at being a seal because of my love of the water it really wasn't the life for me so I opted out when I could.

Before my tour time was up I had come across Ranger on a mission and for some reason he liked me and offered me a job with Rangeman. I accepted and I have been here ever since leaving the military.

I still love the water, love being in the ocean swimming or any water for that matter I am like a fish I accredited it to my parents. Growing up in southern California right on the ocean I lived and breathed the ocean. I use to surf daily and I am still a surfer at heart the dream of being able to ride the big one is never completely gone with me. I guess you can say that my parents are a bit of hippies my mother Sunflower Rose we call her Sunny and my father Storm have always been free spirits but they love us. I am one of six I have two brothers and three sisters. I know Brady Bunch right? Well that is how we were referred to only difference between us and them all of us belonged to both my mom and dad.

We are all a lot of like and yet oddly enough all different. We all managed to live our own lives and I believe that was the encouragement that we were giving from our parents to be who and what we wanted there was never any preconceived notions with them they were fine with whatever we wanted so when my brother River wanted to be an ant farmer for a living they gave him his first ant farm. Even when he managed to let them lose in our house they still loved him and encouraged him to strive for his dream. He ended up being a surgeon. When my sister Desert decided that she was going to bat for the other team and try being a lesbian they were nothing but encouraging to her to be happy.

It was odd when Desert decided she did in fact like men and met a man and proceeded to have two children with him while one of my other sisters, Breeze, who had been married decided that wasn't the life she wanted and left her husband for another woman our parent's were nothing but supportive.

When my other brother, Stone, decided he wanted to be a programmer and design, build, and program the first online social networking system well you see where he is today founder and CEO of Facebook. He is still pissed his own brother doesn't have a Facebook account but if I opened a Facebook account Ranger would fucking kill me so I figure he would rather have a brother than a dead brother with a Facebook account.

My other sister, Summer, owns several high end spa resorts in southern California and southern Nevada. All things considered my family was a very successful family and I felt like we had our parents to thank for supporting us all those years encouraging us

I guess you are wondering what my real name is, Binkie Is not my real name well my birth name is Sky.

We are loud, we are always in each other business, but we do love each other and we are supportive of each other and now I am happy to say I have another sister living here in Trenton with me because truthfully the hardest part about being here is all of them being three thousand miles away.

I knew I was close to the zip area not because I knew this area by the back of my hand which I did but because I could hear Stephanie's squeal of delight at the feeling that she was flying. I once again wondered how am I going t top that. I resolved myself to the fact that I probably won't and made my mind up to take her to the Rangeman pool.

If I couldn't top her flying I could show her something that I love and that is swimming I only wished I could teach her to surf. Maybe one day we can head to the ocean for a day of surf lessons. I will ask her today if that sounds like something she would enjoy. Personally I am going to ask Ranger if we can get one of those surfer pools put in. We have plenty of room here in the compound and we would all love it me more than others. But if Stephanie starts surfing that will be enough incentive for him to go for it not to mention she will love it.

He always asks us what we think will make the compound better and that would definitely make it better in my opinion.

I walk up to Stephanie as she is hugging Zip for having helped her fly. I can't help but smile seeing the look on her face. Lester and Slyder were there I had seen Hal leaving when I got here I take it he had to get back to Rangeman for something or I knew he would be right here with her because none of us would want to leave her with her having this much fun. This was the shit we all lived for. This is why we would risk our lives to save hers. This was why we would give our lives for her just for her to be able to look this way again.

I walk up to them she hugs me. She likes to watch over me as I am the youngest and she makes sure the other guys don't tease me too much. Before her well the guys gave me hell if it wasn't my age it was my nickname Binkie. I couldn't help it that I liked to suck things until well actually I never really stopped only it went from my mother's breast for milk to my ladies breasts for pleasure yes even at a very young age I was in love with the lady's ladies. I am sure those fuckers are for the most part jealous and just like to give me shit. But I have to grin at the memories of Stephanie coming to my defense when one of her brother's as she refers to us was being too hard on me.

I was fully capable of taking care of myself but she feels the need to protect and she does. I can't say I don't love it, because I do. "Hey Bombshell you ready for more physical fitness?" I asked her. She nodded her head her face still flush from all the flying.

"Okay let's go to my favorite part of the compound, the pool." She just nodded and smiles at my suggestions. Lester and Slyder both smiled as well. So I take it that they were going to continue to hang out with us, great. I was looking forward to having Bombshell with me for the hour. Guess I am going to have to deal with those two dumb fuckers as well.

Zip spoke up "Bombshell I've got to get back my shift starts in a little bit." She hugged him again saying

"Thank you again I had a wonderful time flying with you." He nodded and we made our way back to pool. Zip grabbed one of the SUVs that stays at the compound and headed back to Rangeman. We changed into our suits and hit the pool.

Bombshell came out in a two piece but it was more a sports tank two piece suit rather than a string bikini two piece which was a little disappointing but for training it made the most sense.

"Bombshell I bet you didn't know I am surfer, you prove your swimming skills with me today and I promise I will take you to the ocean and teach you to surf." I told her feeling out if that is something she would want. She smiled at me

"You are on." And she dove into the pool. Once in the pool she yelled back at us "last one in buys me ice cream." We all make a run and jump for the pool. In the end it was Slyder who was the last one in so he was buying her ice cream. She looked at him.

"You are buying me ice cream, this time damn it I will get my ice cream." She stated. He didn't understand the statement but Lester and I did all too well. That Fucking cop had interrupted her chance of getting ice cream when she had won a bet with Vince. She wasn't going to let that happen again and we were going to make sure she got her much loved ice cream.

You know those people on the street that hold signs up begging for a dollar or saying they will work for food or work of money when all they are hoping is that you will hand them a dollar and be on your way well our bombshell she needed a sign that says will work for Ice cream.

RPOV 

The morning meeting this morning was a busy one. I had all employees join us as I had several announcements I wanted to make. I knew my Babe, Hal, Lester, Slyder and Zip weren't going to be there because they were training and that was fine. Out of them they already followed the rules, and knew what it was I needed to tell everyone else.

Opening the meeting "Men I have some announcements I wanted to make and I wanted to make sure you all heard me because I won't be telling any of you this again." I told them in my no nonsense I will beat the shit out of you if you don't listen and obey my orders voice.

"It has been brought to my attention that some of you aren't obeying the gym hours. The gym is closed between the hours of twelve hundred and fourteen hundred hours. You need to be cleared out of the gym by twelve hundred hours that means the shower area as well. That is the time that Stephanie works out and yes Lester and Slyder workout with her." I look around the room capturing the eyes of each of my men I know all of them are innocent other than one but I wanted to make my point.

My eyes settling on him I almost smiled at the thought of kicking his ass on the mats but thank fuck my blank face was locked on tight. "Unless she approaches you and specifically asks you to join her in the gym then you are to remain outside of the gym doors until fourteen hundred hours. This is a daily thing so I don't want to hear anything about not knowing or thinking it was only certain days. Any of you that don't respect the hours will meet me on the mats." I tell them and they all nodded including dumb fucker. I continued

"You are not to approach Stephanie and ask her to join her. She will ask you if she wants you to join her, do I make myself clear?" I asked them again all nodded including dumb fuck Doug.

I continued on after staring at Doug for emphasis "Other business Sunday Slyder and Stephanie will be taking their Rangeman entrance test. I am going to ask Demon and Reggae to administer the test but Tank and I will be supervising. Of course Bobby will be on site with us just in case one is injured. I am not sure how Stephanie will feel about everyone watching but I will ask her and let you know. I am going to respect her wishes on this and I expect you all to do the same. If I find out that any of you pressured her in any way to watch without her asking you first." Again I leveled my eyes on Doug "I will be meeting you on the mats." Doug gulped I think he got the message.

"Men if you don't sense the theme of this conversation then you aren't too fucking bright. The bottom line is don't assume anything with Stephanie if you are uncertain she would want you to participate in whatever she is doing allow her the opportunity to ask you. Do not assume anything and do not take liberties with my woman where there shouldn't be liberties to take. I promise you it will end badly for whoever does." I looked around the room again my eyes locking on Doug's. I saw several of my men pissed.

Not because they thought I was saying they had taken liberties but because they knew by me saying what I was saying someone in the group had. They were ready to beat the shit out of someone. The attention I was giving Doug was enough for a few of them to follow along. Cal being one I could see the daggers he was shooting Doug's way. Hector was only minutes from killing the fucker and I hadn't had my time with him on the mats.

"Men everything has been handled there is nothing further to do I don't want anyone trying to fix this problem or resolve this problem as it has been handled. I just wanted to further clarify with everyone here my standing and what will happen if anything further happens."

I stared at Doug. "This meeting as far as you all are concerned is adjourned Doug when I finish the regular morning meeting I want you to meet me on the mats. It seems we have a little problem that needs a little further discussion." I told him. I saw him swallow good let him fucking sweat like a pig in shit.

I watched as some of the men filed out of the room leaving the men that normally attended the morning meetings.

I made the announcement that Tank and I would be leaving on Friday morning after our meeting to go to the Boston office for a meeting with a client to discuss the final agreement with their twenty million dollar contract.

I explained that Lester and Slyder would be handling the client meeting for the day that had originally been scheduled for Tank and I. I also explained I wanted Stephanie's training to continue as normal but that someone would need to step in for Tank's training time as she had insisted that I take Tank with me.

It wasn't long before the meeting was over and I was making my way to the mats to kick dumb fuckers ass. This time I wasn't going to let him off because of his pitiful fighting skills it was going to be fight me the best you can or get your ass beat even more for not knowing how to properly defend yourself.

**A/N I know Founder of Facebook isn't Binkies brother probably doesn't have 5 siblings and his name isn't Stone but for the sake of this story he is Binkie's brother and he has 5 other siblings and his name is Stone so forget you saw the movie social networking the life and story of the founder of Facebook…okay…just for this story….I am taking a little writer's liberty.**

**Please take a moment and leave a review. Let me know your thoughts…I love every review it does wonder for my soul and wonders for my fingers! Don't forget to check out the accommodating website and my writers journal…I put sneak peeks into the chapters in them! **

**You can find it all at www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com There are playlists there for the party and songs that are mentioned through the different chapters, pictures of the characters along with their bio as I see them in my head, as they are in my story. There are pictures of some of the clothing, and places that have been in my chapter, as well as pictures of cars, trucks, motorcycles from the Rangeman compound. I hope you enjoy it! Leave a comment there as well if you wish!**


	41. Chapter 40: Rangeman Worthy

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

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Chapter 40: Rangeman Worthy

RPOV

I made my way from the morning meeting to the gym. I was expecting to see Doug waiting for me as that had been my order to him before he left the meeting. When I reached the gym he was nowhere to be seen.

Fucker was trying my patience. He really didn't want to be on my bad side anymore than he had already managed to put himself. The thoughts of him rubbing his filthy fucking dick even behind at least two layers of clothing on my Babe's ass infuriated me.

It was first of a sign of complete and total disrespect and secondly she was my woman. I grabbed my phone dialing Tank. He answered "Rangeman"

I couldn't hold the venom back in my voice I was too pissed that my orders weren't followed that he wasn't waiting in the gym for me. "Tank, find that fucker and drag his sorry fucking ass to the gym anyway you have to." I hung up I didn't need to say anything more. I knew Tank would follow my orders no questions asked.

While I was waiting, the thought causing my blood to boil even more while I removed my shirt, my weapons, and my boots. I thought briefly about keeping them on and making sure he felt the pain every time I kicked his dumb fucking ass but in the end I decided I wouldn't kill him or even gravely injure him. Hector needed him for installs we currently had more work than Hector could physically do. But he would be sore for a couple of days and the fucker would work in spite of it.

I was taking off my second boot when the doors flew open instinctively I grabbed my gun and had it aim at the intruder when I saw it was Tank and Cal I lowered it.

They had Doug each by arm and were escorting him right up to the mat. I could see the protest in him. He had no intentions of meeting me on the mats. Did he think I would just let it go? I swear how dumb is this fucker?

"Tank, Cal where did you find him?" I asked my voice quiet, deadly with no emotion.

Tank answered "We found him hiding out in the back of Hector's lab." I raised my head I allowed my eyes to glare at him I knew what he was seeing and I smiled the smile my enemies see once I have locked on them. Once I have them when they know there is nowhere to go nothing to do but die. They have been caught and for them they can only say their final thoughts before I kill them.

It is that final minute that you actually learn the caliber of a man. For some they just beg for their lives to be spared, for themselves, their loved ones those are the chickens those are the weak. For others they ask forgiveness for what they have done, they beg for absolution from their God. They already know that begging and pleading will get them nowhere so they scream their love for their family, their wives, and their children if they have any. They try to set their lives straight in the last seconds of their life what they should have done all the years they lived it.

What they all did know though was that absolution, forgiveness, or mercy wasn't to be theirs at least not from my hands. From my hands they would receive only one thing and that was death for I was their judge, their jury, and ultimately their executioner it just depended on what I needed from them and how willing they were to give it if it was a slow or a quick death.

I wasn't going to kill Doug but I wasn't ready for him to know that. I saw the bead of sweat roll down the side of his face I saw the quake his body did from his head to his shoes. I saw the smiles from Tank and Cal as they smelled what I smelled, fear.

We all knew the smell we all responded to the smell because we all loved being the cause. Locking my eyes on Doug's "I told you to be waiting in the gym for me. Why were my orders disobeyed?" I asked him.

He tried to speak but got chocked oh he was a chicken. He was a coward, he would be begging for his life before we even made it to the mats. He finally found the ability to speak and said "I didn't know when the meeting was going to be over so I went back to my office." I raised my head looking down at him.

"Well as you can see the meeting is over. I have been waiting for you and I don't like to be kept waiting. But since you seemed to feel the need to hold me up well you had better fight better than you did the last time we met on the mats or things aren't going to fare too well for you. The last time I met you on the mats I took pity on you and went easy on you today there will be no pity and no easy. So for your sake I hope you have learned a little something between then and now or this is going to be quite painful for you." My voice low and dark there was no bullshit in my voice there was no joking I was going to kick this fucker's ass and I was going to take my time since he felt the need to waste it.

He gulped. He took off his shirt, his weapon, and his boots. I saw his fingers shake a little while he was untying his boots and I couldn't help the leer that came over my face and lips. He thought he was Rangeman material? My ass, my babe is braver than him.

Looking at him like he is gum on the bottom of my shoe "You work here, why?" I asked him. He looked at me I could see he was questioning why I was asking but then wisely decided to answer the question.

"I work here because I would like to become a full time Rangeman. I want to be considered for the position of Full time Rangeman." He told me. Tank and Cal couldn't contain their laughter they knew a snowball had a better chance of becoming a full time Rangeman. Fuck my Babe's friends Sally Sweet, and or Mooner had better chances of becoming full time Rangeman than this dumb fucker.

Sally had already proved himself worthy when he saved my Babe's life. I would forever be indebted to him as far as Mooner went well I knew he would try to protect my Babe and that is all I could really ask of any man. This fucker on the other hand had done nothing but endangered her life and then rubs his nasty ass cock against her.

"Really, you think you have what it takes to be a full time Rangeman?" I asked him. He had the nerve to nod his head yes. Effectively insulting every man in my corporation every man in every office including my Babe who was busting her ass in training to be a Full time Rangeman. His lack of respect his lack of thought manages to piss me off further.

Cal and Tank were getting pissed as well. They didn't appreciated being classified along with the likes of Doug, none of my men would. He couldn't cut it as a Rangeman no more than he could cut it as a man. He was a fucking coward a chicken and one thing Rangemen weren't were chicken or cowards.

Looking at him I gave nothing away "So you honestly think you have what it takes to be a full time Rangeman? You think you deserve the opportunity to become a full time Rangeman to be able to walk the halls of this building or all my buildings and be considered an equal of the other men that walk these halls? Be considered an equal of Cal, Tank, or me?" I could not believe the nerve of this fucker.

I know I sound conceited when it comes to my men, my business and I am I know these men, I know they are the best. I only hire the best. It is why my company succeeds why it is as successful as it is I hire only the best, then I invest in my employees giving them outstanding compensation, benefits, and amenities that no other company would consider including perks. It was why they were loyal to Rangeman, it was why they loved Rangeman. It was why they worked hard for Rangeman for me and obeyed my orders. All my men are treated with respect with value because they were valuable every single one and this fucker thought he was as valuable and as deserving as they were boy was in for a rude awakening.

Once again he proved himself even dumber and nodded his head yes but he even took it one step further proving what a true dumb ass he is by further pissing me off. "Yes, I do think I am an equal, I do think I deserve the opportunity of being a full time Rangeman. I think if a woman thinks she is capable then there is no doubt that I am capable because I can beat any woman any day. Put me up against Stephanie and I will prove to you I would be the better candidate for Rangeman." He told me.

I had to hold myself back. I saw Cal and Tank and I saw the set of their jaws, the anger in their eyes, the tense of their muscles ready to strike at his dumb ass comment. She was better than him on her worst day. I decided to throw out a challenge.

"I tell you what you stand your own on the mat for longer than 30 minutes without me taking you down or knocking you out and I will give you your chance. I will allow you to test alongside Stephanie and Slyder on Sunday. So if you are able to put your money where your mouth is then you first need to survive me on the mats."

He nodded his agreement to my challenge.

I will even take it one step further and told him "You hold you own for 30 minutes with me and I will give you and Stephanie both the opportunity to fight me this afternoon during her work out time. Whoever holds their own the longest against me gets to test on Sunday the other one won't have the opportunity to test."

I had all the faith in the world that my Babe will come out the victor so I wasn't worried. I knew this fucker didn't have a chance in hell of winning but I wanted to prove to him that my Babe was better than him already. That he couldn't beat her on his best day.

He stupidly nods his head in agreement I see the glee in his eyes, he truly thinks he is going to come out the winner boy is he ever dumb.

DougPOV

I was getting my chance to prove myself Rangeman material. All I needed to do was hold my own with Ranger on the mats and he was going to give me the chance to prove that I was the better choice. That I was the better candidate over that split tail bitch.

Things couldn't get much better than this. I mean I was getting what wanted a full time Rangeman job.

I finished taking my boots off and walked over on the mats. The first time I met him on the mats I held back to keep from getting an ass beating this time I wasn't going to be holding back. This time I was going to come at him with everything I had. I may even take down the unbeatable Ranger Manoso because I would take him completely by surprise.

We make our way over the mats. I see the smile on Cal's and Tank's face. Ranger was facing me bouncing from foot to foot warming himself up I thought I would do the same.

TPOV  
Is Ranger fucking serious? He can't fucking be serious that he would allow this mother fucker to test alongside Stephanie and Slyder. That he would even go as far as saying that he would fight them both and the winner would be given the chance to test and the other one wouldn't. He isn't Rangeman material he isn't even worth giving the test to we all knew he wasn't wanted, wasn't needed and he had fucked up enough to tell us all that he needed to move on.

Now Rangeman was going to fucking give him a chance to test? Of course if I knew Ranger well enough he would never let him off the mats to test. Doug's fighting skills leave a lot to be desired so there is no doubt that Ranger will kick his ass but Ranger did say hold his own in the fight not win. Of course it would take a fighter to win against Ranger there wasn't a man in this building who could beat Ranger so I knew Doug didn't stand a chance in hell.

Doug's arrogance did nothing but piss me off. He thought he was worthy enough for us to consider him an equal. For him to consider himself an equal I briefly wondered what the fuck has been smoking.

I hope Ranger kicked his ass well enough because if he doesn't I am going to be forced to further kick his ass to prove to him how unworthy he truly is. Even after his ass kicking I still may need to kick his ass just to satisfy myself. From the look on Cal's face I can tell he feels the same.

CalPOV

This mother fucker endangers my Angel, he then rubs his nasty fucking probably disease riddled cock on her beautiful ass, and then he has the fucking nerve to consider himself better than her. That he would beat her? This fucker is going down. I think I am going to make good on one of my promises. Obviously permanent marker isn't permanent enough as it washed off but I will make sure not to make that mistake again.

Just wait until Ranger is done with this dumb fucking prick I am going to prove to this fucker how much he isn't Rangeman material. As far as which one could withstand fighting with Ranger longer him or my Angel? My Angel hands down I wouldn't be surprised with her training and with her size and speed she didn't give Ranger a run for his money. This was one fight that I wasn't going to miss out on.

DougPOV

Well that didn't really go as planned. Ranger kicked my ass but I survived the thirty minutes without going down or getting knocked out so for that I am glad. Now I just need to perform better than Stephanie when we fight this afternoon. I had no doubt I wouldn't be better as I already had a sense for how he fought. I knew he had never fought her on the mats before I knew because I had watched her in the gym every day and he had never been in there with her so I had an advantage and I was intending on using it.

I was going to show that split tail where she belonged and that was behind all the men. She was beneath us beneath me this would be one way to show her that men are superior to her. I will show her where she belongs and it isn't as a full time Rangeman unless that full time position involved sucking my dick.

Before Ranger left the gym he looked back at me "Stephanie will begin her work out around twelve today be here in the gym at twelve. We will get started as soon as she gets here." I nodded that I heard him and he along with Cal and Tank started to walked out of the gym.

Ranger turned back looking at me he leered at me again and I felt my throat immediately begin to choke up when he spoke up "Doug you ever rub your nasty cock against her again and I promise you I will kill you. I suggest you learn from the small taste you got today that if you do something without her permission again I promise you, you won't live to have another chance."

I nodded as I was trying to swallow the ball that had formed in my throat. I tried not to be afraid to show fear but the look on his face, the way he held his body, the sheer intensity of his eyes told me that he meant every word he had just spoken and more than that he clearly told me he was able to follow through. Fear was something that couldn't be helped at that moment.

RPOV

I walked out of the gym with Cal and Tank. The doors no more closed that Tank wasn't on my ass. "What the fuck Rangeman?" I looked at him raising my eyebrow to him "You are going to allow him to test beside my little girl and Slyder seriously?" I nodded.

"Tank he doesn't have what it takes. He can't pass the test. Fuck I went easy on him in there just because I wanted him to see how much better Stephanie is than him. Today when she comes back and we fight on the mats it will prove it to him he will lose and he won't be able to test with her on Sunday. His ego is such that he will take me up on the challenge hoping to knock her out of testing but I know my cousin well enough to know that he has trained her well. Not to mention skills Hector has taught her fuck she can probably fight blindfolded and beat that fucker." I tell them. I have all the confidence in the world in my Babe I knew she would be the winner hands down.

Cal spoke up "Ranger you better be prepared she might take you down." He told me and I had only one reply that was anywhere near the truth "Oh she has already taken me down. Hook line and sinker." Cal along with Tank and myself laughed at that comment. Because the little white bread girl from the burg had already done me in, she had already taken me down just not in a fight.

We made it back up to five where I proceeded to go to my office to get some work down before my Babe made it back from the compound. If I was right she was training with Zip and I had no doubt that she would be flying high on the zip lines. My only regret was not being able to see her and hear her because I am almost certain she is squealing with delight. I look at the time and see it is almost zero ten hundred which means her flying is almost over but it doesn't stop me from pulling up the cameras to see if I can catch a glimpse of her.

CalPOV

I texted Lester to give him a heads up of what happened and what she was going to be faced with when she got back to Rangeman. I wanted her prepared. Victory is always in the preparations we were taught that here at Rangeman in everything we did. Never be unprepared. Anticipate every possible aspect and plan for it. I knew Lester would want to know so he could prepare for it, and prepare Angel for it.

She had never faced Ranger on the mats and while we knew he would never hurt her facing Ranger on the mats wasn't for the weak hearted. He had ass kicking coming your way written all over his face and it took courage to just stand there and face him. That is why dumb fuck was hiding in the equipment lab because he was too chicken shit to face Ranger on the mats. He only did it because he knew he had no other choice.

I had no doubt that Angel couldn't stand her own I just didn't want her to be unprepared for this when she walked in to Rangeman.

LPOV

We were headed to the pool when I got a text from Cal. I briefly wondered what the fuck had happened at Rangeman this morning. Ranger wanted to meet both Beautiful and dumb fuck on the mats during her workout time.

While I was changing I called Cal and he filled me in. I thanked him for the heads up now I just needed to prepare her for the challenge it wasn't a doubt that she wasn't ready for this. She could hold her own I knew she could but I knew she would be intimidated it being Ranger that she had fight.

I would wait until we were out of the pool to tell her. She was having fun swimming and so far she was holding her own with Binkie so it looked like he was going to owe her a surf lesson now that is something I wanted to see.

I swam over to Slyder to fill him in on what was going to be happening when we got back to Rangeman.

"Hey man I got a text from Cal earlier." He looked at me like so who gives a fuck. God he can be such a fucking drama queen at times.

"Man when we get back there Ranger wants to meet Beautiful and Dumb fucker on the mats during her workout time. He wants to fight them both and according to Cal whoever loses doesn't get to test on Sunday." I saw the flash of rage in his eyes that was my initial reaction. After all her hard work if she doesn't get to test it will devastate her. But Cal had assured me that Ranger had a plan.

"Man calm down I know what you are feeling and thinking trust me I thought and felt them too but Cal said that Ranger has a plan so we have to trust that he is right because I know he wants her to pass the tests more than any of us. Trust me you weren't around for the conversation that if she fails these tests we are all probably fired if not dead for not training her better." I told him.

He nodded and continued swimming his laps while Binkie was working with Stephanie I decided to just relax a little so I started to float on my back thinking about how I was going to break the news to her. She needed to be prepared.

I knew Bobby would come here to finish Beautiful's training and when he got here we would start to prepare her for her meeting Ranger on the mats.

BPOV

I walk into the compound pool area and Lester, Slyder, Binkie, and Bomber are in the pool. Bomber and Binkie are over in the deep end of the pool area he was showing her some swimming techniques. Lester and Slyder were just in the lap area with Slyder swimming laps and Lester floating on his back appearing to all as though he was asleep.

I saw Bomber motion to Binkie to be quiet as she started to make her way over to Lester. She looked up at me and motion for me to be quiet. I couldn't help the smile plastered across my face. She got to him and just as she got close enough launched herself up and came down on him right across his chest effectively pushing him underwater.

She had gotten him. Of course when he came up he had her in his arms ready to launch her across the pool. Soon as he threw her and she screamed as she sailed through the air he started making his way over to me.

He got to the edge of the pool "Man have you heard what Ranger said today? Have you heard the challenge Ranger put out?" I hadn't heard anything. I had been in my office all day gearing up for Rangeman health screening that was coming up later in the month.

I have to give all Rangeman their physicals in all five offices. So I am trying to schedule travel time, physical times, pull health records get a list of what shots are necessary. It is extremely time consuming and it has kept me in my office most of the time this week.

"No man, I haven't heard anything. I have been in my office all week working out schedules for the upcoming physicals." I told him and he frowned he hated physical time, not that anything was wrong with him but he just hated having to do it.

"Man I don't know the whole story but apparently Ranger met Dumb Fuck Doug on the mats and a challenge was thrown down. He wants to fight both Doug and Beautiful and the winner of the fight gets to test on Sunday and the other one has to sit it out."

I know I gave Lester a dumb look because all I could think at that moment is what? What the fuck? What the fuck was Ranger thinking? Bomber has been working her ass off and now she has to fight him in order to get the opportunity to test when she has been busting her ass to do the test on Sunday. The next thing I felt was rage. I wanted to call Ranger to the mats and literally beat the fuck out of him. Did he not know how hard she has been fucking working for this?

"What the fuck Lester?" I asked him. He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know man I don't even know how to tell her I know he wants her to be a full time Rangeman I know he has faith in her but what happens if Doug would happen to win? He would get to test and she would have to wait. She has worked too hard for that. I tell you what this is, it's fucked up, but I also tell you it is going down this afternoon during her workout time so we have to prepare her this hour." He told me and I really wanted to beat Ranger's ass even more. I briefly remembered it was time for Ranger's tetanus shot and I was going to make it fucking painful as possible. I might even demand he take a TB test so I have an excuse to give his ass another painful shot.

"Well let's teach her a few tricks maybe she can catch him off guard and put his ass on the mats where it belongs." I tell Lester and I had to smile back at the smile that spread across his face. It said I like your way of thinking Brown.

"Beautiful let's get changed and go to the next building we need to go work on the mats for a little while." Lester told her. She nodded and got out of the pool as they all made their way to the dressing rooms.

They all changed and met me in the other building. This was a gym that was at the compound. It was like the Rangeman Gym only bigger. We had boxing rings, matted rings for martial arts, exercise equipment weights you name it and this gym had it.

We walked up to one of the matted rings.

Bomber walked up to me hugging me pulling on my braids saying hi to me. I hugged her back and kissed her cheek telling her hi. Her pulling on my hair wasn't lost on Lester but he didn't say anything about it.

Lester sighed "Beautiful we have something to tell you." I thought we hell this is all on you bro you are telling her this not me.

"What Lester, What's going on?" She asked picking up on him being uncomfortable and not wanting to tell her this.

"Something happened at Rangeman after we left." I saw fear shoot through her face almost panic way to go dumb fucker scare the fuck out of her. He quickly corrected himself seeing the same thing I saw in her eyes and face "nothing bad Beautiful everyone is okay." He quickly told her I saw her take a breath and relax.

"Ranger met Doug on the mats and something happened during their mat session, a challenge was thrown down. Ranger wants to fight both you this afternoon during your workout session."

She looked at him her eyes big with disbelief. "Wh…wha…what? Lester did you say that Ranger wants to fight me on the mats?" I saw the fear in her eyes. Fuck. He nodded. She shuddered in fear she knew Ranger calling you to the mats typically meant that you fucked up in some way. Fuck!

"Beautiful you did nothing wrong. He isn't calling you to the mats because you did something wrong. Don't worry about that. I don't know what was said or what happened I know there is a challenge he is going to fight you and he is going to fight Doug whoever wins the fight meaning that you hold your own or fight better well that person gets to test on Sunday the loser will have to test at another time." He told her.

I could see shock in her eyes disbelief I could see her questioning herself. Fuck. I spoke up "Bomber don't think that. He wants you testing, he wants you to be a full time Rangeman. If Ranger put this challenge down then he knows you will win hands down. I don't know what was said because I didn't hear him but I know how bad he wants this. I know how bad he wants you to be a full time team member he has faith in you and we" I motioned to Lester, Slyder, and Binkie "are going to help you win. Hell I will even call in more reinforcements if you need them."

She looked at me and nodded. "Bobby I need Cal and Hector can you call them?" She asked me and I just nodded. I knew that Cal and Hector had worked with her almost as much as Lester had. She was smart to get their help I knew they would come no doubt everyone at Rangeman had heard about this I can't even imagine that I hadn't heard about it even though I was stuck in my office.

I picked up my phone calling Cal. "Cal man you need to grab Hector and get to the compound. Stephanie has asked for you both to help her. We are preparing her for her mat meeting with Ranger." I told him. He said he would be right there. I hung up and nodded to her.

"He is coming Bomber he is going to get Hector." She nodded. I noticed Lester walked away for a minute he was on the phone talking to someone. I wasn't sure who he had called but no doubt it had something to do with Bomber's meeting Ranger on the mats. He was too focused for it to be anything else.

We all step into the ring and Lester joined us. "Okay Beautiful let's get down to business." He told her and she nodded. He looked at her "all of us have met Ranger on the mats and we all know his moves. Not that we can beat him he is the best. So we aren't going for you beating him. Hopefully you will get in a couple of good hits, or even a takedown but don't think you are going to beat him. Because you aren't so you have to go for surviving. The way to win is to survive in the ring, to remain in the ring and to fight better than Doug." He told her.

She nodded her understanding but you could see fear in her eyes. That was something we were going to have to address she needed to control it. From the beginning she needed to control her fear and not step in the ring being afraid of him. He would smell it on her and while he loved her and would never hurt her we all knew how we reacted to the smell of fear. It brought the mercenary out in all of us.

"Bomber you can't be afraid. You need to be fearless in the ring. You have to remember that you don't have to win that he isn't going to really hurt you that you only need to pseudo fight him meaning you don't have to use force behind your punches and he isn't going to use force behind his so if he does get a punch in it is just going to be a touch. Ranger has excellent control that is probably why he said to fight you instead of Doug. Doug probably has no control and would end up hurting you. Ranger isn't like that he has control to pull a punch or a kick so it will just be him touching you. You won't even get a bruise from him unless there was a grave accident and he would rather hurt himself before he hurt you so that won't happen. So there is no reason for fear. He is Ranger he is the best but he isn't your enemy he isn't mad at you so there will be no force or heat behind anything he does. Remember that there is nothing to fear. All you have to do is fight him. You don't have to worry about pulling anything because you aren't going to hurt him. If you do then that is okay too. Trust me Doug will be hitting him a lot harder than you so you don't worry about that. He can protect himself." I tell her. She is just looking at me absorbing everything I have said with an look of shock on her face.

"Bobby I don't think you have ever said so much to me at one time." Of all things for her think about at this time, she focuses on how much I was talking, Fuck me.

"Yeah well we have to prepare you for this." We don't want her losing to dumb fuck. We don't even want him at Rangeman let alone him testing for a full time position that wasn't going to happen. I was going to make sure of it.

It hadn't been ten minutes when Cal and Hector walked in. They already knew what was going on. Cal walked up to Stephanie and hugged her. Then Hector hugged her and she wiped his tear drops like she was going to wipe them off his face.

Cal spoke up "Angel Ranger put this challenge out but it was because Dumb Fuck told him that he was better than you, that he was the better candidate, and that he deserved the chance over you because you were a woman and he was a man. So Ranger threw out the challenge to prove that Dumb Fuck was wrong. So you have nothing to worry about. Ranger knows you will win he wouldn't have done it if he didn't have a hundred and ten percent trust in you winning. I was in the room with him I saw it and heard it." He told her and she nodded her head saying she understood him.

She looked at us "Okay team Stephanie let's do this. Tell me how I can kick Ranger's ass." We all gave her a smile. Team Stephanie too funny, but she was right we were all team Stephanie. There was no doubt in our minds that she couldn't do this if she was committed and focused. She was beautiful when she was focused and on a mission. This mission was now officially labeled kicking Ranger's ass.

Lester looking at her "Okay Beautiful you ready. Here is the deal like Bobby told you, you don't have to win. Going for the win this time will only lead to trouble. So we are going to do something different. In this case my cousin is the best. He is expecting at this point in your training that you have a certain set of skills and you have those skills but because he knows this he will be expecting certain movements and responses from you. We are going to mix it up. In this case we don't want you to be predictable we don't want him knowing what your moves are going to be. So where I would normally tell you to go for the win or the kill this time I am going to tell you not to. Don't go for the obvious. If it is obvious he will be expecting it and you will lose. Understand me?" He asked her.

She thought for a moment and then nodded. But I didn't think she completely understood what he was talking about. He motioned for me to join him in the ring and we proceeded to show her what we meant by obvious attacks. The difficult part was determining when someone had left an opening and when it was obvious. With Ranger it is safer to assume they are all obvious.

Slyder spoke up pointing out the different areas where there was an obvious attack and what to do instead. Cal offered her some options as well. Hector would step up and show her things I swear he was whispering in her ear but I couldn't hear well enough to be certain.

"That's it Beautiful now fight me. And remember if you go for the obvious I will be waiting for it." She went round after round with Lester on the mat and she never went for the obvious. It took her a couple of initial attacks to get the hang of it, but you could see her figuring it out.

"Good" I yelled out when she took him by surprise to the point that she had taken Lester down to the ground.

"Bomber the next thing to remember is to keep him off balance. He isn't going to anticipate this reaction but it won't be long for him to catch on to you so you need to keep him on the defense rather than the offense. So once you are able to attack you keep attacking and you don't stop attacking. Understand?" She nodded.

"So what happens after he throws his initial punch" I asked her.

Looking at me she says "I attack"

"Good then what do you do?" I asked her.

She responded smiling "nothing." I smiled she had caught on

"Why are you going to do nothing?" I asked her just to follow through

"Because I never stop attacking." I nodded my head

"Exactly Bomber you never stop attacking. You attack and you attack and you never go for the obvious no matter how bad you want to go for it." I tell her. She nods.

I step in the ring "Okay Bomber pretend I am Ranger." I come at her and she does exactly what we had told her she avoided me and avoided the obvious attack zone and went on attack and she kept attacking causing me to have to block and block but she wasn't allowing me the opportunity to attack back. Ranger was faster than I was so she was going to have to be careful and he would be able to map her faster and anticipate her movements faster than me. After all he wasn't the best for no reason.

"Good" I told her. "That is it Bomber." Cal then stepped into the ring. "Angel I want you to come at me with techniques you know to take me down only I want you to think how you can use those techniques in ways I wouldn't anticipate you doing so. If I anticipate you, I will block your move so you won't take me down. I want you to try to take me down."

She stepped up to him and she looked like a fly compared to an elephant standing in front of her. But she surprised me when she went on attack. She surprised me even more when she bounced Cal's ass off the mat.

"Very good Angel" He told her as he got back up. Hector got in the ring he walked up hugged her rubbed her back as if he was trying to calm her down. When he released her he pulled out a bandana and tied it around her eyes.

"Vamos" he yelled and she started attacking him. He would go to grab her and she would instinctively move out of the way and then she immediately started attacking. He motioned for us to join him so we circled her. One at a time we would attack and she would counter our attack and come at us. Holy shit I didn't know he had made her this good. She was using all of her senses she knew when we moved around her she knew when someone had stepped into her personal space and she was ready with an attack. Being blindfolded she couldn't tell if we left an obvious area to attack or not but she just went on the attack.

"Beautiful that was fucking awesome." Lester told her smiling from ear to ear at her. You could see how proud he was of her, fuck we were all proud of her. Looking around at the guys I saw they were proud, they were amazed, and they were definitely shocked by how she could fight. Hector hugged her again removing he bandana from her eyes.

"Bomber you are ready let's go kick Ranger's ass." She looked at me her lips curling into a smile but you could still see a little sign of worry in her eyes. We all turned heading out of the building to get in the SUVs and drive back to Haywood.

SPOV  
I know the guys thought I was ready. But I wasn't so sure. I mean it was one thing to face them in the ring but how would I be when it was Ranger. To see him facing me and knowing that I was attacking the man I love, the man that I would give my life for. I knew this fight wasn't a fight where someone ends up hurt and the guys reinforced enough that I wasn't going to hurt him. I wasn't sure if I should have been relieved or insulted were they trying to insinuate that I hit like a girl?

Okay I decided that was putting too much thought into their comments. Their comments were there to encourage me and to allow me to find comfort in knowing that I wasn't going to accidentally end up hurting Carlos the man of my life.

Still the thought of him attacking me had me a little nervous. I needed to focus on what the guys were saying attack and keep attacking and never going for the obvious attack zone. I knew him well enough to know that I wouldn't have the advantage for long as he would figure out my tactics and be on to me so I needed to mix it up a little without making it so obvious again I needed to go for a surprise or something not expected. I couldn't be predictable fighting him if he picked up on a pattern I would be toast in the making.

Do you know how hard it is to do random and not do a pattern even drawing dots try to draw random dots and after a few minutes you will discover that it isn't random it is in fact a pattern. Now multiply that by thousands as you have to plan attack on a person and then keep it random and keep it not obvious I felt like I needed a fucking computer hooked to my brain to keep all of this shit straight.

I guess you can say I found my zone today driving back from the compound I was quiet I was trying to remember everything the guys said to me. It was so much my brain was just on the verge of brain overload. Hector reminded me to use my spidey sense even with my eyes open to anticipate his movements his strikes and counter them, block them, or move out of the way. I wasn't sure how we would know the winner between Doug and I if we both held our own. What would that mean that we would both test? I had worked too hard to give up now. I needed to win this so I could test on Sunday. In a way I wanted to be mad a Carlos for coming up with this challenge after all my hard work and dedication but I understood when I heard what Cal said why he did it.

I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing had I heard Doug say he was better than me. I just hoped that I was able to win and prove Ranger right. I was more worried about disappointing Carlos than I was about losing, or facing Ranger on the mats. I wasn't there obviously but from hearing Cal I am beginning to think Doug doesn't really like me and he definitely has some serious issues with women in the workplace particularly Rangeman. I can only hope that he is forced to forfeit the test by losing then I won't have to worry about him on Sunday when I am taking the test.

We pulled into the garage and I saw Ella standing in the garage with an arm full of clothing. When we got out she motioned for us all to come over to her. When we go there she sat the clothing on the car looking at my shirt she just shook her head. She then looked at Lester's shirt and just smiled. She picked up one of the shirts she had laid on the car and held it up.

"Boys I made these for you. Lester called me and asked me to make as many as I could in an hour so I have been busy with my embroidery machine." She told them.

Holding the shirt up I couldn't help but smiled. The shirt said Team Bombshell. She handed one to each of the guys they all immediately pulled their shirts off and pulled the Team Bombshell shirts on. I couldn't help but smile at my guys as I grabbed Ella hugging her notice she was also wearing a Team Bombshell shirt.

She told me "Stephanie you can do this, we have your back. You can beat him." She told me and I knew she was telling me I had what it took to do this. That I could do it and I felt my chest puff with pride. Something about hearing it come from her my second mother gave me courage gave me confidence it was exactly what I needed to hear and exactly who I needed to hear it from. I knew the guys would always have my back and believe in me but hearing that she had my back and believed in me made me want to burst out into happy tears.

Looking at Lester he knew I was about to burst in tears and he hugged me. Whispering in my ear "Beautiful we all have your back, we are all proud of you, no matter what happens today you will never disappoint us including Ranger and especially Carlos." Using the name I use instead of Ranger. He knew how I looked at him Ranger was the mercenary and Carlos was the man of my dreams, my life, my air, my very existence.

I nodded against him holding on to him I needed the strength right now. Not that I didn't think I could do this but I needed his strength to keep from breaking down in tears even happy tears. I wanted to walk into the gym without having tear stained cheeks. I didn't want the others to think I had been crying because I was afraid or upset to meet Ranger on the mats.

Truth be told I was quaking in my fucking shoes but I was chanting that he wasn't going to hurt me that I wasn't in trouble and that if he did make contact in our fighting that it would be just a touch to the skin not even enough to bruise me.

I look around and all the guys have on their shirts. I quickly pull off my shirt, hey I have my sports bra tank underneath, and pull on my Team Bombshell shirt. We quickly make our way to the gym where I know Carlos and Doug will be waiting for me.

When I walk through the doors I was genuinely surprised to see most of Rangeman packed in the gym. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised knowing my brothers but they had all rallied there all wearing Team Bombshell shirts. I felt like I was Maggie in Million Dollar Baby making my way to the ring. Hearing the guys cheer me on as I passed them saying go get him bombshell, team bombshell all the way, kick his ass, show no mercy but the ones that threatened to bring more tears to my eyes were Little Girl I got your back kick his ass, Beautiful you got this I believe in you, Incendia flap your wings and let your light shine you got this est victoria in praeparatione, Angel your brother has your back, Bomber kick his ass bomber style, and Angelito you make me proud whispered into my ear so feather lightly I barely heard it.

I step up to the ring Carlos and Doug are standing in the ring so I step into the ring with them. I can't say I am not nervous but I am trying hard for it not to show. Carlos looks at me and I can see the softness of his eyes. It is his way of telling me that I am not facing Ranger the mercenary that I am facing Carlos the man. My nerves further calm. Even though I know they are one in the same I would rather not face the hard faced mercenary with the stone cold eyes the color of black onyx.

I kept repeating what the guys told me this isn't about winning it is about lasting the longest and doing the most I could during that time. Don't go for the obvious and once I was able to attack to keep attacking and don't stop attacking. I tried to put out of my mind that this was Carlos I was fighting in some ways I would rather face the mercenary but in that was a double edge sword with him it would be easier but it would also be a hell of a lot scarier.

Carlos started to talk "Okay so I threw out a challenge this morning when Doug challenged me saying he was a better candidate for the full time Rangeman position. Since most of our disagreements are handled on the mats I thought we would handle this disagreement on the mat as well." He stated.

I looked over at Doug and saw his eyes focused on me staring at me hard and cold. I think he thought his stare would in somehow intimidate me but I had been stared at harder by much scarier people so it failed to get the results he was hoping for.

Ranger continued "So I proposed a challenge I fight both Stephanie and Doug whoever withstands the longest in the ring with me wins the opportunity to test on Sunday. So to keep it fair here is what I am going to do. I am going to invoke a few rules. First off this will be handled like a martial arts competition meaning points are earned for contact. The contact is to be pulled punched and kicks so do your best to control your force behind your punches and kicks as the goal is to see the winner's fighting skills without actually hurting each other. If the fighter doesn't give up before the match will end after thirty minutes."

I nodded my understanding as well as Doug. He Continued "Okay having said that here's how the points are going to be accrued. For contact to the body area meaning chest torso side back area you get two points for every time contact is made. For legs, arms you get one point. Please try to not aim at my head or face if you make contact by aiming you will get a point taken away from your score." He told us.

I once again nodded my understanding thinking I needed to focus on his body to rack up as many points as I could. I also knew this would be the hardest area to hit on him as it would be his most protected area.

Ranger continued "Now if you manage to take me down to the mats it is five points. However, for every time I take you down to the mat it is minus five points. For every time I make contact to your torso area it is minus two points and for every time I make contact to your arms or legs it is minus one point. If I make contact to your face or head then it is plus one point. Any questions?" He asked us.

I shook my head no going over everything in my head plus five points for taking him down, plus two points for body shots, plus one for arms and legs, minus five every time he takes me down, minus two points for everybody shot so I needed to make sure he doesn't get body shots or take me down and minus one point if he makes contacts with arms and legs. Okay.

He looks at Doug and says "You up first." Whew I would be able to watch and see what happens. But then he turns to me "Babe you need to go out and sit outside the gym. I don't want either of you knowing how the other did. Men do not say anything while the fight is going on or afterwards until all scores have been added up. Ella is doing the score keeping and she won't tell you. If you want to follow along in your head fine but there will be nothing talked about until after both fights are finished. Understood?" He told the men crowded around the gym waiting to watch. They all nodded their heads. I nod and make my wait out of the gym. I sat down in the hall way just outside the gym doors waiting to be told I could come back inside.

I wasn't surprised that I was alone all the guys wanted to see how Doug did they were too focused on me beating and they had to know how the competition held up I would have done the same I was just sorry I wouldn't know going into this how many points I needed to win.

I sat down in the hall way repeating everything the guys said to me prior to coming here. It was sort of good that I was sitting in the hall by myself. It gave me time to focus on what I needed to do, focus on what they told me and how I was going to do it. Finally the doors opened and I knew it was my turn to meet Ranger on the mat for the fight of my life.

LPOV

I stood there watching Doug fight Ranger and I had to give him credit he was better than the first time I had seen him on the mats. I wasn't sure if he had been training or if he was holding back the first we saw him on the mats. I was betting on the latter.

Watching him and trying to count the points accumulated both the pluses and minuses as Ranger explained it I could see that Doug was barely holding on to a positive number. It seemed that every time he would make contact then Ranger would make contact taking back the points gained. Doug was big on going for arms and legs instead of torso I guess he knew he would never get a punch or kick in that close so his attempts were few and far between.

He was going directly for the openings that Ranger was giving him and Ranger was cutting him off at the knees. I was glad we had told Beautiful to not go for the obvious because I had no doubt that my cousin had planned on fighting them the same way. He was going out of his way to make sure this was as fair as he could make it.

He wasn't using advanced fighting skills. Fuck we all knew he could just knock Dumb Fuck out in two seconds but that wasn't his goal here. His goal was to prove how much Doug sucked and how good Beautiful really was. He was proving to everyone how Rangeman worthy Beautiful really was not that he needed to prove it to us we already knew. He wanted to prove it to dumb fuck Doug and let Beautiful see how good she really is. I had trained her, Hector had trained her, the other guys had trained her and she was good. In the short time we have been training her she took what we told her and ran with it.

I wish I knew the total points but I lost count. I am not sure if Doug was on the positive or negative side of the points. The match was called with Doug still standing personally I was hoping for a knock out but with Ranger's rules I figured that wouldn't happen.

After Doug stepped out of the ring Ranger grab some water it was time for Beautiful's match with Ranger I just hoped that she remembered what we told her and that she was able to do it. When I heard the doors open and I saw her making he way into the room I couldn't help but feel a little nervous Doug had done better than I anticipated him doing and I could only hope and pray that Beautiful could do better. I knew her skill set was better but it was one thing to know it and another to use it and she was facing Ranger in the ring. Anything could happen.

Ranger was a formidable opponent even with the rules he setup for this match he was intimidating he was big and while I knew he would try to be softer with her there were natural reactions that are impossible not to do and for him the mercenary training was a natural response. She was going to see the mercenary even if the man didn't want to show it.

RPOV

I don't know what the fuck I was thinking when I threw this challenge down. Actually I did know what I was thinking. That fucker pissed me off when he said he was better than my Babe. Fuck he wasn't worthy of cleaning her shoes and he had the fucking nerve to think he was better than her that he deserved to be a full time Rangeman over her. It pissed me off and I reacted in a way I thought it would prove to him that she is more Rangeman than he would ever be able to be.

Never let it be said that I can't lose my cool and put my foot in my mouth especially where my Babe is concerned because this is prime example.

Because of my mouth, my suggestion, my challenge I now have to fight my Babe on the mats. My life, my love, my air, and my very existence I have to fight all because of my ego and pride in her allowed Doug to set me off. I have taken every man in this room to the mats for something over the years some more than others. Some because I enjoy the fight some because I had to instill some discipline or dole out punishment but one I never intended to have on the mats was my Babe.

There was nothing she could do that I would order her to mats for. She could blow up any of my vehicles, my buildings, hell she could destroy my business and I would never call her to the mats. It didn't matter all of that was replaceable my Babe wasn't. I know one may say that was prejudice and showing favoritism but just let the fuckers try because it would be their asses I would be calling to mats to sort that shit out not hers. It was never suppose to be her but yet here I was and I can honestly say I wasn't happy about it. I should have just kicked his ass more for even speaking those thoughts and never entertained his accusations but when it comes to my Babe I don't always react the way I would like to the first time.

Doug surprised me during the match he was better than I anticipated him being I only hope my Babe was better. I knew with my hair brained cousin training her that she would be good. He may be two brain cells keeping from being sent to the loony bin but he was a good fighter none better in Rangeman other than me and I knew I couldn't fight her well enough to train her in fighting. I knew Lester could do it and I trusted that he would do a good job I am just hoping I don't have to kill him for fucking it up if she loses this challenge. He is her best friend and she would be pissed at me for life if I killed him.

I heard the doors open and saw my men separating to give her room to walk to the mat. Looking around I had to smile at her support most all of the men were wearing Team Bombshell shirts. Ella had a hand in that. She even had her own Team Bombshell shirt on. I don't even know how she had time to do it. They were our Regular Rangeman t-shirts that she had embroidered Team Bombshell in hot pink across them.

I watched as she made her way to the mat. Her expression was blank and it made me shudder seeing it. Not that I was scared it is just that I am use to seeing her seeing her face knowing what she is feeling and thinking but right now I had not a clue. It reminded me of the time in the past when she tried to walk away from me when her face was blank and I couldn't refrain the shudder that ran through my body. That was definitely a memory I didn't need or care to remember. I had almost lost her that day and I never wanted to remember that or face the possibility of losing he again.

I briefly wondered how I would fight her. I loved her so much and yet now I had to fight her knowing I was pulling punches I just said a quick prayer thanking God that I had control to not really hit her with my full force or any force. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt my Babe.

She stepped into the ring. She nodded at me but didn't say anything so I nodded back when all my body was screaming to do was grab her hold her kiss her and beg forgiveness for my stupidity for opening my mouth and laying out this dumb fucking challenge.

LPOV

I watched Beautiful walk into the room and up the mat and I saw the expression on her face was completely blank. It would rival that of mine or Rangers. I was more than impressed because I knew him seeing that would throw him off balance. It would be an advantage for her. She had surprise on her side and she needed to use it every chance she got.

She didn't speak when she stepped into the ring only nodded to him and I wondered if that was because she couldn't speak at the moment and maintain her blank stare.

She started bouncing from foot to foot staying on the ball of her feet just like I showed her. She was warming up but she was also getting herself ready. After a few minutes Ella rang the bell to single the match had started.

My heart was beating so fast I had to look down just to make sure it hadn't made its way out of my chest. I felt like everyone in the room could hear my heart beating it was beating so fast and so loud. I am pretty sure I shortened my life by a few years I mean hearts probably only have so many beats they can do in a lifetime and at the end of whatever number it is it stops and you are dead.

Oh well this wouldn't be the first time nor the last time Beautiful has shortened my life by making it beat too fast and too hard and I am pretty sure this won't be the last time. It is a good thing that I don't fear death or I might be inclined to say Beautiful was bad for my health.

I watch as Ranger leaves an opening for her just as he had done for Doug and while Doug went for it and got shot down Beautiful attacks where he isn't expecting and is getting points. Ranger is taking a few of those points back but at this point I think she is at least on the positive side of the numbers.

She is moving fast and she is using her senses when she sense him coming at her she counters and attacks and she keeps attacking just like we told her until Ranger is able to break her attacks by a counter move.

I don't know point wise how she is adding up but watching her I couldn't have been more proud of her. She was truly fighting him and using everything we had taught her. I saw her go for a move that Cal had taught her for an unexpected take down and I couldn't help the roar that came from my mouth when Ranger's ass bounced off the mat earning her five points and one extremely surprised mercenary.

She had effectively done what none of us have been able to in a few years but the way she did it was pure genius. He went to break her attack by advancing on her but she stepped to the side effectively putting her side and back to him when he stepped forward she used her advantage of location with him standing behind her but his side to her back and she swung around with her leg effectively taking his knees out from under him and down he went.

When her leg met the back of his knee it knocked him off balance when she carried the leg forward picking up his other leg he was toast and never saw it coming.

She quickly ducked his attempt to grab her feeling him reaching for her she had time to steer clear. Her training with Hector was really showing Ranger was having a tough time catching a hold of her because she sensed him coming.

The match continued for the full time. Stephanie was good, she was really good and I felt certain she had racked up way more points than Doug had but I wasn't sure as Ranger had made contact several times negating points she had earned. Even if her points weren't that much different than Doug's watching her we all knew who the best and strongest fighter was I was only hoping the points would show it so Ranger wouldn't kill me.

EllaPOV

Ranger had asked me to keep score of the match between him and Doug and him and Stephanie. I couldn't believe my ears at first. When he first told me about the challenge my first reaction was to change his diet from sugar free, fat free to full on sugar and fat. I was so miffed at him.

He later explained to me the position Doug put him in and well I wanted to hide that man's condoms.

I agreed to do the score keeping and I quickly drew up a chart so I could just put marks in the right columns. Body contact, Arm/Leg contact, Take down. I had a row for Doug along with Ranger and then a Row for Stephanie along with Ranger. That way all I had to do was put marks in the appropriate column I could then add up the points from each and subtract the points that Ranger accrued to have their numbers.

Watching Doug he was pretty good. Of course we all know Ranger is the best fighter here probably best in the world but that is my opinion. I knew Ranger wasn't really fighting him like he would fight someone on the mats but he was fighting.

It seemed for every shot Doug got in Ranger got one or two in place of it. Just looking at it, it didn't even look like Doug had a positive number but I was going to wait until the end to add up all the numbers.

When Doug's match was done and Stephanie made her way to the mats I felt myself get nervous for her. She had worked so hard, I had seen her limping, I had seen her when I knew she was too sore to bend over and get something to eat out of the refrigerator and I just hated that now she had to do this in order to earn the opportunity to test.

Just thinking about it I felt the urge to change Ranger's diet for month just to give him something to focus on like keeping those extra pounds off or losing the love handles that would develop around his waist and hips.

I just hoped that she was able to pull it off.

I watched as they got started and I couldn't say that I was surprised. I knew she could do anything she put her mind to but I had no idea she could fight that good. She was ahead on points ahead of Ranger. If it was my eyes fooling me it appeared as though Ranger was struggling to get a punch or a kick in on her. every now and then he would make contact but for the most part she was blocking and avoiding and attacking him to the point that he didn't have a chance to advance on her.

If it wasn't for the fact that he has good blocking skills Stephanie would be dominating this match as is she had more points than Doug did and the match wasn't half way through. When I saw Ranger go down on the mat I almost jumped up and down celebrating but I managed to keep myself firmly planted on the ground putting a mark in her column made me so proud. They both got a few more points before the match ended. Now came the time to add up the points and see who it was that won point wise. I knew all eyes were on me waiting to hear the results.

SPOV

I couldn't believe how well I did I even took him down to the mats. When the match ended I could feel the blood pumping through me my heart was racing, my breathing was ragged, my arms and legs were sore from all of the attacking and blocking not that he did anymore than just touch me. Even his touch was so light sometimes I questioned whether or not contact was actually made.

The adrenaline for fighting him was coursing through my veins through my nerves and I was on end waiting to hear the results. I wanted to be the winner, I wanted the opportunity to test on Sunday I had worked so hard, I had ached, I had trained and studied after hours not to mention all day long for almost two weeks I deserved to test and I wasn't about to lose out now when I was on the home stretch. I felt my nerves ratchet up while I was waiting for Ella I mean what happens if I don't win, if Doug won? I mean I had worked so hard but it was possible. I didn't see him fight he may have been better.

I looked around the room hoping someone would give something away but they were all focused waiting for the results as well. Lester was smiling so that relaxed me a little bit but I was still on edge.

Doug had walked back into the gym and was standing in the ring with Ranger and I waiting as well. I felt his eyes on me and looking at him again I saw hard and cold eyes staring at me. Great.

If I won he was going to be pissed, if I lost he was going to get to test in my place not to mention he was going to think he was better than me and the thought of that chapped my ass. I looked at Carlos and I saw him smiling at me and I couldn't help but smile back.

His smile said it all that he was proud of me. Just knowing that I no longer cared what the score was I knew I had Carlos, I knew I had my guys support and regardless of the match scoring none of that would change.

LPOV

Standing here waiting to hear the result of the match was killing me. My Beautiful had been pure magic on the mats. There was no way in fuck that she hadn't kicked Doug's ass. She has schooled his dumb fucking ass. She had won hands down but of course we had to wait for Ella to add everything up.

I briefly thought about asking Ella if she needed a calculator as it seemed like it was taking forever but I knew when to keep my mouth shut. Knowing her she would hide my condoms or something. I wouldn't put it past her. So I stilled myself to remain quiet and wait patiently for the results.

EllaPOV

I have added the numbers twice and I can't believe it. I am tempted to add them up again but I know the guys are getting uneasy. I just want to make sure they are right before I say anything but I can't believe the numbers can be off this drastic. I quickly go through and add up the numbers again just to make sure and everything comes out the same. So writing down the numbers I turn the board around for them to read the results themselves.

The match between Ranger and Doug, Doug had earned a total of forty points. Ranger had earned a total of seventy five points so Doug's overall points were negative thirty five points.

The match between Ranger and Stephanie, Stephanie earned a total of sixty nine points. Ranger had earned a total of forty one points so Stephanie's overall points were positive twenty eight points. Stephanie had actually earned more points than Ranger in their match.

When the guys read the score the roar in the gym was so loud it probably had the potential to permanently damage our hearing.

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	42. Chapter 41:  To Congratulate or Not

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

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Chapter 41: To Congratulate or Not

SPOV

I couldn't believe the score board that Ella was holding in her hands. I know I stood there even with all the guys cheering around me with my mouth hanging open in disbelief frozen not believing what my eyes were seeing. No way in hell had I earned more points than Ranger. It just wasn't possible.

Not only had I beaten Doug but I had in all intents and purposes beat Ranger point wise. It felt like slow motion but I am sure I was on the guy's shoulders in less than two seconds. I felt myself being lifted but I still couldn't clear the fog of disbelief from my eyes and mind. I had done it.

I searched the room for Doug I wanted to tell him good match but he was no place to be found in the room. The room was a sea of men all dressed in all black with only the pink stitching of Team Bombshell standing out. I had done it once again proving to myself to the guys to Ranger and ultimately Carlos that I was Rangeman worthy. Not that they would ever question it but I definitely questioned it some days although less and less with each passing day and with each passing test. I only hoped that I could perform as well and pass the tests I needed to pass on Sunday to become a full time Rangeman.

Looking at my brothers from atop of their shoulders I couldn't be happier seeing how proud and happy they were for me. Lester and Slyder had me sitting on both of their shoulders as my brothers were gathered around congratulating me on wining the match against Ranger their boss.

I looked over at Ranger and saw the look on his face and all I wanted at that second was to be in his arms holding him, feeling his lips on me. The look said it all. It told me how proud he was of me, how much he loved me, how much he respected me and how much he needed me. I wanted nothing more than to just bask in those feelings but alas I had more training and I was starving.

I no more thought it that my stomach let a huge growl that had both Lester and Slyder doing double takes at my stomach. They were probably wondering if the hungry beast has eaten its way out and focused on feasting on them for lunch.

Finally sitting me down on my own two feet I hug my brothers as they walk up to me. I grab Bobby's braids and tug on them, I wipe Hector's tears away, I run my hand through Ram's spiked hair, I rub tank's bald head, and I give Cal's flaming skull a kiss.

"Guys as much as I love this, I have training starting in a little bit and I need to get something to eat." I told them. They just nodded hugging me giving me a kiss on the cheek telling me how proud they were of me as they made their way out of the gym.

Leaving Carlos, Lester, Slyder and me standing in the gym. I turned to them "So you guys going to eat lunch with me? Because I am heading to seven to eat lunch before I have my driving training." I told them.

Carlos put his arms around me and pulled me close placing his lips on mine for a soft gentle kiss. I felt my body responding my body wanting more my body telling me how much I had missed him. I wanted the kiss to never end but unfortunately all too soon it ended and my lips wanted to rebel at the loss the contact.

"Babe I have a meeting I have to get to, I can't do lunch today. Maybe these two morons will be able to have lunch with you." Carlos told me and kissed me again. I was sorry he wasn't going to be there with me but at least I got to feel those luscious lips one more time.

Once again all too soon contact was broken as he took my face in his hands telling me "Babe I am so proud of you. You were awesome today and I am sorry I have to go to this meeting. Please be safe Babe. I love you"

"I love you too" I told him as he gave me another light kiss I nodded telling him I would be safe and it was okay for him to go not that I was giving him permission but I could see it in his eyes he didn't want to leave me anymore than I wanted him to leave. He nodded and turned making his way out of the gym.

I looked over at Lester and Slyder who were trying their best to pretend they weren't seeing or hearing us almost awkwardly the way they were trying so hard to appear as though they weren't seeing us. I almost giggled at how stupid they looked like I would care if those two goof balls heard or saw us. Lester was my best friend and Slyder was quickly becoming someone I would consider close to a best friend.

Slyder shook his head. "Naw I can't do lunch I need to do something at my desk before I tag along with your afternoon training. I will see you at fourteen hundred in the garage." He told me I nodded not wanting to show my disappointment. If Lester couldn't eat with me then I would be eating my lunch by myself on seven and while it normally wouldn't matter but after the match and the excitement I didn't want to be all by myself. I wanted to enjoy my victory with someone.

I nodded. Giving him a kiss on the cheek and a hug he made his way out of the gym and I turned to Lester he was grinning so big and I couldn't help but return the smile. This is why he was my best friend I knew from that smile he wasn't going to abandon me but I asked him anyway.

"Are you going to bail on me too?" I asked him and he just shook his head no.

"Beautiful you know I wouldn't turn down the opportunity to share a meal with you." I just had to laugh at that comment. Lester wouldn't turn down food that is for sure.

"Yeah I should have known you would never turn down food." I told him. He just shook his head.

"Beautiful something like that." He said not saying anymore to elaborate further on that comment.

We made our way to seven to see what Ella had left for us. I don't know how that woman does it all. She had been in the gym, she had made the guys shirts, and she still managed to have lunch waiting for us. I swear she is like magic and Carlos doesn't pay her enough. Not that I have any idea how much he pays her but I would be willing to bet you it isn't enough.

LPOV

I watched Beautiful hug the guys I watched her rub Tank's head, wipe Hector's tears, kiss Cal's flaming skull, run her fingers through Rams short spiked hair, and pull on Bobby's braids and I couldn't help to feel a little bit left out and even a little bit jealous when I realized these were personal greetings from her. They were special greetings for her that she shared only with them and no one else.

I realized we didn't have a special greeting while I was watching her. I was her best friend and we didn't have a special way of greeting me. I saw Bobby's cocky grin at me when he noticed me watching he was rubbing it in that he had a special greeting and I didn't, fucker.

I know they are all jealous of Beautiful and my relationship they all want to be close to her like I am but at that moment I felt myself being the one a little jealous. I couldn't help but want a special greeting.

I was glad it ended up just her and I for lunch because I was going to bring it up soon as I figured out how to do so. I didn't want to upset her. On one hand it was something trivial but on the other hand it seemed like it was big deal and I wanted us to have something special just between the two of us.

We had sit down at the table for lunch Ella had made us Turkey wraps, with cranberry relish, pecans, and a huge salad.

I thought now was as good of time as any to ask her what had been bothering me since the gym. "Beautiful why don't we have a special greeting when you walk up to me you hug me and kiss me like all the other guys but we don't have a special greeting like you do with some of the guys. Why?" I asked her. I sort of felt petty for asking but honestly petty or not it bothered me I wanted a special greeting she was my best friend in truth I loved her and wanted something that was just between her and I.

She looked at me and smiled. "Lester are you jealous?" She asked me and I couldn't lie so I had to answer her.

"Yeah I guess I am I saw you rub Tank's balk head, Cal's flaming skull, run your fingers through Ram's spiked hair, rub Hector's tear drops, and pull on Bobby's braids and I guess I just wanted a special greeting with you as well." I told her confessing up.

"I mean we are best friends. You are my best friend I will always be here to support you, protect you, accept you, and even love you as my sister." I added although I loved her much more than my sister. "I know I am your best friend because you have said it, I know you support me and accepted me as I am from day one and I know you would try to protect me too and I only hope you love me as a brother too." I added even though I knew it was unnecessary she has told us all before.

"I just want a special greeting between us." I added and I realized I sounded like a two year old trying to get their way. She looked at me her eyes twinkling and asked me one thing.

"You swear?" She said at first I was confused but then I realized she was asking about my confession to her. So I replied to her.

"Yes I swear to you that you will always be my best friend, I will always support you, accept you, protect you, and love you as my sister."

Her eyes twinkling even more she asks me "Pinky swear?" I can't help the smile that comes across my face as I start to catch on where this heading.

Answering I say "Pinky swear" but then decide to add. "You swear?" She raises both eye brows but I know she is questioning me trying to only raise one. For the life me I don't know why but she can't raise a single eyebrow. She has caught on to the ESP as well as any of us but she can't raise a single eye brow both of them go up and it is sort of funny but we don't point it out as we know how it frustrates her.

She smiles "I swear to you that you will always be my best friend, I will always support you, accept you, protect you, and love you as my brother." Repeating my words back to me my lips twitch knowing what she wants me to say.

"Pinky swear?" I ask her knowing that is what she is looking for. She nods her head saying

"Pinky swear" she states.

I hold up my right hand with my pinky extended offering her my pinky, the proof of my promise to her. She extends her hand wrapping her pinky around mine as we shook them and pulled back a little without our pinky's coming apart.

It was time to head downstairs for her afternoon defensive driving training. She was going to be training with Woody, Vince, Ram and then Tank for the afternoon. I knew Slyder was going to be with her and I was pretty sure that I was going to tag along as well.

I was hoping at least one hour would be spent at the compound maybe riding the motorcycles.

DougPOV

I was standing in the gym waiting for the results looking at the guys with their Team Bombshell shirts clearly displaying where they loyalties lie. I knew they would be sorry they put those shirts on when they saw the results of the match.

I knew that I had proved to every man in here that I was better than that split tail bitch that they were so enamored with that they couldn't think right. Any man was better than a woman that was going to be made perfectly clear here and now. I would be the one testing on Sunday for the full time position not some split tail bitch that is currently leading all of these men shamelessly around by their dicks.

They would see the true worth of her and the worth of me and know that I am the better candidate and they would rally around me and drop her like a two bit whore on Stark Street.

When Ella turned the score board she had been writing on during the match I couldn't believe my eyes. That bitch, these fuckers had set me up. There was no way my number was negative and hers was positive unless he just didn't fight her. I was pissed, I was lived I was so fucking mad I saw red my vision even blurred for a second with the rage that was flowing through my body and I briefly thought of ending her life right at that moment.

I should have known the fight would have been skewed I should have known that they would have rigged it to ensure their little fucking precious princess won. Well she wouldn't win in the end. I would be sure she would never test on Sunday if I had my way. The guys were cheering and yelling but they wouldn't be cheering and yelling in celebration for long. I was taking this bitch down with me. I knew my chance of getting a test to become a full time Rangeman was done but I wasn't going out alone.

I already had my plan in motion and it was happening. I was going to take what I wanted and then end her life. The last thing she would know is that I won. That I took what I wanted from her, that I dominated her forced her and then I ultimately won because I would take her life. I would make sure she would see my eyes and know it was it was me while I drained the life from her eyes.

I make my way out of the gym. I want to pull up the video footage and see her fight against Ranger I know it was rigged I know he didn't even fight her. No way had she beaten me when it came to fighting him. Mike was in the back of the room watching he was one of the only ones not wearing a Team Bombshell shirt. I nodded to him as he followed me out of the gym. My first stop was the lab to watch the video.

I stepped into the lab sitting down at my desk I queued up the video and backed it up. I watched my match with Ranger making notes to the points I earned and the points Ranger earned and came up with the same numbers as Ella did. So that was right. She had given me credit for all the points I had earned.

I then watched Ranger's match with the bitch that was determined to ruin my life. I watched them fight first and saw that they were actually fighting. I watched her movements and she was quick. I watched Ranger's movements and noticed he was doing some of the same moves he did with me when he could.

I then watched it again this time making notes for the points. Ella had to have written down additional points. I could hardly believe that she had taken Ranger down to the mats when I saw it the first time the second time was even more impressive not that I was impressed by anything by that bitch. Somehow this was all a rouse it was fixed.

Adding up the points that she had earned and Ranger had earned I came to the same points that Ella had came to so she had really earned that many points on her own. I still found it hard to believe that the match wasn't fixed. I just wasn't sure how it was all pulled off. I queued up the video as I watching it the third time turning it up loud but I heard nothing and I saw nothing as far as lips moving so she wasn't telling him what she was going to do and he wasn't telling her what he was going to do but she seemed to sort of know.

Just because it appears that she beat me doesn't mean that she beat me. The bitch was going down and I was just the man to put her down. First she would go down on me and then she would just go down.

Rubbing my swollen dick I couldn't help but imagine exactly how she would go down. It was only a matter of time at this point. Prior to this match I may have gone a little easier on her only taking what I wanted but leaving her alive after this match and being shown up the way she had shown me up the only way to regain face with these men was to beat her.

JPOV

I had watched the videos they had given Carl and Eddie and I couldn't believe it. I had listened to the tape and seen the flight manifests and I wasn't sure how they managed to pull it all off but I know they did this, I remember them being in my room, I remember what that bitch Stephanie had done to me.

Robin had stuck around for a little while after Carl, Eddie, and Big Dog left I knew none of them believed me and honestly had I seen what they saw especially the tape of me in getting drunk in the bar and having the altercation with the two men in the bar I wouldn't have believed me either. If I wasn't a hundred percent sure hell I wouldn't believe me.

Robin helped me get settled on the couch gave me some pain pills. I was beaten but I wasn't beaten to the point that I needed additional medical treatment. Nothing was broken it was just a matter of a bunch of bruises and some sore ribs and soreness in the kidney areas but they had been careful not to really hurt me.

I wouldn't be returning the favor to those fucking mercenaries, thugs, and killers. If I had a chance I would be taking them out. I remember the ones that paid me a visit and they would be on my hit list right along with the bitch.

Soon as Robin left I picked up the phone and called Momma. I had to tell her what her daughter had done to me. I also had to tell her that I wouldn't be her son as I no longer had any interest in being with her cold hearted daughter that she had crossed a line with me that she wasn't able to uncross.

She picked up on the second ring "Plum Residents". How come Stephanie couldn't be more like her mother and answer the phone appropriately with her you got a Yo or a yeah…but not much else.

"Hey Momma" I squeaked out not sure how to tell her all of this. I knew it was going to disappoint her and once again bring embarrassment to her family but I would rather tell her than have her hear it from someone else.

"Joseph, oh son how are you? I heard about them finding you in the alley way behind a bar. They said someone had beaten you and left you there to die. How are you feeling?" See she was concerned. I found myself wondering how Stephanie could have come from someone so loving and caring.

"Momma calm down I am fine. I was beaten, and I was left in an alley way but I wasn't dying. I wasn't beaten that bad just a bunch of bruises and some sore ribs and kidneys. Other than that I am fine." I told her.

"Joseph I know you are sugar coating it if you would like I can come over and bring you some dinner or something. Do you need anything?" She asked me I knew she was leaving it open for a reason. She would take care of all my needs. But we may have to wait a day or so for that to happen. I was hoping Robin could take care of something for me but I wasn't even able to get to a state for her to do anything because of the pain.

"Momma I am fine for now but how about we meet on Friday same time same place? I also need to tell you a few things." I told her.

"Sure Joseph we can do that. I am sorry there isn't anything I can do for you today but if you want me to bring you something in a couple of days let me know and I will make it for you." She tells me.

"Momma I need to tell you that Stephanie and her band of thugs did this to me. They invaded my home, invaded my bedroom, and did this to me. Stephanie was the ring leader. She held a gun to my head and pulled the trigger five times it dried fried on the sixth time she put a bullet in the head board of my bed." I told her and I heard her gasp for air.

I heard her trying to say something I knew I had shocked her when I told her. She finally was able to speak. "Joseph my Stephanie did this to you?" she asked me.

"Yes Momma Stephanie did this to me. Her band of thugs beat me but she told them to do it. She told me that she didn't want me. She wanted me to leave her alone. As if I was doing anything to her and then she told them to have their way with me."

I heard her further gasp in disbelief. "Oh my god Joseph I can't believe she did that, that she would do something like that. She truly has been brained washed by that those thugs. I am certain they put her up to that so that they could further take her away from you and from me. I told you they had her brained washed. That they had her acting and doing things that I never raised her to do."

"Yeah I know I have said it too that Ranger stole her and brained washed her and is holding her against her will well I think she must have developed Stockholm syndrome or something because she was clearly with them and she was the ring leader." I told her.

"Joseph I don't know what to do to make it up to you. I am so embarrassed that my no good for nothing daughter would have done this to you, my son. Joseph I tell you right now I want nothing more to do with my daughter she has brought shame and embarrassment on this family enough. I am washing my hands of her. If she wants to ruin her life and run with a bunch of mercenaries, thugs and killers that will only end with getting her killed then so be it. I no longer have two daughters I only have one daughter and I hope I can still consider you my son. I have wanted you to be a part of this family for a long time and I am only hoping that washing my hands of that no good bitch of a daughter doesn't mean things will change in our relationship. I have enjoyed calling you son and thinking of you as one of the family." She told me and I just smiled because I knew what she meant.

"No momma I don't see the need for anything to change. I enjoy being a part of your family just know that I no longer want anything to do with Stephanie. I am officially wiping my hands of her and want nothing to do with her. I can only hope that her relationship with those bastards doesn't end up with her getting killed." I could almost assuredly predict that it was going to end with her death but it was going to be because I was going to take her life. She would pay for what she had done to me.

"Joseph I am glad you feel that way. I will see you in a couple of days. Same place same time." She told me. I thought good by Friday I would need a release. By that time I would be able to move better and be in less pain. Friday would be perfect. Now for the time being I needed to figure out a way to get to Stephanie and make all of Rangeman pay for what she had done to me.

"Okay Momma I will see you on Friday" I said ending the call as I lay down to take a much needed nap. Rest was the best thing right now for my beaten body.

HectorPOV *spoken parts are in Spanish

After the match between Ranger and Doug and Ranger and Stephanie I headed back down to the lab. I saw Doug watching the video but I left him to it. I knew he had been upstage by my Angelito and I couldn't have been more proud of her.

I did however want to have a couple of words with him concerning his thoughts of being Rangeman worthy and his belief that he was better than my Angelito because there was no one in this building better than her in my opinion.

"Doug I need to speak to you for a minute." I told him and watched as he turned around a smile on his face until he took in my look. The smile faded fast.

"Yes sir, Hector, sir" falling over his words unsure how to address me. I just held my stare not impressed by his indecisiveness to be formal or informal when addressing me. I could only be happy about making him squirm.

I flipped out my knife toying with it flipping it open and then closed, back to open for effect never taking my eyes off of him. He swallows and steps closer to me I see the fear but I ignore it only being satisfied with the knowledge that I am scaring the shit out of him at the moment.

"Doug are you truly a dumb fucker?" I asked him. I already knew the answer and I knew how he was going to answer but I couldn't help myself from asking him that. He immediately shook his head no, not disappointing me.

"No, sir, no I am not." He managed to say.

"Really?" I asked him letting that hang in the air for a moment for effect as I flipped my knife open and closed. It wasn't a question if I could sink the knife into him you pick a point and I could have hit it in a second but it was more for the effect of watching his nerves ratchet up and see the fear in his eyes with each flick of my wrist.

"I think you are a dumb fucker." I told him. Watching him looking at me he wanted to question it but he wasn't about to push his luck. He knew my reputation you didn't work at Rangeman and not know my reputation most of the men feared me to some degree and I was okay with that. Even though they saw the softer side of me with my Angelito they weren't dumb enough to think that softer side existed for them.

I waited to just see if he would grow some balls and ask me why I thought he was a dumb fucker but not disappointing me he didn't. He was too chicken shit to question me. Of course if he had questioned me it would have given me the perfect excuse to use the knife that I was so easily flipping open and closed in front of him.

I carried a gun but I could be much more intimidating with a knife and I could be just as deadly with a knife as I could with a gun, maybe more so. I never cried over a little spilt blood.

"You said that you were the better candidate that you were better than Stephanie. Do you honestly believe you are better than she is?" I asked him.

He hesitated on answering me. He knew he couldn't not answer me the only question he was asking himself was which answer to go with. I knew he wanted to say yes, but the fear in him had him wanting to say no. I waited to see which side of him would win. The chicken or the man for what a pitiful excuse of a man he was.

I shouldn't have been surprised when the chicken won and he answered "no". I couldn't help but smile he was chicken and would always be chicken.

Looking at him I had only one thing to say to him. "No? Well I know you are lying to me and I don't like liars. I also know that you think you are better than Stephanie and because you think that and have the nerve to lie to me about it then I know you are dumb fucker lying to me will get you killed." With that I sunk the knife I had been opening and closing right next to him in the desk he was leaning against.

I had to laugh on the inside when I saw him jerk and search himself to ensure that my knife hadn't hit him. He is such a cowardly piece of chicken shit. I stepped closer to him my eyes never leaving his and retrieved my knife from the desk beside him.

Looking at him I told him "You lie to me again Dumb Fucker and it will be the last lie you are ever able to tell. Understand?" He gulped his head beaded with sweet as he was barely able to move his head up and down telling me he understood me. Moving a little further into his space I glared at him daring him not to speak.

He nodded and chocked out the wimpiest "yes" I had ever heard. Moving a little further into his space turning my head he caught on "Yes, Sir" he quickly chocked out and I nodded as I retracted myself from his space and moved away from him. I couldn't help the satisfaction feeling from coursing through me when I heard him sigh and take in a deep breath letting it out thinking he had dodge the bullet. What he didn't know was the bullet had yet to be fired.

I turned back around and headed back to my office. I had some wiretaps that needed to be listened to.

TPOV

My little girl had made me so damn proud when she put Ranger on his ass. I almost couldn't believe it had she gone for the leg sweep she would have never had the force to have done it but using what she had been taught she went for the back of knee. Effectively causing his legs to buckle under him from the position he was standing he had nowhere to go but down. I was so proud of how she wouldn't go for the obvious openings that he was giving her. She would attack when and where he least expected it she used every advantage she had and I could not have been more proud of her.

I knew she would be a force to reckon with but I had no idea how good she had really gotten in the short time of her training. If she was as big as us and had the muscle density and body mass we had she would be a formable opponent. As was she was not a push over but we all knew the reality and none of us liked the reality that is why we were trying hard to teach her alternatives where size wasn't a factor or where you could use a person size against them.

She was little one ten one fifteen at the heaviest and that was probably soaking dripping wet. She was fast, she was resourceful, she was unpredictable, she was quick thinking and all of that was something that would definitely benefit her in any fight. But her size was definitely a negative. Her power was a negative she had been taught to use force but her punches at her strongest and most forceful wasn't a punch that none of us or anyone who had any fighting skills or any size to them wouldn't be able to take with minimal damage unless she made contact in sensitive areas.

Guys have a few sensitive areas but there are also generic sensitive areas like the ribs, the kidneys, and the neck that we all share regardless of sex. I think one of my biggest fears is that she would come up on an opponent that could take her punches and deliver a few of his own and my fear is that his would make contact and if so it would do damage to her. I could only hope and pray that she would never be in a position for that to happen that she would never be in a position that she had to fight for her life without having one of us there protecting her.

I had noticed the looks that Dumb Fucker had given my little girl and I wasn't happy about it. I figured he would be a little sore losing to a girl but this was his whole fucking idea I thought he needed to grow a set and be a man about it. He should have congratulated her when she won he should have been a man and held his head high and accepted that a girl was better. Instead he let his pride be wounded. I figured he would get over it but I wanted to pay him a little visit to let him know I wasn't happy about some of the comments he made earlier.

I walked into the lab where Cal and I had found him hovering in the corner pretending to fucking work when Ranger sent us after him this morning. I spotted him standing in the lab looking a little flustered and I wondered what had him flustered.

I walked up to him and I saw his eyes shift to me and I briefly saw them enlarge as he took me in.

Seeing him brought back the conversation he had with Ranger in the gym when he thought he was Rangeman worthy and was bold enough to voice those thoughts and opinions, I was here to change his fucking mind. He couldn't even look at me without fearing me how the fuck did he think he was worthy of being a Rangeman?

"Doug, are you a fucking chicken?" I asked him and I saw shock register in his eyes in disbelief that I would ask him something like that. He immediately started shaking his head no almost insistently begging for me to believe he wasn't a fucking chicken. I almost laughed but I didn't want him to see me having a little fun with him sort of like the cat that catches the mouse. They play with it and toy with it before they deliver the killing blow.

"Really you are not a chicken? I think you are chicken you couldn't even stay in the gym and offer congratulations to Stephanie after you basically said she wasn't as good as you, that you were more Rangeman worthy than she was and that you would beat her if given the chance. Why would I think anything else but what a chicken shit you are if you weren't able to face her and admit you were wrong that you aren't better and that you aren't Rangeman worthy?" I asked him watching him swallow.

I watched as I saw the debate going on inside him he was trying to figure out how to answer me. He knew there was no right answer. It was either he was a chicken piece of shit or that he still felt like he was better than her and that she didn't deserve to be congratulated.

He finally figured out what he was going to say, needless to say he needed to be a quicker thinker on his feet clearly he was a true dumb fucker if it took him that long to come up a reply. But he said "I was concerned that the match had been rigged at first. Since I wasn't allowed to watch it and seeing how the points were accrued on her side, I wondered how it could have been a true match like mine and Rangers." So he was insinuating that someone here would have cheated even further proving what a dumb fucker he was.

"So you think we would have cheated. You think we would have fabricated the match making it look as though Stephanie had won when in fact she didn't fight or didn't actually win." I wanted to make sure I was clear where his thoughts and beliefs were. He nodded his head but then tried to add

"I came here.." but I cut him off.

"You need to be really careful what you are saying at this point in time Doug because every time you open your mouth to me you prove what a true dumb fucker you really are. Rangeman isn't a place for chicken shits or dumb fuckers. We pride ourselves on honor, we pride ourselves on our word, we pride ourselves for out integrity and we would never fabricate a match so that Stephanie would win. You weren't man enough to congratulate her you weren't man enough to own up to the fact that she was just better than you." I told him.

I saw the anger flash in his eyes when I said she was better than him. This fucker was still having trouble dealing with having been beat by a woman. Ranger the best fighter in all of Rangeman was celebrating the fact that my little girl had done what none of us have done in years and that was taking him down on the mats. If anyone should have had a bruised ego in front of his men it should be him, and even us for she was able to do something that none of us have been able to do. But we weren't we were all celebrating with her, we were all proud of her.

"I can see you still don't like the idea of being beat by a girl all I have to say is fucking get use to it she is better than you, she is worthy of the job here at Rangeman and you, well you are a dumb fucking piece of chicken shit that every day proves how unworthy you truly are." With that I slammed my fist into the metal cabinet beside him putting a nice dent in it so show him what his head could look like if he continued to further piss me off.

I saw him close his eyes and brace himself and then I saw him jump when my fist connected with the cabinet. I saw relief flash through him when he realized I had spared him. I almost laughed at the deep breathing he was doing in an attempt to settle his chicken shit nerves. I turned to make my way out of the room. I was happy to leave behind the dented cabinet as a reminder of our nice little chat.

MannyPOV

I got a call from Hector asking me to come to his office. He had something he wanted me to hear on the phone taps. I was just glad that the phone taps were paying off.

Not that they didn't usually work but you never knew how often a person used their home phones today with everyone having a cell phone. We had yet to get close enough to him to plant the bug within his cell phone but that would be the next steps. That way we could hear conversations he conducted on his cell phone and with the bug we would plant we would be able to take that one step further and listen in to any conversation that is said around the cell phone so long as it was turned on.

I make my way to Hector's office and I knock before entering. In addition to Ranger's office I would never be caught dead just opening Hector's door, because opening his door unannounced may very well be the single act that ends your life.

I hear Hector telling me to enter so I open the door. "Hey Hector you wanted me to see something?" I asked him and he nodded his head pointing to the device.

I sat down and he queued it up to play and what I heard made me hot with anger. I am sure my face was red as I could feel the heat pouring off of me. I heard her mother and that fucking cop making plans to meet in their usual location at their usual time. I heard the things that were said about Stephanie and I wanted to kill someone. Not really someone as much as them.

I couldn't even focus on a single object because my rage was so severe at the moment. They were talking about my wifey like she was well I don't know what. She was my sister my only family and they were talking about her like she was nothing. I found myself sucking in and blowing out air almost as if I was a bull and someone was flashing a red cape at me.

Ever since Santos came to me and told me his beliefs about the pictures, who he felt was in them I wanted to not believe them.

I wanted for it not to be the truth I wanted for him to be wrong. Not because I gave a fuck about her mother or that fucking cop but I knew how devastating it would be for her. I knew how upset she would be. I knew how totally crumbling this knowledge would be for her. That her mother that a man she once loved and who she thought loved her could do this to her could betray her like this. The more I listened the more a shook with rage a blind rage that I had only experienced one other time in my life and then I wasn't so sure it was as strong as what I was feeling now.

I had lost my family once before, them taken from me when I wasn't around to save them. Now that I was here with her no one was going to take my family from me. No one would be able to take her from me unless they pried her from my dead cold fingers because I was here for her. I was here to protect her. She was my sister she was my only family and no one was messing with my family again and living to tell about it. They wouldn't even live to be successful in their plans of hurting her.

While they didn't just come out and say it they said enough that I knew they were meeting at the motel where we had seen that the tracker on his vehicle had visited several times in the past. It was obvious what they were up to. I could tell by the way he said Wifey's name calling her Stephanie rather than his Cupcake that he was more than pissed and something about his voice just told me that he would be seeking revenge.

I needed to let Hector know I needed for Hector to know that I feared he was going to go for revenge against Stephanie after everything that happened. I knew if any of us could keep her safe it was Hector.

**A/N spoken parts are in Spanish**

"Hector man what they are saying has me worried. Not so much the words they are using but the tone especially that no good fucking cop. I am worried that he is going to try to hurt Wifey. I am afraid he is after revenge. They are planning on meeting at their usual location on Friday. I think we need to be there to see if we can get pictures of what's going on. Maybe we can bug their cell phones as well. They only said normal time so we need to pull the times on his tracker and see what times he has been at the motel and plan on being there until her mother shows up."

He nods his approval. I can tell by the look that he isn't happy. That something is bothering him but I don't ask one thing I have learned if he wants to share then he will else I don't interfere in the private thoughts of Hector's.

"Let's plan on casing the place on Friday and see who all shows up to meet him." I tell him before I leave his office.

Hector looking at me nods his approval at my idea and I make my way out of the office.

As I pass through the lab I see Doug the dumb fuck sitting at his desk and I can't help my leer. The fucker thought he was better than my Wifey no one was better than her. The anger and rage that I have felt in Hector's office had a point of release and it was on Doug and at that moment my urge to pound him to the ground was so large that it was all I could do to walk out of the office without acting on my desires.

The look I gave him was enough for him to know what I was thinking because I saw the bobble in his adam's apple as he tried to swallow his fear the fear he saw when he looked into my eyes and he knew my thoughts were of nothing else but of killing him at that moment.

HectorPOV

I can't shake this pulse. Hearing the phone tap pissed me off, hearing Manny's take and watching him become so full of rage made me want to strike out at those fuckers even more.

I knew she was in danger, I knew there was danger close by but I couldn't put my finger on where it was coming from. The only lead I had was the phone taps and while I didn't like what I heard and I knew how much they would upset my Angelito when she found out I couldn't help but wonder if this was where the threat I felt was coming from.

Seeing Manny so upset and wanting blood and him believing that the cop wanted revenge was enough for me to agree to go with him to case out the motel on Friday but I wasn't sure if that was where the threat currently lies. This pulse is so strong in me. I know it is trying to warn me I only wish it could give me more give me the direction to look in to stop whoever it was that intended to hurt my Angelito.

When Manny said something about going to the motel I never spoke I didn't want to my words to betray me. If he was right and I didn't go and they ended up hurting my Angelito I would never forgive myself. If I went and something else happened I wouldn't know how I would find the strength to forgive myself. I don't know how to be two places at once.

I nodded because I knew I had to go even though I was worried about going I was worried there was a threat to her that we didn't know about yet. The pulse coursing its way through my body wouldn't allow me to relax, wouldn't allow me to rest, it forced me to be on guard twenty four seven even when I knew no harm could come to her because she was with Ranger or Lester and the guys it still wouldn't let me rest or relax.

It was telling me that trouble was coming and it was telling me that I needed to be prepared. I could only hope that I would be prepared and be at the right place at the right time to prevent any harm from coming to my Angelito.

SlyderPOV

I had come back up to my desk after the match in the gym. I needed to do a few things before heading back out this afternoon for more training with my Incendia.

I wasn't officially working for Rangeman yet. I mean I was working but I wasn't listed as a full time employee. I wouldn't be listed as a full time employee until after I took the entrance exam on Sunday. I knew Ranger had been preparing an office for Stephanie and I had the perfect idea for something for her office.

Before I forgot or had to fish through hours of video footage to find it again I wanted to retrieve it. I went to my desk and pulled up the footage finding the image I wanted I separated it out from the video saving it. I would take it at some point and get it professionally printed. I was just thanking god that Rangeman used high definition cameras for monitoring because this shot was perfect done in black and white it would be incredible and it was high resolution enough to make it into a poster size print without any problems.

I was so proud of her, she controlled her emotions she remembered everything we had told her the hour before and it paid off she had beaten not only Doug but she had beaten Ranger I doubt that had dawned on her. I knew I still owed her ice cream after all I was the last one in the pool I wasn't going to back out on taking her for ice cream. That wasn't about to happen after the day she has had. She needed a little mini celebration for her hard work, her accomplishments, her ability to achieve her goal and her ability to be the winner.

We all met in the garage at fourteen hundred. Lester, Stephanie, Woody, and me all gathered around an SUV. I knew Woody was her trainer for this afternoon then Vince and Ram and finally Tank. Just as expected with Woody we took off for more training at the compound. I was hoping we would spend some time on the motorcycles.

RPOV

I had just gotten back in the office after my meeting with my lawyer. I had the meeting moved to Wednesday afternoon because I wanted this handled before I went to Boston. I wanted this done before my Babe tested on Sunday because I wanted everything lined up for her to become a full time Rangeman.

I wanted her contract for her position here at Rangeman ready for her to sign. I didn't see her saying she would need to renegotiate anything if anything it would be to give her less. She would think she wasn't worthy of what the contract had for her.

Her contract states that she is a full time Rangeman and that her contract is to never go under renegotiations unless Stephanie becomes unhappy with the arrangements in the contracts. That Rangeman is unable to change her contract for any reason without her wanting changes made. She could break the contract at any time but Rangeman could never break the contract.

She has full paid for benefits including health, dental, and car insurance along with full retirement, and vacation and sick time accruals. Of course if her boss wants her to take off for whatever reason it will all be paid as though she was working.

I had made sure this contract held every convenience to not only me but especially for my Babe. It was a really sweet contract. Her pay would be starting out at one twenty five and she would have ten percent raises every year that she was working full time. If she should ever choose to go to part time the pay would decrease by twenty percent and then she would get yearly raises of five percent.

Of course she would have access to an apartment with everything covered utilities, cable, she would have food provided for her through Ella, she would have company vehicles at her disposure for blowing up if she wanted, as many as she wanted. The contract got to state that she got to tell us what vehicle she wanted as her company vehicle but I already had a car in mind. Of course the apartment wasn't necessary as I never intended on her living anywhere else but with me. But on the off chance she would change her mind or something were to happen to me I wanted to make sure it was clearly stated in her contract.

The contract did state that gym time and range time was mandatory but I didn't think that would be as big of an issue after these past two weeks and when I saw the sparkle in her eye when she put my ass on the mats I knew she was having fun working out. Who would have ever thought it that she would have found it fun but I guess I knew she would find the fun in it, after all it was Stephanie and she was working alongside the guys she loved and trusted most in the world, her brothers as she called them.

In addition to her Rangeman contract I had the lawyer work on a few other papers. My will for one, I had already named Stephanie in my will. Had something happened to me she was to get all of my personal belongs minus that of what I had set aside for Julie, my daughter. I had divided Rangeman up between the core team Tank, Lester, Bobby and I had suggested bringing Cal on as a fourth member of the core team. I had also put specific instructions in my will as to how they were supposed to keep Stephanie safe, protect her, help her, etc. All of that needed to be changed now that Stephanie was in my life.

I had it changed to include Stephanie in the distribution of Rangeman. I thought at first to just give it to her but since Tank, Bobby, and Lester are partners I didn't feel like that was a solution that Stephanie would have been happy with. You know how she can be when it comes to her brothers and she wouldn't have been happy with me if she felt like I cut them out of something that belonged to them even if it was because I was giving her more.

So I had it changed to be divided between the four of them with notes to bring Cal on as fifth partner. Cal had more than proved his potential for being a partner of Rangeman and I wanted to make sure he had the opportunity even if I wasn't around to physically give it to him.

Tank knocked and walked into my office. "Yo" I said as he walked into the door.

"Man how was your meeting?" He asked me. I looked at him smiling he knew I had gotten the contract ready for Stephanie. Tank and I had few secrets that we kept from each other, when it came to Rangeman we had none.

"I also had my will changed to what we had discussed with giving Stephanie a portion as well as moving Cal to a position of Partner." I told him. He nodded. He fully agreed with those changes prior to me making them so I knew he would have no problem with them now.

"What's up?" I asked him. He looked at me.

"Man I was just looking at the schedule for Friday and I think we need to move some of Stephanie's training around." I looked at him waiting for him to elaborate on his statement.

"Well on Friday she has Physical Fitness in the morning which won't be a problem Hal, Vince, Ram, and Bobby are on the schedule to work with her. The afternoon session is Defensive Driving and you know I won't be here as I will be in Boston with you. Woody, Vince, and Zero are on the schedule to work with her those days. Someone could sit in for me but here is my concern."

He paused for a minute as if trying to find the right wording and I wondered what it was that had him so concerned.

"You and I are going to be in Boston, Lester and Slyder are taking our client meetings so they will be out of the office, Hector and Manny just notified me that they are going to be on stake out for something that they discovered in one of their cases. So I am concerned about her being out on the streets. If Morelli were to want revenge and I suspect he will after what we did he would be healed enough to try to attempt it by then and I don't feel that she will have enough backup. I know Bobby will be here and Cal will be here along with the other guys that we all know would give their life for hers but I fear it isn't enough. Considering the work that also has to done and the taking in the monitors that takes more men away from protecting her. "

I could see his concern and after he voiced the team members that weren't going to be in the building or with her I could see the reason for the concern.

"Who is scheduled for her training with Lester on Thursday or Saturday?" I asked him.

He responded "Thursday it is Cal, Hector, Ram and on Saturday it is Ram, Cal, and Zero." Okay well that was easy enough.

"Okay well we will swap training days. Friday Defensive driving will move to Saturday and Saturday fighting and self defense will move to Friday. Notify the men in the meeting tomorrow morning of the change and let them know who we have out in the field and away from the office. I will tell Stephanie later tonight when we are having dinner."

He nodded and I added.

"This will also keep her in the building for the day which will be easier to keep her safe while we are away so I won't have to fear that something could happen to her. Let the guys know to conduct her training here in the building and not take her to the compound that way we don't even have to worry about her traveling between the two places while we are away. She will be here and be safe." I told him. He seemed to be happy about given those orders to my men and just nodded.

I hadn't shown him Stephanie's office that I had designed so I thought now that it was almost finished I would show it to him. I stood up grabbing the key

"Come here I want to show you something." I told him making my way out of my office and stepping down the hallway a little ways before stopping at her door. I opened it and let him walk through.

He was chuckling as he walked in. The room was beautiful. The walls blue the furniture dark brown the mural of Batman and Wonder Woman look amazing. Now all was left to put some finishing touches on the shelves and walls to make it feel like home to her.

Tank shook his head "man she is going to love this." He stated and I could not agree more. The desk had a wonder woman symbol paper weight, a pen holder that had wonder woman on it. All of the desk accessories had something to do with wonder woman. I noticed beside her monitor there were two figurines an action figure of Batman and Wonder Woman. I had left the decorating up to Ella and she must have ordered all the action figure accessories. I loved them. They couldn't have been more perfect.

I would tell her to put some more personal touches on her shelves, on the other walls, etc I wanted for Stephanie to feel at home in her office. The dark brown leather couches with the blue and brown pillows looked so comfortable and inviting I could just see her laying across it taking a nap on a tough day, when she needed her thinking position.

The brown leather chairs that circled the small brown round table were beautiful and inviting. I could see her planning and talking to potential clients that came to visit. The office was perfect. She even had a large TV mounted on the wall if she ever needed to pull something up or wanted to watch something while in her office she had the ability.

We shared my private bathroom so she would be able to shower, and use the bathroom without having to make sure it was cleared first as she had to do with the bathroom on the main floor.

Tank spoke up "Man she is going to love this. Hell I love this office maybe I should offer to trade with her." I smiled he would never do that.

"Yeah it is definitely the nicest office in the building including mine." I told him. But then again she deserved the best. She was the best of all of us she deserved the best.

"Well Rangeman I got to get, I got to meet my little girl at the compound to finish out her training, I think the boys have had her riding motorcycles all afternoon." I nodded

"Yeah and it is my understanding that Slyder owes her ice cream, so enjoy" I knew Tank loved ice cream even though he wouldn't admit to me or act as though he partook in the sugar and crème concoction I knew better ever since my Babe gave him some he had been hooked like a crack whore is hooked to crack.

He didn't surprise me when he didn't answer me or acknowledge my statement but I saw the twinkle in his eyes he really needed to work on that blank face, he was slipping.

I make my way out of her office closing and locking the door. I make my way back to my office I need to get started on the paper work that was waiting for me.

SPOV

My afternoon defensive driving training has been so much fun. Woody, Lester, Slyder, and I went to the compound and we went straight to the motorcycles. We all picked a motorcycle out and we hit the track. I selected a Ducati and they guys selected their motorcycle and we all went racing.

I didn't win the race as I wasn't as comfortable laying my bike down as they were so I wasn't able to go the speeds they were able to go although I was going plenty fast. I was in the hundred range while they were probably closer to one fifty or one seventy five ranges.

Vince and Ram joined us at the compound for their training time and we switched from the street motorcycles to the off road motorcycles and hit the dirt track that I hadn't even seen until today. I found this a whole lot more intimidating as the course included jumps, and it wasn't just about driving around a circle but I had to admit it was fun.

Vince showed me how to jump the bike and I practiced on a couple of the hills and did okay. I wiped out on one or two of them but I didn't get hurt. It wasn't the jumping that was hard it was the landing. They had me suited up in a suit that offered padding at strategic points but thankfully didn't make me look like the Michelin man. Thank God was all I had to say about that.

When Tank arrived and found us on the dirt track I could tell he wasn't really happy about it but when I pulled up next to him and pulled off my helmet smiling at him he couldn't help but return the smile. I know he was worried that I was going to hurt myself, fuck I had been worried when we first came over here that I was going to kill myself but that hadn't happened at least not yet and I was having some serious fun learning how to maneuver the dirt course.

I wasn't surprised to see how natural the guys were. Lester was jumping and flying he made it look so easy as was Slyder and the rest of the guys for that matter. They were such adrenaline junkies that I had no doubt they didn't love every second of being on the dirt course.

TPOV

When I pulled into the compound and saw that they were on the dirt course with my little girl I wanted to fucking strangle every last one of the men that were supposed to be protecting her. I seriously doubted that she needed training in how to run a dirt course on a dirt bike. Fuck why don't they just set her up in the hospital. They were supposed to be watching out for her not putting her in the line of danger.

It doesn't matter if a skip or someone from our pasts threatens her if they are going to get her killed out on the dirt track. Were they fucking stupid?

I wanted to be mad, fuck I was mad but when she pulled her bike up beside me and took off her helmet with her blue eyes sparkling from all the fun she was having I had a difficult time remaining mad and my face betrayed me by smiling back at the look on her face.

To say that I was still pissed at those dumb mother fuckers was to say that fire is just a little warm. They would all hear about it but not in the presence of my little girl. I would wait until we were back and Rangeman and then I would take every one of those fuckers to the mat. I am sure once Ranger found out what they were doing he would join in on the ass beating every one of them is going to get.

She started to put the helmet back on but I stopped her. "Little girl come on lets go work on something else. I am sure you have enough horsing around on dirt bikes for one day." I said and I saw her face fall sort of like that of a five year old when you tell them it is time to leave the amusement park.

I hated it but on the other hand I wasn't sure my nerves were up to watching her go around the dirt course. I mean she could seriously hurt herself. If she fell off the bike she could break something or god forbid kill herself depending on how she crashed. It wasn't like it hadn't happened before or couldn't happen again and I didn't want it being her. How the fuck would I explain that to Rangeman that I allowed his woman to dirt track race and she hurt herself or killed herself in the process he would fucking kill us all. How would I explain it to Hector? No doubt if Ranger spared us our lives, which he wouldn't, Hector would fucking grind us up alive.

The rest of the guys pulled up beside her and I just gave them all a look that they instantly knew they were going to have to answer to me. I could almost see the oh shit look in their faces like teenagers that just got caught sneaking back into the house before sun up. They were all in fucking trouble.

"Let's put the dirt bikes up and get down to some real training." I told them trying to keep my anger out of my voice because I didn't want to direct my anger toward my little girl only the dumb mother fuckers that thought it would be safe to put her on a dirt bike and bring her to the dirt bike course. I still don't know what the fuck they were thinking.

We went back over to the building and I gave Woody, Ram and Vince the task of cleaning the bikes after all that was one thing that happened every time one of the dirt bikes was rode on the course it was to be cleaned before going back into the garage. Hope they would have fun with that.

I know Slyder and Lester were with her and they should have stopped it but ultimately the responsibility lies with those three as they were her trainers for the afternoon and not Lester and Slyder. So Lester and Slyder joined us in the SUV and we went to the other end of the compound to do some maneuvering training. I would use them for a little target practice.

SPOV

I could tell Tank was pissed especially when he made Ram, Vince and Woody clean all of the bikes and then later when he made Lester and Slyder stand at the sidewalk while I careened the SUV up to them attempting to stop just in front of them. The dummies had seen a lot of abuse with this exercise and seeing Slyder and Lester standing there in their place had me almost scared shitless that I would kill one of them.

I wasn't sure if they were standing there because Tank ordered them to or if they were standing there because they believed in me and knew I wouldn't hit them. Somehow I think it was Tank orders that kept them firmly planted by the curb because they didn't want to further piss him off. Pissing off Tank wasn't a wise thing I mean he was built like a fucking tank one hit and you would probably be dead. So they probably thought six and one half dozen of the other so might as well not give him further reason.

I think I was sweating in places I didn't know I could sweat even with all the hard workouts and training sessions I am not sure I had sweated this much. It wasn't because I was hot, it wasn't because I had worked so hard, this was pure sweating out of fear that I was about to kill two of my brothers and my best friend.

I survived the exercise, more importantly they survived the exercise and Tank well his only comment was "well I be damn all you needed was a little incentive. Huh?" I just looked at him I know my mouth was hanging open unable to believe what he had just said.

Part of me wanted to go into rhino mode because I trusted him that he thought I was far enough along in my training that I wouldn't in fact kill them that I would be able to control the SUV as was needed. The other part was so fucking relieved that I had in fact not killed them that I wanted to celebrate. I was so torn between the two. So I went with the middle ground and just thank god that I hadn't in fact killed them and hoped that I never had to do that again with live bodies.

Training ended and I looked at Slyder "I believe you owe me." It was all I needed to say. He smiled nodding his head.

"In fact I do owe you. I believe I owe you ice cream. Where you want to go get it?" He asked me and there was only one place that had the good stuff. It was a little expensive as a waffle cone with one scoop cost as much as a half gallon of the good stuff when it wasn't on sale in the grocery store but it was the best and since I wasn't paying and Slyder was why skimp? After all the waffle cones are made fresh daily and the ice cream is out of this world good.

"There is only one place, Dips and Sips I told him." He nodded and the four of us took off for dips and sips.

RPOV

It was almost seven when I heard Stephanie and the rest of my men enter the fifth floor. I had just finished the needed paper work for the day so I was shutting down everything getting ready to head up to seven.

I knew she had eaten ice cream and probably wouldn't be ready for real food for a little bit but personally I was starving I had missed lunch and my body was telling me it was time for me to refuel it.

I gathered up my things and met her at the door of my office.

"Babe" I said as I gathered her in my arms. Feeling her arms wrap around me gave me such a wonderful feeling. I really wonder how I did without this all those years. Had I known how truly wonderful all of this would feel and be I would have taken her the first day we met at the diner and never let her go. There would have never been a Morelli to have to deal with.

"Carlos she whispered. Burying her head in my chest snuggling my chest like it was her pillow. I found myself almost wanting to purr with the feeling." I know bad asses don't purr. There was a point when I would have fought it but with Stephanie I can't fight it anymore I won't fight it anymore.

I was soft where she was concerned but only where she was concerned.

"You finished for the day?" She asked me and I nodded. As I took her and turned her my hand on the small of her back we made it to the elevator.

In the apartment she looked at me "Carlos I am not really hungry so you go ahead and eat and I am going to go take a shower. I am all dusty feeling." She tells me.

"Babe why are you feeling dusty what did you do today at the compound? I asked her.

She looked at me smiling "well we first took the motorcycles out on the round track and then we ended up with the dirt bikes on the dirt course. Then Tank got there and stopped all of our fun to do some serious training where he used Slyder and Lester as human targets with me almost killing them trying to stop the SUV at them so they could jump in the back." She told me.

They had taken her to the dirt track. I wanted to be mad I wanted to fucking kill them but on the other hand I knew if I said anything she would hit full rhino mode as she is a grown adult and capable of making choices for herself. Obviously she didn't get hurt so it isn't like I have that to complain about. But I do know how dangerous the dirt tracks can be. We have had several men hurt there none killed but it could happen. It has happened other places plenty of times.

I just nodded my head "well I am glad you had fun, go ahead and take your shower. I am going to grab something to eat and then I will join you." I told her kissing her lips gently and then tapping her on her luscious ass in the direction of the bedroom.

When I heard the water running I picked up the phone and dialed my moron of a cousin. When he answered I didn't even waste my breath on pleasantries.

"What the fuck were you thinking? Letting Stephanie go to the dirt track and ride those fucking dirt bikes. You do realize she could have been hurt?" I asked him.

"Whoa Rangeman she saw the bikes and wanted to ride them. We showed her how we wouldn't just turn her loose. We worked with her and she rode them well or we wouldn't have taken her over on the track. You know I wouldn't do anything where she would get hurt." He told me.

I took a deep breath I knew he loved her and cared for her and would never allow her to be hurt but she should have never been allowed on those fucking bikes on that course. Even seasoned riders get hurt.

"Santos you know even those that know how to ride well still get hurt. You should have changed her mind and picked something else." I told him.

"Look Rangeman all is well she is fine. She did take a couple of tumbles but she was fine no harm done. She had a good time and she didn't get hurt, give it a rest." He told me. Only my cousin could get away with talking to me like this anyone else and I would fucking show them what giving something a rest was when they were on bed rest for the fucking beating I would give them.

"Santos this isn't over." I told him frustrated at him and at myself I hung up and woofed down some dinner so I could join my Babe in the shower. I would at least be able to see if the bike accidents caused any damage. I had plans for tonight and I didn't want her too sore that I couldn't truly show her how proud I was of her today.

I wanted to show her what seeing her like she was today did to me and I wanted to hear her screaming my name as she fell to pieces in my arms, at my touch, and under my tongue.

**Please take a moment and leave a review. Let me know your thoughts…I love every review it does wonder for my soul and wonders for my fingers! Don't forget to check out the accommodating website and my writer's journal…I put sneak peeks into the chapters in them! **

**You can find it all at www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com There are playlists there for the party and songs that are mentioned through the different chapters, pictures of the characters along with their bio as I see them in my head, as they are in my story. There are pictures of some of the clothing, and places that have been in my chapter, as well as pictures of cars, trucks, motorcycles from the Rangeman compound. I hope you enjoy it! Leave a comment there as well if you wish!**


	43. Chapter 42:  Falling to pieces in my arm

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

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**Okay never let it be said that I don't listen to those that leave reviews…here is a little something that several of you asked for. I hope you enjoy!**

Chapter 42: Falling to pieces in my arms

RPOV

I joined my Babe in the shower. Stepping in behind her looking at her beautiful wet body had me so hard. As if I wasn't hard from earlier today. Her fighting me on the mats had me so hard that I had to control myself to keep from taking her right there in front of all my men.

When she put me on my ass it was a fight of will to keep from pulling her down on top of me and letting her ride me like the winning thoroughbred at the Kentucky derby. I wanted her so bad and I had wanted her all day long. I had purposefully not relieved the tension because I planned on relieving it with my Babe tonight even if it took all night.

Seeing her beautiful heart shaped ass as she had her face lifted up to the spray from the shower head with her eyes closed she looked like a picture of pure beauty and it made my dick throb with desire and need. I wanted to buried deep inside her. I wanted to be screaming her name. I knew that wouldn't happen until she had screamed my name so many times she would be unable to speak but the desire and the need was so strong to just take her and bury myself inside her and never pull out.

I ran my hands up her silky wet body feeling the beautiful curves of her body, even with the workouts she has been doing and the weight she has lost she hasn't lost her beautiful curves. She may not have lost much weight on the scales but she had lost fat and gained muscle and you couldn't look at her without noticing it. Her shoulders, her arms, her legs, even her ass had gone under a transformation that had turned what I thought was beautiful into pure perfection.

Running my hands up and down her body she shivered and leaned back into me. Feeling her back against my front her leaning her weight into me I stepped closer so I could support more of her weight without her having to lean back so far. I brought my arms around her and held her there her wet body pressed up against my dry hard body. Closing my eyes enjoying the feeling I let my head nuzzle the side of her head.

"Babe have I told you lately how truly beautiful you are, and how proud I am of you?" I asked her.

She just let out a long mmhhh sound somewhere between a content purr and a seductive moan and I felt my body responding to her even more. I kissed the side of her neck just below her ear, then her neck and shoulders while gently caressing her with my hands rubbing them over her wet stomach feeling the muscles just under the skin. Moving my hands up feeling her ribs the way my hands wrapped around her ribs reminded me how small she really was.

My hands circled her breast and I felt the weight of each of them in my hands. She wasn't large chested she probably felt like she didn't have enough but it was all perfection in my eyes, and in my hands. I felt her nipples pebble under my touch and all I wanted at that moment was to take them in mouth and lave them. Show them how much I loved them. How I loved the taste of them, how I loved the feel of them in mouth how I loved what it did to her just for me to touch them and lave them with my tongue.

She let out a long and low moan at my touch and my kissing of her neck and shoulders.

"Babe I love you." I told her as my lips ghosted across her skin as the words came out.

"I love you too Carlos." I heard her whisper to me and I could tell she was completely lost to my touch to my tongue. Turning her around so that she was facing me my lips crashed down on her lips. I couldn't help it I needed to taste her. I needed to feel her lips pressed against mine.

Running my tongue along her lips asking for permission she opened to me and deepened the kiss. Taking her in my arms pressing her body tight against mine, my erection pressed between us there was no doubt what she did to me as it was clearly on display.

"Carlos, please" she said breaking away from our kiss while trying to catch her breath. I knew what she wanted. I knew exactly what she wanted because I wanted it more than I could think straight. But I wanted a whole lot more. I wanted to be buried inside her and I knew that is what she was begging me for but I wanted to taste her, I wanted to touch her, I wanted her falling to pieces in my arms over and over again before I buried myself into her giving her the ultimate orgasm the one that would carry me over the edge with her. She had to know how much I loved her how proud of her I was and this was going to be my way of showing her by worshiping her body all night if I had to, to prove to her she was my everything.

It took all the control I had to step back from her. I could see confusion in her eyes. She wasn't use to me stepping back when she asked me please but this time, I had. I pulled her towards me and I kissed her again letting her know that she was going to get everything she wanted in the end. That I wasn't pulling back from her. That I would make good on that please but it was going to be in my time frame as I had plans for the night.

Reaching around I shut off the water and then I stepped back again bringing her with me. I wanted her on the bed. I stepped out of the shower bringing her out with me grabbing a towel I started drying her off.

Lowering myself to one knee I picked up one of her legs and rested her foot on my bent knee. I began to dry her off with the towel. Kissing her and lapping the water droplets on her with my tongue as I dried her. I started at her feet and worked my way up her ankle licking the area that caved in around her ankle. I ran my tongue up her leg on the side of her calf. The towel quickly followed.

Feeling and tasting her skin with my lips and tongue as I kissed and dried her calf while making my way to her knee was pure ecstasy. I was almost lost in the sensation I was creating. Looking at her with her eyes closed and the look on her face I knew she was as well and I could only think there is a whole lot more where that came from Babe.

I gently moved her leg back to the floor and picked up the other doing the same thing savoring every touch every taste. When I had reached her knee I put her foot back on the ground and then raised up a little more on both knees now I turned my attention to her knees particularly the back of her knees as I turned her around.

I could tell my actions were making her weak kneed and I love it. I loved how she responded to my touch, my kisses, and my attention to her body. I continued to work my way up her body up the back of her legs knowing they were sensitive to my touch. I enjoyed letting my tongue run the length of her upper leg. She had beautiful long legs. Legs that any man in his right mind would want to feel wrapped around him.

Placing a kiss on each of her beautiful cheeks of her ass I turned her around to face me and started on the front of her legs. I wanted for every inch of her body to know my tongue and for my tongue to know every inch of her body to know the feel the taste of her.

Working my way up her legs my tongue running along the inside of her legs I almost came unglued when my tongue met the juices of my babe that were running down the inside of her legs. She was so wet for me that her juices were running down her legs and I almost got side tracked from my mission as the taste took me by surprise.

My swollen dick jumped and throbbed, as the taste registered, letting me know exactly what it wanted. I throbbed to the point that it almost hurt with need. The need to be buried deep inside her but I ignored it. I continued to taste her working my way to her core. I knew she wanted me there as much as I wanted to be there. I could feel her shaking with desire and need the closer I got.

When I skipped the area she wanted me the most and continued to work my way up kissing her mound, kissing the area where her legs met her body she let out a careening moan one that spoke volumes to her level of need and her impatience with me giving it to her.

"Patience Querida" I told her. Letting her know that she was going to get everything she wanted. Not that she doubted she would. But this was on my time frame. This was my plan to fully worship every inch of her beautiful body.

I kissed my way up following the natural V of her body to her hip then did the same with the other side. I know there are sensitive spots in those areas and I paid full attention to each and every one. She wobbled in my arms and I wrapped my arms around her to hold her up to keep her steady on her feet.

I worked my way across her lower belly paying full attention to her belly button as I made my way further up her body. I stood up when I could go no higher with me being on my knees and continued up her body.

Kissing her stomach and watching the muscle ripple she was starting to develop a little six pack and it was fun watching the muscle react to the touch of my tongue. I briefly wondered if she enjoyed the same thing when she would lick my stomach. Maybe that is why she did it as often as she did not that I was complaining because I loved every moment of it.

I reached her ribs and I carefully worked my around them not yet touching her breast. My mouth ached to take her puckered nipple in but I restrained myself until the rest of her had been fully worshiped before I turned my attention to her nipples. Had I just taken her nipples into my mouth that would have been it. I would have missed the rest of her beautiful skin.

After both nipples and breast were fully kissed and more moans had escaped from my Babe's beautiful lips I broke loose to complete my worshipping of her beautiful body. As I kissed and laved with my tongue the skin above her breast across her beautiful shoulders down and back up each beautiful arm. I gently turned her around her back facing my front and I worked my way from her beautiful cheeks up her back to her shoulders and then her neck.

When I had reached all the skin I could I turned her back around and continued on the front of her neck holding her up at this point she was completely lost to the sensations I was creating within her body. I kissed the sensitive areas around the base of her neck where it met her shoulders.

I made my way up to her ear and laved her earlobe sucking on it. I could feel my Babe's body humming at my touch and my body responded. I took her face in my hand and I placed butterfly kisses all over her face. Her eyelids, her nose, her forehead, her cheeks her chin and finally when I was completely done I took her lips.

Holding her against me I deepened the kiss my tongue plunging into her mouth feeling and tasting her tongue. I swallowed not just my Babe's moan but my own moan.

Quickly I swept her up into my arms never breaking the seal of our lips and made our way into the bedroom.

Laying her on our bed, I couldn't believe how beautiful she was. I know I keep saying that but every time I see her I find myself saying it again and again. Every time she is more beautiful. I climb on the bed and there is only one place left for me to taste, one place that I skipped. I rub up her legs and I am not surprised when my hands find her moisture on her thighs.

My tongue quickly replaces my hands as I lap up every sweet drop, following the trail of sweet goodness to the promise land. I know I groaned, I know I growled, and I know I moaned. The taste was overwhelming and all I could think is more, more.

I could feast at her fountain for the rest of my life and never tire of her taste. Never want anything else but the feel and taste of her on my lips, on my tongue. My tongue circling her clit and then running it the length of her slit only dipping it in slightly to feel her muscles circling my tongue before pulling it back up to her clit where I would lave my tongue across it and then circle it to repeat the motion again and again.

I could feel her shaking in my arms that were wrapped around her legs holding her to me. I knew she was going to come any minute. I knew she was on the edge I could feel the juices flowing and I couldn't get enough of them. I knew when she came there would be a fresh flow that I would hungrily lap up like a man dying from thirst and I couldn't wait for it.

I felt her shutter and I began paying more attention to her clit as she shook in my arms her hands grabbing my hair as she held me to her like I would have moved. Watching her shake and shutter under my touch under my tongue was pre beauty. She was beautiful when she came. Her eyes were closed tight. I wanted to tell her to open them but I didn't want to break contact to do it. I didn't want to disturb her at this moment. She was on the edge, and I was about to push her over.

I heard her scream as she shuttered calling my name and I couldn't help the growl that escaped as I lapped up the fresh flow of juices from her beautiful orgasm as she fell to pieces in my arms.

After I had lapped all the juices I let my hands replace my mouth as I moved her up her body. Not yet ready yet for this to end I stopped at her beautiful nipples while my fingers rubbed her clit while I buried a few of them in side of her. Letting my thumb rub her clit while my finger rubbed her g spot with a come here motion she was immediately screaming and shaking. I knew it wouldn't take much to push her over the edge again.

Feeling the muscles pulling my fingers inside her, feeling her muscles clamping down on them made my dick jealous. It took all the restraint within in me not to enter her right at that moment but I wanted to feel her fall apart in my hands from my touch one more time. Feeling her shutter feeling her muscle clamp down I knew she was there running my thumb over her clit and taking her nipple between my teeth gently nibbling was all it took for her to scream my name. Feeling her fresh flow juices I could no longer hold on.

Rising up I entered her in one single motion. She was tight as hell, wet, and hot and I almost came in the instant I was buried deep inside her. She screamed my name at my intrusion to her body. I had to bite my lip to keep from coming. I stilled trying to gain control because I wasn't ready to come. I wanted to feel her. I wanted to further worship her.

Once I had regained control I began to slowly rock my hips pushing myself further into her. I felt like I was going to shutter at the feeling. Fuck maybe I did. All I know was she was pulling me in, she was warm, she was wet for me and I never wanted to be anywhere other than where I was at this very moment buried deep within her.

I wrapped my arms around her holding her to me. While supporting most of my weight on my arms. My lips find her. Plunging my tongue into her mouth I can't help but think I never wanted this to end.

I rock my hips a little more swallowing her moan that my movement created. Feeling myself buried deep inside her I break the connection with our lips.

"Babe I can't tell you how good this feels holding you, feeling myself inside you. Know I never want to be anywhere else other than here with you like this." I tell her as my lips press kiss after kiss along her neck and shoulders as my hips gently rock pushing me further in and retreating only minimally. I close my eyes let them roll back as I press myself further inside her feeling my dick twitch at the sensation and her muscles responding by clamping down on me holding me deep in her.

"Carlos know that I don't want you any other place." She tells me and it almost breaks my control. I fight the urge to just pound in her. Shaking a little more and the feeling and my almost failed attempt of self control I once again regain control. Locking eyes with my Babe's I see her love for me. I see her desire for me. I see her soul that is connected to mine.

"God I love you." I tell her and I see a tear fall from her eyes. I briefly wonder if I have hurt her in some way but I sense it is more happy tears.

"Carlos I am so in love you." She tells me as she pulls me closer to her and presses her lips to mine holding my head to hers. She deepens the kiss between us her plunging her tongue into my mouth as I press myself further inside her.

Feeling me fill her feeling my aching dick pressed all the way inside her. Knowing that I fill her she wiggles against me and I groan at the sensation of her movement and my thoughts. I was lost in the feeling of being buried inside her feeling her muscles, feeling her move against me as I rocked into her.

I knew my Babe was ready to come again. The way she was moving against me so I sped up a little. I wanted to feel her come unglued around me. I wanted to feel her shuttering and shaking while I was buried deep inside her.

I picked up my pace making sure with each rock I applied pressure at just the right points to push her closer to the edge. Lifting my weight up off her a little more changing the angle I was able to apply pressure at different area and she screamed as I did. It was a scream of pure pleasure not pain. It was a scream that had my body wanting to betray me by coming with her when she came and not waiting as I had fully planned.

I once again got myself under control I wasn't going to let my body betray me and take this away from my Babe. I continued to apply pressure at all the right areas as she shuttered in my arms and I couldn't help the smile on my face when I felt her shake when I saw her eyes turn to that brilliant blue they did just before her face flushed slightly just before the fresh flow of juices that I could feel running down my dick to my balls as they tightened under the feeling of it. Clamping further down on my control when I felt her muscles start to clamp down on me pulling me further in side of her trying to hold me there trying to keep me there buried deep inside her. I heard her scream and moan. I heard her calling my name as if she was urging me to come with her but I restrained myself as I felt her fall over the edge.

Feeling her fall apart in my arms was sensual, and sexy as hell. I let her come down a little and recover while I was still buried deep inside her. I was still hard enough to drive nails even though her muscles were trying to milk me for all they were worth.

Letting her come back down from her orgasm I just held her to me laving kisses and licks over her body while I waited.

"Babe you are beautiful when you come. When I feel you shutter and shake in my arms and I feel your muscles clamp down on me it is the most sensual feeling I have ever felt. I never want to go without it. I want you in my arms forever. I want to feel you shake against me screaming my name the rest of my life." I told her.

"Feeling you and knowing that you are all mine makes me the happiest man in the world. Knowing what we share my body knowing your body the way it does it wants nothing more to be buried inside you pressed up against you ever moment of the day." I confess to her.

Rubbing her wet curly hair away from her face as I place kisses around her face. Feeling her legs wrapped around my body I couldn't help reveling in the feelings of being wrapped in my Babe. Having her beautiful legs wrapped around me, having her arms wrapped around me her hanging on to me holding me to her.

Her breathing was returning to normal as her eyes once again focused on me and the smile on her lips made my heart soar. The glow from her body was bright in the highlight of her orgasm after glow. It was about to be brighter because I was ready for more of my Babe as I pressed myself further into her eliciting a groan and a moan from who I didn't know and I didn't care. I had gone the route of slow and controlled for long enough now was time for a little faster pace.

SPOV

I was going to fucking die from all the orgasms Carlos has given me. I was exploding inside. The last orgasm had been so intense and he still wasn't done. I know people joked about dying in the throes of making love but I was really questioning if it wasn't possible. I mean don't get me wrong to die from one of Carlos' mind blowing orgasms would be the way to go if I had to choose how my life ended but I really wasn't ready for my life to end just yet. I wanted more orgasms damn it. I didn't want these to be the last ones I would ever have.

But he had me screaming, he had me shaking, he had me falling to pieces in his hands, in his arms, my heart was beating so hard and fast and my breath was so ragged I was wondering if I would ever be able to breathe normally again.

Not that I really gave a shit long as he didn't stop and I didn't truly die. He could have all control. He could have my body as he wanted. He could make me scream his name as much and as often as he wanted because his fingers, hands, and body were pure magic and I wanted nothing more than to feel him.

There had been several moments when I just grabbed him and held him to me until I screamed his name and right now I was just holding on for dear life feeling him pushing himself in and pulling himself out. My body wanted to revolt at the loss of him when he retreated but when he quickly and forcefully pushed himself back in it made me want to scream out in the pleasure from it.

I knew it would only be a short time before I was once again holding on to the edge with all I had to extend the wonderful things he could do to my body and then on the other hand I would be begging with every fiber to just let go and feel myself fall into another glorious Carlos induced orgasm.

Carlos reaches under me cupping my ass with his hand tilting up towards him changing the angle and I can't help the pleasurable scream that came from me feeling him enter me deeper with the different angle. I feel my muscles response by clamping down tighter on him as he moans from the sensation.

Grabbing on to him I am ready for the ride he is about to take me on. Feeling him pounding in and out of me I wanted to scream his name. I wanted to thank every god I knew I wanted to sing I wanted to shout his praise from the highest mountain top for the sensations he was sending through my body.

My heart pounding in my chest I feel the fine sheen of sweet on my body as well as on Carlos' body. I was just about ready to scream in ecstasy again when all of a sudden I found myself on top and Carlos on the bottom.

Carlos pushing me down on him and pulling me up again to keep the motion we had going. I planted my feet and I began to move sliding back and forth up and down I felt myself shake, I didn't know if I was going to be able to keep up this pace. My breathing was getting heavier and heavier. I felt myself shaking and shuttering more before I felt dizzy and my vision went dark and I briefly felt myself feeling like I was flying. I felt myself fly to pieces while riding him.

I heard someone screaming and briefly wondered if that was me when I heard Carlos roar my name as I felt him explode within me and my spent body drop down on him.

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	44. Chapter 43: Business as Usual

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

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Chapter 43: Business as Usual

DougPOV

What the fuck? What the fuck happened? My head is busting but for the life of me I can't remember what the fuck happened. I don't remember getting drunk, I don't remember drinking anything. The last thing I remember was being in the lab and Cal walking in with Lester and Slyder.

What the fuck happened between then and now? I look around and find that I am on the floor in the lab. I put my hand on my head and I feel a bandage. Did I hurt myself? Did I knock myself out or something?

Damn I can't remember a fucking thing. I remember them walking in and smiling they seemed friendly enough towards me unlike Manny, Tank, and Hector had treated and threatened me earlier. I wasn't even sure what time it was as it was late last night when they walked in. I was getting ready to leave for the day I remember that much.

I was just making sure everything was in place for when I took the bitch down. I saw them enter and I quickly shut down what was on my computer before they could look. I remember saying hi and telling them that Hector was in his office thinking that was who they had come to see. After all these three didn't socialize with me. They made it a point to never speak to me and I didn't speak to them unless forced to for work related matters.

It was no doubt where their loyalties lied and it wasn't with me it was clearly with the split tail bitch as one was a self professed best friend and the other two were proud to call her their sister even though she was nothing but a bitch that needed to go down because she didn't know her proper place in the world.

But they just nodded like they accepted my sentence of Hector being in his office and then they acted as though they were going to go to his office. I don't know anything after that point in time. What the fuck happened to me?

I looked at the clock and saw that it said five o'clock but because I knew I had worked past five o'clock last night then I knew it had to mean five o'clock in the morning not in the evening. Holy fuck I had spent the night on the floor in the lab.

It wasn't so much spending the night on the floor in the lab that had me feeling antsy as it was the fact that I couldn't remember anything that happened for the past almost ten hours. What the fuck happened? I reached up and touched my head feeling the bandage. It was across my forehead almost completely covering my forehead. Had I cut myself?

Had I fallen and cut myself and someone had to bandage me up but then wasn't able to get me off the floor. I almost knew the answer was no as these guys would have been able to have gotten me up had they wanted to but that was the optimal question had they wanted to?

I could see them not wanting me to bleed all over their pristine white floors but I couldn't imagine them leaving a coworker lying on the floor. This just gets more and more confusing the more I try to think about it and come up answers all I seem to be getting are more questions.

I think I am hurting my head more by trying to figure all of this out right now. I sit up more putting my back to the cabinet trying to get a grasp on what had happened. Where had Mike been? I tried to remember if he was in the lab when Lester, Slyder, and Cal entered the lab but I couldn't remember if he was here or not.

I knew he had come back with me from the gym to the lab but I couldn't remember if he had gone any other place after that. I couldn't remember him in the lab when Hector, Tank or Manny came through the doors threatening me but then again he wasn't someone I cared to look for or that I truly cared about.

We just happened to be two contractors they brought in to work at Rangeman. That linked us and made us sort of friends I guess you can say. The guys here are closed off and they don't let in strangers obviously. Mike and I had been working here for over a week now and none of them bothered to talk to us unless it was necessary unless they were threatening one of us. You could say they weren't friendly and they weren't receptive of new people.

Of course I didn't really give a shit about being their friend although I must admit it would have been nice to have had more of a camaraderie feeling with them than what I had. The more I tried to make them believe I was like them deserving of the same things they were, the more I seemed to prove to them that I wasn't.

Of course they were so focused and centered around that split tail bitch that they didn't look past her to see anyone else new around here. She had come here about the same time we had come here and the buzz was all her. But I was going to deal with her. I knew my fate had been sealed here so to speak when I said I would beat her that I was better than she was and I had failed to prove that I was in fact better I knew I had sealed my fate.

Had Ranger let me and her go at it on the mats instead of us fighting him and those fucked up rules about not being able to use force and instead gained points then I would have shown them. I would have taken her down. While she can fight no doubt about it she wouldn't last through one of my blows.

But Ranger had to come up with his stupid way and who was I to say no after all he was sort of giving me what I had asked for and I wasn't about to question the boss. But having lost I knew my days here were numbered so I might as well go out with a bang and take the split tail bitch with me that has done nothing but made my life here hell.

I sit down on the stool in the lab wishing that it had a back on it as I was still a little unsteady. If I had to guess I would say that I had gone on a bender last night and was feeling the effects of it this morning. I felt hung over but for the life of me I couldn't remember a fucking thing. I couldn't remember anything past standing in the lab.

I decided to pull up the video footage from yesterday evening to see if that would provide any clues. The video showed Cal, Slyder, and Lester walking into lab. I saw our conversation and the three of them walk towards Hector's door. The video showed me leaving the lab as I had remembered I was about to do when they walked in.

I switched feeds and I followed the different cameras to the point that it showed me pulling out of the garage in my own car alone. So I had in fact left last night without anyone else with me. So how did I manage to get back here an fall asleep on the floor without any knowledge of anything?

I fast forwarded the cameras looking for any trace of me entering the building. I finally found my car entering the building at three thirty a.m. what the fuck. Why would I come back here at three thirty a.m.?

I watched as I got out of the car you could clearly see I as disoriented possibly drunk but it is odd I don't smell nor does my mouth taste or feel like I had any alcohol. But on the video you could clearly see me stumbling. You could also see the bandage on my head so whatever I had done to myself I had done it outside of Rangeman and someone had fixed me up prior to me coming back.

Fuck this was getting more confusing not less. To make matters worse I had taken my personal vehicle so there was no video or audio feed I could pull up to see where I had gone and what I had done when I left here last night.

I followed the different cameras and watched myself make it to the lab where on the lab camera it shows me finally laying down where I had woke up at. Fuck. I had no idea how I ended up there only that it was of my own accord as no one was with me when I left or returned to the building.

I decided to focus on something that I did have control of and I picked up the burner phone dialing Morelli's cell phone. He picks up on the second ring "Hello" he says. Wow someone who still answers the phone with Hello.

"Hey it's Doug I just wanted to check in with you. It has been awhile since we have talked and I wanted to see if everything was the same as when we talked originally." I told him.

I heard him hmph in the phone. "No things are not as they were originally planned. I can't go into details but things have changed drastically. I was humiliated by Rangeman thugs and Stephanie and I no longer want anything to do with her, with them, or with you. Loose the phone and never call me again." He tells me and I couldn't help but wonder what the fuck?

"So you no longer have any interest or plan on doing any of the plans like we discussed? You don't care if she continues to live here, work here, and fuck everyone she can?" I asked him.

"No, I no longer care what she does. You do what you want with her I don't give a fuck about her anymore." He tells me and I can't help the smile on my lips. He had no idea what my plans are for her and I didn't feel the need to elaborate as he said he no longer gave a fuck.

"Okay man. Well I guess I will talk to you later if I see you else I'll do what you say and loose this phone and not call you again." I told him.

"Good" was his only reply and he hung up. Hanging up I made a note to ditch the phone the next time I was outside of the building away from any Rangeman men. I needed to make it disappear. I didn't want them to be able to link me back to him.

I also made a note to tell Mike to lose his. Not that I don't think he ever used it except for maybe a time when Morelli may have called him. Looking at the clock I had only a few minutes to get myself together for the morning meeting. They wanted everyone to be at the meeting as there were some scheduling details they wanted to go over with everyone.

TPOV

The meeting was about to begin and everyone was here with the exception of those training with Stephanie this morning. Her training this morning was marksmanship and Ram was her trainer. I knew Lester and Slyder were with her as well. They were like three peas in a pod lately. Where you found one you found the other two.

I understood Slyder as he was also going to test on Sunday and he wanted to beef up on some of his training before the test. Lester well Lester was tagging along for whatever reason he could come up with that day. That she didn't have a core team person with her, as was with the case with today's excuse, other excuses were that he felt like she needed more protection outside the building, that he felt like she needed the additional training that his expertise could provide. You name it and Santos had used the fucking excuse. Personally I think it was more because he didn't want to be stuck at his desk while others were having fun with his Beautiful as he calls her.

Regardless I knew she was safe with him, Ranger knew she was safe with him so all was actually well with the world, so to speak.

Once I saw that all the men were in the conference room I cleared my throat effectively bringing the room to a dead silence.

"Men I called you all together today to discuss some changes to the schedule for Friday. First off Stephanie's training schedule. Friday's afternoon schedule is going to be switched with that of Saturday afternoon schedule. Hector I realize you are on for the afternoon at fifteen hundred time slot if you need to change that because of your schedule let Lester know I am sure he can switch hours with you or fill in for you if necessary." I told them. I saw Hector nodding his head.

"Friday Ranger and I will be visiting the Boston office for just the day. We are currently planning on leaving here right after the morning meeting. We have a meeting with a client scheduled in Boston and then we will take a little time catching up with Trouble who runs the Boston office before flying back to Trenton later in the afternoon. We expect to be back in Trenton no later than nineteen hundred hours." I told them.

"Lester will be taking the client meetings that we currently had scheduled for Friday. There are currently two meetings one at zero ten hundred and the other at thirteen hundred hours. Slyder will be going with Lester for the meeting so that he can get a feel for how that side of our business operates." I tell them.

I went on to give the rest of the schedule "Hector and Manny will be on stake out, Zip and Zero will be in the control room from zero seven hundred until sixteen hundred, then Hal and Vince will be in there from sixteen hundred until third shift comes on scene. Binkie and Hal will be working on the security install at the Jamerson house after Hal finishes training with Stephanie. Vince and Woody will be pulling a surveillance shift since their training with Stephanie is moving to Saturday " Those that I named nodded.

"Bobby and Lester will be in charge while we are not here. If something comes up that needs our attention take it to them first. They will contact us if we need to know. Reggae and Demon will be flying with us back up to Boston. There is a possibility they will be coming back with us and be put on permanent staff in this office. We need to see the business need at both places and make a determination as to which location needs their expertise the most. Regardless if they are moving here or staying up there they are flying with us to either pack their things or remain in Boston."

"Bobby has been busy with scheduling our next round of physical exams not only for this office but for all of the other Rangeman offices. So unless it is something important don't disturb Bobby wait for Lester to return to the office. It is important that he gets these exams scheduled for our insurance."

"Men I know Friday is going to be tough with a lot of people out of the office but it is business as usual you suck it up and you fucking work, pull more than your normal load if necessary. We have stake outs, we have take downs to plan, we have customers that need to be met, we have installs that need to be worked on, and we have Stephanie's training. Things will get a lot easier after this week when Stephanie and Slyder come on full time." I told them hoping to give them some light at the end of the tunnel.

I had one last thing to tell the whole group "For those that are on the schedule Friday for training Stephanie plan your workout and your training to be in house. Stay here within Rangeman we are spread too thin to provide her proper protection if she leaves the building. I don't have to tell you that if something happens to her while we are gone it is all of your asses on the line for it. You will answer to Ranger and you will answer to me if any of these orders are broken. Is that clear?" I wanted them all to know how seriously we were taken this.

We didn't want her going outside of these walls. We wanted her training to remain in the building where she was safe, where we didn't need to be watching over our shoulders for dangers, and need someone guarding her. Not to mention with us both being in Boston we didn't want to have worry about her being safe and secure.

Everyone nodded. I nodded back "Okay everyone who is not part of the normal morning meetings is dismissed." I told them. Several of the guys got up filing out of the conference room. I looked around at the men that were left and decided it was time to get down to the business of today.

DougPOV

I couldn't believe my ears. Listening to Tank in the morning meeting he was giving me the silver platter. He and Ranger were going to be in Boston along with Demon and Reggae. Slyder and Lester were going to be gone most of the day to client meetings. Hector and Manny were going to be out of the office. Woody, Binkie, Vince and Hal were all going to be out of the office. Not that I really gave a shit about them but fewer people the better my chance of pulling off my plan completely undetected.

They were leaving Bobby in charge who is going to be busy in his office working on physical exam schedules with standing orders to not be disturbed. It doesn't get much better than this.

There is no doubt what day my plan will go into motion I mean who knows how long I will be working here anyway. I mean it is clear I won't be staying on as a full time Rangeman and they have no intentions of ever making me a full time Rangeman so I am on borrowed time. Might as well tell these fuckers what I really think of them and take their precious little split tail with me.

Even if I let her live which is seriously questionable at this point she won't ever want to step foot within these four walls and she will never want to look at a Rangeman man again. Come to think of it, that may be better than killing her. She won't be dead but they will all have to live without being with each other. Now that is sounding better every moment. She won't want to be around them for what I have done to her and they will have to live without. Sound like the perfect revenge for ruining my dreams.

I make it back to the lab finally having time I step into the bathroom. I wanted to check out my cut to see what exactly I managed to do to myself last night. I pull the bandage back and I can't believe my eyes.

I rub my eyes just in case they are playing a trick on me. I look again at my reflection. I slowly raise my hand up to feel my forehead to make sure it was in fact my forehead and not some sick fucking joke. Feeling across my forehead it is mine it isn't fake, it isn't a joke, this is fucking real.

My breath picks up as I fully grasp what has happened. As I fully take into account what has happened to me. I can tell by the tenderness that this isn't something that can just be washed away. It registers that this isn't something that can just be hidden unless I want to wear a bandage for the rest my life or wear my hair in front of my face neither of which is really desired.

I see my mouth gapping open and close and it is almost like I am having an out of body experience I mean I can't believe it. I can't believe that I am staring back at myself in the mirror. I step closer and move even closer to the mirror as if double checking that it was in fact me I was seeing reflected in the mirror and not some heinous mirror playing tricks on me.

It is however me. I trace my finger across my forehead feeling the sensitive areas where the needles punched the holes in my skin while injecting the die. I would remember this, I would remember the pain if nothing else. I would never ask for something like this. I would never agree to something like this.

Panic shot through me as I wondered how I would face the rest of the world. What would they think, what would they say? How would they react to me? No doubt they would laugh but how could I be a respectable member of society with this. How could anyone take me seriously at my job, in my life not that I had much of a life but I didn't want to give up what little bit of my life I did have.

How in the fuck was I ever going to get another woman to fuck me or me fuck her with this? I had to change this. I had to get this taken off, changed I don't know it being so new I had no idea what they were even able to do. I had heard about laser removal treatments but they were expensive and they left nasty scars behind in some cases. This was across my forehead how the fuck was I going to deal with this.

I know I didn't do this to myself. Those three fuckers had to have had something to do with this. Cal has threatened me a few times he had to have something to do with this. He was going to fucking pay. I was going to fucking kill him. If I found out that Slyder or Lester had anything to do with it they were good as fucking dead as well. I had thought I would spare the life of Stephanie Plum disaster of a bounty hunter but this had just sealed her fate.

On the offset that she would be able to get her shit straight I never wanted her to ever be able to be with her "Brothers" as she called it again. They would never be able to be with her and they would have to live with themselves that they were unable to stop me. They would have to live with the fact that I took her right under their noises. Right in their precious fucking building Rangeman where they all believed she was safe. Where they all believed that no threat resided they were about to get the surprise of their lifetime.

They had let the fox in the hen house. I was the fox and Stephanie was the hen the fox had his sights set on.

I'd fuck her and then I kill her right in their own house, right in their own gym, right under their watchful eyes of their precious fucking cameras and none of them would be the wiser. While the Bossman and Tank were away on business, they have let their guard down and their precious fucking whore is going to pay the price.

She would be dead and they would forever blame themselves for their own stupidity. They would forever blame themselves for their inability to protect her. The one time it mattered the most, when it was her life at stake, they would fail. I would succeed, I would get my revenge there was no way they would ever see this coming. Because of so many people out of the office I would be able to form my escape and be gone before they even found their fucking precious princess bleeding and dying on their gym floor.

I tore the bandage completely off. I decided to wear my new adornment with pride it would be my sword so to speak. They would see it, they would laugh, they would have their little fun for the rest of day but all of those mother fuckers would be sorry. They would all be sorry they had a part of this, or laughed because of it. They would all be the ones fucking crying in the end not me.

I was going to wear this as a sign as a signal to them that I will be the victor and not them. That I am better that I am capable of doing what none of them could stop because of what they did to me they would pay and the payment would be first her body and then her life.

They would think again before tattooing someone's head with Dumb Fucker I could guarantee that.

SPOV

I woke up to the sound of the alarm going off and I felt my pillow move underneath me. Groaning at the loss of him he shifted back and pulled me into his strong arms. I know I purred he was so warm, he was so comfortable even with his muscles being rock hard when my body laid against him I was the most comfortable I could get. It didn't get any better that this.

We had made love most of the night neither of us able to get enough of each other. All we both wanted was to remain attached to each other to feel each other's love. To bask in the feeling of our bodies being connected the feeling of him buried deep within me. It brought something to my body that nothing had ever been like it; it was such a feeling of completeness. There was nothing else to want for.

I don't think I had ever felt that until Carlos. I know I hadn't there was no thinking to it. These feelings are once in a life time feelings. When you look at the person and you know that is it he is your soul mate and nothing will be right with the world or the universe until you are together. Carlos is that to me.

I turn in his arms looking up at him his beautiful eyes soft and slightly unfocused due to sleep I feel the smile that stretches across my face just seeing him like this. I put my hands on either side of his face and give him kisses all over his face.

"Morning Carlos" I whisper allowing my lips to ghost over the skin of his lips. I feel his arms wrap around me tighter as he holds me to him and whispers "Morning Babe" in my ear while he helps himself to a little nibble of my earlobe.

I know we can't stay in bed as much as I want to. I know he has a lot of work to do, I have training today this morning is Marksmanship so we would be training later together but this morning first thing I had training with Ram, Zero, Junior, and then Carlos. I was looking forward to working with Zero. This was the first time I would be working with him.

I rolled over toward the edge and Carlos groaned was the wizard wishing to stay in this morning?  
"Babe I am not a wizard. I don't have a cape or a wand and I always want to stay in bed with you." He told me. Damn ESP, he may not have a wand that he has to hold in his hand all the time but trust me he does have a wand and it is pure magic and the cape well that is optional anyway, right?

"Babe" I heard him say, I briefly wondered if he had ESP'd me again or if I had said it out loud but then I decided I didn't care because it was the truth.

"Just calling it like I see it Batman" I tell him and he just laughs and shakes his head sitting up watching me make my way to the bathroom. I give him a couple of extra shakes of my bare bottom as I walk through the door. I knew I was baiting the tiger but what can I say I was remembering how good he was in the shower and I wanted to take another ride on his magic wand.

RamPOV

I had training with Bombshell at zero eight hundred so Tank and Ranger had filled me on the scheduling changes that they were going to announce to the rest of the employees this morning in the gym.

I was planning on taking Bombshell to the compound for training. I figured she had a lot of practice with hand guns, and probably needed to spend some additional time with the larger rifles and the higher power firearms.

Since I knew there would be no more crawling in the bed beside her while she slept I was wondering if I would need to promise to take her to McDonalds for breakfast before we went to the range. I was surprised when she came bounding out of the elevator into the garage at five minutes to eight laughing with Lester and Slyder on her heels. I wasn't surprised to see them but I found myself a little pissed they were going to be with her. I was hoping that I would have some time alone with her without those two clowns.

Zero walked out of the stairwell so he was going to tag along with us as well. Great, oh well the more the merrier they say. At least with us all there we would have some fun on the range it wouldn't be all work and training.

I had to laugh when I read Stephanie's shirt I had no doubt it was one of Lester's creations her shirt read My Best Friend has a P instead of a V and looking at Lester his shirt read My Best Friend has a V instead of P. I briefly wondered if Ranger had seen these shirts and if not I was looking forward to the ass kicking he would give Lester over them.

We made it to the compound and I brought Bombshell around to the area where we did the sniper training. I pulled out the big .50 caliber sniper rifle. I knew she had a little training but I knew it wasn't enough to pass the test with.

I showed her how to set the rifle up. I showed her how to load it and lock the round in. This gun had a magazine that you could load. But a good Sniper knows you never rely on that. You loaded your gun with each round as there are factors with the ammunition that could throw your shot off. This sniper rifle had the capacity to shoot someone over a mile away. This gun range was about two thousand yards which roughly equates to about a mile and half away. Not that we required that for the entrance exam to Rangeman. Really good snipers, like myself, well we could probably shoot it slightly further than the mile and half and hit our target dead center.

One thing for sure a .50 caliber bullet hit you and it was sure to fuck your day up regardless of where it hit you. Fuck it had the potential to cut a man in half.

I showed her how to lay down with the gun in front of her. How to put the gun against her body even with the front leg stands you needed to stabilize the gun when you fired it, these guns have some kind of kick. Without stabilizing the gun it would sure fuck your shot to hell and depending on what situation you were shooting into you could hit something or someone you didn't intend to hit.

That could prove deadly for a sniper after all it would require multiple shots making it easy for the enemy to zero in on your location, it also would alert your enemies you were there and who you were aiming for. So you had the potential to lose your intended target and get caught two things as a sniper you never want to happen.

Snipers live and die by the motto one shot one kill. Not because it sounds badass or cool, which it does, but because it is what keeps a sniper alive. When it is just a single shot enemies have a tough time figuring out your location as sometimes a single burst of noise in a quiet or even noisy environment is hard to locate but the more that sound is heard the easier it becomes. So you want a single shot to ring out and you hope for echo because that aids for further confusion to protect where you chose to lie low for the shot. Of course the further away you are the better but that isn't always plausible depending on where you are. I mean a mile in as forest would be impossible as trees, leaves, etc would get in your way of you sighting in your target.

Not to mention in that single shot you want to take out your target. I won't even say enemy because you may have never known the person. You were just given an assignment to go and to kill them. The best shot for a sniper is to aim for the heart. Head shots were a definite kill but they were about fifty percent harder to make.

When you are a great distance away the slightest move on your part means a miss of the target. You may only adjust the rife a fraction of an inch a sixteenth or thirty second of an inch but that could be the different between a hit or a miss at a mile out.

For snipers often times you were sent in alone or with one other person that was your spotter who would give you distance, wind speeds, elevation, etc. It is all calculated in, as every one of those elements factor into if you will hit or miss your intended target.

It is one thing to shoot plates, or target boards or dummies but it is a whole different ballgame when you look down that scope and see a living breathing person on the other end and you know that your shot is going to end his life. You also know if you don't make the shot or if you make the shot and miss your target you more than likely just ended yours.

"Bombshell you want to make sure that you are positioned squarely behind the weapon, with the recoil pad of the gun firmly against your shoulder. If you don't have it positioned just right then you could injure yourself, or you could cause the gun to cycle incorrectly and this could damage the gun." I told her. Helping her get the position right I was a little worried shooting this big gun could hurt her even if she was in the right position she was little and this one a big fucking gun with a massive kick.

"You also want to make sure your eye is away from the scope. You will want at least six inches" I told her. I didn't want her any closer just in case the guns recoil was greater than anticipated.

"You need to focus on looking through the scope at your target without your eye being close to it. While the scope is like binoculars it isn't the same and just trust me you don't want to pull that trigger with your eye any closer to the scope or you could seriously injure yourself or put your eye out." I told her.

I showed her the scope again I knew she had already had the training with the scope. It was on the last sniper rifle she fired but that rifle wasn't as high powered as this one. Because she had already had scope training I had her tell me how she would site in the target that set a thousand yards out. She would have to hit that target in her testing in order to pass.

When she told me she had it set as she was reading out the different settings and what she was setting them to. I had her move out of the way. I positioned myself behind the rifle and not changing a thing I fired the rifle and the bullet hit the target dead center.

She looked at me "that's good right?" She questioned. I had to laugh "Yeah Bombshell that was good." Lester yelled his approval along with Slyder. They switched out the targets for us.

I changed everything with the scope I didn't want to make it too easy for her. She would need to redo the scoping during the test before she made the shot so this is no different when it comes to her testing.

I moved out of the way and she got back in position. She placed the gun like I had showed her. I helped move her body slightly to make sure she was squarely behind the weapon.

"Bombshell please the day of the test make sure your body is squarely behind the rifle. The last thing I want is you hurting yourself. So take extra time to insure your shoulders, body, and legs are all squarely behind the rifle." I tell her and she nods.

"Stand up" I tell her. She stands up. "Now walk around the rifle" I tell her and she walks around the rifle. "Now get back in position" I tell her. She did and once again she wasn't quite squared up. Her legs were shifted slightly I wasn't even sure she was aware of it. I had her do the whole things again. I wasn't helping her by fixing her position. She had to see what it felt like by getting in the position herself. I wouldn't be able to position come test day.

She got up and did the exercise again. This time it was better but still not quite there so I had her do it again. She blew out a sound of frustration but I ignored it. She moved around the gun and then got back in position in the right position. "That's it, feel what it feels like Bombshell, remember it that is what you want to do." I told her. She smiled.

"Okay now site in your scope." I asked her. She said out loud again what she was changing as she dialed in her target.

"Okay Ram I think I got the target sighted in" she told me. Okay so here was the moment of truth so to speak. I checked to see where her eye was and it was more than six inches away. I double checked the recoil pad was square against her shoulder, it was and her legs were directly behind her.

"Okay Bombshell, go ahead and open the chamber and load the round." She opened the chamber picked up the round, blew across it and then placed it into the chamber. I watched her as she locked the round in the chamber. She had done everything exactly right.

"Okay now when you are ready fire your weapon." I told her. She took a moment to check the scope verify her settings were right for hitting the target down range.

Slyder and Lester were waiting for her to pull the trigger. You could see they were excited. I guess it is sort of like seeing your sister walk or run for the first time. This was her first time firing the big bad boy. We were excited to say the least. I knew Ranger would be sorry he missed seeing this. He would be proud of her.

I heard her take her breath and knew she was holding it I knew the count would go to three and she would fire it her heart would at the correct place in its beating pattern for her to pull the trigger and hit her target.

A good Sniper knows how to control his heart beating we weren't going to teach Bombshell all of that as she wasn't training to be a sniper but she just needed to know the basics just in case it was ever needed for her to be the sniper lookout for the team. It was a skill that every Rangeman needed to possess. It was also one of the skills that kept good men from becoming a Rangeman because it isn't a easy skill to learn.

So we all knew this moment was going to be sort of a make or break moment and if it went bad we had no idea if we would be able to teach what was needed in time for Sunday or not. But you need to understand basics before understanding how to shoot this bad boy. So we really couldn't have started this training before today and even now it was a little early but we didn't have any more time to hold it off.

Bombshell pulled the trigger, the gun went off. I heard her scream. Looking at her to see if she had somehow hurt herself I didn't even look to see where the bullet went. "Bombshell are you okay?" I asked her quickly grabbing her arm and turning her over away from the rifle.

She nodded her head. Her eyes were wild looking sparkling bright blue she was extremely excited. That was the adrenaline rush you get from pulling the trigger. It happens to all new snipers the thrill of pulling the trigger feeling the gun fire, filling the recoil back into your body hearing the ear deafening crack of the gun as the bullet escapes the barrel breaking the sound barrier in the case of this gun also feeling the heat from the hot gases that escape from the gun as it ejects the bullet and the casing from the gun.

When she nodded she was fine I let go. Fuck. "Ram I am fine I just wasn't expecting the noise, or the kick. Even with my shoulder up against it, it kicked back like a fucking mule kicked me." She said rubbing her shoulder.

Lester and Slyder had run toward us when they heard her scream all of us had forgotten about the bullet or the target. Our concern solely lying on how she was if she was hurt, why she would scream like that.

It wasn't exactly a scream that would haunt your dreams but it wasn't a scream you would welcome either if you know what I mean.

She reached up grabbing her shoulder that the recoil pad was pushed up against massaging it. Lester lifted her shirt sleeve to see if there was a bruise and there was a red mark but it didn't look like any bruising yet.

"Look guys I am fine. It just caught me by surprise. I know I heard it when Ram fired it but I wasn't like right at it and I didn't realize when he fired it how much the gun recoiled because it didn't look like it even moved. When I fired it and it came back into my shoulder it felt like I had been kicked by a mule and since I have never actually been kicked by a mule I don't know exactly how hard they kick but I am sure it is pretty fucking hard." She tells us and I have to laugh at her little description of how hard she thought the gun recoiled into her shoulder.

Once we were all satisfied that she was truly okay we then turned our attention on the target down field and when we looked through the scope sure enough she had hit the target dead center right through the heart had the target had a heart. Had this target had a heart she would have earned her first kill and I would have been proud to have made the first notch in this gun.

That is something snipers do when there is a kill the kill is marked. Not all snipers do it the same way some have a kill book, some notch their weapon some notch their case or strap. I personally have my kill book which documents the kill, and then I notch my rifle's stock for every kill.

"Bombshell you nailed it." I told her. I didn't want to get too graphic with the whole one shot one kill mantra. We all knew what that meant and for us it was nothing to say it but for her it would mean more. Her views of the world weren't like ours. She didn't have the military training we had she didn't have the ability to disassociate the way we did. So we would shield her from this side of our world as much as we could.

ZeroPOV

I was busy setting up the training for my hour with Bombshell. I was excited to get to work with her. I had been hearing from the guys how good she was some said that she just had natural talent. How hard she was working and this was the first time I had trained with her.

I had setup a course for accuracy that I had seen the guys do on one of my favorite Television shows, Top Shot. I was on the show the second season and won. I know what you are thinking that I received the jackpot and the honors of saying I was top shot so why continue with Rangeman.

I only had one word to say to that family, this was my family. I am one of the younger guys but not by too much. Thankfully Binkie is younger than me so he gets all the young jokes. Anyway I got the honor of saying I was top shot and I won the hundred thousand dollar prize money which I am still collecting as with everything nothing is ever just paid straight out. I was able to do a few ads for different firearm and ammo companies. I still got to work the job I love at Rangeman so in my book that is the perfect world. Even though I won I still watch the show religiously to see who gets the honor of saying they are the next top shot.

I had setup a little course with throwing for accuracy. It wasn't really part of her testing but to be a good shot you needed accuracy and a part of that accuracy meant you needed to have accuracy with aim. So throwing just was like a natural progression to being a natural at shooting accurately especially in our jobs where a lot of our shots were draw and shoot because you didn't have time to get in a stance, take your deep breath, aim your weapon and pull the trigger when your heart rate was the right pulse. Those skills were needed for what their purpose was as a former Marine I would never take those skills or that job lightly but in our world taking time to aim your weapon could be the difference between you living and dying in a gun battle on the streets. So you needed to be able to draw and have good aim without having to set it up per say.

So I was hoping this exercise would help her with that. It's sort of like hand, eye coordination because it all stemmed down to you deciding where to aim the projectile then the release of the object at what point was the most optimal point to release the projectile for it to hit its intended target.

So I had setup the following. I had two large windows with nine panes of glass. I had two boxes of rocks one for each pane of glass. The object of this was to get a straight line in any direction of three panes of glass broken with the rock.

The next obstacle was a board with cards hooked to it. The cards were the value displayed on the cards the face cards were ten points and the aces were fifteen points the goal was to throw the throwing knives at the cards each time you hit the cards then you received the points. Goal was to see how many points could be accumulated.

The next obstacle was back to rocks. I had tin cans setup along a board with a little lip behind the cans the goal was to throw the rocks and knock the cans over. There were a total of five cans but with each can they got smaller and smaller.

The final obstacle was throwing knives and this time it was see how accurately you could sink the throwing knives into the area with the highest value. If you hit the area the bulls eye area which small as a quarter then you got a hundred points if you could sink additional knives into that area then your score doubled with each hit. There were five knives to throw.

Hector would be glad to see that she was also getting some knife skills as to my knowledge no one had worked with her on knife skills. I don't know that I have ever known anyone more deadly with a knife than Hector. Then again Hector was just one fucking deadly dude regardless of the weapon.

I had grown up on the Atchafalaya Swamp in Louisiana. Not many people have heard of it but it is the largest swamp in the states. My family aren't like most American families. My family hunts Alligators. So for thirty days out of the year they are extremely busy and stressed people. The time frames are very demanding and it gets pretty stressful and during those times you will see tempers flare between us as well. A lot rode on those thirty days depending on how you did during those thirty days meant how you lived the rest of the year.

Alligator hunting isn't for the weak, the faint of heart, or the chicken shits of the world. Not to mention the unmentionable dangers the swamps are but when you are trying to trap and kill an alligator that in some cases are eight nine ten foot long several hundred pounds it can get dangerous fast and deadly quickly.

There were some areas you didn't go in the swamp because of superstition which is rich in the area in some cases the swamp will completely close around you and while you were able to motor in easily you will quickly find yourself trapped. There has been many an Alligator hunter never seen again because of that one simple mistake. You quickly learned where to hunt and where not to hunt.

I had broken out of that life when my brother made it clear that he would carry on the family tradition of hunting. I wanted something else. I took my love of water, my skills with a gun and survival on land and joined the Marines. There I didn't have to give up the water but I didn't have to be stationed on a ship for long periods of a time either.

Stephanie along with Ram, Slyder, and Lester walked up to me. Ram nodded it was his way of turning her over to me for my hour of training. I smiled at her and gave her a quick hug. I explained the course I setup and then walked over to one of the boxes of rocks that we would be using today.

She smiled when she saw the rocks. "Zero we are throwing rocks?" She questioned and I nodded. She smiled at me. "Bombshell shooting is all about aiming nothing more basic than throwing rocks or throwing something to improve your overall process of aiming." I told her. She was looking at me taking in what I was saying so I continued.

"Bombshell in our environment we don't always have the time to aim like you have been doing during training. Sometimes we have a threat that needs to be handled right away so we need to be able to pick up our guns and shoot to save our partner's or our own lives. Throwing rocks and knives teach basic hand eye coordination skills that will make aiming your gun even easier." I told her.

She nodded her head so I explained each station to her. I showed her how to hold the knives she would be throwing. I put up a practice board for her and she practiced throwing both the knives and the rocks. She was fairly good. I helped her with some coordination such as paying attention to when she let go of the projectile, how she carried her arm through. I gave her tips for judging her distance and how much force she would need for the projectile to reach its target. She made the adjustments as I told her and with each practice you could see the improvement.

So when she felt comfortable I gave her the challenge. I had setup duplicates so we could do two teams just like in top shot. I was going to be Bombshells coach so I wasn't officially part of the team but I would be coaching her and assisting her as she performed the challenge obstacles.

"Okay so now we form two teams. I will be Bombshell's coach throughout the challenge so I won't be included as a team member as I won't officially get a turn as I will be assisting her to perform her best on the course. Whoever wants to be on Bombshell team needs to earn it." I told them.

The guys got in line I put three targets out in front of them. It was three glass targets spaced out at different distances from them. I gave them each a box of rocks. "Whoever breaks all three windows at my go, is on Team Bombshell. The other two are going to be our bitches." I told them.

Stephanie spoke up "screw them being our bitches I want more ice cream. The Losers buys." She says. Damn that girl loves her ice cream. This was getting to be a daily thing.

They stepped up to the line filled their hand with rocks. "Get Ready, Get Set, Go" I told them and the throwing began. The three men were throwing rocks as fast as they could but in the end the winner was Ram.

"Fuck" I heard Lester exclaim. I knew he hated being on a team opposite Bombshell, but he was just going to have to deal with it.

Ram walked up to Stephanie and they did a high five smack of their hands and then a low five smack as Ram walked by her.

"Lester and Slyder it is so on. We are going to kick your ass." She yelled over to Lester and Slyder. It was just was just what Lester needed to get over being on the opposite team.

"Bring it on Beautiful. We can take you and Ram any day of the week. You will be buying us Ice cream today!" He told her stepping up the stakes. He should have never mentioned the ice cream because she took ice cream seriously. I knew when he mentioned the ice cream she would do what it took to win so he would be buying her the ice cream not the other way around.

"Lester you two are going down." She told them. I couldn't help but laugh Lester had unleashed the wild cat and didn't even know it. Although knowing Lester and how much he loved her and how close they are he knew exactly what he was doing. He would do anything for her to win against him, well anything but throw the challenge. But if he could rile her up and make her more determined to compete against him don't think he wouldn't do it.

They walked up to the first challenge of the obstacle course I had setup. The nine pane glass window the deal was Bombshell needed to break three in any row. I was going to have the experienced Rangeman break all the panes of glass in order to get the points.

"Okay so Bombshell you need to get three in any row. For the Rangeman you need to knock out all nine panes in the glass." I told them.

"Zero, why do I only have to break three and they have to break nine?" She asked me. She never liked playing by different rules. That is why she is doing all of this training so she can pass the same exam test as all of the other Rangeman and we all love her for it.

"Bombshell this is your first time and while that means nothing to your ability these guys" I motioned to the guys around me "are all expert marksman I am just leveling the playing field trust me there will come a time when doing that will no longer be necessary to make the challenge fair as possible. Ram your partner has to break all nine as well he doesn't get off easy because he is on your team."

I told her. She seemed to buy it but I could tell she wasn't really happy about it. I suspect she really wanted the ice cream so she decided to take the advantage what she didn't know is that it really wasn't an advantage I knew how good Lester and Slyder were and she would need it to just have a chance at winning the whole challenge.

They would be a tough team to beat for expert marksmen let alone someone who was roughly new to the world of marksmanship.

She picked up her rocks and Lester picked up his rocks they were going first for their teams. "Get ready, get set, go" I told them. And they started throwing rocks. I was surprised when Bombshell broke three panes of glass in a row with the first three rocks she threw stepping back I stopped the clock for her. Lester broke all of this with nine rocks but it took him longer naturally, not much longer but longer. This wasn't really a challenge of time but if the scores were tied it would come down to time. I jotted down the times for both team Bombshell and Team Lester. The next two were up and like I thought it is almost even nine panes of glass with nine rocks and only tenths of seconds separating the two. So each team had eighteen points. One point for each of the panes for Stephanie's panes she got three points for each one. The teams moved to challenge station two.

Station two was the board with the cards on it. I explained the point value and how the points were earned I asked Stephanie if she felt like she needed to practice with the knives a little more. She nodded so she and I walked over to the practice board while Slyder and Ram went up to the challenge.

I yelled "Ready, set, go" for them and they started while I worked with Stephanie a little more until she felt comfortable sticking the knives. She walked back over the challenge area and I walked up to the boards.

There are five knives Ram had sunk four of the knives into Aces earning him sixty points and then the fifth knife into a King of Hearts earning him an additional ten points for a grand total of seventy points the most you could earn as you couldn't put more than one knife in the same card or those points for the second knife didn't count.

Looking at Slyder's board he had done the same thing and had a total of seventy points. Lester and Bombshell stepped up to the line picked up a knife. "Get ready, get set, go" I told them just as Lester went to throw the knife Bombshell bent over ass up in the air pointing towards Lester exclaiming about her show being untied. It rattled him enough that the knife he had just let go of missed the card he had aimed for. I almost laughed at how easy he could be some times.

She stood back up as though she were completely harmless and proceeded to throw the knives she did extremely well. She hit the four aces but then the fifth knife missed the king she was aiming for so she got a total of sixty points the same amount as Lester was able to get. So the teams were tied at one forty eight.

Stepping up to the third challenge station the tin can challenge five tin cans of graduating sizes sitting on a board the challenger throws a rock and for each can earns five points. I explain the rules and once again Lester and Bombshell step up to the line. There really isn't any way to skew this as there are five cans so this was every man for himself. "Get read, get set, go" I told them.

The rocks flew and together both of them knocked can after can off of the board. Earning both teams twenty five points. Slyder and Ram were next and like expected they each earned twenty five points so once again the teams were even at one ninety eight each moving in to the fourth and final challenge. This was looking like it might go to sudden death. Because Bombshell and the guys were too competitive to let it end in a tie someone needed to be buying ice cream.

The fourth challenge station was the bulls-eye board. I explained the rules you earned the points depending on where you sang the knife. The bulls-eye was worth one hundred points for every additional knife you sunk into that area your score doubled. There were a total of five knives and the hundred area of the bulls-eye was about the size of a quarter. I explained if any portion of the knife extended outside the bulls-eye area then you were awarded the points of the outside ring and not the points of the bulls-eye area.

Stephanie and Lester stepped up for the challenge picking up the knives "Get read, get set, go" I said.

They each sunk their first knife into the bulls-eye I found myself almost yelling out when Bombshell's sunk in the middle of the bulls-eye. Thankfully Lester's knife sunk more in the bottom of the circle. I was hoping his would only count for the fifty points but I wasn't certain. I was hoping the angle of the first knife Lester threw would make it difficult to sink additional knifes into the bulls-eye. The other knives were thrown and when I went to add the points I was happy to see that Bombshell had one in the center for one hundred points and four in the fifty point circle. Lester's bad center stick and prevented him from easily sticking anymore in the center but what he hadn't realized was his center stick broke the line and so what he thought was a hundred point stick was actually only a fifty so he had five fifty for two fifty while Bombshell had three hundred points.

Bring their team scores to Bombshell team four ninety eight and Team Lester four forty eight. It was still anyone's game because of Slyder sunk more in the middle than Ram then they could easily make up the difference plus some.

Slyder and Ram stepped up to the challenge picking up the knives "Get ready, get set, go" I told them and they started throwing their knives.

Once they were done both Slyder and Ram had put two in the center without breaking the line of the circle earning each of their teams two hundred points. Slyder had gone for three but broke the line so that was fifty along with the other two for a total of three fifty. Ram also had a total of three fifty.

So the final team scores was Team Bombshell eight forty eight and for team Lester score was seven ninety eight so Team Bombshell had in fact won. I picked Bombshell up spinning her in the air "Your team won, you were excellent. Yours and Ram's score was eight forty eight and Lester and Slyder's team score was seven ninety eight. She had her arms up in the air she was laughing.

She looked at Lester and Slyder. "Suck it, we rule…now you buy us ice cream." I almost dropped her I was laughing so hard but not wanting to have the shit kicked out of me for dropping her I held on and waited until she was safely on the ground before I started laughing my ass off.

Slyder looked at Lester "Hey man I bought yesterday today is your day after all it was your lame ass throwing that caused us to lose anyway." Lester not able to come back because it was true it had been his suck ass throw that caused them to lose now whether he threw that suck ass throw on purpose or if he did it by mistake that is something that none of us would ever truly know.

I was sorry my time with her was up. I gave her a hug told her that Junior was waiting for her. "Zero can I ask you something?" I nodded. "How did you get the name Zero? Why do they call you Zero?" She asked me. I was a little surprised and a little taken aback at her asking me. I wasn't expecting it and it sort of caught me off guard. I mean no one ever asked me. I mean the guys all knew why but no one outside of them ever bothered to ask me.

"Bombshell well it started when I joined the Marines." I told her. She gave me a look that said okay more. So I gave her more.

"Well the first day I reported for basics my drill sergeant told me I was a big Zero wasn't worth shit and to go back to the swamp where I had crawled out of because nothing good ever came from a swamp." I told her. I saw her wince, I saw her flare with anger, and I saw her eyes flash a color of ice blue that almost sent a shiver down my back.

"Who was he?" She asked me and I could feel the anger rolling off of her.

"Bombshell calm down, it was a long time ago and I was a punk teenager. I probably wasn't worth a shit but he kicked the shit out of me and made me the man I am today. I succeeded and I fought hard every day to prove to him and the other recruitments that he was wrong that I was good. I passed as the highest in my class. It was because he motivated me to make myself better than Zero. It was when I realized that, that I embraced the name Zero. Of course the guys had started calling me that since day one and I resented it like hell for the first couple of weeks until I realized it was making me push myself, it was making me make something out myself. It was helping to make me into a man I could be proud of, my family could be proud of. So I decided to embrace the name." I told her.

She hugged me looked at me "that may be true, and it is great, but if I have ever have a chance to meet that drill sergeant that called you a zero when I am sure you were wonderful just as you are now I want to know because I personally want to kick his ass, and then I may thank him but I first want to kick his ass for talking down to my brother." She told me. I hugged her half laughing and half hoping that she never met him because I wasn't too sure how he would like having his assed handed to him by a girl and even though he was a marine drill sergeant I had no doubt she wouldn't kick his ass. I had never seen her lose a challenge or back down from anything. I couldn't however stop feeling hundred percent love and acceptance from her just as I found myself giving her.

I kissed the top of her head and her cheek. "Thanks Bombshell I had fun. I have to head back for my shift but I will see you later." I told her. She hugged me again and then I left her with Junior.

SPOV

Fuck I am tired. I am beat, both literally and figuratively. I had Marksmanship training this morning and self defense training this afternoon in addition to working out in the gym.

The guys had worn me out with training on the range at the compound shooting sniper rifles and high powered firearms. Then Lester and Slyder and the guys proceeded to literally kick my ass during my self defense training. The only good thing is that I wasn't limping.

Maybe my body was just getting use to having the shit kicked out of it so it no longer bothered to limp but I did feel as though I was dead on my feet.

I made it to our apartment and I was hoping to find Carlos up there waiting for me. I wanted to crawl into the bubble bath and never come out.

I could tell the apartment was empty when I walked in so he hadn't made it up yet. Him not being there was a little disappointing. Not thinking anymore about it I made my way to the bathroom. I turned on the faucet from the tub and added the bubbles and Epsom salt it helped with bruises and it helped with sore fatigued muscles and it didn't get much more sore and fatigued than my muscles were tonight.

Filling the tub I stripped leaving my clothes in the floor where they fell I climbed into the tub putting my back against the tub my head on the pillow that was on the side of the tub the last thing I remember was the feeling of the warm water seeking into my muscles. I vaguely remembering here the sigh that left my lifts as my eyes fluttered closed.

**Pease take a moment and leave a review. Let me know your thoughts…I love every review it does wonder for my soul and wonders for my fingers! Don't forget to check out the accommodating website and my writer's journal…I put sneak peeks into the chapters in them! **

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	45. Chapter 44: Dreaded Friday

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

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**WARNING THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS VIOLENCE AND FOR SOME MAY REQUIRE TISSUES.**

Chapter 44: Dreaded Friday

RPOV

Fuck I am pissed. I wanted to be spending the evening with my Babe. I know I wasn't spending the night in Boston but it was going to be the farthest apart we have been from one another for the longest amount of time since we got together. She was uneasy her spidey senses going off and I wanted to spend my evening tonight with her and so far I have been stuck in this fucking client meeting.

While his business deal wasn't anything to sneeze at one point five million I was willing to say fuck it just to shut the big blow hole up so I could fucking get back to Rangeman and have my evening with my Babe.

He was actually small fish in our world his contract not even that large but he thought he was big and he thought his contract was deserving of my undivided attention of hearing all about his pathetic existence, like I really gave a fuck.

He was coming between me and my Babe and for that I was on the verge of ending his pathetic existence just to put him out of his own fucking misery. He thought he needed a security system what he really needed was a faithful wife and children who would fucking behave themselves. Personally I would ship the whole fucking crew to a third world where the inhabitants thought humans were a delicacy.

But alas here I sat listening to his stories one after the other bored off my fucking ass. Finally deciding I needed to intervene I was able to pry myself away from the meeting leaving him in the capable hands of Tank. I would call Rangeman and have them send a car for Tank or pick him up because I was headed back to Rangeman now.

I didn't bother to let Tank know I was leaving his ass, he knew it when I excused myself from the room. He knew I wouldn't be back.

I made my way to Haywood, going up the stairway to seven I found myself anxious to see my Babe, to hold her. I hadn't seen her since training earlier today.

That reminds me I am going to have to beat Santo's ass on the mats if the shirts he designed for her continued to get worse. I thought the 'my Best Friend got Balls' was bad but today's well it was even worse. Her shirt said 'my Best Friend has a P instead of a V'. What the fuck was he thinking?

Sometimes you couldn't just tell Lester something and he listen to it. Sometimes you needed to take him to the mats so he would open his ears and really hear you after you beat the shit out of him. He was my cousin, my brother in arms, my brother in Rangeman and somewhere deep down inside I guess you could say I loved him, maybe, but none that negated the fact that he could be a hard headed fuck that needed his ass kicked at times just to keep it inline. I could see this was going to be one of those times.

Of course if my Babe knew that I beat her best friend's ass because of a shirt he made for her she would probably be a little pissed. But she was my woman and I would protect her even from her best friend, my dumb fuck of a cousin if necessary. Not that he would physically hurt her but he wasn't going to get away with degrading her either. No man would.

I walked into the apartment, I immediately noticed how dark and quiet it was and I first wondered if she was up here. She could have decided to spend the evening with the guys on the fourth floor in the rec room it wouldn't be the first time a show they all enjoyed was on and they congregate down there to watch it.

I made my way to the bedroom toeing off my boots, and unhooking the button on my pants. I pulled my dress shirt out from my pants and started unbutton the buttons as I made it to the bathroom. I thought I would take a quick shower before heading down to join my Babe.

Walking in to the bathroom I flipped on the light and my life flashed before my eyes. There in the tub was my Babe. Her arm was hanging on the outside of the tub her head was bent down towards the water I could only see the top of the curls.

I heard a roar come out of my lungs that I wasn't even sure was me. I wasn't even sure I was capable of such a cry as I ran to her. It wasn't so much for a run as it was more that I leaped to her. I was there before I knew I moved.

When she jumped and her whole body went under water I didn't even think before I reached in the tub and grabbed her and pulled her whole body out of the tub into my arms. She was choking and gagging from the water that she had swallowed when she was jolted from her sleep and went under.

I immediately felt how cold the water was how cold she was in my arms and I wrapped my arms around her pulling her closer into my body. Grabbing the towel and pulling it around her with my other hand. I had her cradled to me with one arm.

"Jesus Babe you scared the shit out of me." I managed to voice to her but she was still gapping and coughing.

"Carlos, what the hell? Why did you scream?" She asked me

I was hoping she wouldn't focus on the scream because that was definitely not one of my most memorable bad ass moves but when I saw her my first thought was that she had drowned in our tub and I had lost her. The scream was my fear coming to the surface.

"Babe you scared me, didn't I just tell you that?" She looked at me and I could see the look on her face almost shocked that she had scared me. Then it all registered with her with why I was so fucking scared.

"Oh shit Carlos I am so sorry. I was so tired, so worn out when I got up to the apartment this afternoon at six that all I wanted was a bath. I guess I fell asleep in the tub." She said as her body started to shake a little bit as the cold was starting to take over.

I wrapped her up tighter drying her body as much as I could with the towel. Throwing the towel down I picked her up and carried her to our bedroom where I put her in the bed pulling the covers up over her. I quickly stripped out of my wet clothing and threw them in the bathroom.

My dress shirt and pants were ruined but I didn't give a fuck. I could and would buy more, well Ella would and I would just pay for them. I quickly joined my Babe in bed pulling her naked body next to mine so she could share my warmth.

My body stirred when her body touched mine but I wouldn't be going there until I was fully satisfied that she was okay first.

My Babe was shaking her lips a blue tint from the cold. She had been in the tub for other three hours probably a good two plus of those hours with cold water. I rubbed my hand up and down her body hoping the friction would help warm her.

"Babe, are you okay? Do you need me to call Bobby for him to take a look at you?" I asked her. She shook her head no. I wasn't exactly sure which question she was answering but I was guessing she didn't' want me to call Bobby.

"Carlos, I am fine just cold but you are helping me with that. I don't need Bobby to look after me. I didn't mean to fall asleep I wasn't thinking. I was just thinking how tired I was, how sore I was, how much I just wanted to relax in a warm bubble bath and soothe my sore muscles."

"I know Babe but next time make sure someone is here with you in the apartment. That way if you were to fall asleep you won't drown in the tub. Babe I think my life flashed before my eyes. I have faced death so many times and never had the feeling that I had today. You are my life Babe, I love you." I told her.

"I love you too. I am sorry I didn't mean to scare you like that." She told me with tears shinning in her eyes. I kissed her eye lids and then her beautiful lips. To let her know it was okay. She had scared me but her being here in my arms alive was all I could think about and I was okay, she was okay and all was right with the world. My world still had light as I felt her breathe against me and I felt her heart beating next to me.

I knew I would never feel a hundred percent right until I was buried deep inside her and my body and soul could connect with hers in a way that I would be able to let ago of that image in my head of her laying limp in the bath tub.

I pulled her closer to me as felt her shiver more and moved my leg between hers and one over hers while I pulled her closer into me folding my body around hers. I felt her shift a little opening my eyes I see her looking at me watching me I couldn't stop myself. I could no longer control myself and I lowered my head to claim her lips.

I don't know who moaned, I don't know who cried out with need, I don't know who shook more. Entering her I thought I would come unglued, I thought the world was going to explode within me. I wasn't sure if I was going to explode or implode by the way I was feeling. Every move of our bodies it was as if the world shifted under us instead of us moving. It was pure ecstasy and it was exactly what my soul needed to feel.

SPOV

I slowly came awake groaning at the impending day for intruding on my moment. The moments that I treasure the most when I feel his arms around me his body next to mine his body relaxed from sleep. I think it was the only time he wasn't on guard well maybe when we were making love he wasn't but I cherished these moments as much as I cherished those moments when we were joined as one.

I knew just my shifting, just my change in breathing and he would be awake fully aware. Although I doubt that he wasn't always fully aware of his surroundings even in sleep. I knew I was forever safe in his arms awake or sleep. Fuck I would go sleep on Stark Street and never fear that I wasn't completely safe be it with him awake or sleep.

I had seen him in action and I knew he could go from fully sleep to full deadly in less time I could hit rhino mode and that was pretty fucking fast some days.

Finally giving in to the day I shifted so I could look at my beautiful to be husband. "Babe" I heard him call my name his voice still had the sound of sleep.

"Carlos" I whispered back to him still not really ready to give up on the hope of sleep reclaiming me and being able to bury my head under the covers and just skip the day. Something tells me today is going to be one of those days you wished never existed and I am not even out of the bed.

"Babe, don't refer to me as beautiful. You are beautiful, not me calling me beautiful makes feel like I need to cash in my bad ass card." Wow he must not be as sleep as I thought if he can say that much this early.

"Okay" I didn't have the energy to discuss it. My mouth wasn't ready for real words yet, let alone full sentences. He was beautiful but he was also as badass as they get so he was my beautiful badass.

"Babe" I heard him say and I just smiled because I knew I had said that out loud. Oh well no energy to correct it or make it different.

Finally I lifted my head so I could look at him. Laying my head on his chest looking at him "Do we have to do this today? Can't we just pretend that tomorrow is Friday, or better yet Friday already happened and it is now Saturday?" I asked him. He shook his head and his lips twitched.

Stroking my arm and side as I laid there starring at him he said "Babe I am taking Tank with me all is going to be okay. We are going to Boston, Reggae and Demon are going to be with us we will be safe." He told me. I nodded.

I knew he would be safe but I still couldn't shake the spidey sense. It had been bothering me since he announced he was going to Boston and every day we got closer to Friday the worse it got. This morning was no different. I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to eat it was going so crazy.

"I know Carlos but I can't place it my spidey senses are going nuts and since I am going to be in the building I know I am going to be safe but you are going to Boston so I am worried something is going to happen to you." I told him. I knew I was almost being a baby about it. I knew I was almost to the point of crying to get him to stay at home but I also knew I couldn't do that.

I knew he is more than capable of keeping himself safe. Hell the world after all counted on him enough to save to save it and keep it safe but I also hated not listening to my spidey senses. He had always told me to listen to them, to pay attention to them, that they would never steer me wrong and here I was knowing there was going to be trouble and letting him walk right into it because I didn't want to be the baby and keep him from doing his job but I really didn't want him to go. In some way I felt like I was betraying him by not doing what he had told me always to do and that was trust the spidey sense.

The spidey senses were telling me for him to stay home and not go to Boston. "Babe I don't know why your spidey senses are going off but I will tell you that I will be looking out for anything that may seem off. I have always trusted your spidey senses and now is no different. I will be on the lookout for trouble and I will deal with it. Trust me Babe I am coming home to you this evening nothing is going to keep me away, nothing." He told me looking me dead in the eyes and I knew he was telling the truth he has never lied to me he wouldn't start now.

"Good, because I will be waiting for you when you get here, I will probably need some reminders by then as to how much you love me." I told him playfully he smiled at me knowing I was playing with him as he pulled me to him to show me once again just how much he really did love me.

HalPOV

I was waiting in the gym for Stephanie. I had the first training shift at zero eight hundred hours. I had already been told by Tank, Lester, Bobby, Cal, and Hector that she was not to leave the building today. They had all heard about her being nervous about Ranger going to Boston.

They said something about his trip was setting off her spidey senses and she was on edge about his safety and with the work force the way it was we wouldn't be able to cover him and her both outside of the building.

Ranger was taking her spidey senses to heart and had Tank going with him along with Demon and Reggae. He had had the plane gone over two times for any possible mechanical problems. He had extra surveillance in place at both of the airport hangers, as well as extra men on the ground watching for any potential threats.

He had run background checks of the client he was meeting to the point of having him and his whole family followed, background checks were completed on every member of his corporation, everyone of his friends or acquaintances, his corporation checked for validity, Ranger even put a man on the inside to verify the need for the contract of this size.

I knew all four of them would be armed to the nines and ready for anything that didn't seem of the ordinary I also knew that everyone of them would be carrying their tracking devices as well as their panic buttons. We had all learned to take Stephanie's spidey sense serious. It had saved the company effectively every one of our jobs. Her spidey senses had saved her life and on some occasions had saved our lives. It had saved the life of Ranger, Tank, Lester, Bobby and it had saved the life of Ranger's daughter Julie. Ranger had every reason in the world to believe in her spidey sense and he did.

It was a little after eight when Stephanie walked through the doors of the gym smiling. Lester was with her but he wasn't dressed for working out he was dressed for his meeting. I saw that he had given her another shirt. His shirts were becoming legendary around here and we all wanted to know what else he would come up with. We also were all looking forward the ass beating Ranger was destined to give him for them too.

Today's shirt simply said 'My Best friend can kick your best friend's ass.' Seemed like something Lester would say. He always prided himself on being able to kick someone's ass so I guess the shirt worked, after all he was her best friend and he loved flaunting in all of our faces including Ranger's.

She walked up to me hugged me and kissed me on my slightly burning cheek. I know it is stupid but I still find myself blushing at her signs of endearment towards me. I guess it is just that I never got use to it. Growing up with just my dad I didn't have a lot of interaction with women and always felt awkward sort of like now. I wished I could be the playboy Lester could be on some days just to meet someone.

I hugged her back and kissed the top of her head it was time to get down to business. She turned to Lester "Okay Lester you look great, go knock 'em dead and get that contract signed because I need some new shoes." She told him laughing. We all knew that she would fight you before you were allowed to buy her anything unless it was food. She would let us buy her all the ice cream she could hold but even then most of those times were when she had won a bet. She hated money spent on her so her making that comment was twice as funny.

I tried not to laugh but even I joined in after a minute. He nodded kissed her on the head hugging her to him. I heard her whisper in his ear that he could do it and I felt myself smile. She was giving him exactly what he needed at the moment confidence that he could seal the deal with the client.

Lester was the playboy of Rangeman and could get any woman anytime well almost any woman he never succeeded in getting Bombshell but then I think she was taken from the moment she met Ranger. He could get any woman but he wasn't known for getting signed contracts for Rangeman. Usually his playboy ways came off as childish and immature and it cost him the contract in most cases and he knew it.

He kissed her cheek and nodded to me which I returned and he walked out the gym, it was time to get busy.

I watched as Bombshell took her bag over to the bench. She pulled out a water bottle that was red with some shiny silver design on it I hadn't seen her use that one before and briefly wondered where she had gotten it from. It was pretty cool and looked like something she would carry. Like Lester red was one of her favorite colors.

She sat the water bottle down on the bench and made her way over to me. It was time to train. Today would be sit up and push up day.

DougPOV

My plan was coming together. I had gotten the water bottle and put the pill along with the powder in the bottle. I filled it with water and placed it in the refrigerator in my apartment for it to get good and cold. The research I had done said that the mix of drugs would take roughly twenty to thirty minutes to take effect. Some of the drugs burned faster than others and all were aided by the consumption of alcohol which I wouldn't be able to use as she would drink it while she was working out.

The pills and powder will do the trick the combination would take the place of any alcohol. After all I had a little bit of everything. I had GHB, Rohypnol, and Ketamine. They all get same results but use slighting varying ways. The Ketamine is PCP it is a hallucinogenic makes you feel dissociated and you hallucinate. The GHB is known as liquid X and it helps you let loose, you sort of lose your inhibitions you are more prone to allow things to happen that you wouldn't normally allow. The Rohypnol well that affects your nervous systems your motor functions it can paralyze you if given in high enough dose. Rohypnol also makes you forget. Often it is hours before a victim ever knows what happened and often time in those hours evidence is tainted, washed away, or lost in some cases.

These drugs are known as the club drugs and they are also known as date rape drugs. They have varying names for each one but they are easy to find if you know what to look for at the clubs. I had scored the GHB and Rohypnol the night at that I went to the club to dance with the bitch. I later found the Ketamine when I decided to carry my plan through as she continued to humiliate me in front of my co-workers. No woman ever humiliated me. She is lucky I allowed her to live this long. Now that I had been given the tattoo by her brothers even though there wasn't a shred of proof I have a little pay back for all and that payback is going to be one Bombshell Bounty hunter served up to her brother's at Rangeman. I was going to take her body and soul right under their noses in the gym and none of them would be the wiser. Then who would be the dumb fucker as they so laughably call me.

I had found in my pocket the card from the tattoo shop. I had driven to the tattoo shop and walked in asking if they recognized me and the work they did on my forehead. The guy behind the counter nodded smiling. I could tell he wanted to laugh in my face and I wanted to fucking shoot him for it.

I had talked to him. I asked him if anyone was with me he shook his head no, he said that I had came in and that I had requested the tattoo. He said that he tried to talk me out of it. He said he even tried to talk me into several different tattoos and even suggested some alternative tattoos that I could put on my forehead including a flaming skull now how fucking convenient was that?

I asked him does he require any documentation for requested tattoos and he nodded telling me that there was always a consent form for nothing more than to acknowledge the potential of catching hepatitis or even aids from equipment that wasn't properly cleaned. He had retrieved the paper while talking to me and I clearly saw where it said what I wanted where I wanted it. I also saw his strong recommendation against it. I saw where he had me sign beside his recommendation saying that I acknowledged his recommendation and still chose what I wanted. I also saw where I had been the one to write out what I wanted and I had signed it.

I still couldn't figure out how the fuck I did all of that and never remembered a single thing. It was a complete and total blank. I didn't remember a single thing during that time. That was what was rubbing my ass raw was the whole not remembering. I knew Lester, Slyder, and Cal had something to do with it all but I couldn't find a single shred of evidence linking them to anything.

I had noticed video cameras in the shop and had asked the owner to review them. He gave me a copy. Last night after my shift I retired to my place and watched the video. It showed exactly what the guy had told me. I walked in, talked to him I saw me argue I took the paper writing on it signing it handing it back to him. I watched as I got in the chair and I watched as he proceeded to tattoo what I had demanded that I wanted across my forehead and I never remembered a single thing.

I briefly wondered if I had mistakenly drugged myself with some of these drugs I had gotten. My lack of the ability to remember was really unsettlingly yet looking at the video I seem fully aware and fully capable of taking care of my business. No one would have questioned my saneness with the exception of what I insisted I wanted tattooed across my forehead.

I had finally gotten tired of watching the video over and over to see if I saw anything out of the ordinary, out of place, anything to indicate that the video had been altered, or that someone else was there anyone else but the whole time I was there, there wasn't another customer in the store so it wasn't like I could track someone down and question them because there was no one else to question.

I had already talked to the owner and he told me exactly what I was seeing on the video so there was no need to go back there to ask more questions. It isn't like there would be new developments or evidence that I in fact didn't do this to myself there. All I had was revenge to teach these fuckers a lesson that they didn't fuck with me. I knew they did something I just had no idea what it was they did to make me completely forget and how they made it look like I was completely alone doing it even down to signing the consent form that I never remember seeing in my life and paying for the fucking tattoo across my forehead.

I stop caring how and I started just focusing on the revenge. How I was going to get my revenge. They would be sorry for what they did before today was over. I picked up the empty water bottle it was the same as the one in my refrigerator bright red with silver sparkling decorations it looked like something that split tail bitch would like.

I stepped out of the apartment I was hoping to time it just right standing waiting for the elevator I knew she would be going down while I was going to go up a floor but I knew I could make it stop on my floor.

The elevator stopped and she and Lester were on the elevator. I was at first disappointed he was with her but I thought this was as good of time as any. I nodded as I walked in smiling at her she nodded and smiled back.

Looking at her I extended the water bottle to her and said "Congratulations on the mats the other day. I didn't mean to appear to be such a bad sport I was just disappointed that I lost. It wasn't about you really it was me being disappointed in my performance." I told her. She smiled and nodded.

"Thank you. I didn't see your round with Ranger as I was in the hall but I wanted to say nice round before you took off." She told me. I just smiled at her I bet she wanted to say nice round. I bet she wanted to say something more. I bet she would have just loved rubbing in my face in front of her brothers.

"I picked this up for you as a peace offering" I told her. She smiled accepting it.

"Thanks I love it." She told me. I knew she would like it. It looked like some piece of shit she would like. Girls were so easy you give them a little bit of bling and it would distract them for weeks on end. You could walk an elephant right by them by distracting them with a little bit of bling. Such narrow minds such easy prey.

In a way it is pathetic sort of like killing chickens. My grandfather use to draw a line in the dirt the chicken was so distracted by looking at the line it would stand there and let my grandfather chop its fucking head off. Women and their bling were no different they would stand there admiring their bling while you had all the chance and opportunity to attack. What stupid bitches.

Obviously the famous bounty hunter the bombshell of Rangeman was no different. She would admire the bling while standing there waiting for the attack unsuspecting, distracted, and completely unaware of her surroundings other than the flashy shiny object in front of her nose. Need I say it again stupid deserving bitch.

Her best friend helped me out by grabbing her cold water and pouring it in the bottle. I made sure that the seal was still in place so they knew this bottle was new and never opened. Lester, the fucker, opened it broke the seal and filled it with the water that was in her water bottle. It couldn't have gone more smooth or better than had I planned it that way.

When the elevator reached the gym floor I just smiled at her saying "have a good day". She nodded

Saying "you too and thanks again" raising the water bottle as she made her way down the hallway to the gym with Lester beside her.

Oh it's going to be a good day I can guarantee it. It may not be such a great day for you but it is going to be a really good day for me I thought as the elevator doors closed and the elevator made its way up to the fifth floor.

SPOV

I was trying to concentrate but I couldn't. I was thankful that Hal had me doing pushups and sit-ups for the hour of our training. My arm and stomach muscles weren't thanking him but I was as I didn't have to concentrate on anything. I just had to do keep going and with how my mind was acting that wasn't a problem as I was just lost in my own mind my body was just going.

I was fretting over the whole warning signals I had going off. I knew it was nearing time that Ranger, Tank, Demon and Reggae would be leaving and I was dreading every passing second. On one hand I couldn't wait to hear they were safely in Boston and then hear that the meeting was over and they were safely back at Rangeman Boston.

Then I would be nervous about the trip home. This wasn't like me. I really needed to get a grip. If I was this way with him just going to Boston what the fuck would happen if he was called up for a mission which could still happen he had several more months to go before his contract was up.

I needed to figure out why this time had me so off balanced, so off my game. I wasn't the clingy type woman that always needed her man near her. I was actually the complete opposite I was the independent type woman that could do for herself and I was proving it every day with every challenge I had been given.

Ranger came down to the gym while I was doing sit up number two billion and something well I don't really know the number as I completely lost count of the number with my mind so preoccupied on everything else that was happening but according to my stomach muscles it felt like number two billion and something.

I stood up not wanting to get my sweaty body near his suit I carefully leaned over to give him a kiss but he wasn't having any of that and pulled me into his arms and my body up against his hard body.

"Carlos I am going to get you all messed up." I told him. I knew he was dressed.

He shrugged "Babe I can change if I need to. It's fine besides I wouldn't leave for Boston without hugging you and kissing you bye Babe and not a kiss from across the room." He told me.

I wanted to protest but it felt so damn good in his arms I couldn't. If I messed up his suit he would just have to change before the meeting. I didn't doubt that he didn't have equally nice suits waiting for him in his Boston apartment as he did here in Trenton.

I closed my eyes absorbing how good it felt to be in his arms and I said a little prayer to God that he send my man the love of my life back to me in one piece along with my brother.

"I love you Babe, I will see you this evening." He told me. I nodded.

"I love you too Carlos. I will be waiting for you this evening." I told him. I would probably talk the guys into taking me with them to the airport so I could welcome him home there as I doubted I would have the patience to allow him the time to drive from Newark to Trenton before seeing him.

He gave me another kiss one that I wanted to deepen but refrained myself reeling in the unsettling feelings of letting him leave the building I let him go. He turned and made his way out of the gym. Sighing I looked back at Hal. All he did was point to the floor and I assumed the position continuing on with the two billion and some odd sit up count.

At least if tears came to my eyes now I could blame it on the pain from all the sit-ups as my stomach muscles were screaming at the top of their lungs for me to stop before they completely revolted my breakfast and everything else that it was currently holding.

BPOV

I have been stuck in my office all week working on schedules for performance evaluations and physicals for all five Rangeman locations. I had completed Miami's and Atlanta's schedule. I had almost completed the schedule for Trenton and I had started on the schedule for Boston. I hadn't touched the schedule for the Las Vegas branch. That was a smaller branch than the rest of the offices and it was easier to schedule so I always saved that one for last.

It would mean that I would be traveling a lot to the different offices and spending at least ten days at each office to get all of the work done and the documentation completed for the insurance company.

This was one of the reasons why we had such good insurance and for great prices even with the dangers of our work but my dedication kept the men healthy, kept the men in shape, kept them from having doctor appointments for just any reason. There were medics at each location that handled illnesses or other things like that. Insurance was mainly needed when there was an injury, accident or someone got hurt on the job.

It was my time to train with Bomber so I made my way down to the gym. She had physical fitness today and she had so far trained with Hal, Vince, and currently Ram was training with her. I walked into the gym and she was standing by the bench drinking water out of a new water bottle. I hadn't seen her using it.

"Hey Bomber, where did you get the water bottle from?" I asked her. She smiled at me walking over hugging me.

"Doug gave it to me as a peace offering for how he acted the day of the match with Ranger. He didn't stay and congratulate me so he did it this morning and gave me this." She said holding it up.

I reached for it as concern threaded through me. She pulled the bottle back closer to her body in the age old body language of you can't have this. Like a child holds a toy that they know their parent is going to try to take away from them. Part of me wants to smile but part of me does want to take the water bottle away.

Looking at me she says "Bobby its fine. It was completely sealed. If you don't believe me then ask Lester he was with me when he gave it to me. Lester broke the seal and then filled the bottle with water from my sealed plastic water bottles. See nothing to worry about. You know you worry too much about me when you are concerned about water bottles." She said as she tilted her head back putting her lips to the bottle and taking a big swig of liquid from the bottle.

I nodded smiling slightly at her rib about me being over protective. I had relaxed when I heard that Lester had broken the seal. He had filled the bottle with what we knew was good water. It isn't that I thought Doug would harm her but she is my sister and well I don't trust her safety with just anyone. I am over protective, so fucking sue me. Doug has yet to prove himself worthy of my trust when it came to her.

I saw her check her cell phone again. I knew what she was looking for. She was looking for a call, a text message something that Ranger was okay. She was worried about them. We all knew her spidey senses were going off and Ranger took every precaution he could to ensure that Tank and himself would be safe today.

I walked her over to the treadmill her face still buried in her cell phone as if the answer to all of life's mysteries resided there. I reached up taking the cell phone from her fingers and placing the cell phone on the treadmill that she would be using.

She was going to be in for a rude awakening on the treadmill today because today I was going to push her like she hadn't been pushed. She needed to run and run fast for the Rangeman test. This was Rangeman and we didn't have the same expectations as some organizations had we had higher expectations and our men pushed themselves and made themselves stand out from the crowd.

The army's goal for running was a mile in four to five minutes that was passing for a man and for a woman it was more at eight miles an hour. Rangeman time was less. Stephanie wanted to be treated no different than the men but I was hoping the day of the test she would agree to a five to six minute mile since the army added time on for the women it is fair for Rangeman to add time on as well.

Now talking her into this would be a problem but I wasn't going to attempt it today. I was saving that nugget of information for test day when maybe she would be more inclined to accept the offer and just go with it.

Turning on the treadmill she started walking at a fast pace. My goal was to have her running at about fifteen to sixteen miles an hour which is the equivalent of running a three to four minute mile. I thought I would give her a little taste and maybe come test day she would be grateful for every crumb that is thrown her way.

HectorPOV *spoken parts are in spanis

Manny and I got to the motel out on Route one early around zero ten hundred hours. We had asked the front desk clerk if he knew the fucking cop and he nodded saying that room two zero four was the room that he always got when he came there for police business.

Police business my ass. Manny and I snuck into the room and placed a few well positioned yet well hidden cameras in the room. We also hide a cell phone that all we needed to do was place a call to and enter a code and it would communicate to other cell phones that were turned on within a certain distance.

Once communication was established with those devices it uploaded all the information from the phone's sim card as well as activated a program on the phone making it so we could hear every phone conversation and if activated we could just hear whatever was happening within range of the phone's microphone without anyone talking on it. We could use the phone as a listening device. It is highly illegal and would never hold up in a court of law but we didn't always operate within the laws of the court we operated within the laws of Rangeman and I wanted to know what the fucking cop was up to.

The pulse running threw my body has been driving me crazy and today it is non-relenting almost to the point that it has me slightly jumpy. Mike walked up behind me this morning in the lab and said good morning and before I realized it I had him down with my knife at his jugular ready to end his life when I realized who it was and what had happened that he had just spoken good morning to me. But he startled me and with this pulse I have been dealing with startling me isn't highly advised if you want to fucking live to see tomorrow.

I am sure he pissed his pants possibly shit them too as he left sort of abruptly after I let him up. He never gave me a chance to apologize before he just ran out of lab. Fucking baby.

I started to tell Manny for us to just leave and monitor the video and cell phone conversations from Rangeman but as I was about to say something the fucking cop pulled into the parking lot. He got out of his piece of shit cop car. It was the typical cop car you know the stereo type cop car four door rusting multi color paint job from where repairs were in various stages of completion. No hub caps looked like shit. No decent man would be seen fucking dead in that car.

That fucking cop was sleaze so he wouldn't mind riding around in that slime ball of a car. It fit him and his pig fucking ways. Pulling out the binoculars we watched as he headed into room two zero four. Raising my fist to Manny we bumped fists knowing we were going to get all the evidence we needed to end the career, the life of one fucking pig of a fucking cop prick that does nothing to make the streets of Trenton safer. One more stereo type fucking Italian cop that thinks their fucking shit doesn't stink fucking cop who uses his badge his status as leverage against the very people on the streets he is sworn to protect.

We watch as Stephanie's mother's car makes its way into the parking lot. We knew it but it still made my stomach sick with what I knew we would be witnessing. What I knew we would need to share with Angelito. It made me sick to think what it would do to her for her to learn this. It made me furious and a part of me wanted to sneak into the hotel room and slit both of their throats. I could do it, that wasn't a question.

I could slip in and out and no one would be the wiser. It would take all of a second and the satisfaction would be pure bliss. I lost myself in my fantasy of slitting their throats. Of seeing their faces the shock registering as their eyes focused on me only to feel the blade of my knife slice through the delicate skin of their neck. The feel of their warm blood flowing out and the shock of acknowledgement that I would be the last person they would ever see again.

It would be just and justified for what they have done, are doing to my beautiful Angelito. I wanted their lives. My pulse had something to focus on and it was grabbing on and holding on tight it wanted to make up for old time with them and I was struggling to just remain in the vehicle watching and listening to the video of them fucking, and sucking each other for all they were worth.

When I broke myself out of my thoughts of ripping them to pieces with my knife I realized that I was holding both of my knives in my hands. My hands clutched around their handles with death grip to the point that my knuckles were white and it took me a couple of seconds just to get my fingers to act on my bodies request for them to release their grip and open.

I looked over at Manny and he was watching me probably wondering if he would be able to stop me or wondering if I was going to attack him in place of them. I know what the men think of me and how they stir clear of me. It has gotten better since Angelito came into our lives but then again everything has gotten better since she came into our lives.

Thoughts of her caused my pulse to pump through my body pounding into my body pounding into my arms, my legs, my chest, and my head she was in danger. She was being threatened there was a threat and I needed to neutralize it. My hand closed over my knife again with the pulse but the attention wasn't on the fucking cop and her dumb fucking has been of a so call mother, bitch.

I was about to tell Manny to turn around and head to Rangeman when I felt my cell phone vibrate with a text message. Soon as I felt the vibration from the phone I knew it wasn't good. I knew it was bad. I knew something was wrong. Part of me couldn't grab my cell fast enough while the other part of me didn't even want to know.

As I pulled it up to read mine seeing Manny mimicking my movements in the corner of my eye I hear him "Wifey's panic button just went off" the SUV sprung to life as it jump into gear Manny gunning the pedal and getting on the highway jumping the median to head it back to Rangeman as fast as we could make it hopefully in one piece.

I didn't bother putting my knives away I just held them at the ready not knowing what situation we were walking into I may need them. She was within Rangeman, she was in the building what the fuck could have happened that would make her press her panic button? Looking at the clock it was one thirty she would have been in the gym or up in her apartment.

I prayed it was a mistake I prayed it was an accident if there was a god that would listen to an x gang member's prayers for something. I could tell Manny was doing the same thing.

I knew something was off, I knew something was wrong, I knew there was threat, I knew she was in danger and I left her alone. I left her. I left her for what to prove that her fucking x was her stalker that he was fucking her no good fuck of a mother.

I had left her alone to prove that the fucking cop was crooked, I left her alone to prove he didn't deserve the badge he sported and all for what? I had left her alone. I had left her vulnerable and another threat one I didn't know existed took advantage of me leaving her alone took advantage of her within Rangeman. The threat managed to get through the security measures we had in place and put her in danger. I had left her.

I had left her behind, I had gone out for something that in the grand scheme things doesn't mean shit to me for what she means to me for how much I need her and I had left her alone I had left her vulnerable.

I looked over at Manny and then at the gages we couldn't get there fast enough even though he had it pegged and were passing cars, on the left on the right in the median it didn't matter through people's front yard. We didn't give a fuck if it could shave off a second of getting to her we would drive through someone's fucking house.

Neither of us could afford to lose her.

RPOV

We had made it to Boston without any incidents. I had gone to Rangeman Boston to prep for the meeting. Tank and I had made our way to the meeting location without any incident and I can't say that I wasn't happy. I took my Babe's spidey sense seriously and I had been expecting something to happen the entire time from the time I left the Rangeman Trenton.

I am still looking for anything out of the ordinary. I am almost hyper aware of my surroundings to the point that one that had the ability to read my blank face would think I was bordering on paranoia. Thankfully Tank was the only one good enough to read my blank face that good and looking at him he was just as on edge as I was.

He believed in my Babe's spidey senses as much as I did he saw firsthand what her senses were capable of when she saved his life. She told him not to go in the house when we went on a takedown. She told him not to open the door. She had a feeling about the door and to not to touch it.

Well just as luck would have it where Stephanie is involved the police beat us to the location and two of Trenton's finest went to the door they used the battering ram and when they hit it the door it blew off the hinges from the bomb that was rigged to the doors movement.

From that night forward he has always paid attention to her spidey senses never questioning them just like right this moment. You could see his eyes scanning the room like mine making a mental note of the people in the room making a mental note of the exists the distance from here to them and the gears calculating the fastest and safest exit should we need one.

We were accessing potential threats and potential problems we were both waiting for the shoe to drop not knowing where or when but we knew it was and that was all we needed to know to keep hyper vigilant in our endeavors to remain as safe as possible. I had every intention of keeping my promise and returning to my Babe this evening unharmed and I was bringing her brother and my best friend with me.

Looking at my watch I saw it was thirteen hundred hours. Tank and I had arrived at the restaurant early so we could control where we sat keeping our backs to the wall with eyes on all entrances. We had already sent a team ahead to stake out the restaurant and they were still here mixed among patrons of the restaurant but should trouble occur they would have our backs.

We saw our client making his way to our table as he got close to the table we stood up to introduce ourselves. I saw the client pale slightly I guess we were rather intimidating with Tank's size and our blank faces and I am sure that while we attempt to keep our weapons hidden he had seen them.

The average person didn't understand the need for three guns and two knives but we treated them as if a normal person treats his plastic we don't leave home without them. Today I am actually carrying four guns two on each side in a holster under my jacket, one in small of my back, and finally my backup piece at my ankle. I am also carrying three knives the two I normally carry and then in my coat pocket is my smaller switch blade knife.

These were effective knives when it came to quickly and quietly ending someone's life without drawing attention. All you needed to do was place the knife up to their body and press the button it was sharp enough that when the blade comes out it would go right into whatever you placed it up against. Flesh was like butter to all my knives.

I extended my hand to him "Thank you for meeting with us, my name is Carlos Manoso and I am the owner and CEO of Rangeman Inc." I told him. He shook my hand.

"Hi Mr. Manoso my name is Richard Knightly I own Knightly industries. I am the CEO as well. I have been talking with your Boston office and before I made my final decision on this contract I wanted to meet with you." He told me. I nodded.

I motioned to Tank. "Mr. Knightly this is Tank he is my right hand at Rangeman he is a member of the core team and a partner within the business. If I have to be called out of town on business matters he is effectively in charge of Rangeman until I return." I explained to him.

He looked at me "Mr. Manoso how often are you out of town and for how long?" He asked me. I knew he was going to ask me that, fuck.

"Well it depends I have government contracts that take me away from different times each time is different. I however assure you though Tank knows the business and he runs a tight ship our men for the most part are x military. We hold all our employees to strict standards. We hire only the best we have annual evaluations, we have annual performance evaluations, and annual physicals all of which are required and all of which must be passed before their contract is renewed. The evaluations are done by the head of the Rangeman Branch these are like annual employment evaluation on their performance for the year. The performance evaluation and annual physicals are conducted by our head medic. The Performance evaluation is a series of test that must be passed on skills required for our job and the physicals are to ensure that our employees are healthy and have all necessary vaccinations for our job." I explained to him. He nodded his head in agreement.

Looking at me he asked "have you had a chance to look over my contract?" he asked me and I nodded. I think he wanted for me to act surprised or impressed by the dollar amount. Twenty million is a large contract and it is good business for Rangeman but it is a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things. The last house I bought twenty million wouldn't touch it.

It wasn't that I didn't appreciate his business but his business meant no more to me or no less to me than a client whose contract was twenty thousand. They were all important every client was handled and cared for as though they were our twenty million dollar customer even if they were our twenty thousand dollar customer.

"Mr. Knightly I don't want to offend you when I say this. Rangeman will appreciate your business if you select us for your security and we will provide you with second to none service, we will setup a security system to your requirements and we will maintain that security and your protection with professionalism that is the best in the industry but to us it doesn't matter what you pay. Just because you are paying twenty million doesn't make your security more important to us than someone who is paying twenty thousand. My men understand what level of security you have in your contract and they provide that level of security but they do it with the same ferocity as they would for every one of our clients. Your money doesn't buy you favoritism. It doesn't buy you extra attention or extra special services."

I continued. "Your money buys you the same services that anyone else's with the money to purchase the same services would get. I hope you can understand and respect that."

I wanted to set the record straight from the beginning because if he thought his twenty million was going to get him something special something different he was sadly mistaken as to how Rangeman was run and operated.

He smiled and nodded his head. He picked up the menu to select what he wanted for lunch. I was about to pick up the menu when I felt my stomach drop. Something was wrong. I quickly scanned the restaurant. I saw nothing out of the ordinary, nothing. There were no threats but the dread I suddenly felt had knocked me off balance. Tank was watching me and I briefly shook my head I knew Mr. Knightly would never pick up on the subtleness of my motion nor would he see what I was thinking and at the moment all I could think was something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

I no more got the thought of my head that my cell phone vibrated I knew it wasn't going to be good. I already knew it I felt it. Reaching for it I almost took the table out trying to get out of there when I read the display.

I didn't say excuse me or kiss my ass the second I saw it was Stephanie's panic button and she was in the Rangeman building I was up and out the door. Hopefully Tank would explain. I knew he knew what was going on because I saw him look at his display I saw his jaw tighten.

I prayed it was by accident. Her spidey sense had been going off for days over this fucking trip she kept telling me something was wrong and I did everything to protect myself but I did nothing to protect her other than tell her to stay in Rangeman and now she had activated her panic button within the building.

Once I made it to the car I called the Trenton control room and got no answer. There was no one in the control room watching the monitors, what the fuck. What the fuck was happening there or happened there? Fuck I had to go to Boston for a twenty fucking million fucking dollar contract and now I had no idea what was happening in Trenton with my Babe but for no one to be in the control room something was seriously fucking wrong. I had come up here for a fucking twenty million dollar contract and now my Babe's life was being threatened I would give all I had which was sure as fuck more than twenty million for.

I hung up dialing Bobby's number but he didn't answer. I tried Lester he didn't answer his cell phone. "FUCK!" I screamed as I slammed my hand into the dash of the SUV we had driven over. I tried the control room again and still no answer. I tried our apartment number praying she would be up there but again no answer. I tied her cell phone again got voice mail. I was going out of my fucking mind.

I tried to think of who was in the building versus who was to be out of the building. Lester and Slyder were to be out of the building at the appointment they had at thirteen hundred hours. Hector and Manny had stake out and for the life of me I couldn't remember the others.

Dialing Hector he at least answered. Hearing him pick-up the phone I barked "Report".

A/N everything spoken here is spoken in Spanish

Hector started "Rangeman Angelito's panic button was activated at thirteen thirty hours. Manny and I are on the way to Rangeman now"

"Have you tried to call anyone there I can't get anyone on the phone including the control room. Hector you and Manny be careful going in there right now we are blind unable to reach anyone so we don't know what type of situation is going on there." I told him. I knew Hector would be fine after all he was one of the most lethal men in Rangeman.

"Yes sir. Rangeman I will call you or someone will call as soon as we know anything." He told me like that was going to fucking satisfy me right now this was my life on the line. She had pushed her panic button and I couldn't reach her, the control room, or anyone else within the walls or Rangeman. FUCK!

I rushed back into the restaurant if there had been people stationed around to kill me now would have been the fucking perfect time because aware of my surroundings I wasn't right now the only thing I could think of was Stephanie, my Babe. It was no doubt she was in trouble she had activated her panic button and no one was reachable.

I reached the table Tank was talking to the client but you could see the uneasiness of not knowing in his eyes looking at me it didn't help the situation.

"Mr. Knightly there has been an emergency at the Trenton office involving my future wife I am sorry to have to do this but I am going to have to leave. I have to get back there as soon as possible." He nodded his understanding.

"I hope she is okay" he said.

I nodded and I turned to leave with Tank hot on my heels. We made it to the SUV and I raced out of the parking lot already making a call to hawk I needed the chopper. The chopper while it was slower than the jet it could land me on the building and save the drive back from Newark so it would be faster.

He answered on the second ring "Hawk get the chopper to Rangeman Boston roof top fucking ASAP I need to get the Trenton like fucking yesterday so move your fucking ass if you care to continue to have an ass." I told him. He would know by my tone that I wasn't fucking kidding. He better be fucking sitting on that building when I get there or the ass kicking he will get when we get to Trenton will have him grounded for fucking weeks.

I slammed down on the gas as the SUV lunged forward down the road. My life was at stake here I had to get home.

"Tank keep trying to reach anyone within Rangeman the control room was dark when I tried calling them. I wasn't able to reach anyone." I told him. I saw the look in his eyes and I knew that look it was mirrored in mine.

LPOV

The morning meeting had gone well with the client. Slyder and I were able to get the client to sign and I felt good about the meeting. The contract the client signed was for two million it was securing two businesses they owned as well as their personal home. We would monitor the business location but not the private residence.

The client was happy with the services and the level of service they would receive from Rangeman and we were happy with the additional business. It was amazing how much business was growing even with the economy being in the ditch our business was growing. I guess area businesses were protecting their assets. Usually when the economy goes down and there are so many people unable to provide for their family the crime rate goes up because desperate people do desperate things. Things they never thought they would ever do.

I have always been taught to never underestimate a desperate person as they had nothing to lose and everything to gain so they were unpredictable. They could be extremely dangerous and ruthless depending on what their situation was.

Businesses and residents were taking steps to ensure their assets, their safety by having security systems installed by having their business and even sometimes their homes monitored by us to ensure that if someone did attempt to break in then they would be found and punished for their crimes.

There were a lot of companies out there but Rangeman is far superior to any of the others. Our security devices, our protocols are second to none. Our response, investigation, and follow through no other company has. No other company responded to the alarms like ours the other companies notify someone else who in turn respond when it suits them. Our company the alert goes out and whoever can get there the fastest responds to deal with the potential threat.

It isn't that we don't involve the police we do but if we can take care of it in house and just deliver the fucking scum bag pieces of shit to the station then that is what we do. Besides for everyone we deal with in house we send a message to the other pieces of fucking scum out there on the streets. The message is don't fuck with properties protected by Rangeman. It was almost a fucking good as having a fucking pit bull standing guard at the door fucking daring your dumb fuck of an ass to enter.

I looked at my watch seeing it was twelve hundred hours we had an hour before we had to be across town for the next meeting. Looking over at Slyder I asked him "Man you hungry? Want to grab a quick bite before heading to the next meeting?"

"Yeah that sounds good where to?" He asked me. We didn't have a lot of time as it would take at least thirty minutes to get the location of our next meeting.

"How about we just grab something fairly quick, how does chipotle sound to you?" I asked him

"Good" he said nodding his approval of my suggestion. It was located halfway between where we were and where our next meeting was so I thought it was a good choice. Not to mention the food is good.

We had finished eating our lunch and were heading for the truck when my cell phone went off. Answering it, it was Zip in the control room patching through our client.

"Hello" I said when I heard the call connected through.

"Is this Rangeman?" A woman's voice asked me.

"Yes, this is Lester with Rangeman" I told her.

"Good, I am calling on the behalf of Mr. Richards and we are going to have to reschedule the one o'clock meeting for today to another day. Something urgent has come up that is requiring Mr. Richard's time. I am sorry for the short notice." She told me.

"That's okay no problem. I am not in the office at the moment as we were grabbing some lunch before the meeting but when I get to the office and have a schedule in front of me I will call you back and we can reschedule the appointment time." I told her.

"Okay that sounds good. I will talk to you then, bye" she said and I hung up.

Looking at Slyder "Well meeting has been cancelled something urgent came up and they needed to reschedule." I told him.

He shrugged "Well I guess you can't sign million dollar contracts all day long" he teased. Fucker was all I could think.

Since I was headed back to Rangeman I went back in Chipotle and ordered Beautiful's favorite Chicken fajita bowl with extra cheese and sour cream. If she knew I went to Chipotle and didn't bring her, her favorite she would kick me out of the best friend circle. We got in the SUV and started heading for Rangeman.

I was hoping that she would decide to do her workout first today after training with Bobby because if that was the case then she would be able to eat what I was bringing for her lunch if not then she will have already eaten before I can get there.

It was about twenty minutes to one and we would reach Rangeman in about thirty to forty minutes so hopefully I would catch her in the apartment about to eat.

We finally reached Rangeman just as I suspected about ten minutes after one. I went to five to see where Beautiful was. I checked the camera of the gym and no one was there. Great hopefully she hadn't already had lunched. I tried calling her cell phone but it went straight to voice mail.

I called the apartment phone number and it went to voice mail, no answer so she was probably taking a shower so chances were really good that she hadn't eaten yet. I swung by my office and changed out of my suit. I am not a suit wearer Ranger wears the suits not me. I am me in my cargos and t-shirts.

I noticed Slyder had taken the time to change as well as he met me in the hallway. "I am going to run this up to Beautiful so she can have it for lunch. I will see you in the gym at fourteen hundred." I told him and he nodded as he made his way over to his cubicle.

I decided to just check in on the control room since I hadn't asked them any questions when I was in there a couple of minutes go. This being boss took some getting used to. It wasn't that I wasn't capable it is just that I never did it and I literally would forget to ask the questions that came second nature to Tank and Ranger.

Walking into the control room for the second time I said "Report" Zip spoke up first

"Quiet on all fronts, Ranger and Tank made it safely to Rangeman Boston there were no incidents at either airport, reaching Rangeman Boston, or the restaurant where they are currently. There have been no incidents at any of our clients. Besides the call that I patched through to you, all has been quiet." He told me. Exactly what I wanted to hear with the staff scattered the way they were today we didn't need any incidents making it even tougher on us.

"Anything else I need to be aware of?" I asked them and they both shook their head no. I nodded and made my way out of the control room heading to seven to take Beautiful the lunch I had gotten for her.

I stepped off the elevator and knocked on the door. After knocking twice and no answer I decided to let myself in. Using the fob I clicked the door and opened it calling out "Beautiful I knocked but you must not have been able to hear me. Don't feel like you have to bother covering up for me." If she was stepping out of the shower or something I thought I would warn her but hey I would take all the free shots I could get.

"Beautiful?" I called again not getting any answer. I could tell the shower wasn't running as my hearing was excellent and there was no water running in this apartment.

"Where are you Beautiful? I have lunch? Are you hiding from me? You know I will find you and I will punish you for trying to get the jump on me. I see a bunch of tickling in your future. Beautiful?"

I expected her to come out of her hiding place when I said I had lunch or at least her stomach growling at hearing the word lunch would give her location away. But there was nothing.

Where was she? She had promised not to leave the building, she wasn't in the gym, and I was beginning to realize she wasn't in the apartment as she wouldn't have stayed away from food this long. I made my way into the kitchen and I could see where Ella had left her lunch but I could also see that none of it had been touched.

I looked around for her bag but it wasn't up here as I wouldn't have expected to be up here and her not be here. What the fuck. Where the fuck was she?

I picked up my phone calling the control room. If they let her slip past them and she had snuck out of the building I was going to kick the living fucking shit out of them. Dialing the number I noticed my phone displayed no service, what the fuck. Fucking piece of shit cell phone I swear to fuck one day I am going to take that fucking Verizon dude out I mean can you fucking hear me now? No you can't fucking hear me now because I don't have any fucking service the fucking prick. What a piece of shit.

In my frustration I threw the fucker across the room. Fuck it let it fucking break it isn't like they aren't a piece of shit in the first place. I picked up the land line in the kitchen calling the control room.

Zip answered "Where the fuck is Stephanie?" I asked him. I knew I caught him off guard I could hear clicking and I was fucking losing my patience. "I will be down in a minute have the fucking answer for me." I told him as I hung up the phone I put her food in the refrigerator and quickly made my way out of the apartment heading to the fifth floor to beat the fuck out those two dumb fuckers who let her slip out of the building.

One hand I couldn't believe she would sneak out I mean she knew we were short staffed and were unable to protect her and she knew Morelli and her mother were gunning for her every chance they got and I knew she never wanted to face them alone. She also had a stalker that while we thought we knew who it was we weren't a hundred percent sure so until we knew hundred percent nothing was ruled out.

I just couldn't imagine her ducking out and leaving the building especially with the way her spidey senses were going off over Ranger going to Boston.

I busted in the control room like yanking the door off of the hinges. "Well" was all I said. Zip looking at me stated "I don't know her tracker says she is in the building but the gym is empty and I don't see her in any of the other cameras on any of the floors. If she isn't on seven I don't know where she is." He told me. Like I was going to just accept that fucking answer, he didn't know. He better be fucking figuring it out or my boot was going to be up his ass.

I pulled up the gym footage one more time looking at the empty gym my heart stood still when I noticed it. It took a matter of seconds for me to put it together and my feet to react to what my eyes and mind had processed.

I took off out of the control room heading for the gym yelling for backup as I ran down the hall as if my life depended on making it to the stair well. My life depended on me making it to the gym that was one thing that was for sure. My Beautiful was in trouble, I knew it the instant I saw the clock displaying one o'clock. I would have thought it just stopped but on the video the clock was working you could see the second hand moving so something was very wrong and I instinctively knew it involved my Beautiful.

I heard the foot steps behind me I knew they were there but I wasn't about to stop and turn around and wait for them they would catch up not with my Beautiful in trouble.

DougPOV

It was about time for my plan to all come together. Bobby was training with Stephanie in the gym. I needed to swap out the water bottles I had taken mine out of the fridge when I noticed that Stephanie had just left the bottle sitting on the bench. I knew it would keep the water a little cool but it wouldn't be as cold as water from the refrigerator. I didn't want her to notice any change in the bottles.

I picked up the water bottle checking the video feeds from the camera I wanted to make sure I had a clear shot from here to the gym. I didn't want anyone seeing me carrying the water bottle.

I had the file in my hand. Walking into the gym I quickly replaced her bottle and disposed of the bottle she had been sitting there I had seen her take a few swallows so I had poured some water out of my bottle. When I picked up her bottle I was pleased with how close they were. She would never know the difference.

I made my way over to Bobby interrupting them. "Bobby I hate to interrupt you but with Hector not here, Lester out you are the only one I have to ask." I said he looked at Stephanie and told her to continue what she was doing while he turned his attention on me.

Opening the file I pointed out the discrepancy I had found in the order for the parts needed and the requested equipment from the client. "Do you know if this was a last minute change or if the wrong equipment was ordered? " I asked him. I knew the answer because I had ordered the parts and I had ordered them wrong on purpose of course I put it all in Mike's name.

When I had found out that Bobby was going to be left in charge and I knew he was doing her training it was perfect opportunity so I had placed the wrong order for parts under Mike's name. Then conveniently I would be going throw the order requests checking to see if items had been ordered and discover the discrepancy giving me the opportunity to question him about it and access to Stephanie all at the same time.

I tell you sometimes I amaze myself by my brilliant plans. I can't imagine why they had the nerve to feel that I wasn't Rangeman worthy when I had the potential for brilliant plans like this one that was playing out so well. I could feel my dick stirring with just thoughts of my plan coming together and in a little over an hour I would be burying myself into her before I took her life.

Bobby answering my question said. "Well I wasn't the lead on this contract so double check with Cal, but it looks like Mike ordered the wrong parts. Go ahead and order the right parts just in case so it doesn't throw the contract timeline back but double check exactly what is needed before equipping the install van for the job." He told me. I nodded and made my way out of the gym.

Now it was matter of getting everything else in place. I knew she would do her work out first before heading out of the gym for lunch. So I had to reach her before one o'clock.

I queued up the video of the empty gym and it would be ready with only a few clicks. I had hooked up the cell phone device I had gotten basically when turned on all cell phone's within a certain range of the device have no service.

I watched the gym video feed her drinking from the water bottle, her finishing up with Bobby and him leaving the gym. Her starting her workout regimen and drinking from the bottle I continued to watch as she moved to the weights taking her bottle with her and taking a drink every now and then from the bottle. As her workout was growing closer to the end I activated the tape only hoping that no one in the control was watching at the moment as well.

I waited and watched the video feed for the control room and there was no action so they hadn't seen the video switch. It was closing in on one o'clock and she had been drinking the water for about a half hour or more at the point so she should start to feel the effects of the drugs.

I flipped the switch for the cell phone blocker and I made my way out of the lab heading for the split tail bitch in the gym. My dick dancing with glee and anticipation with every step I took.

SPOV

I looked at the clock and it was almost one o'clock and my spidey senses were going off like the fireworks over the Disney castle. It was all I could do not to call the control room and check in on Carlos and Tank. But since I had already done that like four times and all four times they were fine I was trying to refrain myself. At this point I was just looking ridiculous. I guess my spidey sense had finally broken and it was playing out in the biggest most humiliating public scene ever with everyone watching and knowing at Rangeman.

I know my brothers sometime think I am from a different planet but I try hard to not always come off as completely crazy but this was proving exactly how fucking crazy I am. Just how out there I am and just how much I am in fact from a different planet.

Part of me wanted to just apologize and say oops my bad but the other part just couldn't shake the fact that something wasn't right and that I wasn't completely off my rocker as everyone was beginning to believe around me. I just hoped that nothing happened to prove that I was right because that would mean that Carlos would be in danger and while I know Ranger is built for danger every ounce of him I didn't want to believe or know he was danger.

I went to stand up from the bench and the whole room tilted. Holy fuck! I grabbed a hold of the rack beside the bench to catch my balance. What the hell? What the hell was happening to me?

A wave of dizziness came over me and I sat back down putting my head between my legs my spidey senses had gone off so loud it was affecting my ability to stand up at the moment. I got my legs under me again and tried to stand and found that I was having some difficulty.

It felt as though on one hand my muscles no longer wanted to work yet on the other I felt like I wasn't even in my own body to control it. I had never felt like this before. I think I am having a stroke or maybe an aneurism I had heard how these vessels just pop in your head and you die. I had popped a blood vessel in my brain or I was stroking out and it was affecting my ability to move my body properly.

I saw my bag on the bench and I knew if I could make it to the bag I could call for help I could call Bobby to come back. I tried to walk but when that was proving too difficult of a task I started crawling. I had to keep reminding myself what I was doing and where I was going as I kept seeing all of these things.

I looked up when I heard the door and I saw Doug, dumb fucker he had dumb fucker across his forehead making his way towards me. Oh thank god someone can get help for me.

"Thank god you are here, can you hand me my bag something is wrong with me and I need to call Bobby." I told him. He just shook his head no. No? He was telling me no that I didn't need to call Bobby or no there was nothing wrong with me because there was definitely something wrong with me and I definitely needed Bobby now.

Looking at him I saw the bandana tied around his forehead I saw the color and I was immediately transported back to the fateful night in the park when the slayers had me surrounded. I screamed turning in circles seeing the men circling me. I was down on my hands and knees unable to stand and the men were closing in.

I knew it wasn't true it wasn't real but I couldn't stop from seeing them I could stop from watching them advance on me and I couldn't stop the fear that was rising with every passing second. I felt hands on me and I cringed.

I screamed I heard me scream at least I think it was me. I felt someone grab me and it was a slayer I felt the rag go in my mouth I tasted the nasty taste of the rag and gagged but I was helpless, I tried to use my arms to fight off the slayer but they were listless I felt myself striking out at the man in front of me who I thought was Doug but now he was a slayer but it felt as though my strikes were nothing more than barely touches.

I felt my body warm in places that I had no intention of it warming. I didn't want these feelings I wanted to scream and couldn't I wanted to run but couldn't I wanted to fight and I was trying to but it was obvious it was futile attempt. I felt his hands touching me and I tried to move my body to block him. I tried to block him with my arms and hands but he was able to counter ever move I tried to make.

I tried to focus on what was happening to me what I was feeling and I couldn't help but wonder what the fuck was the matter with me. I felt him touch my breast and I jerked backwards away from him. I definitely felt the slap that resounding throughout the room I was in. I couldn't even tell where I was.

Looking around all I saw was the dark park I shut my eyes because I knew they were lying to me. I knew by seeing what I was seeing it was causing the fear in me to rise even more. Feeling his hands on me was bad enough as he was grabbing me wherever he could get a hold of me.

I was desperately trying to move to where I thought the bench was but I had no way of knowing if I was going in the right direction. I was so disoriented and with my eyes lying to me I had no idea where to go. I knew if I could reach my bag I had my gun, I had my panic button, I had my phone I could get help. But I was losing focus fast.

My body was heating up in places as he touched and it wanted more even though my brain didn't. I knew I didn't want this only one person was to touch me like this and that was Carlos and he wasn't Carlos my body wasn't suppose to respond like this to anyone else's touch what the fuck is wrong with me? Panic rose in me even more what if Carlos found out that I responded like this to someone else's touch would he want me. I heard the sob that escaped my mouth around the rag and tape as my mind was giving in to my fears.

I felt my clothing being moved I felt my shirt ripping as I felt the cool room air hit my chest and stomach area and I welcomed the cool air as my body was so hot. I tried to swat away the hands that were grabbing at me but my attempts were futile. Opening my eyes again I saw the same dark night at the park but there was just one person now one slayer. Looking at him I saw Carlos and I couldn't help but gasp at what I was seeing. I knew it wasn't real I knew my eyes were still lying to me.

These weren't his hands, it wasn't him it was my mind and eyes playing a cruel trick on me one I couldn't explain. Nothing was as it seemed nothing was as it appeared. I fought the hands as they grabbed my breast in a bruising hold striking out again against my attacker whoever he was.

I felt the blow that was delivered to my cheek and I saw the stars that danced in my head from it chocking the pain back I continued to try to hold on to what I thought was real and ignore what I knew wasn't. I felt his hand on my shorts and I knew I couldn't let him get them off of me. It would all be over if he got them off of me so I fought harder than I had ever fought in my life I felt them ripping and I knew it was only a matter of time before I would lose the battle.

Focusing on the fight I struck out with my hands and feet trying to land blows wherever I could and I heard the umph sound he made so I knew I had made contact but I wasn't prepared for what that was going to bring to me as he began to pummel me with blow after blow. When he was finished I was laying there wondering if I was going to be able to breathe again. I finally was able to take a breath as he went back to trying to relieve me of my clothing. I felt the shorts ripping more as I fought back reaching out trying to grab anything.

My hand made contact with something at first I wasn't sure what it was but then realized it was the bench. I gave up on trying to prevent him from removing me from my clothing for the minute as I tried to reach my bag.

He already had one hand down my pants with his fingers groping and plunging in me and as I tried to scream from his attack I couldn't it was muddled from the rag in my mouth. I knew my body was responding to his touches I could feel it but my mind didn't want any of it. My mind knew it was wrong and my mind knew that it wasn't his touch I wanted.

I heard his voice "That's right baby I knew you were a slut that you would want this as much as I did soon as I got my hands on you, you would want me, you would want this he said pushing his crotch into me." I shook my head no, trying to scream no. I didn't want it I didn't want any of it.

My fingers had just made contact with my bag as he grabbed my legs pulling me away from the bench that I was desperately trying to grab my bag on to the point that I lost contact with the bench. I heard the contents of the bag spill on the floor. I prayed for my gun to be within reach but all I felt was the panic button which I pressed. I fought him more as he was grabbing at my shorts but feeling them rip more I knew he had the access he was hoping for. I heard his zipper and the fear in my rose higher as full blown panic was sitting in. I tried to breath and couldn't with the rag in my mouth I couldn't get air in.

Struggling for air and panic shooting through every inch of my body along with the heat and images of the slayer, Carlos as a slayer flashing through my mind couldn't stop the tears that I felt on my face streaming down my face.

He had a bruising grip on my legs as he was positioning himself even with me kicking and arms flailing at him I felt his dick touch me at my entrance and I shut my eyes even tight sobbing as my mind was trying to make sense of what was happening to me when I heard feet running towards us. Opening my eyes it was the whole gang of slayers and my screams however muddled they were with the rag in my mouth just kept coming until darkness surrounded me.

**Pease take a moment and leave a review. Let me know your thoughts…I love every review it does wonder for my soul and wonders for my fingers! Don't forget to check out the accommodating website and my writer's journal…I put sneak peeks into the chapters in them! **

**You can find it all at www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com There are playlists there for the party and songs that are mentioned through the different chapters, pictures of the characters along with their bio as I see them in my head, as they are in my story. There are pictures of some of the clothing, and places that have been in my chapter, as well as pictures of cars, trucks, motorcycles from the Rangeman compound. I hope you enjoy it Leave a comment there as well if you wish!**


	46. Chapter 45: Coming to the Rescue

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

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**WARNING THIS CHAPTER FOR SOME MAY REQUIRE TISSUES.**

Chapter 45: Coming to the Rescue

SPOV

Hearing the pounding of the slayers feet getting closer to me, I felt the slayer's body with Carlos' face ripped away from me just before I succumbed to the darkness. I don't know how long I was out but the smell under my nose had me gasping for air and chocking, what the hell was that smell? The rag was out of my mouth and I could gasp for the air my lungs so desperately needed.

I had yet to open my eyes I was terrified of what I would see. I was never so grateful and so scared in my life for the fear that one of the other slayers would replace the one that was pulled away. Suddenly I felt hands on me and I screamed trying to fight them away trying to get them away from me.

I heard a voice that caused me to just go still. "Beautiful it's me you are safe, It's Lester your best friend, your brother I am here you are safe." Oh my god Lester is here.

With my eyes still shut I felt for his hand. Feeling his hand take mine I grabbed hold as if my life depended on it, and it did.

"Lester?" I questioned my eyes still shut tight because I couldn't believe what they saw.  
"Yeah Beautiful I am here and so are your other brothers you are safe now." He told me. Safe? I am safe. They had saved me once again relief flooded my quivering body. I quickly felt for Lester's face running my hand through his spiked hair. I offered my pinky to him and he hooked his pinky with mine letting me know it was in fact Lester with me and my mind wasn't playing games with me.

"Lester, there are no more slayers?" I asked him I hoped they had gotten them all I couldn't take any more slayers.

"Beautiful, Slayers?" he questioned

"Yes Slayers, the slayer that was attacking me and all of the other slayers that surrounded me, you know Slayers the gang members. They surrounded me and then the one attacked me." Part of me knew somehow that wasn't entirely true but the other part of me wasn't sure it seemed so real and someone was definitely attacking me. I was to the point I couldn't tell what was and wasn't true anymore.

"Beautiful you are in the Rangeman gym. Doug attacked you not the slayers." He told me part of me knew that was true but the images of the slayers and then the slayer with Carlos' face I couldn't get out of my head what the fuck was wrong with me?

"Lester what's wrong with me? I saw slayers, I saw a slayer with Carlos' face and he was attacking me. What's wrong with me? I am scared to open my eyes because I am scared of what I will see." I told him.

He held me to him "Beautiful you have to tell me what happened while you can remember if you wait you won't remember I suspect you have been drugged." Drugged? I had been drugged how could I have been drugged? Did I feel drugged? What did being drugged feel like?

"I don't know what I remember Lester, things are all messed up in my head." I told him my voice cracking quivering ready to break down.

Trying to focus my thoughts I tried to figure out what I did remember "I know I saw Doug enter the gym and I told him I wasn't feeling well and needed help I wasn't able to stand up or walk and he shook his head no. The next thing I know someone was attacking me and I saw the bandana and it was the slayers I saw they had surrounded me, I was in the park. I knew that wasn't true but it felt so real it seemed so real I couldn't tell. I still don't know what is true." I confessed to him "I tried to fight off the slayer and my body was responding in ways I couldn't control in ways I didn't want to. I tried fighting but my arms and legs felt as though they were lifeless and that they weighed a hundred pounds each and I could barely move them."

"He hit me Lester. He beat me when I struck him, he beat me." My anxiety was rising as images kept being replayed before my eyes as if it wasn't me and I was watching the events unfold for someone else yet knowing it was in fact me I was watching. Lester held me closer as more tears rolled down my cheek. He was trying to calm me down but I wasn't sure there was any calming as I continued to tell him what I remembered.

"I remember trying to make it to the bench because I knew my bag was there and I could get help and get my gun if I made it to the bench. I made it to the bench as he was trying to get my pants off. His hands were everywhere Lester. His hands were inside me." A sob broke through as I said that part.

"Lester, he had his hands inside me. His fingers were in me Lester." Each time I said it each time I relived it the panic set in more and more. It wasn't as much the panic about what happened to me as it felt as though it all happened to someone else it was more the panic of how Carlos would deal with it. Would he want me? Would he still love me? Was I still worth loving? Another man had his hands on me while I was with Carlos and Carlos has made it clear he doesn't share.

"Beautiful you need to calm down and you need to breathe you are going to hyperventilate and pass out again. Please Beautiful I beg you, you are safe nothing else is going to happen to you please calm down. I beg you Beautiful."

"How can you tell me to calm down Lester? How can you say that to me when you know what this means. When you know this is my life you are talking about how can you tell me to calm down I can't calm down, I can't breathe." I gasped out between much needed gasps of oxygen. I can't believe I am hearing him right.

Carlos isn't going to want me he isn't going to want us my body reacted to another man's touch and he doesn't share. I felt like I was running a million miles an hour and I wasn't moving but mind was my body felt like it was with the way I was breathing and my heart was racing as if I had been running.

"It doesn't even feel like while I am telling you this that it happened to me, how is that possible?" I managed to tell him instead of telling him my real feelings, what really was scaring me terrifying me.

"Beautiful I am not certain but I am thinking it is the drugs that you were given. If they are what I think they are from just what you are saying it is an effect of the drug that is making it feel like that. If they are what I think they are by the time they are out of your system there is a possibility you will forget what happened that is why you have to tell me everything now while you can remember and I know the drugs are still in your system. Bobby is going to draw some of your blood so he can analyze it. Just keep your eyes closed and trust us okay? We aren't going to hurt you." He told me.

I nodded "Lester I trust you, I trust my brothers. Just promise me you will keep the Slayers away from me." I told him. I felt him nod his head against me. He was holding me with my back to his front with me setting between his legs his arms around me holding me to him.

I felt Bobby's hands on me as he spoke "Bomber its Bobby I am going to draw your blood now. I am not going to hurt you." He tried to reassure me. Letting go of Lester I felt for Bobby's face. Finding it I felt his face and then I felt his braids which I gave a tug on. I nodded once I felt the braids knowing it was in fact Bobby with me. I felt the prick of the needle in my arm.

"You don't have to worry about the Slayers, Beautiful they can't touch you. No one will touch you again like that ever." He told me. Grabbing back on to him and holding on tighter I continued telling him what happened.

"I had just reached my bag when he pulled me away the bag spilled and I was able to push my panic button but he was able to get me in a position I never wanted, I was fighting for all I could but I couldn't get away and I couldn't save myself." I sobbed as more tears feel. "I have never been more afraid in my life. I heard someone running towards me and when I looked I saw a whole bunch of slayers running towards me I remember screaming and then I think I may have blacked out."

"Beautiful what you heard was me, and your brothers running into the gym, not Slayers." Lester told me and I nodded against him trying to make my brain understand that it wasn't Slayers. You have no idea how hard it is to convince your brain that you didn't see something that you clearly saw.

"That was you that came in? Because you all looked like Slayers to me, was it you or was it the slayers?"

"Beautiful there were no slayers, it was us." He told me again.

Still confused I nodded. "I heard him unzip his zipper and I felt him pull me closer to him. I tried fighting him. I felt him against me down there that's when I heard feet running towards me." I didn't want to tell him he was about to enter me I figured he could get the picture close enough just with what I did say.

"Beautiful, I have to ask you something that is going to be difficult for you to answer but I need you to answer. So concentrate and tell me all you can tell me okay?" I nodded

"Did he enter you at all? Did his penis enter you?" Hearing the words kicked up my fear even more I know what happened but it didn't feel like it was happening to me but hearing the words hit home that it was me. It was me we were talking about made the panic rise in me more.

I shook my head no "No he was about to but the running footsteps stopped him." I didn't want to say Slayers again as he had reminded me countless times now that there were no Slayers even though my mind was determined not to believe him.

Tears flowed down my face I kept my eyes closed. I was so hot. I pushed against Lester for him to let me go I had to cool down. He was making me hotter all my brothers had warm bodies that radiated heat and I didn't need any more heat at the moment. Someone had covered me up and I quickly pulled the covers off of me my hot body welcoming the cooler air in the room.

"Beautiful please keep your body covered. Ranger will kill us for seeing you this exposed your sports bra is destroyed your shirt is torn so your front is completely exposed your shorts are practically shredded and your thong well that left little to the imagination to begin with but even that is torn so please keep yourself covered." He said trying to cover me back up.

"Lester I am burning up I can't stay covered not this much I am about to roast." I told him. As I once again pushed at the cover that he was once again covering my naked body but I needed the cool air.

Once again I felt the cover being placed back over me "What part of I am fucking burning up aren't you fucking getting here put that cover back on me again and I will fucking shoot you with your own fucking gun. I have got to get cool can't you feel how hot I am?" I said to whomever it was that was trying to cover me.

I jumped as I heard the doors open again and I heard Bobby's voice "GHB, Rohypnol, and Ketamine combination I have no idea how much of any one or how much in total. It explains all of her symptoms she is experiencing. The hallucinations, the dissociation, the combative, the panic and almost paranoia states she is experiencing as well as the lack of motor skills in her arms, legs and body." I felt hands touching me and I tried extremely hard not to flinch away even though that is what I wanted to do instinctively.

"Man we have got to get her into a cool shower or something. The drugs are causing her internal temperature to rise, she is burning up. She is going to heat stroke out if we don't get her cooled now." Bobby said. Heat stroke out, I was going to have a heat stroke? On my god I am going to have a heat stroke and die. Carlos will never know how much I loved him I will stroke and die before I get to tell him.

I felt myself being lifted and partly stifled the scream. I heard Slyder voice "its okay Incendia I have you, you are safe with me." He told me so Slyder must have picked me up. I heard Cal's voice, Cal was here with me.

"Angel let us help you. No one is going to hurt you again, we promise you." I reached out for him in the direction I thought his voice was coming from. I felt his hand on mine as I grabbed hold. I wanted to see them I wanted to see my brother's faces but I was too afraid to open my eyes. Too afraid of what they may tell me, they would lie to me and I would once again see Slayers.

I felt for Cal's face I felt him push his face into my hand feeling around I knew what I was feeling for. Cal had a flaming skull tattoo on his forehead but what most people didn't know was under the tattoo was a scar. I had found it because of my need to kiss his tattoo. One day I kissed his tattoo and felt the scar.

I found his forehead and I found the scar. It was Cal. I had no idea how many of my other brother's were in the room with me.

We hadn't made it to the gym doors when I heard the gym doors burst open and I screamed. The slayers were back, they were back with more gang members. None of us were safe. I tried to get out of Slyder's arms, were they Slyder's arms? I couldn't be for sure the Slayers were back to finish what they had started. The panic was coming back I was grasping for air and I was fighting the hands that were holding me against a body.

"Incendia it is me Slyder, you are safe. I promise you are safe. It was just Hector and Manny coming into the gym. You are safe." I heard him say and I calmed. It was Slyder's voice. I touched his face and felt his hair short like Slyder kept it. I didn't have a special greeting for Slyder so I asked him something that only the real Slyder would know. "Where did we meet?" I asked him.

He answered me. "We met at the Rangeman Compound at the pool. You all were having a pool party celebrating your success in saving Ranger." I nodded. Calming myself down in his arms, it was Slyder that was holding me.

"Beautiful I swear to you only your brothers are here." Lester told me.

"Wifey?" I heard Manny say calling me by the name he used for me. I reached for him, he grabbed my hand. "Wifey, open your eyes for me, for us?" I shook my head no. "Manny my eyes are lying to me. I am seeing things that aren't real. I can't open them." I told him sobbing even more tears flowing from my traitorous lying eyes.

"Angelito, I am here." I heard Hector say and I was shocked he spoke out loud in English. I felt for him feeling his hand on mine. Part of me wanted to be held by him. I knew he would protect me he was my guardian he wouldn't let a slayer near me he killed gang members he had the tear drop tattoos to prove it but the other part of me knew that was crazy talk as all of my brothers would protect me guard me against all slayers they would all kill for me if necessary. But they hadn't protected me against that Slayer he had gotten in here and he had attacked me. Hector wouldn't have let it happen. Hector would have known he was a Slayer. He wouldn't have gotten past Hector.

I felt for Hector finding his left eye I wiped across the tear drops I knew to be on his cheek.

I heard him speaking in Spanish to Lester. I am sure Lester was telling him what happened but the little bit of Spanish I had been learning from Hector wasn't enough for me to keep up with their fast paced conversation.

Bobby spoke up "We need to get to that shower like now we can discuss all of this while she is cooling down. Every second counts people." You would have thought that he just opened the gates for the Kentucky derby because Slyder took off with me in his arms.

I was on the elevator and up in our apartment before I knew what hit me. I was burning up with the cover wrapped around my body but every time I removed it someone covered me back up with it so I finally gave up and left it.

"Beautiful I am going to take you from Slyder and Bobby and I are going into the bathroom with you, okay?" He asked me and I nodded.

He lifted me from Slyder's arms "they aren't leaving are they?" I asked him not sure how many of my brothers had come up with us but I wanted to make sure they were in the apartment. I wanted them close just in case the slayers come back.

"No Beautiful they won't be going anywhere for a long time." He told me as he made the way into the bathroom.

They tried to stand me up but I had no ability to stand. My legs were like Jell-o and wouldn't hold me up. I can't figure out what is wrong with me. I am burning up, I am seeing things that apparently aren't real but look real, I have no control over my body or my muscles, and I think I am half crazy with the way my mind was running a hundred miles an hour. What the fuck is wrong with me? Bobby had said I had been drugged. Is this what it is like to be drugged?

I heard their boots hit the ground. "Beautiful we are going to have to get in with you. Don't worry we will have our clothes on only taking off our boots." Lester told me. They are going to have to get in the shower with me?

"It's the only way we are going to be able to cool you down." Bobby told me.

I heard the water cut on and I stifled a scream when the cold water hit my hot body. I could almost feel the fog rising from my body. You know when cold hits warm the fog it creates? The water was like Ice and my body was like fire and when the two met it was a war of wills between the two. I wasn't sure which side was going to win but I knew I was in the middle and it is never good be in the middle of a war with sides as opposite as fire and ice.

I protested a little as it was shocking to my system "Beautiful please don't fight us, we have to cool you down."

"Lester it is so cold. Can't you turn it a little warmer?" I asked him.

"No, I am sorry but it has to be cold to cool you down." Bobby told me.

They were holding me up in the spray of the cold water. It was fucking freezing me. Every now and then they would turn me so the water would hit my back for a while then my front for a while. The part I hated the most was when they would put me directly under the water and water would pound down on my head.

"How long do we have to stay in the shower?" I asked

"Until the drugs are out of your system, the combination is raising your internal temperature and we have to keep you cooled down. I would say maybe another half hour to forty five minutes." Bobby said

What I was going to have to stand in this fucking freezing ass water for thirty to forty more minutes. What the fuck. "Wouldn't a bath be better?" I asked, like I was the fucking medic thinking I could at least sit down.

"Bomber, no a cold bath would cool you but it has the potential to lower your temperature too low which can be as deadly as being too high." He told me. Great, just fucking great! Even with them holding me up by my arms my legs are still giving out on me.

Bobby stepped out of the shower I heard the door open and then close. A couple minutes I heard the door open and close again reaching I felt the wet clothing so it was Bobby stepping back in. I heard him sit something down and then I was guided back into a chair with them standing beside me holding me in the chair. I leaned my head over on Lester. I was getting so tired I just wanted to close my eyes for a minute. Not that I could sleep from the freezing ass water that was raining down on me but I was so freaking tired.

"Bomber you need to stay awake" Bobby told me seeing that I was leaning my head against Lester my eyes were closed because I hadn't opened them yet. I dared not open my eyes because I couldn't bear what they may see. I couldn't take any more slayers I had to just keep listening to their voices and then I knew who was caring for me and I knew I was safe if I saw them as Slayers I knew I would really become unglued from reality.

"Bobby I am not falling asleep, I couldn't with this damn cold ass water raining down on me." I told him and I heard Lester chuckle. "I am tired and I would like to sleep but I couldn't if I tried right now" I told him.

"Bomber with your eyes closed it is harder to tell please don't fall asleep if you fall asleep with these drugs in your system you may not wake up. Your respiratory will drop and it may drop too low. The drugs in your systems have all kinds of side effects individually but mixed together I have no idea what they could do. I also have no idea how much you were given. Do you remember anyone giving you anything, do you remember anyone sticking you with a needle besides when I drew your blood."

I was trying to remember but having difficulty remembering. I only remembered the one stick and that was when Lester said Bobby was drawing my blood and I remembered his braids so it was him. I shook my head no.

"No only when you took my blood. But I can't remember that well it is difficult for me to remember. It's all fuzzy and I have to think really hard what happened just five minutes ago let alone as far back as you want me to remember." I told him. I logically knew it wasn't that far back in time but it seemed like a long time.

"That is because of the drugs in your system. I doubt if you do go to sleep and wake back up that you would remember any of it that is why it is so important for you to tell us everything you can remember while you can. If you wait it will be too late. We are already washing evidence off of you as we speak with the water but that has to happen as we have to cool your body down." Bobby told me.

He has such a nice voice he really should use it more. I love the baritone in his voice it is nice it is soothing. It is calming just what a medic needed in a voice. "Lester, say something to me." I asked him wanting to hear his voice wanting to compare it to Bobby's voice.

"Beautiful I don't know what to say to you." He told me

"I don't care just talk I just want to hear your voice." I confessed.

"Beautiful how about I tell you a story then?" He asked me and I nodded hoping that it was going to be a real story instead of a fiction story.

Lost in the story Lester was telling me, Lost in his voice, Lester had a nice voice not quite as low as Bobby's but it was nice and definitely one you could get lost in. It wasn't a feminine voice by any means and it wasn't a deep bass voice either it was a good combination of strength and power. He had a voice that was just nice to listen to.

I couldn't stand it anymore I had to ask, I had to talk to my best friend interrupting his story. "Lester, can I talk to you as my best friend?" I asked him. I really needed my best friend.

"Beautiful I am always your best friend. Every time you talk to me you are talking to your best friend." He told me. I felt him nudge me feeling his hand I found his pinky extended to me and I quickly looped my pinky finger with his.

"Lester what is Carlos going to think? Is he going to hate me? Is he going to want me out of his life?" I asked him, I couldn't hide my deepest fears anymore. I needed to talk to my best friend about them.

"Beautiful, why would you think that? What would make you say that or think that?" he asked me.

I shrugged "Lester my body reacted to him touching me. I didn't want it, I didn't want my body to react but it did. I tried to fight him to get him off of me but my body reacted Carlos isn't going to want me because of that. He has told me before that he doesn't share and he isn't going to want me after the Slayer had his hand on me." I told him breaking down voicing what I was so afraid of and what I was scared I wouldn't remember.

"Beautiful, please don't think like that. The drugs are the reason your body responded like that but it wasn't something you wanted you fought him. We can all see how much you fought your body is bruised enough to show how much you didn't want it and how hard you fought. Not that that would even matter. No one is going to think that, no one is going to question you concerning this, especially Ranger.. Even if you hadn't fought we all would still know you didn't want it. He tried to rape you, he attacked you, and he sexually assaulted you. You did nothing wrong. Ranger isn't going to see you any differently other than thanking God that he wasn't successful, and that you are alive and are going to be okay. That is all that he is going to care about. He loves you with all of his heart and soul all he is going to want to do is see you, hold you, and tell you how much he loves. Trust me he loves you and I know you love him, all will be okay." He told me.

"Lester, how do you know? How do you know that is all he is going to care about and that he will still love me and everything will be okay? How do you know?" I asked him more tears falling down my cheeks. My mind was desperately trying to grasp how he knew and figure out how I was going to believe him.

"Beautiful if I were Ranger it wouldn't change how much I love you, it wouldn't change how much I want you, it wouldn't change the way I would look at you and see you so beautiful so full of light so full of love. It wouldn't change anything and I would thank god every day that he was unsuccessful in his attempt to rape you, I would curse the ground for the violations he did get away with, and I would love you every second of every day from now until my heart no longer beat and beyond if that is possible." He told me pausing I heard him take a deep breath before continuing.

"Trust me Beautiful. Trust Ranger because I know he loves you every bit as much and even more. You are his life like his is yours. Nothing would make him stop loving you, please trust me." He told me. Even in my drugged induced state I knew that had cost him more than he ever meant to pay as my best friend but I could do nothing but love him more because of it. That's what true best friends do for each other. I shut my eyes event tighter trying to let the words he had spoken sooth me as I felt the tears continue to run down my face.

Trying to make myself believe him to really trust what he was saying but my mind was working so hard against me and against him, telling me something different.

It wasn't until I heard the next voice that I realized it was the voice of my dreams. It was the voice I needed to hear it was the voice I was longing for the voice that my world revolved around it wasn't until I heard that voice and the concern that was laced through it that I realized how scared I had been how scared he must have been. More tears sprung from my eyes again as fear slammed back into me that he may not want me. That Lester may have been wrong. That he might turn me away for what happened today for my bodies reactions to what happened. He might not want me for what was happening right now me in the shower with two other men, men that aren't him. My brain was going a million miles an hour making up scenario after scenario why he wouldn't want me or why I wasn't good enough for him and all of them I knew were true.

Raking sob after sob out of me my body caving into my minds beliefs that I was going to lose him today. I had always known that was the possibility I had always known that was highly likely that he would one day open his eyes and know that my life wasn't worth all that he had to go through for. That I wasn't worth the money that was spent on my safety when it was clear nothing could keep me safe.

The Slayers had gotten to me after all, they had snuck in Rangeman when no one was looking when my brothers weren't watching weren't suspecting and they had gotten me. He would see that I wasn't worth the extra protection because none of it worked. He would throw me back after all Slayers got in his building, his secure building because of me. It was because of me they managed to break into a secure building. He was going to see that I wasn't worth that.

"Babe?" I heard his voice calling me and I slowly turned to him afraid to open my eyes I couldn't see him as a slayer again his face on a slayer's body. I heard the shower door open and close and I knew he was in the shower with me. How was I going to touch him how was I going to let him touch me knowing I had been tainted by a Slayer.

He said he would never share and a Slayer had gotten to me he had his hands in me, oh my god he had put his fingers inside me the memory just slammed back into me like his fists of his attack when I had tried to fight him.

Sobs wracked through me I couldn't control. I couldn't control anything. I couldn't control what my eyes were seeing, I couldn't control what my mind was thinking, I couldn't control my body my legs, my arms, nothing. What the fuck was wrong me with? My memory was coming and going and the images and memories it was slamming me with was enough to take out a person the size of Tank let alone me.

I finally got my sobbing under control and I felt his hands on me. His wonderful strong hands stroking my face wiping my tears away I felt his lips quiver against my forehead. I reached for him putting my hands on either side of his face feeling his face, feeling his hair how he had it pulled back in his ponytail.

I knew his face I knew his body without even having to open my eyes. I knew his hands and I knew his hands were stroking my face. He must be on his knees in front of me because I could feel his shoulders, his face and I knew he wasn't leaning over.

"Carlos?" I questioned knowing it was him. My heart was soaring hearing his voice and yet my fear was rising for every second was growing closer to the moment of truth, would he still want me.

"Yeah Babe, it's me. I am here now. Everything is okay, everything is going to be okay I promise you." He told me pulling my body into him with me still sitting on the bench in the shower. I let myself cave into him I let him take my weight and I felt the strength of his body. Hoping and praying I would absorb some of his strength.

"Babe I love you, I couldn't get to you fast enough." he told me and tears sprung forward again.

"Carlos, wait to tell me you love me until you hear everything. You may change your mind Carlos you may decide that you don't love me anymore or that you can't love me anymore." I told him sobbing before I couldn't finish the sentence. I had to tell him he had to know. He had to know the truth even though I never wanted to be the one to have to tell him, I never wanted to have to say these words to him.

I was only glad that I was still too terrified to open my eyes as I didn't want to see the heart break in his eyes as I told him. I knew there was a reason why it was so important that I told him this now but for the life of me I couldn't figure out why. I couldn't remember why it was important. I only knew that I couldn't keep it from him.

"Babe, there is nothing..." I knew what he was going to say but I quieted him by putting my fingers on his lips. I couldn't hear those words and then for them not to be true.

"Carlos, I am screwed up. Things aren't working and I don't know why. I have no control over my body, my mind is messed up with what I am seeing and what I am told is true. I can't tell the difference. My mind is racing and I don't know why. I want to open my eyes and see you but I am so afraid I will see you as a slayer again." Saying the word Slayer brought about all the images in my head again.

"Carlos, a Slayer touched me. He had his hands on me. I tried to fight him I remember that but I couldn't fight him. When I did get a hit in he beat me." I told him remembering his assault against my body.

Carlos tried to speak again but I put more pressure against his lips. I could feel how tight his jaw was and I could imagine the look on his face which caused my level of anxiety to rise along with my level of fear and panic that he wasn't going to love me, that he wasn't going to want me, or that he was going to hate me.

"Beautiful please try to calm down, no one is upset at you. I told you he won't stop loving you, please trust me, trust him, you don't have to upset yourself more to do this now, you can tell him later after you have rested." Lester told me. I loved him I knew what he was doing. They told me that I would forget. That when I woke up I wouldn't remember this and I believed them because I was already having difficulty remembering what happened already and I haven't been asleep.

Everything was so confused, so hazy. "Lester you said I wouldn't remember. Bobby said that I wouldn't remember if I went to sleep. I am already having trouble remembering I have to tell him while I can Lester, I have to tell Carlos now." I told him insisting that I had to do this, that I needed to do this.

I couldn't forget and have this between us. I couldn't not tell him and hold this secret lost in my mind he had to know what happened. He had to be able to make his decision if he still wanted me by knowing all the truth. I was tainted and while I may not remember come tomorrow it would always be there everyone around me would remember it was never going away and for some it would never be forgotten. It would only be forgotten and not remembered by me and only me.

"Carlos, a slayer with your face attacked me. I tried to fight him, He ripped my clothing he had his hands on me, on my body, his finger they were…" I couldn't say it. I couldn't tell him. I broke down again sobbing as the tears ran down my cheeks. I felt him wiping them away his lips kissing my face my forehead my closed eyelids but I knew he wouldn't want to do that if he knew the truth.

"Carlos my body reacted to him touching me. I didn't want it to but it did. I didn't want it I was trying to fight him but at the same time my body reacted. He had his fingers inside me Carlos." I was back to full on panic mode as tears were trailing down my face. I could almost feel his hands on me again. Too many people were touching me. I was once again surrounded in the park and I screamed for my life. I screamed to be saved. I felt their hands holding my arms, their arms wrapped around me and I was suffocating from their touch I needed to get myself free.

I could only see the slayers and the hands on me the hands that had grabbed my body was back on me and I screamed even more gasping for air I couldn't seem to draw in. I heard someone calling my name and it was Carlos's voice but it sounded so far away. I couldn't see him it was dark it was all dark I was surrounded and I couldn't find him.

He couldn't find me. Carlos was yelling for me, yelling my name and I couldn't do anything but scream for him. I heard the door slam open and knew there were more slayers coming just as before. I remembered them running at me. I tried to move, I tried to get away pulling and kicking and trying to pull myself out of their hold but I wasn't able to break free I was trapped by slayers and Carlos couldn't get to me.

In my fight to free myself and save myself my eyes flew open and I saw all the slayers around me with three of them holding me one of them was the slayer with Carlos' face I screamed for all I was worth the fear ratcheting up higher and higher. I must have startled them because I was finally able to jerk myself free from their grip and I felt myself falling backwards.

I landed hard on the floor my head going back and hitting the floor I felt the air being pushed out of my lungs as I hit hard on my back and the white lights that exploded and danced in front of my vision as my head hit something hard before the darkness took me.

RPOV

From the moment I saw that Stephanie had activated her panic button I had been I a state of panic. Panic isn't something that I am use to feeling.

Thank fuck that Hawk was waiting for me at Boston Rangeman with the helicopter before I got there. Tank and I didn't bother to grab anything other than running from the garage to the roof top. We didn't say anything to anyone as we didn't have time. We had not a second to waste or lose. We had to get home our life was in danger but it wasn't from anything that was happening in Boston it was because of what we feared was happening in Trenton.

The scenarios that were going through my head with each failed attempt to reach any of my men was something that I wouldn't wish on my biggest enemy and I wished nothing but pain, suffering, and death on them.

All of my thoughts were on my Babe and getting to her as fast as I could. The helicopter ride was the longest ride of my life. I had been desperately trying to reach anyone but no one was answering their cell phones, no one was answering the land lines. I was switching between land lines within Rangeman to the cell phones. I was so fucking frustrated I was ready to toss the phone out of the helicopter but I knew that was my only way to reach anyone should anyone be able to answer the fucking phones.

Someone would answer for not answer the fucking phone when I got there. We had been in the air about an hour maybe more before Cal finally answered the land line in our apartment.

I didn't bother with pleasantries, they weren't really my thing, and my concern, panic, and sheer fear had me barking "Report" in the phone soon as I heard someone had picked up the phone.

"Rangeman" Cal said, I could tell by his tone he really wished he hadn't picked up the phone. I also could tell by his tone he didn't know what to tell me. Which made my fears of what could be happening or what had already happened grow even more to the point my stomach was ready to revolt.

"Report, mother fucker" I yelled into the phone my brain freezing with fear at what he may say. I was trying to lock down my emotions after all I wasn't emotional, I didn't do emotions in the field they could kill you. I saved my emotions for my Babe. The only problem was this time the field and my Babe had collided. I was away and something bad had happened. I could just tell from Cal's voice I wasn't going to know how to handle whatever it was emotionally. I just prayed that he wouldn't tell me she had been killed.

I took a deep breath in trying to calm myself, trying to put the emotions back in the box, trying to detach myself so I could deal with what I was about to hear. But it wasn't working. When it came to my babe I couldn't detach myself, my feelings, or my love. My life was hers. It was actually more a lot more her life meant a hell of a lot more than mine. I would give mine any day of the week to save hers.

Cal cleared his throat I knew it wasn't because it needed to be clear it was more just to get his voice so he could tell me what he was praying he wouldn't have to say, that something would happen and suddenly it would be someone else who would have to tell me.

"Rangeman, Stephanie was in the gym. She was working out by herself." He told me my mind was going a hundred miles an hour trying to figure out what the fuck could have happened to her while she was working out in the gym. Did she get hurt by a weight machine or one of the weights that she lifted? I knew Lester and Slyder and been there to spot her and I knew they weren't there today so my mind went to thoughts of the weights hurting her in some way.

"Was there an accident involving a weight or a weight machine?" I asked him. Trying to get him to hurry the fuck up and tell me.

"No Rangeman she didn't have an accident. She was attacked." Attacked how the fuck was she attacked while she was working out in the gym for fuck sake, what the fuck were they doing?

"Excuse me?" I questioned him using my don't fuck with me voice as now is not the time to fuck with me. My nerves on fucking end. I am worried about my Babe to the point that I can feel the level of panic rising in me and I don't do fucking panic. If he was near me I would have fucking decked him for the fuck of it.

"Do you mind telling me how the fuck was she attacked in the fucking gym in my fucking secure building with you all there?" What the fuck someone was going to fucking pay for this fucking bullshit. How the fuck did someone get in my fucking secure building without anyone fucking noticing and managed to get to my Babe. Someone was going to fucking pay for that one and fucking pay big.

"Cal we will discuss how this happened in a minute but right now I need to know how Stephanie is. Tell me. I need to know." I was scared as fuck to ask him any more specifics. I couldn't breathe the words Stephanie and dead in the same sentence and I couldn't bear to ask him if she okay because I knew she wouldn't be okay she was attacked and here I am in fucking Boston.

"She took a beating, she was assaulted Rangeman." He told me I knew he was holding something back and I could tell he was trying to skirt the issue. If I had the ability I would reach through the fucking phone I would ring his god damn neck until he told me what I wanted. I had been on the phone with him for five fucking minutes and I barely knew more than when he answered the phone.

"What does that mean? Is Bobby with her, what about Lester? Where is she is she at the hospital? I assume since you are up on seven that she is there but I want to know what the fuck is going on and exactly how she is." I told him my patience was already gone. I needed answers, I needed information, and I needed it like fucking yesterday.

"Rangeman you need to be calm in order for me to tell you this." He said. He had the fucking nerve to tell me to be calm. I would show him fucking calm when I get back there and rip his God damn head off of his shoulders. I would be fucking calm.

"Fuck you. Spit it the fuck out and you let me worry about how the fuck I react." I practically yelled at him.

"She was sexually assaulted Rangeman. Doug the contractor worker sexually assaulted her after he drugged her and beat her. She isn't well Rangeman. He drugged her with Ketamine, Rohypnol, and GHB. According to her he assaulted her when she tried to fight him off but with the drugs in her system she wasn't really able to fight him off. He ripped her clothing practically off of her. When Lester realized something was wrong and took off running towards the gym yelling for backup he had her down on the floor, her clothing ripped, he had his dick out and well was just about to rape her, but we stopped him. He wasn't successfully with his dick but according to what she said he was successful with his fingers."

My heart clinched from the first words that left his mouth. I felt the beast in me roar to life in a way that I had never felt it before and I had to remind myself I was thousands of miles in air in a chopper pulling air in through my nose trying but mercifully failing to calm myself. Every word knocked me back more and more and brought the beast within me out more and more.

I was trying hard to hold on to my sanity but I was pulled so many different directions. I wanted to get to my Babe and hold her. I wanted to see her with my own eyes, I wanted to hold her. I knew she needed me, I certainly needed her. The other part of me the beast in me wanted to rip someone limb from limb. The beast in me wanted to make someone pay for what my Babe had suffered. It wanted to rip Doug to pieces make him scream, beg, and suffer a death more painful than I had ever delivered.

I wanted him to fucking pay and regardless of what I did to him he would never pay enough. If I tortured him every day from now until the day I died it wouldn't be enough for what he had attempted to do to my Babe.

He tried to take something so personal from her, something that no man should ever take away from a woman. He had violated her and he was attempting to violate her even more. He wasn't only trying to steal something from her he was trying to steal something from me, from us. He tried to steal something that I cherished, something that was ours, something that was between her and I that we held extremely personal and extremely private.

My Babe had paid the price. I would make sure that he would pay for it that he would forever regret the day he laid his sites on my Babe. That he thought he could and would get away with doing something like this. He would pay.

"Rangeman did you hear me?" I heard Cal say as he pulled me from my thoughts of my Babe.

"Yeah I heard you. How is she? Where is she? Did you all take her the hospital?" I asked Cal.

"No, Rangeman she is here in your apartment. The drugs were raising the temperature of her internal body temperature and Bobby said she had to be put in cold water immediately. Bobby and Lester have her in the shower right now running cold water over her to keep her cool. Bobby said that she could heat stroke out." He told me and my heart jumped into my throat which was good because without it there I would have lost everything in my stomach.

This fucking chopper couldn't make it to Trenton Rangeman fast enough. Looking at Hawk I got his attention "Get there fucking yesterday. She needs me." I told him.

I couldn't bear to repeat the words Cal had said to me I just wasn't ready to say it or hear it again. I knew Tank wanted to know his eyes had been glued to me and he was trying to figure out what was going on with his little girl, his sister. I wanted to tell him but again I couldn't bear to repeat the words, to tell him how she had been violated.

I now knew why Cal was struggling with the words and how to tell me when he answered the phone. We all loved her, she was their sister and they loved her. They would do anything for her. They would do anything protect her so I knew what it had done to him to say those words.

"Cal I am not even going to ask if you have that mother fucker in the holding cell, but I am going to say this no one better fucking kill before I get there. Do I make myself clear? You tell the rest of those fuckers that if they kill him before I get there then they just signed their fucking death certificate."

Someone was going to die because of this, I was fucking killing someone and I wanted it to be Doug but any of those fuckers who were in that building when this happened would suffice if they had already taken his life. I know my Babe loved all of her brothers, trusted all of her brothers, and I knew they loved her and would protect her but somewhere something major had broken down when it came to her security and someone was going to be fucking paying for it.

I felt Tank's eyes still boring into me but I still wasn't able to say the words out loud. The closer we got to Trenton the more my anxiety rose right along with the bile in my throat.

I finally made eye contact with Tank. He knew it was bad. I could see the look in his eyes that said concern, that held fear, but I also saw the murderous glare in there. He had heard enough from my side of the conversation to know something had gone horribly wrong with Stephanie while she was in our home our secure Rangeman building.

Speaking to him for the first time since we were airborne I felt he needed to know before we hit Rangeman after all I didn't want him walking into the building not knowing. I knew one of the other guys would fill him in but I felt it needed to be me. I knew I would be with my Babe the second I could get to her and I wouldn't leave her side, ever.

"Tank that was Cal on the phone" I told him procrastinating the enviable. I took a deep breath and told him what I knew. Speaking words I never wanted to speak. Words that made my heart clinch, words that made my throat go dry, my stomach turn, bile rise in my throat, and something I would never admit to anyone in my life tears to my eyes.

"Stephanie was attacked by Doug in the Rangeman gym. He drugged her, he attacked her, he sexually assaulted her and was about to rape her when Lester and the rest of the men realized she was in trouble and was able to get to her. They got him off of her in time he wasn't successful in raping her but he did manage to get his hands and fingers on her." I told him. I tried to swallow the emotions and someone listening may have said it sounded almost clinical but there was anything but clinical going through my mind and my heart.

She was my life and someone tried to harm her, and they had succeeded and they had succeeded in hurting me. They would pay with their lives.

Tank never said anything he didn't need to. I saw his eyes I knew what he was feeling he was feeling a lot of the same ways I was, he loved her. She was his little sister and he would do anything for her. She had saved his life. He knew this and he would gladly give his life for her even without her having saved his life. Her saving his life had only made their bond tighter.

I could see the fury the rage the hurt and concern for my Babe in his eyes and I knew they mirrored mine. I was grateful that Lester and Bobby were with her but I knew she needed me. I knew she would want me. I knew how I felt when I had a close call, or when my life flashed before my eyes I needed to see her, I needed to hold her, I needed to feel her, and hear her. I knew she needed those things from me. I was sick that I wasn't there to give them to her. I was sick I wasn't there to stop this, to prevent this. Twenty million dollar contract wasn't worth this. I would have given twenty million for this never to have happened. Fuck I would have given more, a lot more.

I was never so glad to see my building come into view I was so anxious it was all I could do to sit still in my seat while the chopper landed. I was so anxious to get to my Babe.

Soon as the chopper had touched down I was out of my seat and running to the door on the roof. I knew Tank was right behind me but I didn't bother to slow down or check behind me. I was focused on seeing my Babe.

I stormed into the apartment and every Rangeman was in my apartment sitting around. One look at them and I could see the concern etched into their faces. I could see the worry in their eyes and I could see the rage and fury that resided below. I briefly wondered if they had kept him alive, but I knew they knew this kill would be mine and mine alone.

Soon as I walked into the room, my men jumped to their feet. Cal stepped forward. I guess since he answered my questions on the phone he felt like he would speak up now. "Rangeman they are still in the shower. Bobby came out and got her a chair so she could sit. We don't know anymore." I nodded and headed toward the bedroom.

Cal stopped me again "Rangeman you need to know that she is hallucinating from the drugs she is seeing us as slayers, so she is keeping her eyes closed to keep that from happening. She says her eyes are lying to her. She has been feeling our faces so she knows it is us." He told me as I continued my way to my Babe.

I opened the door and heard Lester talking to her. He was telling her to trust him, that I still loved her , that nothing would make me stop loving her. He asked her to trust him, and trust me. I briefly wondered why he would be saying that.

Seeing her I wanted her in my arms, I wanted to hold her, I wanted to tell her that everything was okay that I was going to make everything okay if it was the last thing I did. Seeing the bruises on her body rage filled me even more. Not being able to see those brilliant blue eyes made me want to rip someone apart for making her suffer. For taking away her blue eyes she didn't feel safe enough to open her eyes because she couldn't believe what they were telling her. The beast within me wanted someone's head. It wanted the blood of the person that had done this to her.

"Babe?" It was all I could manage to say right now I knew she needed me to be strong for her. I would take my time and break down when I could but right now it was strength my Babe needed and it was strength my Babe was going to get.

I stood in front of her and dropped to my knees. She had her eyes closed but called my name she knew it was me. She felt my face with her hands and I couldn't help but close my eyes with the feel of her hands on my face feeling it in void of being able to see me. I was thankful for the shower having soaked me because it covered for the tear that escaped my eye.

I don't know the last time my eyes had tears in them. That I had cried but this time I wanted to cry. My Babe had been hurt, she had been violated our life violated. I wanted to cry for her for what had been attempted to be stolen from her. For what was stolen from her. She has had people stealing from her, her whole life and I had intended to change that with her in my life and now she had been once again robbed and this time it was someone that I had approved someone that worked for me. That I had paid and that I had trusted. I hadn't trusted him with her safety because that only went to those that I trusted the most.

But I had trusted him that he wouldn't intentionally try to hurt her. He had planned, he had thought about it, thought it out and he had attacked her when she was the most vulnerable. He didn't even have the balls or guts to just attack he had drugged her so she wouldn't be able to fight for herself. But I was proud of her because even with the drugs he had gotten in her system she still fought him she still fought for herself and fought for us. I couldn't have been more proud of her if I had tried to be.

She was crying the tears streaking down her face. It broke my heart seeing her so broken looking. I wanted her to open her eyes because I wanted to see them so bad. I couldn't believe how much I had missed them. My soul needed to see her, needed to know that she was okay even though I knew there was no way possible that she was okay but my soul needed to see that she was still here that she was still with me. That we were okay,

I had let her down, my men had let her down, we had all failed her. We had all allowed her to get hurt, allowed her to be attacked, allowed her to be violated on our watch in our own secure building with cameras. We had all failed her. Part of me was on edge facing her knowing that.

I was embarrassed, I was humiliated, I was so pissed at myself as well as every one of my men that this had happened. She had been attacked, violated in a way that is so personal all right under our noses. All during our watch when and where she should have been the safest she wasn't. We had let our guard down and we had allowed the enemy within to attack her and harm her.

I didn't know how to apologize for that for what she had been through. I knew I needed to do it but I had no idea how. How do you tell the woman who is your life, the woman you love more than anything in this world anything in your life the woman that you would give your very existence to save, to keep safe, to be happy that you had let her down?

She had trusted my men, she had trusted me to keep her safe and we failed. How do I apologize for that? Failing wasn't an option when it came to her and we had all failed how would she ever forgive us, forgive me? How would she ever feel safe again in this building, with her brothers, or in my arms? How would I ever look at her again and ask her to trust me that I would keep her safe? That her brother's, my men, would keep her safe? How would she ever trust me, trust us again?

How would I ever ask her that? How could I ever ask her that how could I ask her to trust me to keep her safe when it was pretty fucking clear that I couldn't manage to keep her safe within the walls of Rangeman.

I had let a would be rapist work in my building, I had paid the fucker to plan out the attack on my Babe and carry it out. He had been with us, worked with us. While it is true the fucker never fit in and the men didn't really like him he was still here. I went against my judgment several times when I knew I should have fired him and allowed him to stay. When I knew if times had of been different I would have fired his ass but because of the amount of work we were doing I had allowed him to stay allowed him to even have his fun with fighting me for a chance of full time Rangeman job and this is what that fucker does he attacks my Babe when our backs were turned.

I heard her call my name, I could hear the state of panic she was in by her voice alone "Carlos?"

"Yeah Babe, it's me. I am here now. Everything is okay. Everything is going to be okay I promise you." I told her trying to convince myself just as much as I was trying to convince her. With me on my knees in front of her she sank her weight into mine I could feel her pulling strength from me. She could have all she wanted all she needed fuck she could have it all.

"Babe I love you, I couldn't get to you fast enough." I told her and was surprised when more tears sprung forward from her closed eyes.

"Carlos, wait to tell me you love me until you hear everything. You may change your mind Carlos you may decide that you don't love me anymore or that you can't love me anymore." She told me.

She had to know there was nothing that she could say that would make me love her less, want her less, she was my life and that was almost taken from me today. I was just thanking god that he hadn't succeeded in taking her from me. That they had gotten to her soon enough to not only stop the attack but ultimately save her life.

"Babe, there is nothing..." I tried to tell her how nothing she could say would change my feelings about her but she stopped me by putting her finger against my lips.

"Carlos, I am screwed up. Things aren't working and I don't know why. I have no control over my body, my mind is messed up with what I am seeing and what I am told is true. I can't tell the difference. My mind is racing and I don't know why. I want to open my eyes and see you but I am so afraid I will see you as a slayer again." She told me. I had been drugged before by enemies I knew what it did to your body. I had never been drugged with the same combination but I had been drugged before and I knew what it did to your mind, your body and I hated that now my Babe knew what it felt like.

"Carlos, a Slayer touched me. He had his hands on me. I tried to fight him I remember that but I couldn't fight him. When I did get a hit in he beat me." She told me and I could feel my whole body tense my jaw tighten with her telling me, the beast within me wanted Doug's blood.

I tried to speak again but she stopped me before I even got the first word out.

Lester sensing how upset she was getting tried to calm her by stepping in and saying "Beautiful please try to calm down, no one is upset at you. I told you he won't stop loving you, please trust me, trust him, you don't have to upset yourself more to do this now, you can tell him later after you have rested."

But she wouldn't let him calm her she was adamant to tell me something so she continued. "Lester you said I wouldn't remember. Bobby said that I wouldn't remember if I went to sleep. I am already having trouble remembering I have to tell him while I can Lester, I have to tell Carlos now."

"Carlos, a slayer with your face attacked me. I tried to fight him, He ripped my clothing he had his hands on me, on my body, his finger they were…" She had seen a man that she thought was a slayer with my face and he attacked her. Fuck.

"Carlos my body reacted to him touching me. I didn't want it to but it did. I didn't want it I was trying to fight him but at the same time my body reacted. He had his fingers inside me Carlos." She said causing my heart to clinch. I knew the reaction was because of the drugs it heightened senses and lowered inhibitions. That is why the teenagers and young adults took it claiming it made sex better.

I was going to tell her that none of that mattered to me. That all that I cared about was that she was going to be okay. That we were going to get through this and that I would love her until the day I died and beyond if that was possible. That nothing changed the way I saw her the way I loved her the way that I needed her but she went into panic mode before I was able to say the words I so desperately needed to say.

Her body was thrashing against us, jerking away from us she was trying to free herself from us and we were desperately trying to hold on to her knowing that she was unable to stand she would fall and hurt herself. When she screamed it shocked us all. I had my arms wrapped around her trying to hold on to her wet thrashing body. Trying to prevent her from further hurting herself by falling but she was fighting us like a tiger.

I tried calling her name to get her to calm down but that only seemed to cause her to panic and fight us more.

I heard the door slam open and it was Cal and Tank that had come running into the bathroom to see why she was screaming for her life.

In her fighting her eyes suddenly sprang open and while they were looking right at me I could tell she wasn't seeing me she was seeing something else. She screamed like I had never heard her scream especially while she was looking at me in that split second she broke free not only of my hold but that of Lester's and Bobby's.

I screamed her name as I saw her falling backwards I tried desperately to grab her but she hit the shower floor. I heard the air escape her lungs as her back hit and I heard her head crack the floor making me cringe at the cracking sound as it echoed throughout the room.

I leaped over the bench she had been sitting on and had her in my arms faster than I even realized I could move. Moving out of the shower with her in my arms grabbing a towel from Lester I wrapped it around her body and carried her to our bed.

"Bobby you need to check her. Check her head she hit the floor hard." I told him barely able to control my rage at all of us for letting her fall. We had managed to allow her to get hurt once again under our care.

I stripped out of my wet clothing and pulled on my boxer shorts then I crawled in the bed beside her and pulled her exhausted body against me. I had to hold her. I had to feel her breathing beside me, her heart beating. Bobby checked her over feeling her head.

"Ranger she hit her head pretty hard. I can't really tell anything until she comes to. It is possible she may have a concussion so we shouldn't let her sleep more than 2 hours. Lester's and Bobby's clothes were soaking the floor.

"Go change and come straight back." I told them and they nodded heading out of the room as Tank and Cal found a place on the floor. Slyder came in and picked out a spot along with Hector and Manny. It wasn't long before Bobby and Lester walked back into my Babe's and my bedroom and not after that our bedroom was nothing but a sea of black all of her brothers camping out on the floor waiting to hear anything waiting to see her open her eyes and know that she was alright.

**Pease take a moment and leave a review. Let me know your thoughts…I love every review it does wonder for my soul and wonders for my fingers! Don't forget to check out the accommodating website and my writer's journal…I put sneak peeks into the chapters in them! **

**You can find it all at www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com There are playlists there for the party and songs that are mentioned through the different chapters, pictures of the characters along with their bio as I see them in my head, as they are in my story. There are pictures of some of the clothing, and places that have been in my chapter, as well as pictures of cars, trucks, motorcycles from the Rangeman compound. I hope you enjoy it Leave a comment there as well if you wish!**


	47. Chapter 46: Taking out the Trash PT1

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**I want to thank everyone who writes a review for my story. I enjoy reading them and I love ideas they give me so keep them coming! You do my soul good!**

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**WARNING THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SOME VIOLENCE, I DON'T BELIEVE TISSUES WILL BE NEEDED BUT THERE ARE EMOTIONAL PARTS WITHIN THE CHAPTER.**

Chapter 46: Taking out the Trash PT1

EllaPOV

I stepped onto the fifth floor of Rangeman after an afternoon of shopping. It was my weekly day of shopping for groceries, supplies, etc for all of my sons and now daughter that I take care of within these Rangeman walls.

Walking on to the floor I immediately knew something was wrong. I immediately knew something bad had happened.

The command center was being staffed by Boston Rangeman. It was the protocol that was followed should Rangeman Trenton go dark. Should Rangeman come under attack the command center would be shut down and all client monitoring would be shifted to the Boston office until such time Boston response team could get on site and bring the command room back online. The response teams are made up of six men, two men would man the command room while the other four would respond to any issues, incidents, or aid the Rangeman under attack. This would be the case until such time that Rangeman Trenton would be able to take back over the command room.

All of Rangeman was setup like this. Rangeman Atlanta and Rangeman Miami was each other's backup and Rangeman Boston and Rangeman Trent were each others. Other than testing I had never seen this happen in all the time I had worked at Rangeman.

Looking in I recognized Demon and Reggae I knew the procedure. The procedure was if Rangeman Trenton went dark I was to lock myself in my apartment within the panic room. Luis, my husband was supposed to join me as soon as he could safely let himself in. It was something Carlos had thought up to keep us safe he knew we weren't soldiers. What he didn't know is that I had no intention of ever going into the room and leaving my sons and now daughter in harm's way. I would fight with them and for them like the family they were.

I walked into the control room. "Who is in charge?" I asked them. Reggae looked at me and smiled. I think he could see my intentions in my eyes.

"Ella you should be in the panic room. We don't know what the threat is why the control room went dark. We haven't spoken to anyone from Rangeman Trenton as of yet. None of their cell phones are working. We have searched the building's cameras and we are unable to find them. It appears all of their vehicles are accounted for."

Hearing this I felt my eyes widen. I felt my heart skip a beat they hadn't seen anyone from the office, they hadn't talked to anyone. "So you don't know what happened? Have you seen Stephanie, Carlos, Tank, Lester, any of the men?" I asked him. He just shook his head, no.

"You all checked every one of the cameras?" I asked them and they all nodded. I heard my breath catch in my throat and I felt hands on me guiding me to a chair. I happily accepted the chair because at the moment I wondered if my legs were going to hold me up. It was as if all the air had escaped my lungs and I could no longer stand on my own two feet. Sucking in a deep breath I tried to center myself again. My family needed me I needed to pull it together for them.

Sitting up straighter I asked them again "I want to know who is in charge here." I told them.

Reggae looked at me smiled he knew I was back in control and ready to do what I could for my family. He pointed to Demon "you already know Demon, this here" he pointed to the man to Demon's left "is Acer" he then pointed to the next man "this here is Matt he is the one in charge. He is second in command in the Boston office." He then pointed to the next man telling me "his name is wire and his partner is chase." He said pointing to the last man. I nodded.

"Men it is nice to meet you. I am Ella. If you need anything let me know. I prepare all of the food, clean the apartments, and do other things for the men here in Trenton." I told them. I knew they already knew who I was but I wanted them to feel welcomed here. They were all part of the Rangeman family so they were part of my family as well.

"How long have you been here?" I asked them.

Matt spoke up "Ella we have been here just under an hour. The entire building is on lock down no one in no one out. We saw you at the garage bay and opened the door for you that was the only way you were able to get in. The building will remain on lockdown until we can determine what happened and if a threat still resides."

Looking at him "Matt, what do we know? Have you looked at any of the videos prior to you arriving?" I asked him. He shook his head no.

"Ella we have only been here a little under an hour in that time we have had to bring up the command room. Boston is still monitoring the client video feeds the higher profile ones we have switched back here. We were just about ready to make a sweep of the building per protocol and pull up trackers, video feeds of the building, etc to access the threat." Matt told me. I nodded my understanding.

"Okay please let me know if there is anything I can do. I could look through the video if you want." I told them. He nodded.

"Ella, are you dressed?" He asked me. I nodded all Rangeman employees, even me, had to be dressed at all times, meaning carrying a weapon. He nodded as I pulled up a chair to one of the consoles to go through the video feeds.

SPOV

I slowly started to wake up. I heard voices. I had to fight my body not to tense up at the feel of arms around me. I knew these arms, I knew who they belonged to and I knew they would never hurt me. Yet deep inside me I had the urge to tense up, to fight him, to break free of his hold on me. I felt like I was trapped and I wasn't sure what was causing these feelings so I had to fight myself to remain there still, quiet, listening to the voices trying to figure out what was happening, what had happened, and why I was reacting the way I was.

They were whispered low voices the more conscious I became the more I could hear them or maybe it was that I could better understand what they were saying.

"Boston Rangeman is setup in the control room. They at first didn't know where we were until they went through the video feeds. Ella had been outside of the building shopping that is why she came up to check on her when she did. She had just found out something happened with her and we were all up here. She said she wants us to call her the minute she wakes up." I heard Lester say.

Bobby spoke up next "Boston Rangeman response team members are Matt who is in command, Acer, Reggae, Demon, Wire, and Chase. They did a sweep of the building and Matt should be up in a little while to tell you what they found."

I heard Zip speak up "We pushed the button to send all feeds to Boston soon as Lester went running from the command room yelling for backup within the building it was only seconds before Bombshell's panic button went off. We didn't know what was wrong but we knew something was major wrong as her panic button went off in house and we made the decision to go dark in the command room not knowing what we were dealing with."

I briefly wondered what happened why would I push my panic button within Rangeman. Why was I laying in our bed and why were they all in our bedroom? I briefly thought about Carlos and wondered if something had happened to him. My heart must have started racing to alert him that I was in fact awake and aware of what was going on around me.

"Babe?" I heard Carlos say from behind me and I felt his arm around me, his body pressed to mine as he pulled me closer to him. My initial reaction was to pull away from him, to free myself of his tightening hold. I felt what felt like panic raise in my body and I was really confused by the feelings never in my life had I felt this when Carlos touched me or held me. What the hell happened? Taking in my surroundings he was in the bed with me and my brothers were in the bedroom what the hell had happened why were we all here? How was I involved? Why would I have pushed my panic button in Rangeman?

What had happened that they had to shut down the command room and have Boston take over? From what Bobby said it sounded like they were on site in our command room. Rangeman had protocols for everything but I wonder what caused them to have to activate this one.

I went to move when I heard Carlos he was home from Boston had something happened to him? When I moved my body screamed in revolt every inch of me seemed to scream in pain. What the hell did I do to myself?

I was trying to remember what I had done. I was trying to remember the day but it was really fuzzy. I remembered waking up in Carlos' arms and wishing this day would never happen. I remember the dread I was feeling and the wanting within in me to beg Carlos not to go to Boston because I was worried about him. I remember working out but nothing beyond like the first or second training session. I vaguely remember being pissed at someone in Zero's life but for the life of me I couldn't remember why or who it was. I remember the feeling of wanting to slap them but had no recollection why. It was like the day ended and I was in bed and for some unknown reason my brothers were here with us in the bedroom. It was really a surreal moment why would they be in here with us?

"Carlos?" I questioned him when I couldn't bring myself to move much more. His name no more left my lips before Carlos, Bobby, and Lester were beside me. There fast movements startled me and I had to hold back the startle scream my body wanted to let out. I didn't want them to know that part of me wanted to be scared of them for some reason. It didn't make sense I wasn't afraid of these men they were my brothers, my to be husband and here I was having to stifle a scream when they moved close to me.

"Babe, how do you feel?" He asked me. I hurt all over. My body is full of aches. I quickly took assessment of myself. I wiggled my toes, my feet, moved my legs, I moved my hands, arms, then neck and finally head. When I moved my legs they were extremely sore, when I moved my arms they were heavy and sore, my neck felt like it was stiff.

What had happened to me? I felt Bobby's hands on me and had to still myself from instinctively cringing at his touch. What the fuck was wrong with me? Bobby always fixed me and I never cringed at his touch. His touch was always soothing and one that when I really hurt myself I secretly treasured likea mother kissing your boo boos when you were little that is what Bobby's hand had always felt like to me, not that I was going to tell him that. But today I wanted to cringe away from him, I didn't want him touching me. I schooled myself to allow his pushing and prodding and certain places he pushed I had to also stifle a hiss of pain. "Bomber I am sorry but I need to check you. Can you open your beautiful eyes for me I need to check them? I need to see if you have a concussion." He told me.

I realized I still had my eyes closed and I felt odd that I was somewhat comforted by the fact that they were closed but for the life of me I couldn't think why. It didn't make sense. I loved looking at Carlos and seeing my brothers. If anything having my eyes closed being unable to see around me always makes me anxious and uneasy. I briefly wondered why all of a sudden I would find comfort in the fact they were closed.

I slowly opened my eyes opening them wider than normal blinking a few times to bring them into focus and acclimate them to the light even though the room's light was low. What I saw shocked me. All of my brothers were standing around the room. I knew several of my brothers were here but I didn't realize all of them were here.

Their clothing was rumpled and they had the look of worry etched on their faces. I knew something had to have happened to me but I wasn't sure what. I scanned the room again seeing Lester, Tank, Bobby, Cal, Hector, Ram, Slyder, Zip, Zero, Manny, Binkie, Hal, Woody, Vince, and Junior. I had heard Lester say that Rangeman Boston was running Rangeman, so they were in the control room.

"Hey guys" I said feeling a little awkward that they were standing in our bedroom while Carlos and I were lying in the bed. I chocked down the feelings of uneasiness that rolled across me part of me wanted to bolt and I had no understanding as to why I felt that way.

Bobby sat down beside me on the bed but Carlos' arms never left me. He kept them around me the entire time holding me tight to his body. I had turned on my back but his body was pressed tight against my side.

I noticed that I had on a Rangeman t-shirt but from how big it was on me I knew it could only belong to Tank. I briefly wondered why I was wearing his t-shirt and where was my clothing that I had on earlier. I remembered the shirt Lester had given me and I wondered where it was.

"Carlos in answer to your question I am sore. My legs, my arms, my body aches." I told him as Bobby continued to shine the bright light in my eyes moving it away and then to my eyes again. He asked me to follow his finger and asked me how many fingers he was holding up.

I went along with this testing probing and prodding mainly because I wasn't sure what had happened and with the feelings I had running around in me I knew something was majorly wrong with me. I also knew all my brothers would feel better after he was finished. Once he let them all know that I was in fact going to be okay.

"Carlos what happened? I am glad you are home but why? Why are we in the bed and all of our brother's up here with us? Why is Bobby looking me over? Did I blow something up?" I asked him unsure and a little concerned maybe I had blown up the gym all though for almost the past two weeks nothing had gone boom around me. Technically I knew I was overdue for one but I really hoped that I had just outgrown that stage of my life. It was really overrated to have things go boom around you all the time.

"What do you remember?" He asked me. I felt the bed dip looking down Lester crawled up on the foot of the bed sitting Indian style. I noticed he had his boots off and something about it rang a bell but for the life of me I couldn't put my finger on it as to what it was. I felt what felt like claustrophobia but I couldn't understand why. I was claustrophobic after being put in a box, and a cabinet, and the many other places psychos had stuffed me but I couldn't for the life of understand why I felt it with Carlos, and my brothers around me.

"I don't know I remember having breakfast with you this morning, I remember being worried about you going to Boston that something would happen to you. I wanted to ask you to stay at home but I knew you needed to go for Rangeman. I remember doing my training session this morning and you coming to say bye to me. That is about all I remember. The last thing I remember I was in the gym and was training with Zero and for some reason I was pissed at someone in his life and wanted to slap them but I can't remember who or why." I said looking at Zero hoping he would fill in the blanks but I continued. "Please tell me I didn't destroy the gym." I told Carlos and my Brothers.

I was sort of making a joke about the gym I mean how would I have blown it up? I didn't have a bomb I had my gun but that was in my bag and it wasn't like I had anything that would blow up but stranger things have happened where I was concerned but no one made a comment no one laughed not even Lester who was always good for a quick come back or laugh. Something really had them upset and I had a feeling that something definitely involved me but what the fuck was it? I just had no idea what I had done or what had happened.

RPOV

I still couldn't believe she had slipped out of all our grasps. She had caught us by surprise with all the screaming and then her eyes opening and the level of fear I saw them while she was looking at me made me freeze. I was shocked even when she didn't know me and had just met me and I tried to make her fear me she never feared me the way she did right this moment looking at me.

She pulled away from me in that split second she had jerked out of both Bobby's and Lester's hold as well and fell backwards. I remember screaming her name as the fear once again took over as I was watching her fall right in front of my eyes and not being able to stop it not being able to catch her. Fuck.

I heard her hit and the crack of her head. I knew she had knocked herself out when she hit her head. I quickly got her to the bedroom dried her off and Tank gave me his shirt to cover her body with as I just had wrapped her in towel. I pulled his shirt over her head and put her in our bed. I quickly got on dry boxers and got in bed beside her. I couldn't be without her not for a second. I had to feel her in my arms and know she was safe.

I had to be with her I had to be touching her I had to be beside her. I knew there was a chance she would wake up and if so she would be afraid and I had to be here for her. I couldn't allow her to be that afraid again. I would find a way to fight the demons away if it killed me trying.

She lay there in my arms as her brothers filled the room. I don't know when my life had changed to the point that I would be okay with laying in the bed with my Babe and having her brothers fill the room sitting on the floor around our bed watching her as if almost keeping vigil over her.

I knew they all loved her would all give their life for her but I also knew they needed her as much as I needed her. She was a part of their hearts. For some a heart that they thought had long stopped beating had long stopped pumping blood. They lived yes but they like me hadn't felt alive until a certain little brown curly haired beautiful woman came into mine and their lives.

We existed, we did things no one wanted to know about or talk about, we breathed in air and ate for sustenance but we weren't living we were existing and for many of us this was our life we had seen too much, survived too much, done too much to truly live, to love, to have feelings such regret, hope, guilt, remorse, sadness, happiness, fear, panic, contentment, forgiveness and redemption. We didn't feel those feelings until she came into our lives and for some of us I knew those feelings consumed us for many different reasons.

Some of those feelings I would rather not feel and be happy if I never felt them again like the feelings of fear and panic when I thought that I had lost her. For others well they are harder to swallow such as those of guilt and remorse. I had enough of those two to chock on some days it seemed.

I had so many things to feel guilty for and be remorseful for I had let her down so many times. I know I had also saved her life more times than that but it didn't matter. When I allowed myself to get lost in those feelings of guilt and remorse it didn't matter how many times I had saved her what matter most was how many times I had let her down.

I knew that we were all feeling it right now. The air in the room hung heavy with guilt, remorse, regret, and sadness. I knew there were also other feelings that we all never stopped feelings and they were of payback, retribution, righting the wrong. They were feelings of making someone pay for the pain and loss they had created within us. They were feelings of hatred, the desire to draw blood, the desire that resided in all of us that wanted to take a man's life. We all wanted to kill him. We all wanted to be the one that watched him draw his final breath.

Those feelings had never left us those feelings were trained in us we were all killing machines for one reason or another be it life, or be it military training we all had one things in common we were all killers, we were all beasts, we were all darken souls it was the one thing that bound us as brothers before we had a another reason to be bound. When she came into our lives and wound us around her little pinky finger she gave us another common bound and it was filled with light and goodness, it was filled with love and acceptance something none of us had known not the way she gave it not the way she showed us and accepted us.

Today we had almost lost that, that was almost taken from us and trust me when I say the darkness inside of us will fight, will kill, will do whatever it is necessary to do to hold on to the light to protect the light, to keep the love and acceptance of her in our lives. The darkness in us will use everything it knows, every capability it has to hold on for all its worth to the light because that is the last chance for our souls. That is the last chance of us to exist as part of humanity now that we have tasted what it is like to have these feelings we had so long ago lost in one way or another we couldn't let them go now.

Normally I wouldn't have allowed her brothers in our bedroom this was our room, this was where our love resided in a way that it didn't in the rest of apartment or building this was our inner sanctum for our love our life but tonight I knew I couldn't force them to leave I couldn't keep them out because just like me they needed her for their own sanity their own life and even for their own existence to continue.

While she lay in our bed, in my arms unconscious and my men or I should say her men because they were all her men, her brothers, her best friend, her protectors, these men would do anything for her including kicking my sorry ass should I ever be stupid enough to hurt her. I prayed I would never see the day that I mistakenly hurt her because I never wanted her to ever feel an ounce of pain.

I looked around at the men gathered around us "Men I know we are all blaming our selves but that isn't going to fly with her. You know she will never allow us to blame ourselves and it won't help this situation. You all saved her and I am forever grateful for you reaching her in time. I can't imagine what would have happened had he been successful in his plan I can't imagine what he would have done to her and how it would have affected her. What he did manage to do is bad enough and he took enough." I told them.

"When she wakes up I have no idea what condition she will be in with the drug combination and not knowing how much of the different drugs or the combined drugs that are in her system it is no way to tell how much she will or won't remember. There is a possibility she may not remember anything that happened." I told them.

They nodded. "If she doesn't remember anything I would like to think that we wouldn't have to tell her but you all know that isn't possible. She will know something is wrong even if she doesn't know what and she will want to know what it is and I feel like she deserves to know what happened. While we all feel like this happened to us because it affected her it happened to her, it was her body he violated, it was her he attacked and she has the right to know what he did to her. This isn't something we can keep from her. Should she remember in time and we didn't tell her she would never trust us again."

Hector shifted and I could tell he had something on his mind I could also tell that he wanted to voice but wasn't sure about it. "Hector" I called his name getting his attention but also my way of telling him to spill it. If it involved my Babe then I needed to know about it.

"Ranger, how do you know that she will continue to trust us even if we tell her? I want her to know, I do but what if she sees what we all know? What if she sees us for the failures we were today? What if she is unable to trust us again?" He voiced his concerns in Spanish and I knew it had cost him a lot to even speak them for they made him appear vulnerable and one thing Hector was never was vulnerable even to his brothers within this room. He'd never shown a vulnerable, unsure, or weakness in front of any of us ever. My Babe had really changed the man he was and shown him he could trust people even believe in people.

I had no answer for him. He had spoken my very own fears, and I am sure the fears of almost every one of the men standing in the room beside him. I wish I could knowingly tell him that he was wrong that she would continue to love us, trust us, want to be with us, want us protecting her but honestly once she knows what happened to her on our watch be it us telling her, or her remembering I wasn't sure what she would do, how she would feel, or how she would look at us.

Those thoughts brought forward the rage made the beast within me roar to life once again I wanted to rip that mother fuckers heart out with my bare hands. I wanted to pound my fist through his chest grab his fucking heart and jerk it out, if only that were possible.

"Men that fucker is going to die for this that is a given we will all have the opportunity to pay him a visit and show him the price for his actions but if any of you mother fuckers kill him before I have had my chance then you will replace him. He is my kill and mine alone. If you fuck him up to the point you think he is going to die then you better fucking call Bobby to save his fucking life because that life is mine for the taking and only mine." I told them.

I wanted to make it clear to them that he was mine and all mine alone. That mother fucker would regret the day he was born before I was finished with him. He would cuss his mother and damn his father to the greatest depths of hell for ever bringing him into this world for what I would do to him before I took him out of this world. Before I allowed him to die he would beg for death he would scream for it but it won't come easy it won't come at his begs or screams it will only come when I have had my fill of him. When I have filled my need to make him suffer will I allow him to fucking die.

Who wants to pay the first visit? I asked my men knowing all of them wanted a chance and all of them would jump at first chance. I thought maybe it would be better to start with the least intimidating and work our way through the men to more intimidating so I looked over at Binkie.

"Binkie you and Hal go first." I told them. They nodded and walked out of our bedroom. I shifted my focus back on my Babe it was time to rouse her just in case she had a concussion I wanted to make sure I could wake her. I nudged her a few times and gently shook her until she mumbled something I couldn't make it out but she spoke something. I gave her another slight shake and she said "W…whaatt?"

Like she wanted to know what I wanted without waking up it was good enough and I allowed her to continue sleeping. I knew her little body had to be at its wits end with all she had endured today the drugs, the beating, the assault, what he tried to do to her, the fear and terror she was feeling.

I just thank god he wasn't successful. I just thank god her brothers got to her in time, that they saved her and was able to prevent the drugs from doing anything worse to her. I unknowingly had pulled her tighter against me with just the thoughts of having almost lost her. It was only when I heard her whimper in her sleep did I loosen my unintentional hold on her.

BinkiePOV

I walked out of Rangeman's bedroom with Hal hot on my heels. Hal and I were going to get the first go at that mother fucker who tried to harm our bombshell. We both knew we couldn't kill him but we both knew we could fuck his world up major and that is what we intended to do.

We went down to the holding cell where we had thrown the mother fucker. He wouldn't be getting food but we would give him water as we didn't want him to die too fucking soon. I picked up a water bottle and carried it in the room with me.

I am younger than Doug and even smaller than him but I am fast, and I am superior fighter those that underestimate my abilities soon learn that what I lack in size I make up for in knowledge and speed. My strikes are lightening fast and they can be just lethal. I was hoping this fucker was going to under estimate me because he would make me feel good to show him just how much I could fuck his world up.

Walking into the dark room I flipped the bright lights on and he was curled up in the corner of the room. When the lights came on his head popped up looking to see who had come in. When I saw his shoulders relax at the sight of me it made me smile because I already knew he had under estimated me.

He was fucking trash to try to rape my sister to attack her he was fucking scum. For any man to rape a woman it was such a sign and show of cowardliness that they deserved to fucking die. We would have fun making sure that is what happened to this fucker.

He didn't deserve to hold the title of a man. I walked over to him he had sat up watching me. I could tell he didn't think he needed to fear me. I was going to show him how wrong he could be.

I reached down grabbing him by his hair and I jerked him to me. As he came forward towards me my right fist landed in his stomach just down from his breast bone. I felt the air rush out of his diaphragm and I couldn't help the smile, more of a leer, my lips formed.

Hal had training with her this morning and after that we had gone out to a client install. We had finished up the install and were on our way back to Haywood when Bombershell's panic button went off. Hal was driving and the second we realized it was Bombshells panic button and it had her location at Rangeman we floored it.

We tried calling everyone but no one was answering so we knew it was bad. When we got there we flew out of the SUV and flew upstairs only to discover everyone was in the gym so we ran for all we were worth to the gym. We got there to find Bombshell being held by Lester her clothing torn and them trying to cover her. Some of the guys had Doug down and I could tell they had already delivered a few blows to him. It wasn't but a few seconds later that Bobby came back through the door saying he had drugged her. I had heard that combination before and I knew they all were used by predators at clubs for date rape. With her torn clothing, her sobbing and clinging to Lester, her eyes closed saying she couldn't trust what she was seeing made rage like I had never felt course through my body and I flung myself at that mother fucker. Hal grabbed me pulling me back telling me I would have my turn and I was having my turn right now.

I pulled my fist back and I hit him again. I made sure my Cat boots with steal toes made contact with his dick and balls as he screamed in pain. That would be just the first scream of pain for this fucker he had no idea what he had unleashed here in this building and I was only the beginning and I was nothing to fear compared to Cal, Tank, Lester, Hector and Rangeman. He had no idea the demons he had awoken that resided amongst most of these men. It would be fun watching them have their way with this fucker.

Normally it was scary as fuck when one of them allowed their demons out just as the people of Stark Street or the Slayer members found out, if you could find any of those fuckers willing to talk or capable of talking. They would tell you how scary it was to witness the demons of Rangeman. Those had only witnessed maybe one or two whereas Doug he would witness them all. He had managed to wake them all and if you listened careful you could hear their cries, their desire for blood the moan of the building's walls as it attempted to hold them within its walls.

My fist rapidly connected with nose, eye, side of his face as my knee connected with his gut when he feel to the ground I took the opportunity to once again smash his dick and nuts to the ground as I ground my foot to the floor him chocking up blood and spitting it on the floor. It would only be the first of many splatters of his blood on this floor.

I guess it is good for the floor drain and the Clorox wash we had built in to this room. I gave him a series of quick kicks to the gut as he lay their chocking. One more kick to the head and I was done I wanted plenty of him left for the others. I walked out of the room and nodded to Hal who stepped in the room.

HalPOV

I walked into the room the mother fucker was laying in the floor he had coughed up a little blood from where Binkie had given him a once over. I took the bottle of water Binkie had left on the table opening it I threw some on him to get his attention. He looked up at me and I just smiled at him.

"You thought you could attack our sister in her home right under our noses and get away with it?" I asked him. I didn't give him time to answer before my foot made contact with the side of his head. His head snapped back and I hoped I hadn't broken his neck.

"You are a dumb fucker a true dumb fucker to think that we would let you do what you did and then let you walk out of here I told him as my foot made contact with his ball sack. He hollered in pain and the dark side in me smiled with glee that I am certain was evident on my face. I saw his eyes enlarge as he looked at me and I had no doubt he couldn't see the dark side within me and I hoped he feared it. I am a big man and Doug well let's just say he isn't. I reached down and picked him up as if he was nothing which he wasn't. I picked him up over my head just to show him the pure strength within me and I tossed his fucking ass across the room.

He crashed into the wall and with a thud dropped to the ground below. When Bombshell's panic button went off I couldn't get back here fast enough. When I ran into that gym my heart almost stopped. My chest hurt so fucking bad at what I was seeing I was certain that it wasn't beating within my fucking chest. She was laying there in Lester's arms her clothing torn from her body the shirt that Lester had given her tattered and hanging on her exposed body. Exposing her to that fucker who had tried to do something heinous to her, something so heinous I couldn't even say the word.

I saw red I wanted his fucking life but I held myself back. I knew his life was for one and only one to take and that would be Ranger. Ranger would make it so that man wished he had never lived. Ranger was only giving us a chance to let our frustrations out as to what had happened to our sister now. We were able to do whatever wanted with him but kill him.

I picked him up by his arm and I decided that he didn't need two arms so I fucking snapped it like a twig off of branch he screamed in pain and I welcomed the scream, my soul welcomed it. The sound of bone cracking and popping for most people that sound sent shivers up their spine makes them shudder for me, it was pure fucking bliss hearing it and knowing it was this dumb fuckers bones I was cracking. His screams of pain only feed the desire for more. As my elbow made contact to his cheek knocking him back to the ground like the fucking scum he is.

I delivered another series of kicks and just one for good measure I stepped on his broken arm hearing it further crack under my weight. I picked the water bottle back up and dumped the remainder of the bottle over him. Making my way out of the room hitting the lights plunging him into darkness leaving him alone with his cries of pain and agony of which he had only gotten the taste of the tip of the iceberg there would be a whole lot more to come where I had left off.

Binkie and I cleaning up our hands and changing our shirts made our way back up to the seventh floor to check on our sister. Walking into their bedroom she was still sleep in Ranger's arms. I nodded to Ranger letting him know that we had paid our visit to the dumb fucker. He nodded back and then looked at Zip and Zero only saying two words "you're up" they nodded and left the room. Part of me was sorry we had finished so early I was jealous it was now their turn.

ZipPOV

Zero and I walked out of the bedroom. Part of me didn't want to leave her. I wanted to see her when she woke up but the other part knew I had enough time to deliver a little bit of pain and get back before she woke.

I knew her tired body would be out for a while and during that time I wanted to make this mother fucker scream. I had taken my sister flying and hearing her laugh and scream in joy was music to my soul. That same soul when I heard her screams of fear and her screams of help want to kill every mother fucker who had ever harmed a hair on her head. My own feelings shocked me at how protective I had become of her.

Never having a sister and only having girls for one night stands I had never known what it felt like to have a woman be a constant in my life besides my mother. While I love my mother, and I guess I was protective of my mother as a child and even now to a certain degree. I was never that way with another woman until now.

From the time I had met Stephanie I knew I would give my life for hers without question. I never could imagine how much I would want to kill for her until this very minute. Walking into that room and seeing that dumb fucker lying in the floor brought it all home to me and I really had to restrain myself. I briefly wondered if it was smart for me to have walked through the doorway. I knew I could kill him so quickly and yet if I did I knew Ranger wouldn't hesitate to take all of his anger out on me.

This was his kill and I knew it yet everything in me wanted to end this fucker's life. I gave him a series of quick kicks, then a few punches to the ribs I felt a couple of them crack and it made me smile. I could tell his arm was broken in at least one place. It served him right.

He was lying on the floor at this point his hand out in front of him flat on the floor. He was trying to raise his sorry ass up. Looking at his hands fury shot through me thinking it was those hands that had taken advantage of our Bombshell before I knew it I was stomping his hands and grinding his hand against the floor under my boot until I heard the bones cracking and popping. He was screaming in pain but that only appeased my soul even more.

After breaking his hand I decided to let Zero have a little fun with the fucker so I stepped out of the room and nodded to him. He was just smiling as he made his way into the room.

ZeroPOV

This fucker had messed with our lives. I know that sounds so serious when I say that it sounds so surreal even thinking it but she had become all of our hearts. I had just for the first time had a chance today to work with her in her training and I was so psyched. He took all of that away all of those memory away by attacking her and making today something that none of wanted to ever think about again never wanted to relive again. None of us ever wanted to think about today or what happened.

My first training day with her was forever tarnished by his filthy fucking dick and his fucking fingers. I picked up a bottle of water on my way into the room. I saw him on the floor holding his hand and I could tell by the color and by it already swelling it was broken and broken in more than one place.

I opened the water and I could see him eyeing it he wanted it and he wanted it bad. He would get it. I made my way over to him grabbing him by his hair pulling his head back forcing his mouth to open because of the angle I was holding his head back. I poured the water down his throat. He was chocking and coughing and gulping as I continued to pour. Water came out of his nose as he was choking on it.

He was trying to keep up with the rate but I wasn't letting up not until every last drop was poured down his throat. Let the fucker choke, he wanted the fucking water, he fucking got it. Fuck in some countries he would be fucking thankful choking or not.

He no more finished choking for I helped him up on his feet by the hair on his head. My fist made contact with his gut and I moved just in time for the water as it made reappeared all over him and the floor. He dropped to his knees as he gagged once again on the water as more came up. I took a good opportunity and kicked him in his ass sending him sprawling across the floor. When his head connected with the wall it brought a smile on my face. That kick felt good.

I walked over to the wall where he was laying on the floor. Grabbing him by his hair I pulled him up dragging his face up the side of the wall. When he was full height I pulled him away from the wall only to slam his head back into the wall. He wobbled on his feet and I knew I had almost knocked him out. You could look at his eyes and tell he had no fucking clue who he was at the moment. Not that it would matter because it wasn't going to be long before he wasn't going to need to remember who the fuck he was.

I gave him another fist to the gut which had him bending double. I watched as he coughed up a little blood. I wasn't concerned I knew he would live long enough I delivered one last blow to his back as he was bent over sending him to the ground where he fucking belonged like the fucking dirt he was. I made my way out of the room.

Zip and I cleaned ourselves up and made our way back up to seven to check on our sister. I knew that no matter how many times I hit him, how many times I hurt him I would never forget her screams of fear, her screams of terror, and her screams for help when she didn't think help was coming. For him making her see us Slayers as someone who would hurt her when we would give our lives for her, do anything for her safety I couldn't hurt him bad enough. Death was too good.

I knew those screams would haunt me for many nights to come this was just one of many and no matter how much damage I did to him it would never be enough. I knew my other brothers felt and was feeling the same. It was going to be several long nights and days at Rangeman as none of us were going to want to go to sleep to have to relive this nightmare of a day in our dreams.

JuniorPOV

I had heard her screaming from the moment I went running in the gym on high alert. I had heard Lester yelling for backup as he went running out of fifth floor. Jumping to my feet at my desk I grabbed my gun pulling it from its holster making sure it was loaded and a round was chambered as I followed him.

He hit the stairwell seconds before me I was right behind him. We were both running for everything we had. I didn't know what had him on high alert and I didn't give a fuck. For him to sound the alarm calling for backup and running the way he was something was seriously fucked up.

I had no idea how seriously fucked up it was until we hit the third floor heading to the gym I heard her screaming and I swear our bodies picked up speed even though I would have sworn we were already running top speed. We had attracted a following as every man in Rangeman was behind us running with us.

We were the fucking Calvary I just had no way of knowing how close we almost came to not saving the girl. When Lester threw open the gym doors I swear my feet kept moving while my mind felt as though it had bolted them to the spot.

I felt shock register through me as I realized what I was seeing. I felt rage course throughout my body as the blood pulsed through my veins at what my eyes didn't believe what they were seeing. I heard her scream and it felt as if my ears had been pursed you could hear and feel the pure terror coming from her scream.

He had her down and pulled to him I could tell by what I could see that he was exposed even though I couldn't see his dick from where I was. The closer I got the more my stomach wanted to revolt at the scene in front of me.

I have run into battle scenes where my stomach never even flinched. I had seen soldiers, my brothers, fucking blown away, blown into piece, shot in front of me and while it was a huge fucking loss my stomach never revolted at the sight.

It was all I could do to keep from retching on the floor. As his body was jerked away from hers and I heard her screams even more seeing her torn tattered clothing and seeing her body exposed and his exposed body parts rage poured through me. I felt something shift inside me I was no longer a man, I wasn't sure what I was but it wasn't human, it wasn't the man that now stood in this room reliving the scenes that would haunt my dreams.

When Zip and Zero walked back into the room to check on Bombshell and Ranger nodded at me and Woody I couldn't help the feral smile that come over me. I was remembering that thing that I had become earlier and I could feel it wanting back out. Parts of me welcomed it while other part of me was honestly scared shitless of it. Scared shitless that I was truly capable of being that and doing what I knew that thing was capable of doing without guilt, without regret, without sympathy or empathy.

Part of me wondered if I would ever be the same and while I knew the answer that I would never be the same I also knew that I didn't truly care. The only thing I cared about right now was making that son of a bitch pay and my only regret, my only problem was that I couldn't kill that mother fucker for what he had done to her.

Woody nodded and I could see the urgency within him to show this mother fucker some pain. It was comforting to a degree to know that I wasn't the only one that felt this way I just wondered if they had in them what I was feeling within me. I wondered if they saw it in me, what I was feeling, would they accept it, accept me.

I opened the door and I saw the dumb fucker lying in the floor. I could see the little splatters of blood on the floor, and on the wall. I saw his hand crushed, swollen, and broken. He wouldn't need a doctor for it because he would never live long enough for the healing process to begin. His arm was broken. He had taken a bit of a beaten you could see the bruises on his face, you could see the fear in his eyes when the door opened and I walked in.

I quickly walked over to him reaching down jerking him up to his feet. Seeing his face brought the disgust back as well as the rage. "You thought you would attack our sister and get away with it?" I asked him in a voice that clearly spoke of what I thought of him. He didn't answer me. So I gave him a shot to the solar plexus. "Answer me dumb fucker." I told him.

I swiftly kicked him, my boot connecting with the side of his head as I gave him a round house kick that sent him sprawling across the floor. Since he was laid out on the floor on his stomach legs and arms spread eagle I took advantage and gave him a swift kick between his legs. Landing my steal toed boot right in his balls. I know that was a cheap shot and one I wouldn't normally pull but I felt like that one was for my sister, and we all knew she was never above kicking, kneeing, or punching someone in the gonads.

Besides he had tried to rape my sister his nasty fucking dick and balls had touched her so hopefully that kick will send them north and without some serious fucking rubbing on his part he would be in a lot of pain. I sure as fuck wasn't going to help him retrieve them.

I walked out of the room while he was curled in a fetal position holding his sac in his hands coughing and gagging. I couldn't help the smile when I saw Woody standing in the door just awaiting his turn. Part of me wanted to stay and deliver more but part of me was truly scared for what I knew resided within me. I knew I couldn't kill him but what I didn't know is if I could control the thing within me to keep from killing him. I wasn't confident I could leave the kill for Ranger so I stepped out to let Woody take over.

WoodyPOV

When Junior opened the door and is saw the look on his face the smile I knew he was smiling because I was waiting to kick the shit out of the dumb fucker. I looked past him and saw him curled up in fetal position holding his nuts.

I looked at Junior and he just shrugged but added "it was for my sister". I nodded my understanding all of this was for our sister. We all wanted a piece of this fucker. I reached down grabbed a water and pulled the trash can in with me.

I walked over the wall with the trash can. Placed my finger on the keypad the panel lifted to expose the faucet. This was a special addition to this room it was a faucet for water used to clean the room. The center of the room had a drain in it. This room was specially designed for interrogation and had all the state of the art when it came to cleaning up after the interrogations no matter how messy they would become.

I pulled the hose over and put it in the can turning it on allowing the can to fill with water. While I turned my attention to the dumb fucker who was still lying on the floor holding his nut sack.

"Time to be a man" knowing he never had what it took to be a man I told him as I reached down grabbed him and pulled him up to his feet. "It's time you account for your actions." I told him and I saw his eyes widen slightly. I definitely had his attention. It was a shame I couldn't really kill him because I wanted to. Fuck we all wanted to but we all also knew that was Ranger's right.

Most know me has the happy go lucky Woody. I like to have fun, I like to be laid back enjoy my friends, enjoy my women, and enjoy my wheels. Few know me well enough to know exactly what I am capable of. Few know the man that dumb fucker is about to experience and those few that do know that man never want to have firsthand experience with that man they all preferred the happy go lucky Woody.

I grabbed him by the back of his head taking his hair and knotting it in my hand. Just for fun I pulled his head down as I raised my knee up jabbing his face into my knee. I felt his feet start to go out from under him at the impact of my knee to his head but jerked his ass back up so he couldn't fall to the ground. The fucker didn't even attempt to stop me or fight back, I guess he knew better.

He had been worked over fairly well broken arm, crushed hand, broken nose that appeared to be broken in several places, bleeding from various wounds and let's not forget his balls that were probably buried inside if not already ruptured from the kick Woody gave him.

I pulled him over to the trash can now filled with water. This was going to be fun. I grabbed his head and shoved his head into the can dunking him under the water. Holding him under as he fought to get away from me. I held him until he stopped fighting and then I pulled him up. When his face surfaced he coughed spitting up water from his lungs. I only gave him a second before submerging his face again.

He was thrashing trying to get himself up out the water. Death by drowning is a nasty way to go because you fight for your life you fight for that last breathe of air like you have never fought in your life.

Again when he had almost given in I pulled him up out of the barrel. That is what happens in real life to people who drown. You fight and fight for the air to breath until you finally can't fight it anymore and you give up succumbing to the water as it fills your lungs your heart is still pumping you are still fully aware that you are dying it is only when the heart stop pumping because of its starvation from oxygen that you actually die and even then you still live until your brain stops. All that time the terror of reality grips at you, you know you are dying knowing there is no more your life is over.

Pulling his head up out of the can water pouring out of his mouth and nose, I give him a quick punch to the stomach and chest to push more water out. My intention is not to actually kill him only make him think I am. I want him to wish that I would kill him. Death will come too easy for him regardless of what we do to him before he dies it will be too easy for him.

Those thoughts had me sending his head back under holding him there probably a little longer than I should have. When I pulled him out he collapsed on the floor. I turned him to the side and then swiftly kicked him causing him to throw up the water that he had inhaled.

That would cause his chest and lungs to burn as if I had placed them on fire. His whole upper body wet gave me an idea for what I would do if I got a second chance with this fucker about that time the door opened turning I saw Junior walking back in with exactly what I had been thinking about.

I couldn't help the smile that came over me. Now we were going to have a little fun with this fucker. Grabbing him I jerked him up and pushed him toward the table that was bolted down to the floor. Junior sat the battery as well as the cables down on the table. Hooking them up as I pushed dumb fuck into the chair which was also bolted to the floor.

I leaned against the table taking the cables in my hands "Do you know what this is?" I asked him. He looked at the wires connected to the battery through his swollen and now red eyes from his near death experience in the water and I saw fear register. He knew exactly what it was and exactly what I was going to do and he was scared I couldn't help the smile that knowledge brought to my face.

Looking at Junior I could see the same smile on his face and I knew it was there for the same reason. No longer able to wait, sort of like a kid on Christmas morning who couldn't wait to see what Santa brought him I couldn't wait to see his body jump and jerk when I would touch him with the cable.

First I needed a little more exposed skin. Sitting the cables down I reached for my knife. Not being careful I slit down the front of his shirt cutting the shirt and I even managed to catch him in a couple of spots. Who gave a fuck? I sure as hell didn't let the fucker bleed it only added to my satisfaction. Picking up the cables I pushed them into his skin watching his body jump and jerk.

I reluctantly pulled them away watching as his body relax and he started breathing heavily trying to catch his breath. Not letting him catch it I pushed the cables back into him watching his jaw clench hearing his teeth grinding together only hoping he would end up with a mouth full of teeth chips or better yet hoping he clamped down on his tongue like that. Like before I finally pulled the cables back away from his flesh that I could see it was now red.

When I had grown bored of shocking him I grabbed him jerked him up from the chair and gave him a boot to the sternum that sent him flying backwards to the floor near the drain. I then pushed the trash can over to the drain and dumped on him. He needed cleaning up all of the shocking caused him to lose control of his body functions. Some people were just too fucking easy to break. Once the trash can was dumped I picked it up and Junior and I made our way out of the door.

"Man I am going to go clean up before I head back up to seven, I will see you up there." I told Junior he nodded as we split ways him going his way and me going mine. I needed a shower, I needed to change, and I needed time to get myself back.

MattPOV

I had left Ella in the control room with Wire and Chase at the monitors. She was going to look through video footage to see if she could see what had happened.

Acer, Demon, Reggae, and I were going to do a sweep of the building floor by floor. Knowing the cell phones aren't working I gave everyone a com unit so we could stay in constant communication.

It was decided that Matt and I would start at the basement floor and Demon and Reggae would start on the floor above us. We would then alternate floors until we reached the top level. I knew Acer and I would have to search the seventh floor as we were the only ones that would access to that floor.

I was working my way through the basement floor these floors were underground. I had my gun in my hand as I opened each of the holding cells. I had no idea what I would find. It was possible I would find every member of Rangeman Trenton behind one of these doors. I was just hoping if I did they would be alive and not dead.

Pushing those thoughts out of my head I made my way throughout the floor with Acer covering my six. I had been partners with Acer for a long time I knew I could trust him to have my backside so I didn't need to worry about that I just focused on the rooms and what was in front of me.

We had made our way almost through the entire floor when I opened the door and saw a man lying in the corner of one of the holding cells. He had a tattoo across his forehead that said Dumb Fucker and I wondered who in the fuck would tattoo something like that across their forehead. He must be one dumb fucker. I would have laughed had it not been the situation we were in was so serious that it kept any humor any laughter at bay at least until we discovered what the fuck had happened to the men of Rangeman Trenton.

One look at the man and I didn't want to waste my time I just closed the door and continued on my search efforts.

Ella broke through on our com "Oh my god" I could hear her voice that it wasn't a good oh my god you hear women say it was an unbelievable oh my god a desperate oh my god and my body tensed hearing those words. I walked over to one of the walls and put my back to the wall. Should we be surprised it wouldn't be from behind.

"Ella what did you find?" I asked her and I heard an almost sob break through. Fuck. This is why emotions aren't good in this business. We needed intel and we needed it now we don't need fucking emotions getting in the way. When emotions get in the way like this people lose their fucking lives and not the ones you want to lose their lives. The good guys lose their lives.

I remind myself that Ella isn't military and isn't trained so I forced myself to have more patience than I would normally give my men. "Ella, can you tell me what you are seeing? Can you tell me what you found? If not, have wire or Chase look at it so they can tell me." I told her hoping it would help her get it together enough to tell me I also hoped that Chase or Wire would hear the order that went along with that.

Ella spoke up next and by the strength of her words I knew she had gotten it together. "I am not sure what happened but going back through the tapes I see where everyone ran to the gym. I switched to the gym feed but it appeared that all it recorded was an empty gym even though I saw from one camera everyone going into the gym." She said.

Okay so everyone went into the gym I briefly wondered if that was what made her say oh my god but she continued. "They were in there for a while I am not certain exactly how long it was before they came out. Slyder was carrying Stephanie and they took off running towards elevator. It looks like all of the men followed Slyder and they all went up to the seventh floor. The last I see of them in the video is them going in Ranger and Stephanie's apartment on the seventh floor nothing after that." She told me.

Fuck. What the fuck could have happened for them to carry Stephanie to the seventh floor and lock themselves up there without calling us and notifying us that they were even fucking in the building. What the fuck?

"Ella, do you see any threats? Do you see anyone causing a threat?" I asked her.

"I only saw them drag Doug, one of the contract workers we have, out of the gym following the cameras it looks like they put him in a holding cell." She told me. So that must be the dumb fucker we saw in one of the cells.

"He must have done something to Stephanie for them to have locked him up and then carry her to the seventh floor. She isn't a big fan of being carried especially the way she was being carried. They had a blanket thrown over her so I wasn't able to see anything but she had her eyes closed the whole time." Ella informed me.

"Fast forward the feeds Ella and let me know if there was any further activity on seven. I want to know anything and everything you see on that feed right up to this very moment." I told her. I was pretty certain there weren't any other breaches in security or threats but I needed to be sure.

I knew Reggae and Demon had heard Ella as all of our com units were dialed on the same frequency

"Demon, Reggae you copy?" I asked them.

Getting back a "10 4" acknowledging they heard the whole conversation.

"I want you to go get to the lab, I want you find out why the gym feed was only recording an empty gym, and I want you to find out why none of fucking cell phones are working. Acer and I will continue the sweep of the whole building per protocol but I don't feel as there are any other threats. Just find out the answer to those two things for me. Then we will meet in the gym I want to gather whatever evidence we can find in the gym." I told them.

"Wire, Chase I want you two to watch the internal live feeds for the seventh floor, the entrance to the gym, and the holding cell hallways if there is any activity in any location I want to be notified immediately." I told them.

Acer and I left the basement floor and went to the first floor, the floor above the garage which Demon and Reggae had searched. On the first floor we searched the gun range I was relieved to see all the guns, and ammo accounted for. Our Boston office and the Trenton office had the same outfitted ammunition room so inventory count was easy between the two offices. The range was clear. The lobby was clear the doors locked per protocol. The conference rooms were empty. We left the first floor heading to the second floor. This is where the labs where forensic lab as well as the video, equipment, and technical labs. Demon and Reggae had gone into the video lab. Opening the equipment lab searching it we went into the store room and found a guy sitting at one of the chairs.

I raised my gun because I wasn't expecting to find anyone. For all of the other men to be upstairs with Stephanie and for him to be down here hanging out in the store room seemed a bit off. "Put your hands up." I told him.

He turned taking us in Acer had his gun raised as he mimicked me making our way closer to him. He raised his hands "What's your name and what's your position here?" I asked him.

"My name is Michael Drake. The guys call me Mike I am a contract worker for Rangeman and I currently work with Hector in the lab." He told me.

"Take me to your desk, do you mind telling me why you are hanging out in the storeroom? Are you aware that Rangeman went dark?" I told him. He shook his head no and from the look on his face I could easily tell he had no idea what I meant when I said Rangeman went dark.

"I have been in the storeroom all day checking in a large shipment and sitting aside the inventory for three major installs that are going to be happening next week. I was told to check the equipment in and make sure everything was here for the install. To sort the equipment for each job and mark it so that it would be ready to roll on Monday." He told me. I looked around and accessing the storeroom it appeared that is exactly what he had been doing. I nodded.

"Okay now, show me your desk." I stated. He nodded and stood up I lowered my weapon and indicated he could drop his hand. I did remove his weapon from him as he reached me. He went through the storeroom door and over to the desk in the corner. I briefly searched his desk and found two cell phones.

"Which cell phone is yours? Why do you have two phones?" I quickly noted one was a burn phone. He shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't want to tell me and he was going to avoid the questions. I had fucking news for him he was going to answer my fucking question. Rangeman was dark and yet this dumb fucker was working away oblivious to anything around him. Either he is the biggest dumb fucker ever or he was involved in something and didn't want us to know either way we were going to get the answers we wanted.

"I would suggest you use your lips and not your shoulders to communicate with me. I don't have the fucking patience to interrupt your fucking sign language. Remember I am from a different office I don't have a problem with fucking shooting your ass right here right now, so just give me a fucking reason." I told him. I saw the look on Acer's face it was one of shock and a little disbelief but this was fucking pissing me off and I wanted some fucking answers.

"That one is my personal cell phone." He told me pointing to the one that I knew wasn't a burn phone but he chose not to elaborate on the other one.

"This phone, where did you get it?" I asked him indicating the burn phone. I pulled up the history and I could see the phone hadn't been used much but it had been used. I made note of the phone numbers it had called it had called two numbers. Both appeared to be cell phones. I pulled up the number of the phone I was holding and one of the other numbers had the same prefix so that was another burner phone. The other number I wasn't sure about.

"Wire I have a number here I want you to track down for me 758-209-4863 check that number out and let me know who it belongs to and where they are located."

Mike looked at me "I purchased the phone not long after starting to work here." He told me I thought that was odd. We all knew what you used burner phones for. You used a burner phone when you didn't want your conversations tracked, when you didn't want to be tracked and more importantly or more disturbingly when you were doing, or involved in, something underhanded.

"Why did you purchase the phone? Who was it that you called?" I asked him. He could refuse to tell me but I knew in a matter of a few minutes Wire would call me and tell me, so it didn't really matter. I had a feeling I wasn't really going to like what he had to say. Something wasn't adding up we had one contractor in the holding cell and I wasn't sure why though it seemed that something had happened between him and Stephanie possibly and now another contractor that had a burner phone.

"I purchased the phone at the request of Doug and a Police man by the name of Joe Morelli. Those are the only numbers I have called. One was Doug's burner phone and the other was Joe's cell phone number. You will see that I only called them that one time when I first got the phone. This was something that Doug and Joe came up with and I got drug along but I didn't really participate in their scheme." He told me. I was going to want to know more about this scheme but before that I would put him in another holding cell until I figured out what exactly was going on.

"Acer put him in one of the holding cells downstairs until we can figure out what is going on." I told him. I could see shock register on Mike's face but I didn't give a fuck after all why would I? Why wouldn't he think that we wouldn't hold him he all but confessed to collaborating with a cop and Doug who was already in a holding cell? I wasn't sure what they were collaborating with the cop over if it was Rangeman secrets or inside information Ranger would have both of their fucking lives for that.

Acer walked away with Mike as I continued to search the area. I found the device that was blocking the cell phones and turned it off. I also found the reason why the gym video was only showing an empty gym.

Someone, at this point I was betting on Doug had made a recording of the gym when it was empty and then he had interrupted the feed from the camera to play the recording over and over so that when you looked at the camera feed for the gym instead of seeing the real time you would only see the recording of the empty gym. He did really well but he made one mistake when he took the video he made the mistake of getting the clock in the video and you could see the time reset itself when the video replied not to mention the time would only line up twice a day. Amateur mistake had Demon or Reggae been involved in that video you would have never known it wasn't real time even if they chose to record the clock.

Wire broke through the com unit "Matt the phone numbers is another burner phone and then the cell phone of one Joseph Morelli he is local and he is a cop with the Trenton police department. It appears that he and Stephanie had an altercation as she has a restraining order out on him. She has also filed a couple of complaints with the police station concerning him harassing her the night she got the restraining order he abused her." I heard him say and while I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting Stephanie yet I had heard about her for years the praises and love from all the guys in Trenton.

Demon and Reggae had even fallen under her spell the short term they were and I even heard them growling and cussing as Wire was relaying the information to me. "Thanks man, keep digging and see if we can figure out what Doug, Mike, and Joe were in cahoots about. Mike pretty much confirmed those were the numbers he called and he said he wasn't part of the scheme I want to find that other burner phone or Doug's I would be willing to bet we would see something considerably different than from Mike's phone." I said as I continued my search for the missing burner phone.

I worked my way around the room. The desk close to where I found the video and the cell phone jammer I was searching when I opened one of the drawers and found some pictures of Stephanie it was clear he had gotten them from security feeds mostly the pictures of her were when she was in the gym dressed in spandex shorts and a sports bra working out. He had butt shots, as well as boob shots. I pulled them out of the drawer. Ranger and the guys would be very interested to see what I had found.

Going through the other drawers in the desk I didn't find anything really interesting. There was a card with a number on it I wasn't sure what that was about so I pocketed it as well. I would get Wire to track the number and figure out who the fuck it belonged to and what business he had with them.

"Demon, Reggae did you find anything? I found the device that was blocking our cell phones and have shut it off. I also found the video that was interfering with the recording of the gym". I knew they had heard our conversations with Mike so they knew all about him and all about him going to the holding cell.

"Let's get to the gym I want to search the gym and gather anything and everything there is to gather there. Stop by the forensic lab and get the collection kit before meeting me there." I told them as I made my way out of the lab.

Walking up to the third floor I went straight to the gym. Looking around the gym nothing really seemed out of the ordinary other than seeing a bag on the floor with the contents dumped. Going over looking at the contents I saw change of clothing, extra shoes, hand gun, her panic button, stun gun, pepper spray scattered on the floor around the bag.

I also saw some personal items but I really don't want to say what they were out loud. I would rather not see them again. I mean it isn't that I am a pussy or anything and I am well aware of what happens to a woman's body but I don't want to fucking look at them or touch them and I sure as fuck won't be going to any grocery store buying them, fuck that and fuck those that think a man is a chicken shit for not wanting to purchasing them. There isn't a man in the country that wants to get stuck with that chore of buying them they are just too fucking chicken shit or their girlfriend or wives have them by their balls to tight to admit it so they do it while fucking praying that no one is watching them or seeing what they're purchasing.

I saw a red water bottle with shiny silver on it and I knew it belonged to her. I didn't dare touch anything as I didn't want to contaminant anything. Not that we would be turning this evidence over to the police, this would definitely be kept in house but I was a stickler when it came to evidence gathering.

Demon and Reggae walked in with the kit handing me gloves. I saw them looking at the contents of her bag scattered on the floor and I saw the rage in their eyes as they were picturing what it all meant. Seeing her gun, her stun gun, and her pepper spray all items of defense that she could have defended herself against an attack and yet there was an attack or at least we felt as though there was an attack but I had no idea how it would have been possible.

He may have caught her off guard, unaware of her surroundings but knowing the guys here they would have drilled into her to always be aware of your surroundings it was a lesson that every Rangeman learned the hard way if we were unable to skill ourselves on our own. I knew she had been training that was the talk of all Rangeman we all wanted her to succeed even the ones that had never met her.

We knew Ranger loved her it had been the talk of Rangeman for a while thanks mainly to Lester and his love of harassment of his cousin. So when we heard she had decided to come on board we were all thrilled because we knew that would make Ranger happy and when Ranger was happy we were all happy at least for the most part. You know the saying shit rolls downhill? Well let's just say that we are all downhill from Ranger. Long story short if Ranger isn't happy no one is happy.

Opening the case I pull out the camera and start taking pictures as the gym was when I walked in. Taking pictures of her bag, the contents of the bag on the floor. The bench that I am certain the bag had been sitting on before it was thrown to the floor.

I documented where her gun, her stun gun, her pepper spray had landed from the bench and the bag. I also documented where her panic button was. She had pressed her panic button the panic button was on the other side from the gun, stun gun, and spray so it made sense that whatever had happened between Doug and Stephanie had happened on the side where the panic button was located. Had he had her down on the floor attacking her she wouldn't have been able to reach anything other than her panic button.

"Reggae, Demon you have seen Stephanie in person looking at the contents as they are on the floor. Assuming her panic button was within easy reach would you say it would be possible for her to reach her gun, stun gun, or pepper spray?" I asked them just to reassure myself that my assessment was right.

Looking at the contents on the floor they shook their head confirming my thoughts that there would be no way she could have reached them without breaking out of his hold or getting away from him and obviously that hadn't happened.

"I want that water bottled bagged the rest of the stuff doesn't look like anything that will tell us anything further. Just take pictures and then put her things back in her bag. From what I heard, the bag has become sort of an appendage of her when it came to her training and working out." I told them. I heard Lester talking about her damn bag and how every day it appeared to be heavier and heavier as if it was growing on its own. He even made a joke that he was working out to ensure he would always be able to carry her bag for her because he knew the day was going to come when she would no longer be able to pick it up and he didn't want that happening to him.

I walked over to the trash can lifting the top I found another red water bottle just like the one she had over by her bag. "Guys bring me the calendar and a bag." I told them. Walking over they saw what I saw and I saw confusion in their eyes. Why would the water bottle be in the trash?

I took a picture of the contents of the trash can as well as a picture of the trash can itself documenting that it was in the gym and that the water bottle was found in the trash can. I then bagged the water bottle making a note on the bag that it came from the trash can signing my name as I was the one who had collected the evidence.

Like I said I was a stickler for evidence collection even when I knew the evidence would be going nowhere.

I decided to head back upstairs to the command room to try to further piece together what we had found before I would be called to face Ranger and give him my report.

"Demon, Reggae when you are done here I want you take the things back to the forensic lab and I want to process anything you can for finger prints I want to know who touched what. I want you to analyze the contents of both water bottles. I want to know what was in both bottles and who touched both bottles. Also process the pictures print anything and everything that is significant for this case. I want to know what the fuck happened in this gym." I told them. They nodded as I made my way out of the gym heading to the fifth floor to further put the pieces of this puzzle together.

**Pease take a moment and leave a review. Let me know your thoughts…I love every review it does wonder for my soul and wonders for my fingers! Don't forget to check out the accommodating website and my writer's journal…I put sneak peeks into the chapters in them! **

**You can find it all at www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com There are playlists there for the party and songs that are mentioned through the different chapters, pictures of the characters along with their bio as I see them in my head, as they are in my story. There are pictures of some of the clothing, and places that have been in my chapter, as well as pictures of cars, trucks, motorcycles from the Rangeman compound. I hope you enjoy it Leave a comment there as well if you wish!**


	48. Chapter 47: Taking out the Trash PT2

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**I want to thank everyone who writes a review for my story. I enjoy reading them and I love ideas they give me so keep them coming! You do my soul good!**

**I have a website that I have created to give you all something to explore to dig deeper into the story "What does it mean to trust". Please go and check it out! **

**www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com **

**WARNING THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SOME VIOLENCE, IAM ALSO ISSUES A TISSUES WARNING AS THERE ARE EMOTIONAL PARTS WITHIN THE CHAPTER.**

**You all can thank Margaret for the ending! Margret the ending is for you Babe, I hope you enjoy it!**

Chapter 46: Taking out the Trash PT2

MattPOV

I walked back up to the fifth floor. I didn't feel the need to search the fourth floor. I would find out where Mike and Doug were living and if they were living on site I would search their apartments if not I would send a team to their homes to search them. Something was up with those two and I was going to figure out what the fuck it was.

Reaching the control room I saw Ella looking at the feeds. Looking over her shoulder I asked her "can you go back and pull up the footage of them going to the gym. I want to see if I see anything and then I want to see them coming out of the gym."

She nodded and set up the video to play again. Wire called my name "Matt" getting my attention I turned to look at him to see what he had. "Binkie and Hal just came out of the seventh floor apartment." He told me. I nodded

"Just see where they go don't disturb them. Just let me know where they go." I told him. I had a feeling they were heading to a certain cell. I turned my attention back to the video Ella had queued up to run.

I watched as I saw Lester take off out of the control room. I saw the guys fall in behind him running as fast as they could. I watched as they descended the stairs and ran into the gym. I didn't see anything significant to give him any indication of anything. At that point Ella fast forwarded the footage and then I watched as they came out of the gym running almost as urgently with Stephanie in Slyder's arms. Her head was tucked on his shoulder and cheek resting near his neck. You could see her eyes were closed tight by how they were bunched up you knew both were closed as tight as she could get them. There was a blanket over her body just as Ella had said so I wasn't able to see much more. You could see the urgency on the guys part to get her where they were going which was the seventh floor. You could see Slyder, Lester, Bobby running with her and the other guys following close behind.

Hal and Binkie took Doug the opposite direction and I knew exactly where they were headed as I had already seen that dumb fucker down in the holding cell.

I fast forwarded a little and I saw where Tank and Ranger came flying into the hallway and into the apartment they moved so fast that had someone not been looking they would have probably missed them.

I knew Ranger had gotten the chopper to bring them home practically the second her panic button went off. I guess in a way it was good because that left the jet for us already to go in Boston and he was able to get home faster if we had to ride with him on the jet and then in the car from Newark to Trenton I think I would have probably shot his ass or he would have shot my ass which is more the reality of the situation.

It's just that I had heard how he had changed and how he acts when Stephanie is in danger, missing, or someone has harmed her. If they wanted to see the beast lose control then fuck with Stephanie, that is what I had heard many times over it was all over Rangeman. We all knew if you wanted to keep Ranger happy then keep Stephanie safe, keep her protected, and keep her happy.

I didn't understand those feelings, I didn't understand those reactions and I had a difficult time being sympathetic to those that do. Ranger would have been someone who I would have sworn everything I had and everything I knew that he would never be one of those that ever understood any of that. I knew he hadn't been one to understand any of that when we training together, when we were in the field together, when we were soldiers.

I would have been the one that ended up dead I had no false sense of reality that I could for a minute beat Ranger, he was the best. He would beat my ass before I even knew it would have been kicked. He has kicked my ass before when I fucked up that is why I am so methodical to follow policy and procedure. I have been on the other side of the mats when I pissed him off and I really don't want to be there again.

I knew Stephanie was special to him and every one of the men here, I admit I didn't understand it. I admit I never felt that before and I don't believe that I ever will. It isn't that I am cynical, it isn't that I am an asshole even though it may seem like it at times, it is that I am a soldier it is all I know it is all I do and that life, that mentality, that persona doesn't flow with a wife, marriage, kids, family life.

I am use to doing things my way, getting my way having my life be a certain way and a woman in my life longer than a one night stand well it wasn't something I could see fitting in my life. If I had a woman in my life she would hate me, she would resent me, and she would never be able to put up with my demands to keep her safe because of the life I led nor the life I lead. I don't do emotions. Emotions had been long programmed out of me. One thing is certain when you are with a woman at least for a long term commitment emotions was a necessary evil. Oddly that was one evil that I didn't have in me.

Focusing back on the tasks at hand of trying to figure out what the fuck had happened in the gym, what the fuck was Mike, Doug, and the cop doing, and what had happened between Doug and Stephanie. I knew Demon and Reggae would be in the lab a little while longer getting all of the evidence together that was going to be the biggest pieces to the puzzles until I went up and talked to the guys but I wanted to put that off for a little while longer.

I knew they would want information from me and I wanted to be able to have something to give them. I didn't want to go up there and look like we had been down here sitting on our thumbs.

Once we finished watching the video that basically told us squat from what we already knew. Wire had informed me that Binkie and Hal went back up to the seventh floor after going in Doug's holding cell. He had also informed me that Zip and Zero had left the apartment and went to the holding cell.

I knew this pattern, I had seen this before not because of a woman but I had seen it for other reasons. When we had previously had reasons to break people for information this was a tactic we had used. I wondered if it was to get information or retribution.

While I didn't do emotions or relationships I didn't sit by while women were attacked and do nothing, I didn't allow someone I knew to be a sexual predator to remain on the streets, we fucking hunted them. We removed them, we sent their fucking asses back into the systems and for those that thought they beat the system because the women weren't able to prove it or finger them well those, they just fucking disappeared.

If Doug down in the holding cell sexually attacked Stephanie, not even knowing her, I would gladly stand in that line to beat his ass.

"Okay so what do we have?" I asked my men. Knowing we didn't have much new. "We need to find Doug's burner phone. We have the number is there a way to track it?" I asked Wire. If there was a way to do something electronically he would know how and what to do.

I pulled the paper with the number out of my pocket. "I found this in Doug's desk figure out what or who this number belongs to and what his dealings are with them."

Acer walked into the control room looking at him I decided it was time to find out a little more about Officer Morelli.

"Acer, you and I are going to check out Officer Morelli. Let's go to the police station, but first find us a skip to pick up preferably a skip that Morelli collared. We are going to pose as new Rangeman and see if he approaches us like he approached Doug, if not then we will see what we can gather on him. You won't like what I have planned but follow my lead." I told him.

I wasn't going to voice in front of Ella, Demon or Reggae what my plans really were as my plan was to talk trash against Stephanie and I knew if they heard that they would be ready to kick my ass and Ella well Ella would probably be ready to fucking kill me herself.

It was a given Acer wasn't going to like it because none of us liked it when a woman was targeted and even thought it would just be talking he still wouldn't like it. So I thought it was better to warn him ahead of time.

He went looking for a skip that we could quickly grab and then giving us a reason to make a trip to the police department. I looked at Chase. "Find a bead on Morelli I want to know when he is at the station because I want to make sure we have a run in with him."

"Reggae, Demon have you found anything yet?" I asked them I was pretty certain it was a little early but if they had found anything I wanted to know about it before leaving with Acer.

"Negative maybe within the next thirty to forty five minutes we will have something." Demon told me.

Looking at Chase "Chase, when we leave follow protocol no one in, no one out." I glanced at Ella and back at Chase "remember protocol and follow it should anything happen." I told him. I was hoping he would remember that he was to protect Ella and make sure she went to that panic room should something happen while I was out.

I continued "Cell phones should be working, so I want you to call me with anything you find out or if anything happens." He nodded his understanding my orders.

Acer walked back into the control room with a folder in his hand. Looking at the skip it was Dudley Martin he had been picked up with possession, intent to sell, seemed to hang out on Stark Street. He was definitely a dealer. He looked to be an easy target probably selling, as I stood here, on Stark Street. The best part was he was collared by Morelli.

Demon and Reggae had filled me in on Morelli and Stephanie and how he had continued to harass her after she left him when she had caught him fucking his x girlfriend while they were dating. They told me about setting up the alibi for them when they went to his house to give him a little pay back. So I knew there was history there. I knew there was violence between them. I also knew that he wanted her back all the things I needed to make my plan work.

I was hoping that I could incite some of these emotions within him to learn more about what his intentions are, what he was planning with Mike and Doug, and hopefully figure out if he had any other plans or prepared to make any more moves to make Stephanie's life hell.

Looking at Acer "Come on let's pick up this fucker hopefully Morelli will be at the station and we can take him there now." Looking at Chase I said "when you have a bead on him you let me know." He nodded his head in understanding.

I pulled off my com unit and headed out the command room heading to the garage to take one of the standard issue SUVs to pick up the skip and get to the police station.

VincePOV

I watched as the other guys had left the apartment we all knew where they were going and what they were doing and I have to admit I was jealous.

I wanted to be them. I wanted it to be my turn just like a kid waiting in line at Disney World to ride the newest ride they wanted the wait to be over they wanted it to be their turn. I wanted to buy my pass to be moved to the front of the line like so many of the more fortunate park visitors do.

But here there was protocol and until I was told it was my turn I would be waiting. Part of me was glad that I got to wait as I got to watch over Stephanie more but right now she was sleeping in Ranger's arms. For her there would be no other safer place than in his arms.

The room was so quiet that if you close your eyes you would believe that you were in a room by yourself. It was a little eerie in a way knowing that this many guys were in the room and yet you could hear a pin drop. No one was talking. Fuck it didn't even sounds as though anyone was breathing.

We were all in our own minds, left to our own thoughts and I felt like for most of us those thoughts and memories were too vile, too heinous to repeat so we kept them to ourselves and didn't allow them to be vocalized as saying them would make the events of today more real, more concreted in our heads if that were even possible. Even knowing that probably wasn't the case none of us wanted to find out.

I knew if I allowed myself to sleep I would wake up with horrible dreams, sweating, and screaming because I knew the dream already we had all been there all done it before. When something so terrible has happened in the past when there was a remote possibility that had we known more we could have prevented it. It was the thoughts of could we have prevented it that would give us cold sweet, nightmares and sleepless nights.

Here we were at Rangeman a secure building our home and Stephanie the heart of all of us was attacked in our building, in our home, right under our noses, by a man that worked here with us and we had all missed the signs. We knew she wasn't his favorite as we all thought he was jealous of her, jealous that she was coming on full time at Rangeman and he would not be for the life of me we never thought he would attack her especially the way he chose to attack her.

It was more than just an attack because he was jealous he attacked her sexually he was a predator after her he wanted her body, he wanted to dominate her, he wanted to control her and he thought he could do that by stealing from her by taking what she wasn't willing to give him, what she had given someone else. Rangeman was going to have his head for it. He had to have known he wouldn't get it away with it. I just couldn't imagine what his reasons were behind his actions he had to know Ranger would kill him. Even had been successful in getting away from the building he had to know known we would have found out it was him and we would have hunted him. Ranger is the best he couldn't have hidden well enough for Ranger not to find him.

We would have all hunted him and we would have found him and well we would have killed him exactly what we are going to do now only without the whole search and seize happening.

Fury shot through me rage coursed through me and I wanted this fucker I wanted him in the room with me I wanted my fist slamming into his face, his body, my foot crashing into his dick. I wanted to smash this fuckers head against the floor. I was so lost in my visions of what I wanted to do to the fucker I almost missed Ranger giving me permission to pay him a visit.

Ram and I, it was our turn to give this fucker a little taste of what happens when you fuck with our sister. I nodded and stood to leave with Ram. Nodding at him at the door, when we got into the hallway taking the steps to the sub levels of Rangeman I asked him "Man go in there with me and prevent me from killing this fucker." He nodded. I figured we could tag team him or I could just prevent him from killing him just as he was going to prevent me or at least try to keep me from killing the fucker.

We got up to the door and I slammed the door open causing it to bang hard against the wall startling Doug. He jumped even though he was lying on the floor. Fucking school girl should have never left his mother as he obviously is too chicken shit to make it in the real world if a door slamming open startles him. What a soft son of a bitch.

I walked up to him grabbing him by the nap of his neck raising him up until he was on his feet and then I slung him head first into the wall in front of me. He didn't even know what hit him because it was so fast he didn't even have time to put his hands up to stop his head from crashing first into concrete walls.

He crashed down to the floor eyes shut hands attempting to cover his face that was already battered but it was nothing compared to what he would eventually look like or even look like when I was done. I reached down grabbing him by his collar of his shirt and picked his ass up. His eyes opening as he took me in. My size my demeanor he looked over a Ram who was patiently waiting his turn sitting on the table his boots in the chair I saw the perfect opportunity and carted his ass over to Ram.

Grabbing him by the neck I slammed his head face first into Ram's knee. Ram just smiled as his face bounced off of his knee. We heard the wince from him as his eye made contact I knew he would have a nice shiner and it would be swelling shut within the hour.

I didn't let him fall back down even though his body wanted to crash to the floor. But this fucker had been lying down for too long that was the easy life and the last thing I wanted for him was an easy life. I walked him over to the wall and stood him against the wall where my fist made contact with his ribs, his stomach, and his chest. He was trapped between me and the wall not going anywhere as my fists made quick and easy work of his body.

He gagged a few times and I heard the air rush out of his lungs a few times as I hit him he was grunting and moaning but it wasn't enough it wasn't enough to calm the fury that had been released within me I wanted more, I wanted a lot more. I wanted blood.

He raised his hand up to try to discourage me or to make me back away from him and I could tell even that movement was a huge effort for him I vowed by the time I was done with him he wouldn't even be able to do that much.

I took hold of his hand that he held up to me grabbing his fingers squeezing them together twisting them until he was screaming in pain. That would be the last fucking time he held his hand up to me or anyone. I heard a few of the fingers pop and I knew I had dislocated them. I twisted further until I heard the joints pop knowing that I broken them at the knuckles. He screamed in pain again and the screams were doing what the grunts and moans hadn't.

The fury in me had found its release in his screams the more he screamed the better I felt. I had never pictured myself as a sadistic person but in this instance I could understand how someone of that mentality could almost get off on it because it made my soul happy to hear that fucker scream in pain. I am not sure I would understand a sexual release at hearing someone cry in pain but I could definitely understand the satisfaction the happiness and the jubilee of that moment in hearing his screams of pain, his screams of terror. What he didn't know was, I was nothing. The experts in torture, the experts in delivering pain were yet to come. Or maybe he knew maybe he understood all too well and that was the reasons for the screams of terror I was hearing from the dumb fucker.

I would say he would learn his lesson and he would never do anything like this again I am sure that would be all true if he would ever be given another chance but this fucker was never leaving this building alive to get another chance to find out what he would or wouldn't do.

RamPOV

I sat there watching Vince beat the shit out of Doug and if he hadn't attacked my sister I would have probably let the beating Vince gave him be good enough but because he had attacked my sister and attempted to rape her, attempted to steal something from her, from all of us I wouldn't be turning down my opportunity to make it right.

Not that me beating him made it right it didn't fix what Stephanie would have to deal with, it didn't fix her having been drugged and the fear that she had felt in a place where she should have been the safest. A place where she had always felt safe, and secure a place where she had always taken refuge when the bad guys were after her.

For that I wanted to rip his fucking head off. I wanted to pull every single tooth he had and I wanted to hear him scream because of me and not just Vince. I wanted him to beg me for his fucking life and I wanted to be the one that got to say no to his pleading. That would be Ranger's privilege, not mine but I wanted it to be mine.

That dumb fucker didn't care, he had no remorse for what he did to Stephanie and if he did it would be only because of what is happening to him now he was sorry that he was getting the shit beat out of him, he was sorry that his fucking life was going to end before he made it out of these four walls. He was fucking sorry that he got caught not because of what he had done.

All predators are the same they aren't sorry for what they did or what they do they are only sorry their fucking asses got caught doing it. When Vince was done with him he threw him towards me I didn't reach for him I just let him fall hitting his head on the table as he went down.

I got up from the table as if I had all day and I guess I did as no one had set a limit with him or any restrictions besides the fact that we couldn't kill him that was our only restriction. Vince took my place sitting on the table with his feet in the chair just as mine was.

He put his elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands and I could tell he was trying to gain control of himself. He was trying to find the man and not the tainted darken soul that had come out to dish out a healthy serving of retribution.

I reached down and picked up Doug or better known as dumb fucker. I was going to have a little fun of my own.

When he was standing at full height well as full as he could stand hunched over trying to protect his ribs wincing in pain as I continued to pull him up straighter the more he winced the better I felt because I would be willing to bet he didn't care when he had hurt my sister. I loved her, I had loved her from that first day when I went to her apartment to pick her up and she was snuggled down in her covers.

I saw her face snuggled under her covers as I laid down on top of them her body curling into mine as she put her head on my arm sighing at feeling me close to her. She had always felt safe around us she had always trusted us to care for her keep her safe, keep her secure and this fucker had taken all of that away how the fuck would she trust us now.

I thought about what Hector had voiced to Ranger in front of all of us. He asked what was on all of our minds how she would trust us, how could we ask her to trust her and hell flew into me. I heard someone yelling and I wasn't sure if it was me roaring from the pain my thoughts and fears were causing in my heart or from him with what I was currently doing to him when I caught myself he was on the ground and I was punching and kicking wildly not caring where I made contact only that contact was made.

He was balled up in a protective ball trying to protect his face, his body from my attack. What he didn't know was there would be nothing he could do to protect himself from my attack. This was only the beginning. I stood up straight towering above him as I turned and walked out of the room. I needed to get something and I knew exactly where it was.

Walking back in with the pliers in my hand I could feel the wild animal in me I knew it was lose and there was nothing I could do to cage it, it was out, it was free and it would not willing go back in its cage.

I made my way over to Dumb Fucker I felt as if I was hunter and Doug was my prey grabbing his head and pulling it back until his mouth opened I took the pliers grabbing his front tooth close to the gum line I paused a second just long enough for what I was about to do to register with him.

I saw the recognition I saw the fear I saw the terror he knew what I was about to do it was what I had dreamed about doing while I was upstairs watching my sister sleep. Without remorse, without regret without any fear I jerked the tooth out as his screams appeased the wild animal within just like a cat likes to play with its prey and the cries excite the animal with in to go for the kill his screams excited the animal within me and I found myself struggling to hold on struggling to keep the animal from within me going for the kill.

When Vince placed his hand on my shoulder I knew it was his way of helping me get myself back under control but I can't say that it was what I wanted. Looking down I had pulled three of his teeth blood was running down his chin on his chest he was crying and screaming in pain. I gave him a knee to the face and then throw his ass to the floor. I then turn and headed out the door. I didn't turn back to Vince, I didn't look back.

I needed time, I needed to get cleaned up, I needed time alone. I knew I would eventually make my way back to seven to check on my sister but right now I needed a little distance. I needed to catch my breath and I needed return to the man she knew and not what I had become. This would scare her, this would make her feel unsafe and I would be damn if she would ever feel either of those two things ever again if I had my way.

BPOV

I had been watching over Bomber I was tried, it had been a long afternoon and evening. It was getting to the late hours of the evening. She had been sleeping the entire time. She had knocked herself out when she hit her head in the shower.

I knew she had a concussion at least a mild one but I also knew that part of her not waking up was just her little body having been through so much. It was true that we had stopped him before he was able to actually rape her but the terror she felt, what the drugs did her to system, and what his attack did to her him being partially successful in his sexual attack on her had been more than her little body was able to process, able to handle, and able to quickly rebound from she needed time to recover.

I knew every hour that ticked by the guys were getting more concerned, more worried and was getting progressively less patient with my excuses for why she hadn't opened her eyes. They wanted to see her, they wanted to see her eyes opened see her awake and see how she was doing.

We all realized how close we had come to losing her today physically Doug could have easily killed her. He could have taken her away from us most of the guys were worried that he had in fact succeeded in taking her away if she no longer trusted us and no longer wanted to be around us because of what he had done to her.

I wanted to be downstairs ripping him to pieces but I wouldn't be going down until she was awake and I had examined her and determined that she was in fact not hurt at least physically I wasn't really sure where her mental health was going to be.

Most people who had been through what she had been through would be hanging their hat up in the loony bin but somehow she always managed to bounce back, somehow she always seemed to shake it off I just hoped and prayed that she would be able to bounce back from this and shake it off.

She had been through so much mentally between her stalker which we had all learned was her x-boyfriend prick of a cop Morelli and then her mother what a bitch she not only had belittled and put down her daughter every chance she had she also been fucking her x-boyfriend. What kind of a mother does that to her own daughter?

She had the burg's constant ridicule and gossip, which were nothing but vicious lies she attracted stalkers like shit attracts flies. Can you imagine living a life that everything you said, everything you did was constantly being judged constantly being ridiculed? Can you imagine that every decision you ever made was somehow the wrong decision? That you couldn't make the right decision whatever your decision was for your own life was going to be wrong in someone eyes and you would be judged for it the rest of your life that nothing was forgotten, nothing was forgiven.

That has been her life up until now and it is still her life even though she has us, and we would never judge her, ridicule her for anything. Fuck in our eyes, in our hearts, in our mind she never does wrong. She can't make a wrong decision. Even when she went out unprotected, even when stalkers grabbed her none of it changed our minds, none of it changed the way we looked at her. It may have scared the fuck out of us but it was never her fault or wrong decision in our eyes.

Some may have said it was her fault, she had done x or y and that is why that happened. I can say that, that is a conversation that has never taken place under the Rangeman roof or with any Rangeman because that isn't how we thought about her, that isn't how we looked at her.

She was accepted, she was loved, and she was wanted by all of us. There was no judgment, no ridicule, no second guessing her decision or her actions because above all and beyond all we loved her unconditionally and for any of those other things not to be true and to exist then she wouldn't be loved by us unconditionally.

Ranger may demand that we protect her, that we treat her with respect and we treat her right but it isn't something he has to demand it is something we would do regardless we would do it because of our love for her. If you think these men don't love her unconditionally then all you have to do is take a look around this room her bedroom, their bedroom, seeing the faces of the guys watching them watch her anxiously waiting for her to wake up.

They are analyzing every bit of movement no matter how small or big. The wait is hard for them as they want to see her eyes, they want to talk to her, hear her talk, watch her and know that she is in fact okay after what happened today.

It was a little over four hours she had been out when Ella walked into the bedroom. You could see the look on her face when she took in all of the guys sitting around. There were only two missing Vince and Ram. They had gone down to pay a little visit to Doug.

She walked up Ranger and Stephanie lying in the bed I could tell that she was overwhelmed and didn't know what to say. I wasn't sure it was because we were all sitting around watching her or if it was something else.

I could see the love in her eyes for Stephanie and I could see the worry in her eyes questioning what happened. Lester stood up and guided Ella out of the room. I am sure he was going to fill her in as to what happened today with Doug. He knew that none of us needed to hear it again we would be reliving it in our nightmares soon enough.

Other than those that had their go with Doug no one had decompressed no one had let out any of those feelings they were all bottling them up. I even suspect those that visited Doug hadn't really let it out as I hadn't been called down to save his worthless fucking life.

I knew each of the men would handle their decompression differently but there were a few that I was concerned about. Hector mainly but Manny also worried me as well. While Hector had street smarts and he had his own coping mechanisms, he nor Manny ever had any formal training in decompression not like me and the guys who had been in the military had had.

I wondered if the training we had was enough to prepare some of the men for this. Stephanie was personal and that is the first part of training is not to let the mission become personal, not to let the object you are to attack to become personal the problem here was Stephanie was already personal this had happened to her, we had failed her so it was hard not to hold it personally as a personal failure and for some of the men in this room, including Ranger, Lester, Tank, and myself we were going to have a problem dealing with the guilt associated with that we had all fucked up and we had fucked up on a major scale.

This wasn't the fuck up that could be fixed there were things that couldn't be undone no matter what the fuck we did with the dumb fuck being held in the cell several floors below us. Hopefully the fucker was dripping blood, screaming in pain, and already begging to die because anything less would be unacceptable.

Lester had walked back into the room. He was telling us about the Boston men who were now in control of the control room and Rangeman Trenton's accounts. He said that they had been investigating where we were because when they got on site they had no idea where we were.

It was Ella who had gone through the video footage and saw us all running to the seventh floor with Stephanie. Lester told us that he filled Ella in and said that Ella just about lost it. He had helped her to her apartment on the sixth floor.

Ella loves Stephanie like a daughter so naturally she was upset. While he was telling us I was watching Stephanie I heard her breathing change, I noticed her eye movements change, her body movements changed and I knew she was coming around.

I knew Ranger had noticed as well as his eyes haven't left her as if he wanted to be the first to see those beautiful blue eyes when she opened them.

I quickly filled him in as to the Boston guys that should have responded it was protocol and not that I would think he would forget he, like all of us, had his mind elsewhere so I wanted him to know that Rangeman was taken care of and running as normal. Not that he would change anything if it wasn't.

His first priority was Stephanie we all knew that and none of us would allow it to be any other way.

RPOV

I had been laying there holding her since she fell in the shower. I had been willing her to wake up and open her eyes for me. I had been willing her to be okay. Ella had come into the bedroom to check on her and Lester had taken her out to explain what had happened.

I am glad he did that even though I knew what reliving it would do to him because I couldn't imagine having to tell anyone and I hadn't seen it, I hadn't been the one to save her from that fucking piece of shit scum. I wanted to call him an animal but that would be too kind for him.

Even animals have a moral code so to speak and they don't break it they may be cruel to each other and they may do things that we as humans would never understand but they were animals and they lived by one premise survival of the strongest that you could find respect in Doug well there was nothing respectful of his actions.

Lester had just stepped back into the bedroom and he was talking to us filling us in with what Ella had told him and what he had told Ella when I noticed my Babe's breathing change. I then noticed her eye movements had changed. She was starting to come around.

I kept watching her never taking my eyes off of her I wanted to be the first person she saw I know it is stupid but I wanted to think that I would be the first to see her eyes as well.

I felt her tense in my arms and I wanted to kill that fucker even more. She had always found comfort in my arms never fearing me always finding comfort and safety in my arms no matter what bad shit had happened to her or around her. I felt her relax and that made it better but I knew she was fighting it.

I could feel it. I knew she was fighting to remain calm in my arms, I knew she was making herself relax not because she was comfortable not because she automatically felt she was safe she was forcing herself not to flinch at my touch or the feel of my arms around because she knew I would never hurt her. I wanted to rip that fucker's throat out for making her feel like that.

I struggled to not let my body put off vibes to how I was feeling but I was feeling murderous and there was only one person that was on my list at the moment. That was Doug the dumb fucker he had to know he would never get away with this. Even if he thought he would run from Rangeman he should have known he would never run from me. I was the best and I would find him if I had to rid every city of every state of the scum and scrounge that dirtied their streets until I found him.

His death wasn't going to come easy I am already planning on Bobby having to resuscitate him multiple times before I finally will grow bored and just end his worthless fucking life. In an earlier life I would be tempted to search out his family members and end their lives as well before I ended his so he would have their lives on his conscious as he was the reason but with Stephanie in my life it has calmed that side of me to the point that I will be satisfied with his life if I made him suffer enough.

I wondered how much she remembered I wasn't sure what I wanted. I wasn't sure if I wanted her to remember what happened to her or not. I would do anything I could do to take the pain away from her any pain. I wanted to protect her from this just like I wanted to protect her from anything that could hurt her or cause her any pain.

So there was really no good outcome. Either she would remember and she would hurt because of her memories or we would have to tell her and hearing us tell her what had happened to her that she didn't remember would hurt her possibly even more. I knew she would feel as though she was unable to control what was happening or what had happened in her life.

I was listening to Lester, Bobby had told us who from the Rangeman Boston office was onsite I wasn't sure when he had figured it out and I really didn't care as I was just listening right now my concern wasn't on Rangeman I knew Rangeman was setup and programmed to run smoothly regardless of scenario I knew protocols would be followed and I knew that none of our clients would even know the difference.

We had contingencies that would allow Rangeman to run even if every single person at a particular location was taken out. We were thorough in our planning of the continuance of Rangeman and I knew those procedures, protocols, and policies would be carried out or someone would be meeting me on the mats later for a reminder session.

I was glad to hear that Reggae and Demon were back as I had intended to bring them back with me if they wanted to transfer from Boston to Trenton as we could use their expertise here. I knew Matt would be through and I knew he was fully capable of running Rangeman. He was very methodical and I had no doubt that he would figure out everything that happened before we even had a chance to talk.

Zip explained why they had pushed the button and he did exactly the right thing. With this happening to her none of us would be able to concentrate on our clients. They would have been unsecured transferring control to Boston was the only way to ensure our clients maintained their same level of protection while we dealt with the personal threat against Stephanie and getting her the help and support she needed. It was also exactly what we all needed because it allowed us to stay here with her. I just hoped feeling her tense up when she actually woke up she wouldn't be afraid of us.

I felt her tense up and I felt her heart racing as if she was having a panic attack and I wasn't sure what I was praying for her to remember or her not to remember. I was so torn. "Babe?" I spoke softly as not to alert her but loud enough that she would have no doubt it was me saying it. She would know it was me calling her. I couldn't help pulling her closer to me. It was as if I couldn't stop my arms from doing it but the moment I pulled her closer I felt her tense and felt her fighting herself to keep from pulling away from me. It was if I could feel the panic raise in her. Just feeling her have that reaction at my touch, at my arms I wanted to rip his head off and cuss myself out for not knowing better.

I could feel her confusion and even what I felt was embarrassment and I prayed that she wouldn't allow herself to be embarrassed around us she had nothing to be embarrassed about. These reactions were completely normal for anyone that had gone through what she had gone through.

Just because he wasn't successful, thank fuck, doesn't mean that the damage hadn't been done from what he was successful in doing to her. She barely moved and I could feel the wince from her body. Her body was sore.

"Carlos?" I heard her question hearing her voice Bobby and Lester both rushed forward toward her. I felt her flinch but like all the other suppressed reactions I along with Bobby and Lester ignored it no need bringing attention to what she couldn't help even though we all hated these reactions. We all hated the reason behind her having the reactions she was having.

"Babe, how do you feel?" I asked her I knew it was stupid because I knew how she felt. She felt like shit but it was as good as any opener for the conversation we were about to have. Once she wiped the cobwebs off from her dose she would be demanding answers.

She had yet to open her eyes and she was just lying there as if trying to figure out how she felt exactly before answering me. I prayed she would open her eyes but as of yet that hadn't happened even though I knew she was awake. Bobby started to examine her I knew he was beside himself to examine her and find out if there were any injuries that we were unaware of.

I felt her tense when his hands touched her but she calmed herself as if reminding herself it was just Bobby touching her. He talked to her telling her that he was going to examine her and he asked her to open her eyes. I saw her eyebrows move closer together in her confused state as if she was figuring out why she had her eyes closed.

After several blinks she had her eyes opened scanning the room. You could see the shock on her face as she took in her surroundings of being in our bedroom but having all of her brother's surround her. She took in each one as if examining them and I am sure she didn't miss the state of their rumpled clothing and the look of worry, concern and general love that was displayed across their faces.

She finally spoke saying "Hey guys" to her brothers from her voice you could hear that it was a little awkward for her but I knew these men well enough to know they weren't going anywhere. She looked down scanning her clothing and you could see the questions lining up in her head. She finally turned to me and answered my question.

Telling me that her legs, arms, and body ached I felt the wave of fury heat me and I wanted to make him pay for every ache. Bobby was examining her eyes checking for concussion I could tell she didn't want to go along but she did. I think she was thinking more of all of us in the room with her than herself that was Stephanie. Put everyone first.

She then asked the question that I never wanted to answer, I never wanted to have to say the words out loud, I never wanted to have to relive that moment and I hadn't seen it firsthand. Of course if I had seen it firsthand that fucker would already be dead because I would have ripped his fucking heart out.

She went on asking questions like why I was home, why were we in bed and all her brother's in the room with us, why was Bobby looking at her, but then she asked if she had blown something up. On a different day that would have been funny and would have caused all of us bad asses to laugh but today well today not a sole laughed not a sole joked we just didn't have it in us to make light or laugh over the situation. We couldn't laugh at a joked centered around what had happened to her.

I went for avoidance at first. I wanted to know what she remembered. I still wasn't sure exactly what I was going to tell her. I knew she needed to know and I knew I was going to tell her but I wasn't sure exactly how or exactly how much sometimes it is better if you don't know something although in this instance I was really on the fence with how much to tell her.

I knew she would want to know it all but also knew how much telling her all would hurt her and hurt me seeing her hurt and yet not telling her felt so wrong, felt as though I was betraying what we had, felt as though I was betraying her trust in me and that didn't sit well with me. I never wanted to ever give her a reason not to trust me. She already had plenty of reasons not to trust me from things I had done in the past, to things I had no real control over just felt like I should have done something more to have prevented whatever bad thing happened to her just like this situation now that I was debating on telling her.

"What do you remember?" I asked her. Lester crawled up sitting on the foot of the bed I think he could no longer be that far away from her even though he was standing at the foot of the bed. I don't think he even realized he had done it until he was sitting there at her feet. She finally answered after a few minutes of looking at Lester, looking at his bare feet, and looking at the guys standing around the room all eyes watching her.

She told me, well us, that she remembered having breakfast with me, being worried about me going to Boston and wanting to ask me to stay because she was worried something would happen. Had she only asked me, fuck I would have given up twenty million dollar contract to stay with her. Fuck I would have given that dumb fuck twenty million to leave her the fuck alone.

She remembered her training session and me coming to say bye to her. She then looked at Zero and said the last thing she really remembered was being mad at someone in Zero's life and that she wanted to slap them but she couldn't remember who or why.

I raised my eyebrow at Zero wondering what the fuck he had shared with her during their training session that would have brought out that reaction in her. Violence wasn't her first form of action unless your name was Joyce Barnhardt but now it looks like due to whatever Zero had told her we could add another person to that list.

Whoever it was I could only hope for their sakes that she doesn't remember who they are or why she was mad at them but because she remembered the parts she did I knew she would find out. So they only had so much time to hide.

She finally turned and looked at me confusion on her face and said "Please tell me I didn't destroy the gym." I knew she was making a joke to break the awkwardness she was feeling but again it got no reaction from any of us. None of us would be able to bring ourselves to laugh in this moment. There was no humor, there was no light hearted fun jokes being made or laughed at.

For us, we wanted to know my Babe was okay. Then we wanted to know how she felt when she found out the truth, and finally we wanted to rip that mother fucker that put her here into a million fucking pieces and then burn his ass, bury his fucking ashes, Even that would be too good for him in the end.

The gym was the last thing on our minds fuck most of my men wouldn't be able to step back into the gym without remembering what had happened there. What had happened to Stephanie and for most of her brothers I knew that would be enough to have them steering clear of the gym.

I knew she was expecting an answer to her question and I knew I had stalled all she was going to let me stall so I decided to bite the bullet and tell her everything. It was truly the only way to deal with this. We would get through it. We would get through it together. So taking a deep breath I started talking.

"Babe you didn't do anything wrong. None of what I am about to tell you is your fault or your doing." I thought I would start there but I saw the panic, confusion, worry over what I was about to tell her. She always blames herself for things and I wanted her not to blame herself. None of this was her fault.

"You were attacked in the gym. Doug the contract worker he attacked you. From what you were able to tell your brothers you felt sick and you asked Doug for help and he attacked you. He hit you, it appears you two may have fought a little but because you were also drugged you weren't able to fight back the way you normally would have been able to fight back." I told her struggling at points with not only the words but just saying them out loud so they made sense and yet made her understand that this was all on Doug not her.

"I was drugged?" She asked. I nodded I could see the wheels turning trying to figure out how she could have been drugged, I wished I had an answer to that.

"Babe, you were given GHB, Rohypnol, and Ketamin they are all drugs known as Club drugs or Date Rape drugs. They make you hallucinate, they lower your inhibitions, they make your body react to certain stimulants, and most importantly they make it so you don't remember what happened. We aren't certain how much of the drugs individually or collectively you were given we only know that they were in your system when Bobby drew your blood." I paused because I knew she was going to have questions and I wanted to put off the inevitable for as long as possible.

"How was I drugged?" Seeing the confusion on her face she was trying to figure out the puzzle to the mystery of what happened to her.

"We don't know yet Babe but we will figure it all out. We haven't had time to check into it because everyone has been so worried about you that they have refused to leave your side. That is why all of your brothers are here with you." I told her. It was true but to believe she could have affected this group of misfits, cretins, and killers to the point that we would be more worried about a woman than hunting down a predator is something that I never would have believed without seeing it.

Stephanie had changed all of our lives and had changed them for the better and we all loved her in our way and all of us wanted to protect her. We all had our hearts invested and we all needed to know that she was okay that our hearts were okay before we were able to truly function again.

I could see her brain still working through all the things I had told her. I knew when she had put it all together and her eyes got wide with fear as they tears welled up all I could think was fuck here it comes.

"You said he attacked me, and that I was drugged with drugs called date rape drugs, h..hhow…how was I attacked?" She asked I knew she was scared to hear the truth but I also saw the need in her eyes to know. I could understand the need it was her body, it was her right to know what happened to her.

I swallowed once and tried to speak but the words didn't want to come. I cleared my throat and swallowed again knowing that the longer I went without speaking the more wild her imagination was running but I swear I had to will myself to say the words that my ears never wanted to hear again.

The tears welling up and spilling over in my lack of reply I quickly reached up and wiped them away. "Babe it could have been worse but it was bad enough." I quickly told her to hopefully ease her mind a little bit.

"What does that mean? What happened?" She asked me even though I saw the fear to know I also saw the determination to know and she wasn't going to let me skirt the issue, not that I was really trying although it may have appeared that way. It was just my own heart that was keeping me from saying the words it never wanted to acknowledge.

"Babe he attacked you physically, he also sexually assaulted you with his hands and fingers but he wasn't successful in his attempt to rape you. Your brothers" I paused looking at Lester hoping he could see my forever gratitude for saving her "Your brothers were successfully able to remove him from you before he was able to rape you." I had said the words and I was right they didn't make me feel better for saying them only worse. The bile in my throat was burning my throat my heart was busting in a million pieces seeing her looking at me hearing the words that I was telling her and seeing the tears flow down her eyes. Seeing the fear in her eyes as she tried to understand and make sense of what had happened to her.

Looking around the room I can tell that her brothers felt the same way I was feeling half hurting and aching at seeing her and half ready to kill that mother fucker that had put her in this position. You could feel the tension in the air in the room and I quickly gave them all a look that said keep it under control or get the fuck out.

The tension quickly dissipated as it had come. She didn't need to feel that tension and think it was directed at her or because of her.

Doug was a sick fuck that decided to attack her and to give him the edge he had somehow managed to drug her. This was all on him.

I pulled her closer to me and wrapped my arms around her tighter holding her to me as she cried. I tried to calm her by shushing her but when that didn't work I started speaking Spanish to her. I didn't give a fuck if her brother's heard me after all the only one that didn't understand what I was saying was Stephanie.

After a little while her crying calmed and she pulled back looking up at me I still saw fear in her eyes her bottom lip quivering as she pushed against me to putting more distance between us. I could tell she wanted to ask me something but didn't know what to say so she decided to say something else.

"Who saved me? Who was it that rescued me?" She asked me. I looked at Lester I knew what was coming and I saw the look in his eyes that he knew it too. She wanted details.

"Lester was the one that reached you first but all your brothers came to your rescue." I told her I wanted to her to know that all of them were there for her.

She looked at him "Lester, tell me what happened." I could almost hear every bad ass in the room wince, since when did we fucking wince?

LPOV

Fuck this was about as bad as it could get. Beautiful was looking at me waiting for me to tell her what had happened. What the fuck was I going to tell her? What the fuck was I going to say it was so much fucking better when Ranger was telling her he is so much better at this shit than me.

I love her, I will always love her but fuck how was I going to look at her and tell her what happened.

"Beautiful Ranger pretty much told you what happened." I told her hoping she would just buy it and go with it. But that would be too fucking good to be true.

She nodded her head drawing her eyebrows together. She took a deep breath but then said "Lester you reached me first I want to know what happened. I want to know what was happening what had happened I need to know. I need to know what happened after you reached me and how I ended up in bed with Tank's shirt on." She told me.

I could see fire in her eyes behind the sadness behind the fear even though she feared what she was going to hear and what she already heard saddened and scared her she wanted to know everything and she wasn't going to give up until she knew it. That was one of the things I loved about her but at this moment it was also one of the things I hated the most. Because I knew there was no way around this.

So I thought rip the band-aid off fast it would hurt but it would be quick. At least that is what I was hoping for.

"Beautiful when I came back from a client meeting I looked for you in the gym and didn't see you the feed was showing an empty gym. It was almost thirteen thirty, one thirty, I was going to let you know that I had brought you lunch back from Chipotle." I thought I would start at the good part.

"Looking at the gym feed I noticed the clock reset itself and then I noticed it was the wrong time. I immediately went running to the gym. I was yelling for backup on the way so your brothers joined me as I was running to the gym. I was on my way to the gym when you pushed your panic button. I didn't stop to look at the phone alerting us it was only after I was in the gym I realized you had pushed it." I explained to her.

She didn't interrupt me even when I paused to gather my thoughts and catch my breath and steal my nerves for what was coming next. I could almost feel the guys around me bracing themselves for what they would be hearing. I knew how they were feeling but I was the one that had to fucking voice it out loud so they should be in my fucking shoes.

I cleared my throat to get ready for what I needed to say not that it was going to do any good, bring on the pain I thought as I continued. "When I opened the gym doors I immediately saw you and Doug. He had you down on the ground. I could tell from my initial look that your clothing was torn and I could see the position he had you in and my heart almost stopped." I confessed to her before I realized what my mouth had added but I quickly continued to cover that part up.

"I ran to you two and grabbed him pulling him away from you. Like I feared he was exposed and looking at you your clothing was torn your shirt and sports bra, your workout shorts were all shredded hanging from your body exposing your front and private areas." I tried to let her know without saying the actual words for the exposed body parts.

I saw her eyes widen even more as she was taking in what I was telling her. No one was breathing in the room it was dead quiet.

"We quickly subdued Doug and I reached you and pulled you into my arms but you screamed. I finally got you to believe it was me and not a slayer that you were convinced was attacking you. You kept telling us that your eyes were lying to you that you saw us as slayers so you kept your eyes closed to keep from seeing us that way and you trusted your other senses such as touch, smell, hearing our voices to know who we were." I told her feeling my heart constrict with the confession that she was afraid of us.

I saw her look around the room at her brothers with disbelief showing. I knew she was thinking how she could have thought of us her brothers as slayers and I wanted to let her know it was okay that we were okay even though we hurt we all knew it was the drugs.

"Beautiful please don't get caught up on this, it was the drugs in your systems that caused you see that we all know you love us. We all know you would never think of us like that." I told her. But I could still see the guilt

"I held you trying to cover your exposed body but you kept yelling that you were hot and uncovering yourself. At one point you threatened to shoot me with my own gun if I covered you again." I knew it was really funny and I knew none of the guys would be able to laugh at that comment ever even though her saying that would have been funny as hell under other circumstances. But I needed an ice breaker for what was going to come next.

"Bobby took your blood because we knew something was wrong with what you were telling us. You told us how your arms and legs felt like they weighed a hundred pounds, you seeing things that weren't real, your body reactions to what had happened, how hot you were feeling we all knew they were symptoms of drugs so we needed to know what you had been given."

"You already heard what we discovered you kept getting hotter it was the drug combination you had been given so we had to cool your body off to keep you from having a stroke. Slyder carried you up here and Bobby and I put you in the shower. We held you under the cold water so it could help cool your body temperatures to keep you from having a heat stroke."

"You and Bobby put me in the shower and ran cold water over me?" She asked and I nodded you could see her trying to figure out everything. You could see her trying to figure out why she wasn't remembering or maybe she was remembering bits and pieces of things and was trying to piece together the pieces of the puzzle in her head. I wasn't certain.

Her cheeks turned red she was embarrassed about thinking about being in the shower with us. "Beautiful don't be embarrassed there is no reason." I told her. I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. I continued. "Ranger came home as soon as he could he actually joined us in the bathroom. You got a little excited because of the drugs and you fell from the bench seat we had put in the shower for you. You fell backwards and hit your head. You hit so hard that it knocked you out and you have been out until now." I told her.

I saw her looking around the room at her brothers and I knew she wanted to ask some questions but wasn't sure with all of us in the room. Yet I knew until they had a chance to hug her, and talk to her they weren't going anywhere.

SPOV

I had listened to Carlos and I had listened to Lester tell me what had happened. Together they had filled in the flashes I had seen and explained why certain things were making me react the way I was. The more awake I became those reactions were lessening. I knew I was safe in Carlos' arms. I knew there was no safer place in the world. Not to mention surrounded by all of my brothers who were all bad asses.

They would all protect me I knew that. I needed to know how far Doug had gotten in his attack. I needed to know if I had been in fact raped. I could barely stand to look at Carlos as it was with what I had been told happened. I was so ashamed that it had happened that he had been that successful that the fear that he was even more successful in his attack had me wishing someone would just kill me now because I didn't know how I was going to face Carlos, or my brothers with that amount shame.

Because of my reactions I as concerned the attack was more than I was being told. I knew they would do anything to protect me from anything and I only feared that their protectiveness over me would cause them to edge the truth of what happened. That since it was clear I couldn't remember that they may not be inclined to tell me everything thinking they were protecting me but they should know that wasn't the protection I needed.

It took all I had in me to look at Carlos without hanging my head in shame. I could feel panic welling up in my body as I thought about what had happened and how he had told me several times how he doesn't share. I wondered if he would consider this sharing since my body had been touched by someone and seen by my brothers, his men and brothers.

I felt my stomach roll and I knew there was going to be no holding back what was rising to the surface. I went to escape from the bed but I felt his steal arms holding me to him there wasn't time to explain if I opened my mouth it was all going to be over. Throwing my hand over my mouth to help hold in whatever it was that wanted to come up with such a force that it felt like it was going to bust through my lips and hand.

Magically a trashcan appeared in time for me to empty the contents of my stomach. Once I started it felt like I wasn't going to stop.

I heaved and heaved until I felt like I was going to throw up my own foot. I felt a warm hand rubbing my back while holding my hair. I felt a cool rag being laid at the base of my neck and dabbed across my forehead as I continued to heave nothing but air my stomach convulsing until the point that it cramped and pained like someone was stabbing me.

I heard Carlos talking to me trying to calm me eventually I was able to get myself calmer and the convulsions and the dry heaving subsided. Drained I collapsed back against Carlos chest and while it felt like heaven to be in his arms leaning against his muscular chest it also felt like hell for what was going through my mind as this might be the last time I ever feel him. Just the thought of that made tears well in my eyes and made my heart race like I had been running the Kentucky Derby.

"Babe, please calm down its okay. You are safe. Everything is going to be okay." Carlos told me. How could he say that? How could he tell me that everything was going to be okay? He should be telling me how not okay this is. This is so not okay. What was I going to do when he walked away from me? How was I going to live when he walked away from me? How could that be okay? Maybe he was already past me to the point that he didn't care what happened to me but his voice sounded as though he cared.

Fuck I am so confused. "Carlos?" I wanted to ask him, I wanted to confront him but I was so scared I wasn't sure I was capable of just point blank asking him. Someone very wise once told me never ask a question that you didn't want the answer to and another very wise person also told me never ask a question that you didn't already know the answer to and in this case I really didn't want to hear the answer and I already felt like I knew the answer

In a voice that didn't sound like me I asked "how can you say it is going to be okay?" Not wanting to but not being able to refrain from saying it.

"Babe we will make it through this, we will get past it. Doug will never be allowed to touch you or anyone else. I promise you Babe we will make it through this together, all of us." He told me.

My heart skipped a beat at his words. Together, he said together, all of us. Does that mean he still loves me that he still wants me the same way he loved and wanted me before this happened? I looked at Lester and saw the look in his eyes of love and concern. I then dared to look at Carlos' eyes and what I saw there caused my breath to catch in my throat.

His eyes were soft, warm, chocolate orbs that you could get lost in but the emotions there had the tears running unchecked down my face. He loved me, he wanted me. I saw his soul call out to me and my soul answered him. I knew what it meant to trust someone. I had finally figured out what it meant to trust someone. There was no doubt that I couldn't believe what he had told me. There was no doubt that I wouldn't love him the rest of my life and there was no doubt that he wouldn't love me the rest of my life.

I looked around the room and I saw my brothers Lester and Bobby who were sitting on the bed one beside me the other down by my feet. Tank who was standing close by the bed, Slyder was standing to his left with soft warm almost tender eyes, Hector who was standing facing the bed but his head was down eyes focused on the floor. Manny was standing close to Hector and while he was looking my direction he wasn't looking directly at me. Ram, Cal, Hal, Vince, Woody, Binkie, Zero, Zip and Junior were all gathered around looking at me and I could see the words Carlos had said echoed in their eyes and expressions. We all knew we were going to get through this together but Hector and Manny not looking at me had me worried. Had I lost them as brothers? Did they have a different opinion of me than my other brothers? Did they think it was something I could have done to have prevented this?

I wondered the same thing about myself so I didn't think it was that farfetched for one of my brothers to think the same things.

I cleared my throat "Guys please know that I love you all. I trust you all. I trust you all with my life, and with my heart. I finally figure out what it means to trust and I trust you all and I now know why. You are always there for me. You always support me. You never question me, my decisions, my dumb ideas or my good ones you just accept them and go with it all the time never wavering on protecting me. You allow me to be myself when I am with you. You always have a shoulder for me when I need it and when I don't. You all are always there to protect me like no one else has ever done or ever will do. You have even protected me from myself at times and I am sure that was no easy feat." I told them.

Watching them I saw several of them tuck their heads as I finished my sentence. I wasn't sure what that was all about but I continued.

"Even now with what has happened none of you have judged me. None of you have questioned how I allowed this to happen. None of you looked down at me for not being able to fight back. You all still just look at me the same way with love and concern in your eyes never wavering. You should be blaming me for not being able to fight him off. You should be questioning me for how I could have allowed this to happen, how I could have gotten myself in that situation in a secure building. But none of you have questioned any of it."

I noticed their heads snapped up and several of them were shaking their heads no but I held up my hand to keep them from interrupting me.

Carlos broke in when I paused "Babe none of this is your fault. None of us feel like it is your fault you couldn't have done anymore than what you did and you fought hard to do what you did. We have all at one point in our lives either been drugged or did drugs we know the effects of drug on your system. We know what these drugs do to a person and for you to do what you did to fight for yourself it is more than impressive." He told me. I could see the truth of his words in his eyes.

"I feel like I should have been able to do more. Carlos from what you said he had his hands in places that only you should be touching I should have been able to fight him off I have been training with the guys I should have been better, I should have been able to do more." I pressed him. He shook his head disagreeing with me.

"Babe you have been training and trust me when I tell you that you are a good fighter, hell you put me on my ass and that wasn't an easy feat. But you were drugged, you were disoriented, you were hallucinating the drugs impaired your motor skills, took away your defenses, your reactions. How you managed to fight hard enough to get to your panic button to alert us that you needed help that was good Babe. You did what you could to protect yourself, you did what you could to get help, you did what you could to survive Babe and for that I couldn't be more proud of you, or more in love with you."

Hearing his words of him being proud of me brought tears to my eyes. I wasn't really proud of me I felt like I should have been able to do more but I was beginning to see his point of view. I searched the eyes of my brothers and would have been brought to my knees when my eyes met Hector's had I not been sitting on the bed.

The tears that had welled up began to fall again as I looked at the haunted look on his face. I saw guilt, I saw sadness, and I saw love. I knew he wouldn't speak now but I hope the look I gave him let him know that I loved him very much. I wanted to scream it to him but I refrained holding the secret that he had entrusted to only me forever hidden.

"I don't remember what I did how I fought back, or even if I fought back. I don't remember getting the panic button or pushing it. I don't remember any of that." I confessed. Not sure they were proud of me for a valid reason.

Lester spoke up "Beautiful I know you fought back. You tried to fight me. You tried to fight us. You were fighting for your life. I know you fought Doug. I don't know what happened prior to getting there but I knew by the scene seeing your bag on the floor its contents scattered all around that you were fighting. You were fighting him, and you were trying to protect yourself. What he did, well he will pay for but there was no question Beautiful you were fighting." He told me. That made me feel better to know that I wasn't just allowing what happened to happen.

I turned to look at Carlos "I love you, I love you with all I am, everything I will be. Please know I didn't want what happened between him and I please know that I didn't want him. It is only you that I have ever truly wanted everyone else before you was my path to you but there will be no more after you." I told him. Wrapping my arms around him pulling him to me or me to him not sure which one of us moved but I knew I was home, I knew I was loved, I knew I was wanted, and I knew I trusted not only the love of my life but my brothers as well. We were family.

**Pease take a moment and leave a review. Let me know your thoughts…I love every review it does wonder for my soul and wonders for my fingers! Don't forget to check out the accommodating website and my writer's journal…I put sneak peeks into the chapters in them! **

**You can find it all at www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com There are playlists there for the party and songs that are mentioned through the different chapters, pictures of the characters along with their bio as I see them in my head, as they are in my story. There are pictures of some of the clothing, and places that have been in my chapter, as well as pictures of cars, trucks, motorcycles from the Rangeman compound. I hope you enjoy it Leave a comment there as well if you wish!**


	49. Chapter 48: Taking out the Trash PT3

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**I want to thank everyone who writes a review for my story. I enjoy reading them and I love ideas they give me so keep them coming! You do my soul good!**

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**www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com **

**WARNING THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS VIOLENCE, GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF VIOLENCE **

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARGARET! Margret I hope you have a wonderful Birthday do something just for you! This chapter is for you Babe, I hope you enjoy it!**

Chapter 48: Taking out the Trash Pt3

MattPOV

We picked up our skip without any problem. As suspected he was dealing on Stark Street. I don't think I have ever seen a skip go so willingly it made me wonder if he had other people out looking for him and he thought he would go with the devil he knew instead of the one he didn't.

We pulled up in our shiny black SUV jumped out said his name and he was surrendering to us without any fight, without any protest, without even making us chase him. I wanted to say what the fuck but you could see the other people on the street eyes widened with fear, almost as if they were expecting us to do something more than just pick up the skip we came for.

Looking around the street I saw all kinds of destruction burned out buildings, burned out cars, and houses what a fucking place to live. Hookers already crowded the streets and I wondered what kind of low life fucking trash has to come to a place like this to get a fucking lay.

You could look at the women on the corner and know they were filled with diseases but you could also look at some and tell this wasn't by their choice they were out here but it was because they were more afraid of their fucking pimp than they were any man they would pickup or any disease they may catch at least the men and the diseases would let them live a little longer than their pimp would if they refused to walk the street.

Arriving at the station we went to the booking desk I showed the officer manning the desk the paper work "I needed to speak to the arresting officer." I told him. I saw him start to question why but when he looked at the uniform he changed his mind.

He pointed down the hallway and told me his office was on the left side. I nodded my head thanking him for the information and proceeded down the hallway with Acer following behind we left the skip with the officer for him to reprocess.

I walked up to the office seeing the door sitting slightly ajar it was time for the acting. I can only hope Acer follows along with me and doesn't try to kick my ass right here although if he does it may work for us as well.

Just shy of his doorway I paused and turned slightly toward Acer. I checked the hallways to make sure they were empty scanning the offices near Morelli's I saw all the doors were closed. I heard rustling within his office so I knew he was in there.

I thought here goes nothing and started talking to Acer just loud enough for Morelli to hear me but not loud enough that my conversation carried down the hallway. "Can you fucking believe that bitch working at Rangeman?" I asked Acer.

I saw his eyes grow large from shock that I would say such a thing and part of me felt guilt from saying anything about a woman I had never met, had never spoken to, and knew that every man in Rangeman Trenton adored and felt like as if she was their sister. I knew even Demon and Reggae after only meeting her briefly had fallen under her spell so I knew she had to be pretty incredible and that made this even harder. I was going to have to dig deep to be convincing enough for the cop to fall for the bait I was dangling in front of him.

I continued before Acer could say something and fuck up my plan. I willed him again with my eyes to go along. "I mean we are new there just like she is, from what I hear she hasn't been there a whole two weeks, yet she is acting like she owns the fucking building, that she can boss us around like we were nothing. She treats us like shit and have you seen how she treats the other men? I mean she acts like they are her personal fucking slaves."

If Ranger gets wind of this conversation he is going to fucking kill me but if it gets us the information we need then I guess it will be worth it, maybe. The jury was still out on how bright this idea was.

Acer started to speak and I could only hope that he would go along. "Yeah I noticed how the bitch acts I mean she has a nice ass and all but after the way she acts I am not even sure I would want to tap that. I think the other guys are so pussy whipped they don't know what they are doing around her and just do what she says." He said. Thank fuck he is going along all though I can see the fury behind his blank face and I knew I was going to have to answer to him on the fucking mats when we returned to Rangeman.

I knew if this didn't tell us something then I would have a lot of explaining to do for my actions. Not to mention if Ranger found out. He wouldn't ask any questions he would just fucking kill me for disrespecting his woman. I could only hope he would see that I did this to protect his woman in the long run.

I spoke up "I don't know did you see the look Ranger gave her today? It was when her back was turned to him but you could see he was disgusted with the way she was acting. According to some of the other guys I talked to she has changed."

I could hear the activity in the room had quieted and I could hear he was hanging on every word that was coming out of our mouths. He had picked up on who we were talking about and he was definitely interested to hear what we were saying.

I continued talking to Acer nodding my head that we had his attention. "One of the guys I talked to today told me something about her. Apparently she had a boyfriend before coming to live with Ranger. She and Ranger knew each other while she was dating this other guy and according to my source he said she was a sweet heart then. But ever since she dumped the boyfriend and started dating Ranger she has become something that none of them imagined. I think his words were cold hearted bitch."

Acer just shook his head and made a low whistle. "That is bad. She is kind of cold hearted though and I think we already established the bitch part so it seems to fit. Maybe Ranger will grow tired of her ass and just throw it to the curb like every other piece of ass he has ever had in his life." Acer said. I couldn't help but pray to God that this conversation wasn't be recorded or heard by anyone other than Morelli because if it got back to Ranger we were going to be fucking dead.

"Well looking at that ass of hers it is a nice ass and I am sure he is enjoying it in some ways but when you have to put up with her actions and her ways all day long I seriously wonder is the ass at night worth it. I hope you are right and he kicks her ass to the curb before long because personally I can't stand the bitch. She needs to go." I added

Acer was about to say something when the door opened and Morelli stepped out into the hallway. I turned as if I was shocked anyone was in the hallway. "Oh I am sorry officer I didn't realize anyone was around I hope our conversation didn't disturb you." I said knowing all along it disturb him but in all the right ways.

I could see glee dancing in his eyes for having heard what he had I just had no idea what he intended to do with it. If he would talk to us or just file away the bogus information I had given him for use later. I was hoping he would start talking to us but was fearful he was going to take the higher road and file it away for later.

Morelli stepped up extended his hand to me saying "Hi, I don't recognize you two my name is Officer Joe Morelli I am a detective here at the Trenton Police Department. I know your boss and your company well." Of course you fucking knew the company and my boss and the woman I was talking about extremely well.

I extended my hand to him "My name is Matt and this here is Acer we are new to Rangeman." I told him. He nodded and shook Acer's hand and mine.

Morelli added "We will probably see a lot of each other with the nature of your job, so it is nice to meet you." He seemed almost friendly and very open which made me want to fucking cuss. I was going to get both of us fucking killed for nothing.

I bit my tongue and replied "It's nice to meet you as well. Well we need to get back don't want to keep the boss man and the true boss of the building waiting on us. I don't know which one is worse or which one I fear the most Ranger or Stephanie." I told him making it very clear who I was talking about earlier just in case he hadn't put two and two together. He wasn't known to be the smartest detective. I think the saying is not the sharpest knife in the drawer and trust me what I saw he was pretty dull.

He spoke up slightly starting to take the bait "Did you say Stephanie? Why are you answering to her?" He asked. I could only smile within he was taking the bait I just needed to make it juicier. Make it irresistible for him not to chomp down on.

"Well we are new and while we don't report directly to her she is Ranger's woman and we aren't dumb enough to think that we don't answer to her as well if we want to keep our jobs after all it seems that whatever Stephanie wants Stephanie gets and it is really going to her head, not that you heard me say that, but damn just the other day she got Chad fired for nothing. She had asked him to make her a cup of coffee, he did and when he brought it to her it wasn't sweetened to the way she liked it so she fired him. Chad didn't report to her he was just like us new hires but when she wants something she gets it and well Chad got fired." I told him hoping he would fucking buy the story.

He just shook his head. "I can't imagine Stephanie acting like that. When we were dating she would never imagine treating someone like that." He said. So he admitted they dated.

"Oh shit I am sorry man I had no idea you knew her. Please don't say anything to anyone about what I just said I want to keep my job." I told him adding a bit of begging in my voice.

"No worries man she made her decision when she left me for your boss. I hope they are both happy. I wish them nothing but the best. It took me a while to get over her but after hearing what you said it sounds like she has changed. I think I am glad that it didn't work out between us. Besides I am ready to move on. No hard feelings. I hope things work out for your boss and Stephanie and hopefully she will calm down. You want a secret concerning Stephanie she loves Tasty Cakes you want to get on her good side give her a Tasty Cake you can get them at any convenience store around town." He told me.

Fuck not where I wanted this conversation to go, or end. Fuck.

"Thanks man I appreciate you keeping this conversation to yourself and thanks for the tip about the Tasty Cakes we will have to give it a try and see if that gives us an advantage."

He nodded "No problem, anytime you want more secrets about Stephanie let me know. You know where to find me." With that he turned and went back into this office shutting his door. Fuck. Maybe he was smarter than I originally gave him credit for.

I turned to Acer shock my head pursing my lips together as we headed back to the booking station to get our body slip for returning a fugitive to the system.

I was not looking forward to the drive back to Haywood, I could tell by the look on Acer's face he was going to unload on my ass the second we were in the SUV.

Getting in I thought I would just cut him off with an explanation "Look Acer I was trying to get a feel from Morelli as to his thoughts, with Stephanie. I was hoping he would give us something more than he had given us. I am not sure I buy his whole line of wishing that they are both happy but it does seem he is over her and is moving on. We will see what we can get from Mike and Doug if Doug is able to speak after the guys have been paying him visits."

I continued "I knew you weren't going to like saying those things or hearing those things and trust me I didn't like saying them either but it was the only way I could think to get him engaged. It just didn't go the way I had quite planned or hoped that it would go." I told him. He nodded telling me accepted my half assed apology.

"Look if this gets back to Ranger I will take the heat. It was my idea and I asked you to play along." I told him he once again nodded and the look on his face said all I needed to know it was a look that said damn straight fuck if I am taking the fall for this one.

Arriving back at Rangeman I went straight to the control room Chase and Wire were still manning the monitors and Demon and Reggae were there waiting on us to give report.

Demon started "the water bottles were the key. The one we found in the trash can had three finger prints on them Stephanie's, Lester's, and Doug's. The one we found with her bag had only two sets Stephanie's and Doug's. It was the one with her bag that contained drugs we found GHB, Rohypnol, and Ketamine. They are the classic three drugs known as club drugs or better yet date rape drugs." He said. Fuck.

Wire spoke up "the number you gave me mapped back to a drug dealer by the name of Sal Deguze, he is known for selling those drugs in local clubs."

"Wire I want you to run background checks, I want you to come up with a list of every single employee he has, and I want to know who buys from him. We will be shutting down his operation permanently before we are done." I told him. He nodded smiling because he knew what was coming for that piece of fucking scum.

"Did you reexamine the gym floor for body fluids?" I asked Demon and he nodded his head.

"Soon as we discovered the drugs we sort of put two and two together and figured Doug either raped her or tried to rape her. We didn't find any body fluids other than sweat." Demon told us, well thank fuck for that. Not that, that meant that nothing happened only that no body fluids were left behind on the floor but it was at least some hope that he wasn't successful.

"Okay I want to go talk to Doug and Mike before going to up to the seventh floor. You guys hang tight here, Acer you are with me." I knew I didn't need to tell him that but sometimes formalities are hard to drop.

We walked out of the control room like we were on a mission and to some degree we were our mission was to find out what the fuck Mike and Doug's dealings were with Morelli and find out what the fuck Doug did to Stephanie. I didn't have much faith we would find out the latter but if we found out the connection it would be better than what we had.

I walked into Mike's cell he was sitting in the chair at the table. I walked over and sit on the edge of the table on one end Acer sat on the other edge mirroring my body language we effectively had him between us both of us glaring at him.

"We found your burner phone, we know you used it to call Officer Morelli, and we can see that he called you. We know Doug is also involved. I want you to tell me details now. I want to know what is going on between the three of you and what Morelli wanted." I told him my voice should have told him I wasn't playing around.

His eyes grew large with my statement and that alone told me he was involved. I added "the quicker you give me the information I am requesting the better it will be for you in the long run." I wasn't sure he was going to leave these walls alive but it could mean the difference between a quick and short death versus a long torturous death. There is something said for those that die quick in battle versus those that are injured and then captured. We had all managed to find ourselves in those situations and let me tell you I wouldn't wish them on just anyone.

He nodded, I knew he was weak you could look at him tell he was weak he would cave. "We were approached by Morelli one day when we were at lunch. I want to go on the record as having said I didn't want to be a part of their plan but because I was with Doug when the form was planned I got shoved into it. I could tell the cop wasn't right so I went a long because I felt like having heard the plan and then saying no well that wasn't really an option." He told us.

"What was the plan?" I asked him.

"Well Doug was a little sweet on Stephanie and Morelli wanted her back. They formed a plan that if Doug told Morelli when she left the building and where she was that he could have a go with her. Basically Morelli wanted access to Stephanie through Doug and me. He instructed us to go purchase burner phones and to call him and that was how he was going to reach get in touch with each other to report on Stephanie."

"What else?" I asked him.

He shook his head "nothing else really. I mean Doug let Morelli know when she was out of the building he also helped Morelli get a package delivered to her here. We were at the front desk the day it was delivered and he got her to take it before it was scanned by the guys." I told him.

"What was your role?" I asked him.

"I was supposed to do the same thing monitor her let him know where she was and what she was doing but I didn't call him. I didn't report things to him like Doug did I tried my best to stay out of it." He said.

See this is where being chicken shit bites you in the ass. He was too chicken shit to follow through which was smart on his part but the dumbest thing he did was not seeking out Ranger or someone within Rangeman and letting them know about the plan. He basically hung his fucking self by being too chicken shit to speak up when he had the chance. Now that we basically figured everything out it was a little too much too late. He had allowed Stephanie to suffer from what Doug had done. Ranger wasn't going to go easy on him.

"Why didn't you say anything?" I asked him trying to grasp why he would just go along.

He shook his head "I don't know why it wasn't that I was going along I just didn't say anything. I didn't participate nor did I tell anyone. I knew if I told Morelli would probably kill me. I also knew if I didn't tell that Ranger would be pissed at me but I figured it was better for him to be pissed at me than dead right?"

I just shook my head poor dumb chicken shit bastard didn't know who to be afraid of.

I decided that I wouldn't bother trying to talk to Doug I pretty much knew what happened and I knew he wasn't going to give me any information. Leaving him for the men of Trenton Rangeman I decided to make my way up to seven.

JPOV

I was sitting at my desk I hadn't been long getting back from meeting Momma at the hotel. I was relaxing my dick happy having been satisfied by Momma. I had told her how I was done with Stephanie. That I no longer wanted Stephanie in my life as my future anything I was in fact done with her. I wanted her dead. I wanted him dead. I wanted them all dead and I was going to find out a way to make that happen.

What she hadn't realized while we were dating she had given me some valuable information to use against them. Information that I am certain most people didn't know. I mean after all I knew the man in black's name, address, and other information that I wouldn't mind sharing for the right price. Knowing what they do well I am certain they have enemies that would love to know the kind of information I knew.

I only needed to figure out how to get the information out there how to reach out to his enemies and I wouldn't even have to worry about risking my carrier, risking my good name to kill them they would do it for me.

In fact I planned on taking the high road and apologizing to Stephanie the next time I saw her. I wanted to wish both him and her a happy life together the whole time knowing that it would be extremely short lived. If I had my way they wouldn't make it to their fucking wedding day which I hadn't heard if one had even been set. Better yet before they have a chance to set the date the two lovers ripped apart from each other by death how classic. Trenton could have their very own version of Romeo and Juliet only slightly different as they really would be murdered.

Momma had gotten upset at first thinking I wouldn't want anything more to do with her but I quickly assured her I would still be willing to meet her regardless after all she let me do whatever I wanted. She would suck my dick, fuck me anyway I wanted her why would I stop a good thing?

Sitting at my desk I briefly heard two men talking in the hall way it sounded as if they were talking about Stephanie. I stopped what I was doing so I could listen in to their conversation. I heard how they were calling Stephanie a bitch and I heard how they thought Ranger was ready to kick her sorry whore ass out.

I couldn't help the smile that formed on my face. This gets even better not only are they sick and tired of her as I knew they would become they were ready to kick her out. How much better could this get. I wasn't going to let her come crawling back to me she would have nothing but yet when Ranger's enemies come they would still think there was a connection so they would remove her just for the fuck of it.

Oh man I only hoped I got to see her broken, destroyed by their rejection the way she broke and destroyed me with her rejection. I wanted to see her crushed and then refuse her plea for me to take her sorry whore of an ass back. That would be the ultimate payback the only thing that would be better would be to witness the enemy of Ranger put the bullet through her skull with the acknowledgement she was being killed because she knew Ranger even though he had thrown her out rejected her she was paying for that relationship with her life.

I couldn't help the glee I was feeling I couldn't even stop myself from practically dancing to the door to meet the men that were talking in the hallway. Opening the door I was a little disappointed that they weren't men I recognized so that meant they were new but it didn't overshadow the true happiness I was feeling at what I had heard them say.

I introduced myself and decided that now was the time to take the high road and lay out the new Morelli the world would see the one that was glad for the two bastards, the one that wanted them to just be happy even if it was happy for a very short period of time. The thoughts couldn't keep the smile off my face as I continued to listen to the two men complain about Stephanie calling her a bitch.

I was proud that I didn't join in trust me a part of me wanted to but I refrained and I even offered them a little suggestion to get on her good side by buying Tastey Cakes for her. I even offered more secrets to get on her good side before leaving them going back into my office shutting the door. I knew the longer I stayed the stronger the urge was to talk the trash with them and I was turning a new leaf I was going to be moving on while the whole time I would be selling them out. Life wasn't going to get much better than this. I stroked my dick and thought about who I would call to take care of it tonight. It was time for a little celebrating I had found the answer to my problems, all my problems.

SPOV

I had been sitting in the bed listening to what had happened to me watching the guy's faces as I had told them how I much I loved them, how much I trusted them. Hector's face when I said it the way he looked at me was a look that I knew would haunt me. He was so sad, he was so hurt, I didn't know how to talk to him to ask him what had him so sad and hurt. I knew he loved me but even Carlos wasn't taking it as bad as Hector and Carlos wasn't taking what had happened to me well.

As Lester was telling me I could feel Carlos's arms around me tighten like bands of steel around my waist as I sat there listening to him. I knew he was doing everything he could do to control his anger. Hearing the story there were moments when my anger was getting the best of me as well.

I understood why I was feeling the way I was and seeing the hurt and the concern along with the love on my brother's faces made me want to lash out at Doug for hurting them. He used me. He attacked me even though hearing it was something like hearing about a story out of a book or movie it was weird as I had no recollection of the events but I knew my body knew because of my reactions. Those automatic responses when Carlos would tighten his arms around me, when one of the guys would step too fast into my space or touch me and I would stiffen or have to fight the urge to jump back, or pull against their touch.

He had used me to get to them. He had attacked me to hurt them to get to them because he could. He had drugged me and then attacked me when I couldn't fight back. The more I thought about it the more I thought how he had hurt my brothers, how he had hurt Carlos who rushed back to be at my side not knowing what had happened to me and then having to hear it while he was flying back made my blood boil.

I had no fear. Even though I am sure somewhere within me there was plenty of fear when the attack was happening right now fear wasn't on the table. I was furious I wanted revenge. I wanted retribution I wanted to make the son of a bitch pay for what he had physically done to me I wanted him to pay for what he had put my brothers through and what he had put Carlos though.

Hearing how I thought my brothers were slayers and I was afraid of them broke my heart seeing their eyes. I knew it would haunt them all as I had never had a reason in all the time I had known them to fear them and this piece of shit made me fear them because of the drugs he had given me.

I was shaking but it wasn't because of fear, it wasn't because of any reactions, nor was it because I was bone dead tired even though I was. I was shaking from fury, from hatred, from revenge. "Babe?" I barely heard Carlos above the blood pumping through my veins in my ears the throbbing sound as it pushed the melody of feelings that I was having throughout my body. I felt my body tense, I felt my hands clench into fists, I felt my legs grow rigid as the muscle stood up defining their existence my feet tensed and I knew I was ready for battle.

I was coiled like a rattlesnake and if I had a rattle it would be dancing I felt as if my fangs were exposed dripping with venom and my claws were out gleaming their sharpness I was reading myself for my attack.

"Carlos, I want to see Doug." I told him. I knew my voice was deep, it was dark, it was demanding. I felt him move against me and I knew what he was going to say. I knew he was going to try to get me to change my mind. What he didn't know was there would be no mind to change. I had already made up my mind this was me, this was my battle. I was going to see him if I had to go through every single one of my brothers and Carlos to do it. I just hoped they wouldn't require it to go that far.

I felt him relax and I knew I had won that battle wordlessly. In another setting that would have given me great pleasure to know that I can win a fight without saying a word but right now I was too focused on my revenge too focused on what I needed to do to understand the true gravity of that win.

"Babe I am not sure it is such a great idea, the guys have been paying him visits I have no idea what condition you will see him in." He said. I didn't care. I didn't care what condition as far as I was concerned if he was living and breathing at the moment he was lucky. He would wish he wasn't but after what he had done to Carlos, and my brothers I no longer cared.

They thought that I had a soft forgiving heart. I do, but not when you mess with my family. Carlos and my brothers while we may not be blood relatives we are a lot closer than any blood relative I have ever had save my Grandma.

Doug had fucked with my family and my brothers along with Carlos was going to see a side of me that I am fairly certain they didn't know existed because for those that I love I am furiously protective of them. I will fight for them fight with them and I don't care what I have to do to protect them from harm. He had hurt them.

"I don't care I need to confront him. I need for him to see me, see that he didn't break me, see that he didn't get what he wanted, and I want him to know that we are stronger than ever thanks to what he tried. He didn't succeed in whatever his plan was for me."

Carlos searched my eyes looking for what I am not certain. I just remained starring into his eyes I wasn't going to look away first because I was about as serious as I could get and he needed to know exactly how serious I was and how far I would take this.

He must have found what it was he was looking for because he nodded his consent. I could tell by his eyes that he wanted to say no, but I could also tell by his eyes that he knew I was right, he knew I needed this.

He then added "Please do something for me Babe, I don't want you in the room with him alone. I doubt that he will be physically able to do anything to you especially with the condition he is in and you no longer being under the influence of the drugs but I just can't stand the thought of him having a chance Babe. Please let me or one of the guys at least go with you if you don't want me with you." He asked me and he had me at please, the first please.

"Carlos You can come with me. I wouldn't shut you out now besides after hearing everything I have heard I am not ready to not be beside you yet. Even though I don't remember my body remembers and having you beside me helps me control my reactions." I told him.

He hadn't left me to fully test those theories but I knew if I was struggling with him beside me that it would be ten times worse if he wasn't. His presence along with his smell had always calmed me and today was no different.

From the look in his eyes my confession was something he needed to hear. Well I don't know about needed as much as did his soul good to hear so I was glad I had bared my soul to him in front of my brothers.

I started to get up but his arms tightened around me I think instinctively at first more than anything else. "Babe?" He questioned I knew he wanted to know where I was going what I was doing.

"Carlos I need to get up, I need to shower to wash off his cooties. I know you all said you had me under the cold water but it wasn't a shower to clean myself. I need to scrub him off of me. Then I am going to get dressed and go downstairs where he is and kick the shit out of him before I come back up here and fall in the bed for some sleep. Somewhere along the way I am going to get something to eat." I told him.

I heard a couple of gagged laughs come from a couple of my brothers and it made me smile. I could tell they were trying to hold it back but couldn't refrain. It made me smile and that felt good. It felt like I hadn't smiled in a long time and it was a welcomed feeling.

He released me but got up with me and walked with me into the bathroom. He wasn't ready to leave me either it seemed. I heard Lester yell "can I come too?" And I had to smile my guys were finally returning to their normal selves. I knew they would still kill Doug and I didn't care but I was glad to see them returning to normal behavior.

I don't want them feeling guilty I don't want them feeling sorry for me and I don't want them lost in their own world of regret close themselves off to me as I feared Hector was doing.

I heard Lester yell "OW what the fuck you do that for?" and I knew either Bobby or Tank had wacked him for his comment. My guess would be they wacked him on the back of the head. That too brought a smile to my face.

There were no other comments made as I turned on the shower and turned the water to the hottest setting the dial would go. I knew it would burn but I felt the need to burn the cooties off.

It didn't take long for the bathroom to be a complete sea of fog from the heat of the water. As I scrubbed my body with the loofa that I fully intended to throw away afterwards using Carlos' shower gel by what seemed the bucket full I proceeded to wash every square inch of me. After a while of washing and rinsing Carlos reached in a shut off the water. I wanted to scream what the fuck but he interrupted me.

"Babe I am afraid you are going to either burn your skin off or scrub your skin off this is the third wash and rinse I think you got all the cooties off." I hadn't realized I had been methodically washing myself that many times. When I started it just felt good to scrub the feel of him on me off. When I started I just couldn't bring myself to stop. Now I know how it feels to have an OCD because for me this was it had he not been in here with me I am not certain when I would have stopped when it would have been enough because it sure didn't feel like three times was nearly enough.

Stepping out I stepped into the towel that Carlos was holding for me my skin was blood red I wasn't sure if it was from how hot the water was or the scrubbing or a little bit of both. I kept walking until I had walked completely in his arms. He wrapped the towel around me along with his arms and he held me. Feeling his arms around me brought things back and tears started to spill down my face again.

He spoke his voice so soft "I could have lost you today." His hand found my wet hair as he pulled me even tighter against him. You couldn't have fit a piece of paper between us we were joined so tightly together. I took a moment to lavish in the feel of his muscles pressed into mine banded around me I felt safe I felt secure I had never felt safer than when I was in his arms.

I am sure it was similar to how the lamb felt laying beside the lion only I didn't have to worry that I would later become dinner.

I didn't know what to say to his comment. I just held on tighter. I wanted to say you didn't that you hadn't but we both knew he knew that. I wanted to say it was no big deal that I am survivor but we both knew that and we both knew it was a big deal.

I finally decided it was better to not comment and just hold on tighter letting him know that he hadn't lost me. Letting him feel me in his arms I leaned a little more into letting his body take more of my weight to make it even clear that he had in fact not lost me that I was here.

He was here, I was here, and we were together.

"Carlos, I need clothes. I don't want to put back on the clothing I had." He nodded and was heading out of the bathroom towards our closet when I called out to him "Carlos I need to channel my inner Ranger, I need black." I knew he knew what I meant. I had told him enough. He nodded and closed the door behind him.

While I was waiting for him I started to work on my hair. I wasn't going to do anything fancy just brush it and put it up in a pony tail. I had an ass that I needed to kick. I wasn't going to meet the president.

He wasn't gone but a couple of minutes maybe not even that long I was seriously questioning if he got everything I needed but I should have known better than to questions the mad skills of Batman because one look told me he had everything I needed. Black pants, black t-shirt, black underwear and even black bra, socks, and cat boots. When I said black he took it to heart and picked up black everything.

He smiled I guess he was following along with the conversation I was having with myself as he said "Babe" I knew what that Babe meant it meant you said black I brought you black.

I quickly dressed walking back into the bedroom with the socks and boots in my hand. My brothers had found places to sit around the room I suspected this was where they were sitting before I woke up.

I looked around the room seeing them stand as I walked in. I walked up to Tank and he picked me up hugging him to me and I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed hugging him back I felt how much larger he was than me. My feet were probably a foot off the floor as he hugged me to him my feet dangling my arms wrapped around his neck as I took advantage of my position to place a kiss on his bald head. His arms tightened briefly around me as he gently sat me back on my feet and pulled away from me.

Slyder was next as he gave me a hug but left my feet on the floor. He whispered Incendia in my ear so lightly that had it not been right beside my ear I would have missed it. When he pulled back Lester was there grabbing me pulling him to me. Holding me tight against him I hugged him to me. I knew we were best friends but him saving me had made our bond even stronger. I wasn't sure exactly how or what to put my finger on to say this is why but I felt it.

I felt the bond as he held me, as I held him and I thank god for my best friend, and brother.

I pulled back placing a kiss on Lester's cheek as he returned one to mine. Offering me his pinky finger I quickly linked my pinky finger with his. I knew the promise it represented and right now couldn't have been a better time to once again renew that promise of acceptance, love, and everything that went with being a best friend.

I stepped back from Lester and found myself in Cal's arms. He reached down picking me up like Tank my feet dangling I kissed his flaming skull as I hugged him around the neck. He whispered sister in my ear as I whispered brother back to him. I didn't have my die with me I wasn't sure what happened to it during the whole Doug thing but it was going to be the first thing I sought out when I was done with Doug.

Cal put me on my feet and I stepped back. My vision was slightly blurry from the tears that were swimming around in my eyes threatening to fall down my cheeks. I pulled Manny into a hug I could feel him reluctant but I didn't let that stop me. I whispered into his ear "Manny I am here, you are my brother and I love you. I trust you. I need you." I told him and his eyes snapped to mine pulling his ear away from me. I saw him questioning what I said and I just nodded letting him know I told him the truth. I needed all my brothers.

He pulled me back to him hugging me tighter than ever to him "Wifey I need you too, I love you, you are my sister and I trust you." The tears really didn't stand a chance at that point and a couple broke through and fell down my check splashing off of his shoulder. I nodded letting him know I had heard him and I stepped out of his embrace.

Stepping into Hector I knew this was going to be harder because I knew he was carrying guilt. Guilt I never wanted him to carry. Pulling him close to me I whispered in his ear and I only prayed it was low enough that only he could hear me. "Hector please don't feel guilty. You didn't know none of us knew. I know you are my protector here and I know you would do anything to protect me I trust you to protect me. You are my brother, I need you. I love you Hector." He only held me closer but he never responded. I am not certain if he wasn't able or just didn't know what to say but I left it at that. Kissing him on his cheek and rubbing my fingers over his tear drop tattoos I felt his rigid body relax a little and I knew while it would take him time he would recover just like all of us.

I hugged my other brothers noticing bruises and cuts on their knuckles. I grabbed their hands in mine checking for further damage. I knew what they were from and part of me hated Doug even more for making them damage themselves to make him pay for what he had done to me. I hugged them tight to me placing kisses on their hands and cheeks to let them know how much I loved them. How much I loved them for taking up for me, defending me.

I walked into Bobby's arms he was the only brother of mine that I hadn't hugged. Pulling on his braids he pulled me to him giving me a hug. He had fixed me so many times, he had stitched me up, he had been there to take care of me time and time again. From a cold to a cut and now he saved me from drugs. I couldn't help but whisper in his ear "you save me." He pulled me tighter to him.

"I will always save you, Bomber." Tears were flowing down my eyes unchecked by this point and I didn't care. My brothers didn't care. We all needed this moment. We all needed to know that we hadn't been ripped from each other. I still had my brothers, they still had their sister. Once I pulled back from Bobby's embrace I immediately sought out Carlos who had been watching me the entire time.

Walking back into his arms I couldn't help but notice the difference I felt being in his arms. I love my brothers, and I love giving and getting hugs from them but nothing felt as good as being in Carlos' arms. Nothing made me feel like I was home unless I was in his arms.

As good as this felt I had a mission. I dried the tears, I steeled my nerves there was already no fear I had an ass that I needed to kick. "Okay boys I think it is time I paid that visit to dumb fucker and let him know how fucking dumb he was when he targeted me." I heard a couple of hoohas and hell yeahs from my brothers.

I couldn't help the smile on my face we were all going to be okay.

DougPOV

Fuck. This wasn't how this was supposed to go. The plan was to have my way with that split tail bitch and then get out of Rangeman before anyone knew what happened.

I am not sure how they found out but that fucking bitch had to try to fight me. Even with the drugs in her system and barely able to stand up she was able to fight she was able to get herself to her bag which wasn't part of the plan.

Thanks to that stupid fucking bitch I was captured and they threw me in this cell. Now I have had several of them come and beat the shit out of me. They have tortured me by electrocuting me, drowning me, pulling my teeth, slamming me into walls and beating me. I wonder at what point they will stop I have begun to wonder if they will.

I thought they would possibly understand the desire to be with her after all she flaunts her ass around here every day in our faces and these men do nothing about it. I acted on it and took what I wanted and now they wanted to beat me for it. It wasn't like I even got to do what I had planned that had to account for something right?

I had been lying in my own body fluids, blood, piss, and sweat. I was shaking. Jumpy I knew it was only a matter of time before I would be visited by more of the Rangeman. I knew as soon as I would drift off to sleep they would come pounding through the door.

My hands were broken, my fingers broken in multiple places, my arm broken in at least one place possibly more. The pain from the breaks was incredible, I had at least one rib broken possibly more I couldn't really tell. I only knew that breathing felt like someone was driving nails into my sides.

I knew my ribs couldn't take much more abuse from them or I wasn't going to have ribs left. Fuck I should have walked away when I had a chance but no, I just had to have that split tail bitch. I should have known this wouldn't fucking work but no I just couldn't say no to that ass I had to know what it was like to fuck that ass.

That thinking certainly had landed me in a world of trouble and a world of hurt. I had already tried the door but it wasn't going to open there was no handle on the inside of the door. The furniture was bolted to the floor so I couldn't use that to fight off my attackers.

I had nothing to fight them with and I certainly couldn't beat them. I didn't have a chance when I was better but with the injuries I now suffered there was no way I could fight back. My hand was swollen almost twice its normal size and the pain that radiated from it was enough to make me want to yell out loud just moving it hitting someone or something was out of the question.

I had completely lost track of how long they had been holding me in the cell. It could have been hours or a day I knew it wasn't days but it felt like it had been a long time I had been in this room most of the time lying on the floor as I am now waiting for the next round.

Somewhere along the time I must have dozed off because the next thing that was registering with me was the banging of the door. Fuck here it comes. I turned my head to see who had come in. I couldn't really see because unless others were in here with me the room was black as the blackest night.

They had yet to turn the light on instead they stood in the doorway with the light behind them silhouetting them there were three figures. One person was standing in the middle that was considerably shorter than the two figures flanking them on each side. I knew by the shape and size of one of the men it was Tank. I didn't know who the other two were.

The light flicked on and I realized I hadn't noticed the other two men in the room. My eyes focused back on the three people in the doorway and I have to say I was shocked to see one of them was the split tail bitch.

I figured she would have had enough drugs in her system to do her in. I was hoping that by me failing to have my way with her the drugs had. Fuck. Now here she stood looking stronger than ever flanked by Ranger and Tank with Bobby and Lester standing off to the side. It wasn't until they made their way further into the room that I realized there were more. In walked Cal, Manny, and Slyder, but the one that caused my heart to race the most was Hector.

I watched as Hector walked into the room and shut the door behind him. He took a stance beside the wall placing one boot up on the wall behind him as he leaned back just watching me with his cold as death eyes. He was one cold hearted son of a bitch that wouldn't think twice about splitting my throat just to see the color of my blood. I knew in that moment I was beyond fucked.

Stephanie, the bitch, walked up to me. I had managed to get myself in somewhat of a sitting up position as I watched them invade the cell they had been holding me in. I briefly wondered if my appearance would make her sick, offend her, or perhaps scare her after all she had her "brothers" as she called them but we all knew they were fuck buddies to thank for it.

I didn't say anything only taking in her appearance her emotions that were running across her face which to my surprise weren't many her face was blank like many of the Rangeman I had worked with. I did see anger, and rage and I was curious what the fuck was she going to do to me. It wasn't like she could beat me we had already proved that.

Had her brothers not made it into that room when they did I would have proved just how much better I am than her. I would have taken what she had been flaunting in my face now for over a week. Her fiancé had promised me that I could have a taste of that ass I was just taking what was mine, what he had given to me. She was given it away willingly to every man in this building except me I was just taking what I deserved.

She walked up to me standing in front of me. I could see the strength she wanted to project forward looking in her eyes I saw hatred, I saw fury, I saw strength I think I was surprised that I saw no fear, she didn't fear me, she wasn't scared of me. I wanted her to fear me. I wanted her to be scared of me. I don't know what pissed me off more that I had failed at ending her life or that after all I did she had no fear of me even bloody, swollen, and bruised she wasn't afraid or scared of me.

I sat there accessing her almost forgetting the others in the room. It was clear they were going to let her do her thing as they hadn't stepped forward. That seemed to be a mistake they continued to make they always let her make the decisions when would they learn that women can't make decisions for themselves they needed a man to tell them what to do.

I hadn't bothered to stand up so she stood in front of me looking down at me she looked at me her nose crunched up her eyes narrowed locked on mine. "You drugged me, you attacked me, and you attempted to rape me." She stated. I noticed it wasn't questions it was statements of truths. Her voice was cold and sharp and if it was a tangible object I would be looking for the blood as I would be certain that I was cut.

I heard growls from the men standing behind her and I knew I didn't control the widening of my eyes from the fear that crept its way down my spine.

She looked at me and smiled my fear wasn't lost on her "you fear them so you aren't entirely stupid but you are stupid for one thing. You should know who you need to fear and who you don't. You should know never under estimate your opponent and you have under estimated one. You have under estimated me time and time again. No matter how many times I kick your ass, prove to you I am better you under estimated me. Now you are doing it again. You fear them, but you don't seem to fear me. Dumb Fucker I am going to show you that you should fear me. They" she pointed to the guys standing at the other side of the room "are the devils you know. I on the other hand you don't know. I am the one that you should be afraid."

With that she stomped her foot down her foot landing on my dick and balls she ground her foot as if she was trying to smash them into the ground. I couldn't help the sound that left my throat I am not sure you could classify it as a scream or a howl but whatever it was it was of pain.

"That was just so I would have your attention." She added coldly. Fuck I thought, as I chocked grabbed my balls and curled inwards falling down to my side I would have thrown up had I had anything in my stomach.

"I want to know why you decided to drug me, attack me, and try to rape me. I am not leaving here until you tell me why." I wasn't going to fucking tell her why. She must have seen it in my expression that I wasn't going to tell her because she crouched down in front of me bringing her face in align with mine I saw her set her jaw, I saw fire flash in her eyes even though her eyes were blue as crystal ice blue cold enough to freeze my heart. "You will tell me it will just be a matter of how much pain will be necessary for you to tell me. I told you already you should fear me. I suggest you tell me now why and whatever else I want you to tell me. My patience is running out."

The only thing I could think was fuck you. The fucking bitch thought she was going to intimidate me, I hated to inform her that it would take more than that fucking split tail to intimated me.

She raised her hand and motioned to one of the men who had now placed themselves around the room. I don't know who came over but I heard the footsteps echoing off the floor. "Pick him up" I heard her tell her lacky. I felt myself being lifted off of the floor. The ache in my body had me moaning.

She looked at Bobby who was standing to her right side. "What are his current injuries?" she asked him. I heard him rattle off broken fingers, broken hand, broken arm, and so on. I couldn't help but think fuck as he was listing my injuries. What was more unsettling was the look on her face it didn't upset her to hear my injuries instead it made her smile.

When she heard Bobby tell her that I more than likely had broken ribs she quickly asked him which ones. When he shrugged she turned me to saying "Bobby, don't you think we should know which ribs are broken?" She asked him and he nodded.

While Cal was holding me she took her hand and jabbed it into my ribs on the left until I could no longer hold back the sound of pain. "Broken?" she asked Bobby and he nodded. She then switched the other side and repeated the procedure until she knew every broken rib I had. Once she knew the ones that were broken.

"Now I want to know when you first targeted me." She said I just looked at her she wasn't going to get the answer from me. She shoved her hand into my broken rib and pushed pain shot through my side and chest until I had to virtually hold my breath. Fuck. "Tell me what I want to know." She said pushing harder before she started pushing on the other side I finally decided fuck it tell her to end the pain.

I nodded she released some of the pressure trying to breathe through the pain catching my breath I said "I believe it was the first day I saw you in the gym." I told her. I wasn't prepared for what would happen if I answered her fucking question. Cal's fist hammered into my side where she had previously been pressing. He was holding me that was the only thing that kept me from falling to the floor as I heard another rib or maybe one of the same ones crack.

Fuck. Choking I see the blood in my hands and know that isn't a really good thing. "Why did you target me?" She asked me again I wanted not to answer her but when she reached out grabbing my broken fingers and squeezing them until I was literally screaming from the pain shooting through my hand and arm I once again found myself telling her what she wanted to know.

"Your ass looked good in those gym shorts, you were flaunting it around for all the guys and I just wanted my taste of it but you wouldn't give me the time of fucking day." I didn't mean to say all of that but when I got started I couldn't seem to stop until I had told her everything just to make her release my swollen broken fingers.

When she released them I looked around the room at the rest of the men in the room and they were just standing sentry watching us no expression no emotions still as statues they stood they weren't going anywhere. The only one moving was Cal who was holding me up on my feet.

She walked over to the table Cal drug me behind her. When we reached the table she grabbed my hand with the broken fingers raising it she slammed it down on the table. White lights once again exploded in my eyes as pain radiated through my hand, arm, and body. Fuck.

"I want to hear what you did, I want you to tell me the plan you formed in your dumb fuck of a brain as to how you thought you would pull your plan off." She told me. Why the fuck did she want to know this? I debated on telling her it seemed that I was going to be in pain regardless if I tell her.

I remained quiet I had steeled myself to not telling her another fucking thing. When her patience had obviously grown too thin in waiting for me to answer she grabbed my hair and pulled my hair making my head bend back as far as it will go. While it wasn't comfortable it wasn't really painful and I was curious what she thought she would gain by putting me in this position.

It was only when the barrel of a gun was shoved in my gums where my teeth use to be that I knew I would be telling her whatever she wanted to know as it pressed into the sore, sensitive, still bleeding gums. Fuck.

I made a noise indicating that I was willing to talk she removed the barrel of the gun "I took video of an empty gym to replay later. I put the video on a continuous replay so that if someone looked at the monitors they would see an empty gym." I told her earning me a gun butt to the mouth Right to the area that the teeth were pulled. I felt a fourth tooth break with the assault as a bone rattling pain shot through my head, face, neck, and body. Cal quickly threw me on all fours as I spit out blood onto the floor along with the broken tooth.

A boot quickly made contact with my face and I found myself flying backwards onto my back. I am not sure which one of the men took the opportunity to kick me several were within reach and I never saw it coming until the boot was making contact.

Cal stepped away from me almost as if planned or choreographed Slyder stepped up. He hadn't been here more than a few days but was already closer to everyone than I had been the whole time I had been here. He was closer to the bitch on day one. She accepted him, why the fuck wouldn't she accept me all I wanted to do was fuck her was that so bad? She was giving it to all the others why not me? I wasn't a bad guy. Now with the way I was beaten no woman would probably look twice at me ever again.

That thought caused pure hatred to seep through my tired weary broken bones. Who the fuck did she think she was? Who the fuck did they think they were? They couldn't treat me this way. I had rights. They couldn't hold me against my will or beat me it was against the law.

She stepped up to me looking down at me "get up" she told me. I was pretty sure right now that wasn't really an option for me. But even if I had been able to just spring up I wasn't going to make it that fucking easy. I wasn't her fucking dog. She looked down at me narrowing her eyes to me "I said to get the fuck up and I meant it." You could feel cold ice falling from the words as they left her lips. I felt her boot stomp down on my shoulder while I don't think the force was powerful enough to break anything it hurt like a fucking bitch.

I wanted to lash out but with the broken bones, the hurt my body was experiencing I wasn't exactly able to do anything but moan in more pain. "Slyder" I heard her say and all I could think was fuck me. I felt his hands grab me one of the places he chose to clamp is hand down on was the shoulder she had just stomped on. I wanted to howl in pain but I bit my lip until I could taste more blood if that was possible.

I was going to try to be strong and show them that they couldn't break me but I wasn't sure that ship hadn't already sailed on that one as I was already a broken, bloody mess, being held up by someone else. Looking around the room I saw Cal leaning against the wall starring at us with a slight smile on his face. The rest had never moved. They just stood there watching faces looking like they were carved out of granite or steel. I even questioned how they could stand so still so quiet, it was almost eerie. It definitely wasn't normal and their eyes I don't know what it was about their eyes but for some they weren't the same.

It was almost as a predator locks on to its prey the way they stared at me. Seeing their eyes the look within them made a shock of terror run throughout my body and I couldn't help but shake. It was evident I had fucked up and I will be in a much bigger world of hurt before this is over. Fuck me.

"I told you I am the one who you should fear, not them." She told me. Yeah fucking right she didn't have the power but to hurt me but so much. She was succeeding in hurting me enough but I wasn't dumb enough to think that they couldn't hurt me more than she would ever be capable. I wasn't stupid enough to not fear them over her.

I saw her look around the room at the men standing there "he doesn't get it does he?" She asked and I caught a couple of their heads move only a miniscule telling her no that I did not understand. What was there to fucking understand? They were double her weight sometimes almost three times they were double her size. There is no way she could inflict more pain on me than they were capable.

Almost as if she read my mind my train of thought she answered me "there are things worse than pain." She told me. "When did you decide to drug me?" She asked me. Fuck if I knew. I wasn't really resisting answering the question because by now I knew I was going to be hurting regardless so to keep the pain and damage to a minimal I decided to just answer her fucking question after all it wasn't like she wasn't going to get it eventually it just depended on how much pain I was willing to deal with before she got it.

We were near the steel table that was bolted to the floor she picked up my broken arm and slammed my elbow into the table. The funny bone as they called it which was funny because there was nothing funny about hitting your funny bone. It fucking hurts pure and simple there was definitely no laughing as tears sprung forward in my eyes. I was unable to stop them up until this point the pain I had suffered I had done so without tears but a simple hit to the funny bone had tears swimming in my eyes.

She looked at me seeing the tears she smiled sneered and spoke "the baby is going to cry." She told them, none of the guys made a sound or moved an inch at the comment. "Answer my question when." Shaking my head, trying to shake off the wave of queasiness that overcomes you when you hit your elbow, I started to answer her question. "I thought about it the night you went to the club and I came there. I saw some people handing out drugs and I picked up a few to use on you." I told her.

Slyder was holding me up by one hand. My legs were like gel unable to hold me up but that didn't stop him from grabbing my arm pulling it backwards as far as it would go the shoulder and elbow were both screaming in pain as he was holding closer to my wrist I heard the joints straining and I wasn't sure which one was going to give first the elbow or the shoulder. I heard a pop sound and fire shot through my shoulder. He released my arm at the sound and it fell lifelessly down but not painlessly the pain of my arm falling and hanging there just about sent me under. Slyder shook me to keep me from falling into the darkness that the pain was causing me.

I took several deep breaths trying to breathe through it trying to get past the pain. Fuck. At this point I had lost count of all of the injuries my body had suffered at their hands the shoulder was just another one to add to the long list.

"I want to know who sold you the drugs do you have a name or a number?" She asked me part of me wanted to just spit in her face and tell her to go fuck herself giving her information didn't save me from the pain. But I knew that if I did that it would be worse. I knew that telling her did save some pain because there would only be more until I told her and then the pain afterwards. So I just spoke up. I never would have thought I would have been such a rat so easy to spill mine and everyone's secrets I knew but I knew at this moment I would tell her whatever she wanted to keep from going through additional pain what was happening was as much as I could stand.

She had found the key to getting me to spill and it was pain. "I have a number, no name I don't know names. I purchased Rohypnol that night and later purchased the Ketamine and GHB when I read more about the effects of the individual drugs." I told her. Being forth right earned me a punch to my broken rib. At least they were leaving the shoulder alone not that the rib was pain free.

"Where is this number?" She asked me. "It's in my desk drawer I told her. Just a number on a blank piece of paper" She reached out and held me while Slyder jabbed his hand into my damaged shoulder I couldn't have stopped the roar of pain that shot out of me no more than I could have stopped a locomotive running down the train track.

"What made you think you could get away with drugging me and trying to rape me?" She asked me. Fuck what was with all the questions? Fuck her I thought I will just tell her exactly who it was that made me think it. "Your Fiancé is who. He gave me the okay to have my way with you." I told her. There was a pause in the room. I am not sure how statues pause as they don't move but you could feel the silence fall over an all ready quiet room it was creepy it was eerie sort of like when you walk through cemeteries at night and all of a sudden you feel like something has changed in the air and you no longer feel alone.

It lasted a second before the silence was broken with screams coming from me as I felt and heard both my elbow and shoulder pop I knew they were broken this time there was no doubt about it. Before it was just tendons this time it was the bones the joints. The screams I was making sounded as if it came from some animal not a human the pain I felt was more than I could describe once again I found myself being jerked back from going under this time was because of some vile disgusting smell they were holding below my nose. Fuck.

She didn't give me time to recover from the pain or the blackness "I want to know why you would say that? My Fiancé would never tell you that or allow you to touch me. He doesn't share." She practically screamed at me and for the first time since she had walked into the room she had lost her ice cold in control presence. It had been replaced by what could only be described no other than a rabid badger. Looking in her eyes, they were crazy with rage crazy with so much determination that I was beginning to understand why I should fear her more.

"Answer me you cock sucking mother fucking son of a bitch or so help me god I will end your fucking worthless fucking life right now." She practically screamed as the gun that had been earlier used reappeared from nowhere and was being pressed into my eye to the point I thought my eye was going to explode from the pressure and pain.

"The cop, your Fiancé, the cop." I spit out hoping and praying she would release the pressure from eye.

The pressure released from my eye. I wasn't saved from pain though as I felt a boot connect with the side of knee causing my knee to pop and crack I felt it as it popped out of joint dislocating it was a sound I was all too familiar with as I had heard it now several times since being in this room. I fell to the ground my leg completely unable to hold me up.

"How do you know Morelli?" She asked spitting out Morelli's name as if it was something disgusting. I started to not answer. I am laying in the floor my knee destroyed my arm and shoulder destroyed and she still wanted me to tell her but when her boot stepped down on my knee and as I screaming like a rabbit who had been caught by the fox I caved.

"I met him not long after I started working here. I was at a café having lunch and he introduced himself to us." I told her. She stepped down harder causing tears to burst forward on my face as the screams of pain wailed from my lungs.

"Who is us?" she asked me I debated lying and making up a name but in the end fuck it, if I was going down Mike was going down with me. After all I had no loyalty to him I could barely stand the fucker. He was only in on the plan because he happened to be sitting there with me and even then he was too fucking scared to back out.

"Mike the other contractor." I confessed as the pressure increased on my knee. I felt a kick to my chest that sent me backwards on the floor. Part of me was ready to just scream end it now. The other part of me was holding on with the hope that they wouldn't kill me. Right now I wasn't so sure what their plans were.

I watched as Slyder stepped back and Manny stepped forward. The smile on his face told me that he thought he was going to enjoy this and all I could think was fuck. It was clear what they were going to do each of them was going to have a piece of me. The scary part was the worst were yet to come fear started to rise in me again and like blood in water with a shark and its prey she must have smelled it because she once again reminded me who I should fear and it wasn't the men in the room.

I still wasn't ready to believe that line of shit even though she was making her case more and more all the time.

"I want to know about your conversation with Morelli. What did you three discuss?" She asked me the ice cold control was back but it was different it was somehow colder somehow more serious and it was in fact scarier than it had been.

Hesitating to answer wasn't the right thing to do because quickly there was a shoe grinding away at my broken shoulder. Screaming I'd answer finally the pressure released letting me catch my breath. Fuck.

"Mike and I were having lunch, he approached us. He wanted to know information on you. He wanted to know when you were out of the building, where you were, stuff like that. He had us buy burner phones so he could we could stay in touch with each other and not be tracked." I finished just as white flashes burst in my vision seconds before pain was registering in my brain. Manny had me by my broken elbow. The pain radiating throughout my whole body was like that almost sickening funny bone feeling only a hundred times worse than I had ever felt. Tears sprung forward again.

"I know it was more to it than that tell me everything. Don't fuck with me." She said I had to do a double take because her voice had taken on a different sound. At this point she didn't sound like the same woman. The look in her eyes was different her voice was different it was almost as some schizophrenics that when one personality is showing can be all together different than another. I had never witnessed anything like this, it was scary.

"He told me then that if I helped him get you away from Rangeman that I could have you for myself before returning you to him." I told her. She moved so fast I don't think I saw her but she was screaming hitting and kicking me until she had knocked me out of Manny's hands and we were on the ground with her screaming, kicking, clawing, hitting me. I was trying my best to cover myself from her attack but I couldn't with my broken body. I felt her claws go down my face, I felt her punches her slaps her kneeing and kicking. Finally I felt her raise up off of me one of the men had picked her up off me as her screams continued.

I finally opened my eyes and even with her being held up away from me she was still fighting in mid-air screaming I wasn't certain what she was screaming but I knew they were threats against me she was in a blind rage or maybe I should say a focused rage and that rage was entirely directed at me. At that moment I realized I was scared of her. Fuck I was scared of a woman.

She would kick out at me claw out me and scream out at me while he was holding suspended in air he was whispering something to her I could see if his lips moving but I couldn't hear what he was saying to her. She finally calmed in his arms. Nodding he sat her down on the ground where she didn't hesitate to kick me in the face sending me flying back on my back side. I felt a tooth rattle and knew she had either knocked another tooth out or broke one off. Spitting the blood and the tooth out on the floor I noticed it was another whole tooth. Fuck.

I had lost count of the number of teeth I had left but at this point I doubted I had any of my upper teeth that weren't molars. Fuck.

"So that was the deal you get me to leave Rangeman and you could have me for a romp until you brought me back to Morelli? You made that deal with him?" She asked me and I nodded.

"Where is your burner phone?" She asked me. Fuck I didn't want to tell her this part. Before she could inflict more pain on me I spilled my guts. "I threw it away. Morelli called me a few days ago said he was done with you. He no longer wanted anything to do with you. That I could forget our agreement and throw the phone away." I told her.

"So you decided to do what you did to me on your own?" She questioned me and I thought fuck it and nodded. Manny had switched out with Hector and I heard a slew of Spanish words that I didn't know as I felt the blade of his knife wasp across my shirt the shirt split as my skin started to spill my blood.

His blade was like a hot knife to butter my skin gave zero resistance to the metal.

The cut was shallow but it bled and stung like a bitch. She looked at me her eyes changed to the color of blue ice cold as steel she looked at me as if she was trying to figure out what to do with me. Accessing me and I did feel the fear rise in me it was like a slow wave one that starts at your toes and works its way up your body claiming each limb, each muscle, every bone causing your heart to race, your breathe to hitch because in that moment you know you are terrified you know you are in danger and what was worse I knew there was nothing I could do about it.

Holy fuck I was scared of her, I was more scared of her in that moment than any of the men in the room because in that moment I realized my life, my death was solely held by this woman. I knew it was too late to beg for my life even though there was a strong part of me that wanted to beg for forgiveness, wanted to beg to be saved but I wasn't dumb enough to think that would be granted.

I knew they were capable but it wasn't until this moment I realized that was the plan of every man in this room. Every man in this room wanted to end my life and was perfectly capable of ending my life but it was the woman, it was the woman that I had constantly neglected that I had constantly casted aside that I had never accounted for. It was her that held the answer it was her that held my future in her hands it was her decision and her decision alone. She was right I should have been more afraid of her than anyone in the room.

I should have been more afraid of her from the very beginning because what I had just realized she had always held this power I just never saw it. These men in this room would do anything for her and that included killing me. I saw her smile she had followed my train of thoughts she knew I had figured it out.

"So now you know why you should have feared me the most. Why you should have been more afraid of me, and why you should have been scared of me?" She asked me and I nodded. She smiled even wider nodding her head and saying "Yes, I think you fully understand now." The smile was cold, it was more feral, more of a leer "I want to hear you beg." She said.

With that said she stepped back beside Ranger leaving me with Hector. Fuck. I felt his knife make several slits I felt the blood seeping out as screams exploded from my lungs. It wasn't long before I was begging her to save me to make Hector stop.

She walked up to me when I started begging "you know I thought I would enjoy hearing you beg for your life but in all honestly I really don't give a fuck about your begging. So I hope you have a nice long eternity of burning in hell." With that she gave me one more kick to the family jewels that had them quacking with pain. I heard the door open and close and like that she was gone. Cal, Manny and Slyder had left with her leaving Hector, Tank, Lester, and Ranger my worst nightmare had come true. She had signed my death certificate no amount of pleading, begging, screaming was going to save my ass.

It was just a matter of how much pain they wanted to inflict on me before finally putting my ass out of my own misery. Knowing these men it could be minutes or it could be days. Fuck. It was strangely odd how after she left the level of fear I felt had lessened. Maybe it was the fact that I knew this was going to end in my death that made the fear decrease.

RPOV

Fuck me. We walked into that room and I had no idea what to expect. I had no idea how my Babe was going to handle it but regardless I was going to be there for her. From the moment we walked through the door she was in control.

She was beautiful. The beast within me saw something in her that had his attention from the moment the confrontation began between him and her. I wasn't sure this was a great idea but I would never deny my Babe anything she wanted and she wanted to confront her attacker something I could fully understand the need to do.

She needed to feel strong again, she needed to feel like the one in control and from the moment she stepped into the room she was in control she was beautiful and she had me hard as a brick. I wasn't sure how my body was able to respond like that along with the rage that was coursing through it. Seeing that fucker in this room had the beast in my screaming to just rip his fucking head off and be done with him.

Seeing her like that had my body screaming to just grab her run to seven and fuck her until neither of us could move. I had never had these two conflicting feelings at the same before in my life and I doubted that I would ever have them like this again. At least I hoped if I did it wouldn't be under the same circumstances that something had happened to my Babe.

I would forgo any feelings before I allowed myself to feel something at her expense.

Hearing her voice, watching her movements, her reactions my eyes never left her. I could care less what she did to him I wanted to make sure she was okay at every minute. If I saw her start to break down or show weakness to him then I would step in and help her out until then I would let her have her way and do whatever she wanted even if she wanted to end this fucker life I would let her even though I wouldn't really be on board with that idea. I knew what it meant to take a life and I knew what it took of you every time you did.

Stephanie wasn't a stranger to taking a life but she had never done it when it wasn't self defense. In this case it wouldn't be self defense and even though he deserved to die for what he did to her but I knew her subconscious and her heart would have a hard time with it. I knew she appeared to be strong when she basically gave him his sentence so to speak. He was going to die before she said it but by her saying it she had put the burden where I didn't want it on her shoulders. It wouldn't be her burden in our eyes but in hers and I knew she would have a hard time coming to grips with what she had said even though I knew she meant it.

I am glad she decided to leave the room when she did. I knew with him in Hector's hands it was just going to get bloody and I didn't want her to have these memories added to her nightmares. I was also glad Cal, Slyder and Manny left with her. They would watch over her and make sure she made it back to seven to her brothers.

I knew as each man was done they would leave and would eventually find their way back to my Babe I knew they would need her light. Even though this fucker deserved death none of us relished in taking a life even if it was as low life fucking pond scum like this son of a bitch in front of me.

One thing with my Babe out of the room the Beast within me could come out and play without me feeling like I would scare her or make her fear me. The beast within me was vicious, he was a killer, he was a survivor but one thing he would never do would be to harm a hair on her head. The beast within would protect her at all cost.

Hector POV

I had let my Angelito down I had let her be hurt during my watch in my home by a man that was working for me. A man that had been in my lab, messing with the very equipment that he had used to trick the guys on the monitors.

I knew that Manny and I being out of the building wasn't the cause, it wasn't our fault but it was hard not to shoulder the responsibility had I been here would it have made a difference? Had I been here would I have stopped him before it got as far as it did?

I knew she forgave me she told me hell I knew she never held any of it against me to forgive I knew that. It was me that didn't forgive me.

It was all I could do when I walked into this room not to end the fucker's life before he had a chance to lay an eye on my Angelito. I wanted to cut his eyes out and feed them to him for even having the balls to look at her.

I saw some of the expressions he made at her when she started questioning him and I wanted to plunge my knife deep within him and give him a reason for not being able to answer her. Part of me wanted him to not speak to her not look at her he wasn't good enough and he had already hurt her enough.

My hands shook over my knives itching to feel them in my hands itching to feel them slicing through his skin as though it was butter. I knew how sharp I kept my knives and I knew human skin was nothing for them. I wanted to slice his dick off of him. Castrate him.

We weren't in the room long when I realized my knives were in my hands I was just itching for my turn with him I only hope it wasn't while Angelito was in the room because I knew once I had my way with him I would never prevent myself from slicing him from spilling his blood. I had images of slowly draining his blood from his worthless shit of a body.

I don't know how many different ways I had dreamed of taking his fucking life in the time I had been standing waiting just patiently waiting until it was my turn with him. Feeling the cool steel in my hand and knowing the warmth of my hand would warm the handles.

Manny indicated it was my turn and I stepped forward. Stephanie was still in the room still asking him questions still demanding the answers. I couldn't help but use my blade a few times but I made sure the cuts were shallow and they wouldn't bleed much but some of his blood would be spilt.

I wanted to keep the horror to a minimum until she left I could only hope that she would leave sooner rather than later. I really wanted to bring this fucker pain and right now with her in the room I was keeping it to a minimum.

It wasn't long before she did leave. She left with Cal, Slyder, and Manny. I knew they would take care of her but part of me wanted to be with her protecting her. I was her protector I had already let her down and I wasn't going to let it happen again. I knew she would be surrounded by her brothers and I had learned I could trust these men but with what happened I was finding it hard to make myself trust them with my Angelito. I had learned the hard way of trusting those around her already. It almost cost me her life.

That brought the rage front and center within me. Looking at the fucker on the floor in front of me where she had left him. Now was time for some fun. Picking him up by his hair looking into his eyes big as saucers he understood fully what we were going to do. There was no question no begging that would spare him. I quickly brought my blade up the side of his face slicing through the soft skin and connective tissues of his ear. Watching the blood run out as his ear hit the floor.

He hadn't even realized what happened until he saw his ear on the floor the look of disbelief on his face as his hand raised to his ear pulling back to see the blood where once his ear sat. He screamed I wasn't sure if at that point the pain was settling in or if it was from the terror that was coursing through out him at seeing his ear lying on the floor by his feet.

He should have known this would have never gone unpunished an ear wasn't punishment, it was only the beginning.

I wanted him to hear us so I spared his other ear. Even though I knew removing the ear didn't stop him from hearing but I figured with the blood flowing in his ear canal probably wouldn't aid in his hearing at least not for the moment.

I couldn't help the laugh that escaped from my mouth. I knew that would shock the men in the room with me because laughter wasn't something they heard much from me. It just made me happy to see this fucker's terror and the realization there was nothing he could do stop me, or the others.

I stepped back and let Bobby step up. I wanted to do some more carving and I had a few ideas of what he would lose but I knew the others wanted their turn and I was pretty certain none of them wanted to be covered in his blood before they had their chance.

BobbyPOV

Hector stepped back and I was shocked I almost expected Ranger to have to command him to stop his attack. I expected to have to almost fight Hector for a chance to dish out some pain to this fucker.

Seeing Bomber hurting from the knowledge of what he had done to her, having to tell her after everything she had experienced just about broke me. She was my sister she was to be protected and I had let her down being too busy working on what I was doing to pay attention to what was happening around me.

I should have known his affixation with her wasn't healthy looking back I could see it but during the time I just thought he wanted full time position at Rangeman and was jealous I never saw his obsession but I should have seen it. Being a medic I am familiar with psychosis and I should have seen what was happening but I didn't and for that I blamed myself.

I gave him a quick punch to the chest knocking him back on the ground. I picked up his broken arm examining where it was broken I decided it probably hurt like a bitch so I didn't hesitate to twist it further hearing him scream.

Grabbing his shoulder I found the nerves that run through your shoulder and I clamped down on it until he was a basically a ball in the floor begging me to let him go. I would be willing to bet I could have him screaming uncle without even trying hard.

He was almost taking the fun out of it but this was more than fun, this was personal. I pulled out some tools from the trade. I smiled when I saw them. I knew the hurt these babies could bring if applied properly and I knew exactly how to apply them for maximum pain.

I pulled the long needles out. I didn't bother with any sterilization or disinfectant it isn't like he was going to live long enough for it to harm him.

These needles when placed in large nerves would cause excruciating pain. The same nerves that doctors used to heal with acupuncture you could use those same nerves for other darker reasons. Finding one of those nerves I jammed the needle in and he shook on the floor before screaming, begging me to stop.

I couldn't help the smile that came over my face as I jammed another needle into another nerve the screaming and begging grew and it fed my desire to make him scream, to make him beg, to make him pay for what he had done to my sister.

I jerked the needles out not caring for his pain levels as I jabbed them in other nerves hearing him scream. He could scream as loud as he wanted it wouldn't be heard beyond these walls they were completely sound proof.

I removed the needles and gave him a quick kick knocking him back on his back. I was ready to be done with him I needed to check on my sister. I needed to know that she was okay. She had been through hell and what he had told her was even more hell she had to endure I needed to know that mentally she was okay.

I nodded to the guys as I watched Lester step forward as I made my way out of the room.

LPOV

I had waited patiently for my turn. I had stood here watching Beautiful. Part of me was hard as steel watching her. My mind couldn't help but think what a lucky son of a bitch Ranger was. I mean he was my cousin and his mother was my aunt and anything but a bitch but damn he was fucking lucky.

How he got such a wonderful woman with his fucking ways I had no idea but one thing was clear he had the girl that had all of our hearts. He had what all of us wanted. It wasn't the relationship it was the girl.

The monster within me was roaring at the bars barely containable I wanted to just rip Dumb Fuck to fucking pieces and get back to our life. Hearing what he was saying made the beast within me roar like a lion. I wanted to take him down I wanted to rip his fucking throat out.

Hearing how he had been talking to her fucking ex boyfriend the fucking cop I wanted to find him and kill him every time he had found her when she had left the building every time he had cornered her was because of this fucker.

This fucker had been giving that fucking cop information about her I wanted to make him sorry for every second he spent talking about her, thinking about her, touching her. Seeing him in front of me on his back breathing heavy from the pain Bobby had inflicted on him I took advantaged and kicked him in his fucking balls. I was looking forward to Hector slicing them off. I knew he was sticking around for the opportunity. He was just giving us our time with him first.

I grabbed him by his hair pulling hard enough that a clump of his hair released in my hand. Throwing his hair down I reach down and grab him by his broken shoulder. If it came off in my hand I wouldn't give a fuck. More pain the better.

I pulled him up to his feet just because I knew it hurt him more. I decided he still had a few too many teeth and I put my fist into his mouth hearing and feeling them break away with the intrusion of my fist I had to smile.

I knew that Tank usually kept a cigar cutter with him so I asked him to borrow it. It was like a little guillotine I knew he kept it for fingers just as much as he kept it for a cigar. I grabbed the hand he had used to assault Beautiful. Grabbing a finger I held it tight so he couldn't pull away from me. I threaded his finger through the hole. I paused just long enough for him to grasp what I was about to do.

When he started struggling against my hold I knew he knew exactly what I was going to do. Smiling at him a leer that allowed him to see the monster within me I pushed the button hearing the blade slice down I heard the crunch just before his scream his forefinger landing on his boot.

Before he had a chance to pull away from me I quickly threaded his middle finger through the cutter pushing the button. I didn't release his hand until all fingers were gone including the pinky. He had a hand with only a thumb. That looked stupid so to help it look better I took the thumb before throwing his hand back to him. His screams had all blended from one to another the only sounds was his screams, the sound of the blade slicing down, and if you listened very closely you could probably hear the happy sighs the monster within me was making.

I had so much fun with that hand I was ready to grab his other hand and given the chance I might even have to go for his toes. His screams appeasing the monster within me. I had let go of his hand as he cradled his fingerless hand to his chest. He was sobbing like a fucking school girl trying to move away from me like he could escape my punishment. I hated to inform him there was no where he could go to get away from it.

I wanted his life but I wouldn't take it. That was Ranger's life to take not mine. I knew if Beautiful was mine and this had happened to her I would want to end the fucker's life for doing it. So I was saving that pleasure for Ranger.

I decided that my fun was done the Monster within me was appeased for the moment and I knew it would get further satisfaction seeing the abuse Tank would dish out as well as Ranger so I stepped back resting once again against the wall.

TPOV

I was glad that my little girl decided to confront her attackers. They say that women who have been abused, attacked, sexually molested heal better when they have a chance to confront their attackers. I knew some of the answers were hard for her to hear I knew they shocked her and I knew she needed her brothers but right now my focus was on making this fucker pay.

Being in the Rangers had given me a chance to learn how to deliver pain. It wasn't something that we discussed but there were times when we needed information, when that information was time sensitive and could save thousands of lives. I wasn't proud of the means but I was proud of my results because even the hardest nut jobs I could make them fucking sing like a canary.

Not that I needed any more information from this fucker he had told us everything important so in his case I was just going to enjoy all of my training.

Walking up to him he was trying to move himself backwards where he thought he was going I had no idea it wasn't like he could leave this room or get anywhere in the room where we could not reach him but he was moving backwards cradling his now fingerless hand to his body. He had fresh tears running down his face along with the tracks of dried tears from his crying bouts earlier from our assault on him.

I had no sympathy for the fucker or empathy I just wanted the fucker to die. Knowing Ranger was getting anxious not that anyone could tell he hadn't moved since he pulled Stephanie off of the fucker when he thought she could hurt by him. He stood rigid his eyes focused on the man in front of me. The Beast within him had his sights set at it was on Doug the only thing I could think was God couldn't save him now.

I reached Doug and I let my boot make first contact with his mutilated hand. I then let the other boot make contact with his face as he bent over with more screams of pain. The boot to the face shut his screaming up and as much as I was enjoying hearing him scream it was also nice to know that I had the power to shut him the fuck up as well.

I pulled a lighter out of my pants. I didn't smoke but I always carried a lighter they came in handy from time to time. You never know when you will need a light you know the random firework, or you never know when someone may need a lighter to light a candle on a birthday cake or at least that is what I tend to say if people ask.

The lighter is actually for the rare cigar I smoke sort of like my cigar cutter it also has its other advantage like lighting that candle or firework but it also aids when I need information. People tend to fear fire and I like it when people fear me.

I reached out grabbing the fucker jerking him up to his feet. I would yell at him to stand like a soldier but he isn't a soldier he isn't worthy of the title or the respect deserving of a soldier even enemy soldiers. He is fucking scum. I wouldn't give this fucker the benefit or the honor of giving him a command that is reserved for those I respect those that defend our country, those that live and breathe danger every day so we are free. I know the sacrifices they make, I have made them, I continue to make them because once a soldier always a soldier it is in your blood just because you are no longer in the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force it doesn't mean you stop being a soldier when you come home.

There is honor, there is courage, there is the need to protect and that is what we at Rangeman stand for and he had dishonored that, he had dishonored us, and he had hurt our sister. There was no amount of pain, fear, hurt that we could dish out to him to make him pay enough. Even paying with his life ultimately it was too easy. The bill he racked up was larger than his fucking scared chicken shit life could pay but it would have to do.

Holding the fucker up with one hand I showed him the lighter with the other. I pushed the button and showed him the flame as it shot up from the opening. I saw his eyes grow large with shock and fear. Oh yeah he feared fire like most people when it was too close for comfort.

When they could feel the heat from the flame when they could feel the slight sizzle from their skin before it actually makes contact. That is when you could see the fear the most that is when the panic sets in and that is usually when they are weak they start screaming their secrets to the world.

This dumb fuck had no more secrets I cared to know. I didn't give a fuck about his mother or father I didn't give a fuck of any of his plans because unfortunately his plans had gotten carried out further than I would have ever wanted.

She, my little girl, my sister had been hurt she had been attacked by this fucker, molested by this fucker. I should have listened to her better when she said her spidey senses were going off. I mean I thought I was protecting the right one but I wasn't and for that mistake on my part I will forever be sorry for. It isn't that I wouldn't protect Ranger with my life that was no doubt but I also would protect my little girl with my life.

I should have made different arrangements and stayed close to her to protect her. I knew we were pressed thin with the commitments, our traveling, and jobs we had planned I should have seen she would be unprotected and I should have protected her better. I knew I had failed and I knew I had let her down. Not to mention it was my fucking doing that the fucker was even here in the first place. I had hired him. So in actuality it was all my fault. I was the reason this had happened to her and that thought didn't sit well with me.

I wasn't sure when Stephanie put everything together if she would ever be able to forgive me for letting such a fucking waste of a human being be a part of Rangeman. Because of me he was able to stalk her, to spy on her for her x, to put her in a position where he was able to drug her and attack her.

Those thoughts caused me to roar within and before I knew it I had his mutilated hand in mine with the flame being held to where his finger used to be. The cries soothed me a little but it did little to release the guilt that I would carry with me for a long time.

Lost in my thoughts of guilt I hadn't realized how long I held the fire to his hand finally the smell of burnt skin invaded my senses bringing me back to the room, to dumb fucker, and to his hand that was now red, black, and blistered. I would say third degree burns.

I released his hand but his cries of torture still echoed throughout the room and I knew for some it was keeping the monsters within them at bay sort of like an offering to a king or god it kept them appeased for the time period but a time would come when the offering wouldn't be good enough and either the offering would have to get better or they would seek their revenge. It was only a matter of time before they would be seeking their revenge.

It wasn't the first time I had seen their monsters within it wasn't the first time they came out for some revenge and it wasn't the first time they came out to protect my little girl. I doubted that it would be the last even though I could hope it for all our sakes.

When I released his hand he fell to the ground unable to hold himself up right. Since he could no longer stand with this dislocated knee I thought I would further his trouble of standing and using my foot I broke his ankle. Hearing it snap crackle and pop, sounds from my favorite childhood cereal, I couldn't help but smile at the memory.

Stepping closer to where he had fallen he was still cradling his hand sobbing from the pain from his broken and now burned body. His body may be broken but I wondered about his mind. My little girl had confronted him she had beaten him. He had attacked her, he had tried to take her away from us but she had won in the end and she had confronted him. She was stronger than any woman I had ever known and she had no idea how much that made us love her for it.

I grabbed him by his hair jerking him up by it. I knew the pain he would be in trying to stand on the now broken ankle but I didn't give a fuck if anything I relished in him being in pain. In fact I wanted to make it sure he was in pain. Even more pain that he currently was in.

Holding the flame close to his face until I could see the flicker from the flame reflected in his eyes that were as large as saucers by this time I wanted to see the fear within him, I wanted to smell the fear, and I wanted to know that I had control that I was in control of his fear. Holding the flame a little closer until his cheek below his eye started to turn red and blister slightly I smiled at him as his body seemed to shake as he tried to distance himself further from the flame.

He should have known I wasn't going to let him get any distance until I was ready. The smell of burnt flesh hung heavy in the air and typically it was a smell that I didn't find appeasing in fact I found it right down disgusting but today it held me in a way that appeased my soul. To know it was this fucker who was burning. I found myself wishing I could burn him even more like maybe just set his ass on fire and watch him just burn. He would be burning in hell soon enough but it wasn't like I would be able to see that.

Knowing it helped but right now I just wanted to see this fucker pay. But I knew no matter what he paid no matter what we did to him it would never be enough it would never be long enough, painful enough, it would never be enough revenge for what he had done to my little girl, what he had done to us today. With that thought I lit his hair on fire dropping him to the ground watching it burn as he screamed and desperately tried to put it out before the fire burned more of him.

Stepping back I let Ranger step up for his much anticipated turn at the dumb fucker.

RPOV

I had been standing here watching him. The beast within me be fulfilled by his screams of pain and terror, being appeased seeing his blood being spilled, and getting more excited as it realized his turn was getting closer.

Part of me wanted to talk to him and asked him how he dared thought he could put his hands on my woman and live to tell about it but I decided that would be giving him too much information. That would be giving him power over the situation and he wasn't to have any power.

Part of the fear was knowing something was coming, but not knowing what. Maybe he still was holding out hope that I would let him live. That I wouldn't want to take his life that I wouldn't want his blood on my hands. He couldn't have been more wrong.

In fact, I never relished in taking another life it was a job, it was necessary, it was in my own defense or in defense of others rarely did it every give me pleasure. This kill, tonight would give me pleasure. He had hurt my Babe, he had tried to steal something from her, from me, from us. He tried to steal something that I held dear between us something that we both held dear. He tried to take that from me.

Not to mention in his ill-fated attempt he could have taken her from me completely by killing her with the drugs he gave her. I would relish in this death. I would be happy when this fucker's breath was no more.

I walked up to the fucker lying on the ground I leered at him locking eyes with him. I saw the fear in his eyes looking at me and I knew what he was seeing my eyes. He was coming face to face with Beast within me.

I kicked him before he was flat on his back I was kicking him again. I picked up his foot the foot that Tank had broken his ankle and I twisted it until he was screaming for mercy. Before the echo of his screams quieted I heard cracking and breaking where his leg had given away to my twisting snapping and his screaming increased. I put my boot in his mouth to shut him the fuck up.

Don't get me wrong the Beast within me loved hearing the screams but it was nice to shut him the fuck up as well. Give the ears a break. I could always break something else to hear more. He wasn't above screaming but what I hadn't had enough of was begging. I wanted him to beg for his fucking life.

I nodded to Hector feeling almost as if I was tagging him in and he stepped forward with his knives. It was time to remove some more body parts.

Hector stepped forward I grabbed Doug jerking him to his feet grabbing him by the arms I held them behind him. Bending him so his body arched out away from me giving Hector access to the body part I wanted him to relieve him of. Hector smiled because wordlessly he knew what I wanted.

Swiping his knife down the front of his pants they opened. I could hear Doug gulp the fear rising in him as he was watching Hector. Like most men he was trying desperately to protect his smashed jewels.

He knew he couldn't I was holding him and Hector was teasing him with his knife. Doug was starting to sweat like a pig and part of me wanted to throw him forward to keep the fucking shit off of me. I nodded and I heard the plop I knew Hector had relieved him of one of the nuts. The screams were loud before but with that cut the screams had turned almost feral.

He was thrashing in my arms but there was no way that I would let him go until I was ready to let him go.

Before he was done wailing I nodded to Hector again and Doug started screaming and begging for us to stop. No and please were being repeated over and over every now and then he would throw in an I am sorry but I didn't give a fuck about his sorry.

I nodded to Hector and his scream pierced through the room as I heard another plop on the floor. We had one more appendage left. More begging and pleading from Doug it was pitiful. I have heard the best of them beg, and plea for their life and let me tell you Doug sucked at it. Doug didn't beg well and his plea for his dick was even worse.

I nodded and his scream and the sound of something hitting the floor told me he was now dick and ball less. The Beast within me smiled at the acknowledgement of him being castrated. The trash that had touched my Babe was no longer attached to this fucker. I let go of him letting him fall to the concrete floor.

He was grabbing his dick less crotch curling in a ball the blood pooling around him. I quickly stepped up to him avoiding his missing body parts on the floor. He was shaking his head. He was close to breaking he was close to pleading for his fucking life. I wanted him begging and I wanted to be able to look at him and tell him no as I choked the life out of his eyes.

I grabbed him by his throat choking off his air flow I picked him back up off of the floor. I had the urge to just snap his fucking neck and rip his esophagus out of his throat but I held back. I held back the urge he needed to see it in my eyes. He needed to feel what was coming before I just delivered it. He needed to fear it.

Choking him I held him up his feet dangling plastering his back to the wall. The fear in his eyes said it all. I loosened my grip on him and he dropped to the ground screaming as his broken leg hit the ground.

"Please, please don't do this. You don't have to do this." He spit out. The Beast within me smiled at his plea to save his life. I wanted to tell him he was wrong but I keep up the quite assault. I slammed his head back against the wall tightening my grip on his throat blocking his airway showing him that I did in fact need to do this.

"Please you can let me go I won't tell anyone you did this. I will disappear you will never hear from me again." Doug begged his voice rising with his level of fear.

I didn't say anything only leering at him it was enough to let him know that his plea had fallen on deaf ears. I wouldn't be agreeing to that arrangement. Even if I was inclined to let him live I know after you have done what we have done to someone you can't let them go because you would then have to look over your shoulder because eventually they will be back seeking revenge. You had to cut the snake's head off not toy with it.

I had been itching to get to my Babe from the moment she had left the room but something told me she needed me. I felt it. It was almost if all of a sudden the building echoed her cries of need. The urgency to get to her grew in me. I looked at the rest of the men in the room letting them know the time had come.

Looking at him holding his throat I tightened my hand down on his neck until he started thrashing in my hand trying to grab my arm and hand with what little he could move his broken body. He was trying to fight for his life. Looking him in the eye leering I took my other hand grabbing his head and snapped his neck like you would snap your fingers. I knew it was done but just for the fuck of it I grabbed his esophagus and jerked it out of his neck. Now there was no question the fucker was dead.

I let go his dead beaten bloody and burned body fall to the floor. I nodded to the other men in the room knowing they would take care of the cleanup. I needed to get myself cleaned up and get to my Babe as soon as possible. She needed me.

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**An extra long chapter to make up for the time these chapters took me to write. The mindset I had to get into to write them along with the intensity made it so I couldn't write for long periods of time until I needed a break. My life already being busy made it even harder. Thanks for hanging in with me on this chapter all three parts. I hope you enjoyed them!**

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	50. Chapter 49: Healing

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

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**I am sorry this chapter took so long..but with the tension of the past several chapters and the mindset I had to get myself in for the last chapter I needed to clear my head because in trying to write this chapter right after those it was taking this chapter down the wrong path from where I wanted the story to go. So I had to give myself a few days to clear my head, clear my thoughts regarding this story and then get back on track with where I wanted this story to go. I hope you enjoy it! Leave a review to let me know.**

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Chapter 49: Healing

SlyderPOV

When I saw that Stephanie, my Incendia, was going to leave the room I decided to go with her. I had already had my time with Doug and while none of it would be good enough I knew the men left in the room would take care of him.

Stephanie had been strong, she had been fearless in the room even when she lost control of her calm cool in control self that she was portraying in the that room, she still was strong beating on Doug for all she was worth.

Ranger had picked her up off of him I think more to protect her than for whatever harm she was bringing to Doug. He knew she was losing control and by giving her some space and talking to her she was able to calm herself and get back in control to take him on without the threat of being hurt in the process.

I knew when she basically gave Doug his death sentence that, that wasn't going to go good. It was already a given that Doug was a fucking dead man. I am not certain Stephanie actually thought that. I think Stephanie thought she was to give the order to have him killed or not.

Don't get me wrong part of me was glad that she was on board with taking the fucker's life. But I really hated and I knew Ranger, Lester, and the other guys hated that she had shouldered that. His life was going on ended the moment he touched her she didn't need to tell us to end his life it was never a thought that he would continue to live.

When Stephanie walked out of the room Cal, Manny, and I went with her. We all needed to clean up a little but none of us was really willing to leave her. We went to seven with her I could tell by the way she was walking she was dead on her feet.

She was barely able to put one foot in front of the other before we even made it to the elevator. The adrenaline high she was on in the room was wearing off and it was taking what little bit of energy she had with it. I had been around long enough to know that Stephanie wasn't trained to handle the adrenaline spikes.

She looked at Cal "Cal you still owe me that piggy back ride?" She asked him. He smiled at her.

"Angel, I do but that was for all day why don't you climb on up and we will just call this a freebie?" He told her. I had to laugh any of us would have gladly carried her but she wouldn't ask that of us. She didn't want to be carried, she liked it when we owed her and she would claim what was rightfully hers for the asking. Be it she had won it as a bet or challenge. But to just ask us to buy her icecream or give her a piggy back ride she wouldn't hear of it.

One thing could never be said about my Incendia she never took or asked for what wasn't hers either by earning it or winning it she wasn't into freebies.

She smiled at him and climb on his back. I stood directly behind her because I wasn't sure she would have the strength to hold on. She wrapped her arms around his neck careful not to choke him he laid her head on the back of his shoulder. Her legs wrapped around his waist he was holding her by her thighs I think he was questioning her ability to hold on as well.

We got on the elevator as the elevator rose I could Stephanie relaxing more and more looking her eyes were closed. She was going to sleep I don't think she could have stopped it if she wanted to. Her little body was worn out physically and emotionally she was exhausted she had no more in reserves she had depleted all of her energy.

I whispered hoping not to wake her "Cal she is asleep on your back. Be careful man because she isn't capable of holding on to you." I told him he nodded looking at me as if to say you think I didn't realize that? It wasn't that I didn't think he knew it I just wanted to make sure that he did in fact know it.

Getting off the elevator on seven I walked behind them again making sure she wouldn't fall off of him. At some point her arms had come undone and had fallen slightly hanging over Cal's shoulders more than wrapped around his neck holding herself on.

She was out of it. We carried her into Ranger's and her bedroom. Not wanting to startle her I let her fall back into my arms Cal pulled the covers down. I laid her in the bed her head on her pillow. Cal pulled her shoes off then pulled the covers over her clothed body. None of were going to attempt to remove her clothing even if she would be more comfortable.

None of us wanted to be thrown in with Doug and live his fate but none of us were willing to scare her by pulling at her clothing while she was sleeping.

Her brothers were waiting in the apartment none of them had left. The only missing ones were the ones still in the room with Doug and I figured they would be in there a while. I was glad she was sleeping but I didn't want her waking up alone.

While we were gone her brothers had filtered out of her bedroom and into the living room. I knew they had questions and I knew Manny and Cal would fill them in. I was hoping someone would be willing to run to my apartment and grab clothes for me I needed to get cleaned up but didn't want to leave her to go to my apartment. I figured I could use the bathroom off the main living area to get changed and cleaned up.

Cal was standing in her room with me looking at me he said "You can get cleaned up first. I will sit with her when you are done I will get cleaned up." I nodded and headed out of the room looking back one more time at my Incendia lying sleeping in her bed. I couldn't help but think how all was right with the world tonight she was with us, she was strong, she would heal, and we would all go on as a family.

CalPOV

I told Slyder to go get cleaned up first. I wanted to spend a little time with my Angel. Even though she was sleeping and completely unaware that I was sitting here beside her bed watching her I couldn't help but watch her.

Even asleep she brought light to our world. She was so beautiful. So loving and accepting of all of us. With the tattoo on my forehead I attracted women who wanted me because of the danger I represent. They liked living on the edge of danger and it excited them and because of my size and the tattoo on my forehead screamed danger and for those women they were drawn in like a moth to a flame but it wasn't the kind of woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

I never thought of finding a woman to spend the rest of my life with until Stephanie came here accepted us in her heart accepted us for who we are. The person we were, behind the rough rugged exterior she saw past the tattoos past the size past the bad ass routines we all put on to the person we were beneath it all and somehow she managed to get us and love us in spite of ourselves. She understood why we do what we do, why we did what we did there was no judgments there was no condemnation for the life we had all lived or still live.

She loved us all for us and we loved her for her. The soft loveable somewhat naïve girl who saw the best in people and who believed the best until they proved her wrong for thinking or believing in those people. It was something that I loved and I hated the most because for all of those she encounters that proves her wrong she loses a little of that belief that people in this world were good.

We as soldiers having seen the things we have seen, we as Rangeman having seen the things we have seen, we as bounty hunters having seen the things we have seen had long time ago lost that since of goodness. It wasn't that we didn't think it was out there because without it what were we really fighting for it was more we had seen the horrors the world has to offer we had seen the devils with in people and we were fully aware that not everyone was full of good in fact I think most of our beliefs were more along the lines of people were evil unless they proved to us otherwise.

We weren't trusting, we weren't open, we weren't a family or even knew how to be a family until she came into our lives. Of course we trusted each other we couldn't have worked together and been partners without trust but it was trust that was earned it wasn't trust that was giving freely without having merits behind why we could trust the person.

When she came into our lives with her light with her openness her trust it changed us. It made us more human it showed us that we could be open, we could trust, and more importantly it showed us that we were a family because she brought us together and bound us in a way that the military or Rangeman did not.

Doug however had proven once again that we can't trust everyone that we can't allow all in because some people are just evil. Some people are untrustworthy he had fractured us even if we were all together and we still had our Angel he had fractured us for some trust wouldn't come as easy, for some they would never be open to new comers no matter how good they were. For others it would once again prove that the world was full of evil people that would have to prove their goodness to them.

Looking at her sleeping I wondered if her light would be bright enough to heal the fractures left by Doug. But before we worried about healing us we had to make sure that she was healed. She had been through hell and even though she had appeared strong and in control while she was in the room with Doug we all knew she wasn't as strong as she had appeared.

Years of her family and her ex-boyfriend berating her and chipping away at her self-esteem her confidence in standing on her own feet had taken a toile on her inner personal strength but we had all seen it coming out in the past week or so. She had been making such progress she had been getting so confident, so strong that I cussed the fuckers that did this to her.

I knew Ranger and the guys were taking care of dumb fuck but with these thoughts in my head I wanted to run down to the cell revive the fucker and torture him some more. I resigned myself to just sit there watching her letting her presence wash over me and calm the hatred that was currently coursing its way through my veins.

He was going to be dead in a matter of time and it will be done I need to let go of the hate I need to let go of the thoughts of revenge because soon there will be no one to get revenge on and yet the need to protect my Angel was so strong, the need to defend her so strong, the need to tear that fuckers head off so fresh that I was questioning my ability to just let go of the deep hatred I was feeling.

I heard the door open and I turned my hand on my gun. I knew it would be one of her brothers, I guess, I mean my thoughts were so focused on my hatred I was just going on instincts at first. Instincts were to protect her. I removed my hand a motion that wasn't lost on Slyder but he didn't draw attention to it. It wasn't like I had drawn on him. I nodded standing I didn't need to say anything I knew he wouldn't leave her side while I was getting cleaned up.

I made my way out of the room and to the bathroom off of the living area of the apartment.

SlyderPOV

I took a seat where Cal had been sitting beside my Incendia who lying in her bed sleeping. I figured she would be out for a while her body was little and it had been through so much her body, her mind, her spirit needed time to heal and nothing heals like sleep.

I took a moment in the quiet of the room only hearing her breathing in and out to thank God. I thanked him for my Incendia, I thanked him for her strong will, her ability to fight, her light, and her love. I thanked him for bringing me here to Rangeman. It had been a while since I felt like I had a family. I felt like I belonged in the Navy flying at mach speeds thousands of feet in the air I felt at home, I felt it was where I was needed, I felt it was where I belonged, and it was where I was at home.

Now I had reasons to feel like I belonged, I was needed, and I was home with my feet firmly on the ground and it felt great. I hadn't understood her magic when I first met her. I had heard about her from the guys and I knew they loved her but I had no idea why until I met her. It was clear then. The look in her eye, the light in her, the love and acceptance of her heart made it all clear as to why they loved her so much and why she had brought them together to be more family than friends and co workers.

Sitting there I let her calm wash over me. I was tired we were all tired it had been a long stressful day filled with worry, filled with hatred and anger and it had sapped my reserves. I felt like she had looked earlier, bone tired. Sitting in the chair I leaned my head back resting it against the back of the chair closing my eyes for a moment feeling the calm settle over me I began to relax for the first time since Lester took off running towards the gym.

BPOV

I had just gotten back up to the seventh floor. Cal was walking out of the bathroom with clean clothes on having showered and changed up there. He had plastic bag in his hand that I knew it held his dirtied uniform. He handed it to me saying.

"Angel is sleeping, she fell asleep before we made it up here. I carried her on my back piggy back style and she fell asleep. She was completely exhausted. Slyder and I tucked her in bed and I waited while he got cleaned up and he is waiting with her while I got cleaned up. We'll watch over her until you get cleaned up."

I nodded taking the bag with me into the bathroom. I could see that Ella had delivered all of us clean uniforms to change into. I don't know how she did it but she always managed to provide what we needed when and where we needed it. I never questioned how she knew but I was beginning to believe what Bomber thought, that she was somehow magic. Not that I would admit that out loud to anyone. Badasses even if they were medics didn't believe in magical beings. That was for sissies.

I stepped into the shower feeling the warm water run down my body relaxing the tense tight muscles. I rolled my head around letting the water pound on the back of my neck and shoulders. Sighing I start to allow myself to relax. I feel the weariness start to edge its way in. It had been a long day and my body was telling me it was time to rest but I couldn't not until I knew Bomber was okay.

I knew if I closed my eyes now what would happen and it wouldn't be pretty. Being her medic well Rangeman's medic but I had patched her up almost as much as all of the guys so I was beginning to think of myself as her medic more so than Rangeman's. I also knew that regardless of who was injured if she was among them she would be the one I treated first.

If I didn't treat her first the guys would refuse treatment until she was treated so I might as well treat her first.

Putting my face under the water raising my head upwards toward the spout letting the water splash on my face felt so good. It felt so relaxing. Running my hands over my face I made a note that I soon needed to shave. I liked a little stubble but not too much and it was getting to the point of a little too much. I was assuming I wasn't the only one of the guys.

Rolling my neck from side to side the tension of the day started to release itself. I knew that it would take some time before things became more normal around here but I wasn't dumb enough not to be thankful for the things that I could be thankful for. Bomber was asleep in her bed uninjured for the most part.

Her would be rapist was stopped, locked up, tortured for hours, and if not already would be dead shortly. I knew I wouldn't let go of the guilt as fast as I would like to have admitted but then again I had allowed this to happen to Bomber when I was in charge. They had trusted me to run the company and I had let them down majorly.

This wasn't a small fuckup. This wasn't a bad install, or wrong charges sent to a client, or a bad response to an alarm. This fuckup was major this was Ranger's woman the love of his life, this was our sister, this was our heart that I had fucked up with and it would be a long time before Ranger and the guys would ever trust me to be in charge again even if they didn't say it I knew they would hold it against me, fuck I held it against me why wouldn't they?

Shaking my head trying to shake off those thoughts as well as the water that had been running down my face I needed to accept there were now things I couldn't change and focus on doing what I could do to ensure there was healing for us all, healing for Bomber, healing for Ranger, and healing her us her brothers.

I reluctantly shut off the warm water sighing I stepped out of the shower dried off and quickly dressed in the clean uniform Ella had left for me pulling on my boots I briefly hesitated giving myself a pep talk to get my shit straight I opened the door making my way out I knew her brothers would have lots of questions but first I needed to see my sister and know that she was in fact okay.

Peeking into her room I saw her lying in her bed sleeping. I saw Slyder sitting in the chair across from the bed and Cal sitting on the floor knees up with his arms resting on them. They looked like I felt emotionally and probably physically drained but like myself they weren't going to give into sleep at least not sleep in their bed's on the fourth floor. They were her brothers and until they knew she was going to be okay they weren't leaving her side for a second.

I had a strong urge to just say fuck it and join them but I knew her other brothers were waiting in the living room. I had seen Manny in there so I am certain he had told them everything that happened down in the cell with Dumb Fuck before he left I only needed to fill them in with what had happened up until the point that I left and how their sister was doing now.

I turned to make my way out of the room hoping that this wouldn't take long.

SPOV

I was running through the woods I knew someone was chasing me but I had no idea who it was. I could feel the branches from the trees and bushes scrape across my skin digging in some places. I knew they were scratching me and in some places drawing blood. But I couldn't stop I couldn't worry about it because I had to get away.

I could hear them following me chasing me and if I stopped or slowed for a second they would catch me so I continued to run. My heart was pounding in my chest I could feel the cool dampness of the forest floor on my bare feet which I knew were also cut and bruised as my feet made contact with little sticks and tree trunks that had grown up out the ground. I just prayed that I didn't trip over any of them. I remember praying for my feet not to fail me now as I continued to run blindly through the darkened woods.

I had no idea where I was or where I was running I only knew to stop would mean whoever it was chasing me would catch me and while I wasn't sure what they wanted or why they were chasing me I wasn't dumb enough to stop and find out. I knew deep down inside that they didn't want to sell me Girl Scout cookies.

I burst through the cover of the trees and bushes and was in an open field. Where was I, looking around I didn't recognize the field. I knew I would be a sitting duck if I ran into the open field I knew to stick to the cover of the forest but for some reason I kept running. I was yelling at myself to keep cover in the woods but my feet just kept running into the open field where I knew I shouldn't be going.

With every lunge forward of my running stride my terror rose I knew they were behind me I knew they would be able to see me now in the open field and I knew I was now fucked. I kept running up the slight hill I could feel the pull in my thighs from running up the hill but I knew I couldn't stop or slow I had to just keep pushing myself until I could either get far enough away from them or Carlos and my brothers could reach me to once again save me.

I had no weapons I only had the fighting skills they had shown me to protect myself and I was really hoping I wouldn't be in a position to have to use them because something told me there were too many of them for me to fight them all off.

Glancing back over my shoulder I almost had a heart attack. There were definitely too many to fight off. I couldn't count them all but it had to be at least twenty people running behind me. I couldn't see them very well only their darkened forms running with what little moonlight was shining. Taking a second to glance up I didn't see the moon but I suspected it would only be a sliver.

I willed my feet to move faster but my speed didn't increase. Panic was rising from my toes I could feel it and I knew this wasn't going to be a good thing. I knew the panic would take over my body and it would start to impede my abilities to run, to fight, to defend myself when needed and listening to the people after me it was only a matter of time before they caught me.

I tried to scream but my voice was gone I felt my mouth open I felt myself struggling to scream I felt myself screaming but there was no sound. No scream meant I wouldn't be able to alarm anyone which meant no rescuing but it was causing the panic to run through me like a wild fire in a dry corn field.

I tried to scream but there was nothing I pushed myself to run faster to run harder but my speed didn't increase in fact I was losing ground. I didn't have to look back to know they were advancing on me, I didn't have to look back to know that it was only minutes before they would reach me.

I tried to remind myself of all the self-defense training I had been taught but my mind was drawing blanks I couldn't remember what I know I knew I couldn't remember what I had been taught. I felt like my eyes were burning from unshed tears.

Running I was gasping for air trying to fight to keep my feet moving trying to keep ahead of those running behind me but I knew I was seconds from being caught I could feel them directly behind me. I opened my mouth to scream one more time when I felt a hand reach out and clamp down on my shoulder and start to push me down toward the ground the panic pushed through my body as it fell to the ground.

The fear and panic that plowed through me broke through whatever was impairing my voice and my screaming broke through. I screamed as loud as I could as I felt my body fall to the ground I felt weight come down on my body and it started to shake. My screaming didn't stop just as when I couldn't scream now I couldn't stop screaming.

My body was shaking and thrashing I was kicking my arms flailing in the dark striking wherever I could blindly make contact on my attackers. A voice broke through my senses through my screams of help through my panic that had my heart racing, my gasping for breath. It was a voice I knew a voice I would never be able to forget. It was Carlos.

"Babe, Babe I am here. Wake up Babe." I heard him say at first my body couldn't respond it was too busy fighting but with each repeat my body calmed. I was safe Carlos was here. His smell, Bulgari, filled my senses and my eyes shot open. It was then I realized it was all a dream.

I bolted forward into his arms clamping arms around his neck as if they were vices, vices locked around him squeezing him to me with a force that I wasn't sure I was even capable of. He just grabbed me and pulled me to him. Holding me rubbing my back in small calming circles with this thumbs as his strong hands held me to him.

The tears that burned my eyes during my dream burst forward. I knew it was stupid to cry over having a nightmare I mean it was over now I was safe it wasn't real but my tired body couldn't find a better way to respond at the moment so I just cried into his shoulder ruining his t-shirt. "Babe" I heard him whisper as he started whispering Spanish in my ear trying to calm me. I really needed to learn Spanish faster so I would know what he was saying but hearing the tone of his voice I knew or at least I felt like I knew they were words of love, words of encouragement.

I mean it could have been him reciting the Gettysburg Address in Spanish for all I knew but as long as I didn't know the difference I could choose to believe what I wanted and regardless it had the same effect my body was slowly calming down hearing his words even if I didn't know what they meant or exactly what he was saying.

I had been working with Hector on Spanish but I hadn't learned enough to keep up with Carlos when he spoke his native tongue. I knew a few words and could actually speak a sentence and understand a slow sentence with the words I knew but that was about it.

My arms were clamped so tight around him they began to ache and I wondered if I was hurting him but then quickly decided that was an insane idea he was after all Batman. He was hard as steel so maybe he was superman. I quickly contemplated Batman or Superman but decided my man was definitely the Dark Knight no other title would do him justice he was Batman.

My arms slowly began to release him as my breath calmed more once my arms had relaxed I pulled back from him looking at him for the first time since I woke up. I smiled at him and he smiled back. I could see concern etched in his eyes but the smile that he returned made my heart warm. Tears swam in my eyes again but this time it was because of the overwhelming emotions running through me. Seeing his love, his concern, his devotion to me in his eyes was overwhelming.

I knew it was stupid but at the moment the only thing I could think to tell the love of my life, the very breathe of my body was that I loved him. "I love you." It came out as almost a whisper from my tired voice. He pulled me to him and I could have sworn I heard him sigh but I know badasses dressed in black, my dark knight doesn't sigh so it had to have been my ears playing tricks on me.

"I love you, Babe." He told me. His voice not back to normal but more normal than when he spoken earlier. But I knew we were going to be okay. I knew our love had survived, we had survived and we were going to be okay.

I brought my lips to his feeling the warmth from his lips as they sealed with mine his arms holding me I knew exactly what it felt like to be in heaven. I let the warmth the security his strength wash over me chasing away the left over tremble from the nightmare that just had me screaming in my sleep.

We broke apart the kiss not going further than just warm, loving, supportive kiss not passionate not escalating to more. I looked around the room the first time from waking up and saw my brothers were standing there. Some in the room some in the door way as if they came to see what was wrong but stopped when they saw Carlos was with me.

I went to say something but before I could open my mouth my stomach decided to speak up and protest the fact that it had been hours since I had eaten anything. The roar of my stomach was quite loud and I heard a few hushed chuckles from my brothers.

I guess in all that had happened something remained the same my stomach demanding to be fed. I looked at my brothers and Carlos and just shrugged my shoulders. It wasn't like there was anything to say at this point the stomach had said it all. It was saying feed me Seymour.

"Babe, Ella left dinner some time ago now. Come on let's get up get you cleaned up a little and get you a bite to eat." Carlos said to me. I nodded.

My throat felt parched and scratchy just in swallowing. I knew if I tried talking now I would sound like a frog or maybe one of those iguanas from the Budweiser commercial years ago. I nodded and then proceeded to get up. My body was sore but I wasn't injured just sore. I knew the soreness would work itself out I just needed to move some.

Stepping into the bathroom looking at myself in the mirror I was a freight my hair was all over the place the pony tail I had put it up in had partially pulled down I guess from my thrashing in the bed. It was partially up and partially just all over my head, it was bad. I also took in some dark red spots on my skin but I didn't concentrate too much on that. I didn't want to think about what it was so I focused on the man of my dreams, my heart, my soul standing in front of me.

Carlos picked me up and my body wanted to protest his initial touch but relaxed once the brain registered it was just Carlos. He sat me on the counter. Grabbing a washrag and towel he began washing my hands and arms. He washed all of my exposed skin.

He then pulled my shirt off. He ran the rag over my body and I could feel my body relax at his touch but I could also feel the spots that were sore. I was assuming that was from where Doug and I had fought. More remnants from what he had done to me. I know my responses weren't lost on Carlos even though I tried to hide them.

As quickly as he ran the washcloth over me he dried my skin placing butterfly kisses on my left shoulder he then placed a kiss on the slight mound cleavage my sport bra gave me and one on my right shoulder before pulling a clean shirt down over my body.

He grabbed the waist of my pants pulling down tapping my butt cheeks to get me to raise myself up off the counter for him to remove my pants. Raising myself up he proceeded to pull my pants down throwing my clothes into the dirty clothes hamper he then washed my legs, feet. He left my underwear on. When he was done he dried my skin with the towel but again placed butter fly kisses on the top of my feet and on the shins of both legs. He then threaded my legs through clean pants and pulled them up.

Once again rising up so he could pull them up over my hips he took advantage of the position and placed a kiss just below my navel but above my panties. Normally his actions would have us to the point of needing each other that we couldn't hold back but tonight it wasn't sexual it was just love, it was just supportive, it was caressing and caring.

He pulled me forward until my butt was barely hanging on the counter. Pressing his body to mine he lifted me from the counter pressing his body into mine or pulling mine into his however you wanted to look at it his lips touched mine in a soft butterfly kiss. He didn't take it deeper before letting my feet hit the ground.

He let his arms drop from around me and my body was ready to protest as he stepped back. Turning me so I was facing the sink I was able to brush my teeth. He picked up my hair brush feeling him remove the hair tie that was holding my hair up he proceeded to try to tame the beast of tangled knots.

If anyone could make each strand of hair fall in line and cooperate it would be Carlos hell one look from him and they would be too freaking scared to spring out of order or knot.

I felt his hands and brush running through my hair. I knew it was a tangled mess yet he never pulled my hair I wondered how that was possible. I never felt a single pull. I knew he was pure fucking magic and this just proved it.

Of all the things he had done for me, of all the things he had done to me when I thought his fingers were pure magic this time he proved it and this incident I was most impressed with. I was going to watch him and see what he was doing in the mirror but when I looked up and saw him in the mirror I couldn't take my eyes off of his face to see what his hands were doing. So I scratched that idea and decided to just stare at him, it wasn't like I was going to be able to take my eyes off of him anyway.

He was beautiful, he was sexy, he was strong, he still held a mysterious air about him even though I knew him better than most, he was everything a romance novel hero would be but he was here living and breathing with me and not some fictional character made up for others to enjoy and dream about.

But more that that looking in the mirror seeing his face the emotions on what use to be his blank face made him more beautiful. Those emotions said it all he was mine, he was all mine forever. He loved me with his whole body his whole mind his whole soul and I loved him with mine.

We were forever bound together and my heart warmed and smiled at the thoughts passing through my mind as I stood there watching his reflection in the mirror.

RPOV

I left Doug with the guys I knew they would take care of what was needed. No one would ever see him again. I ran to my office on the fifth floor. I really didn't want to go near the control room because I didn't want to get sucked into Boston response team but I needed to change and shower without chancing Stephanie seeing me and I couldn't stomach stepping into the gym right now.

I wasn't sure how we were going to go back in there with the images going through all of our minds I knew for the guys that saw it, it would be even worse than for those of us that were saved from seeing it with our own eyes.

Taking the stairs I opened the door to the fifth floor and never breaking stride I went straight to my office shut and locked the door. I stripped off my clothing throwing them in the plastic bag that was lying on the counter. I saw the stack of black clothing sitting next to it. Ella had anticipated that I would be cleaning up here and had everything ready for me. I jumped into the shower quickly washing my body. I almost smiled when I thought how proud I would have made a drill sergeant during basic training when I was done in under five minutes and heading up to seven.

I probably should have stopped by the control room but I had one thing on my mind. That was getting to my Babe as fast I possibly could. Somehow I felt she needed me to be there. Walking into the apartment I knew she needed me. I heard her scream and my feet carried me faster than I thought possible.

I saw my men running for the bedroom door and I wanted to fucking kill them all for not being in there with her. Leaving her in there by herself knowing she could have nightmares. Logically I knew that was a little insane but hearing her terrified scream caused the illogical in me and all I wanted was her to be protected from everything including any nightmare that may haunt her while she slept.

I know it wasn't my men's faults but I wanted and needed something to blame so it was a good outlet for the frustration I was feeling at the situation. Somehow I passed them all I am not sure I left any of them standing at this point it was such a blur but opening the door I saw Cal and Slyder with her and calmed a little as I made my way to the bed grabbing her and pulling her in my arms to wake her up to let her know that I was there. I wanted her to know that I was here for her to chase away the demons trying to haunt her in her sleep.

She fought me and I knew it wasn't me it was the demons that were haunting her sleep that she was fighting so I did my best to restrain her without hurting her to keep her from inflicting damage until I could get her to wake up.

I knew when I got through to her because she calmed in my arms, her eyes opening and focused on me I knew she was seeing me. Rubbing her back in small circles with my fingers I was hoping that it would further calm her. She lay there crying for a little bit holding me to her as I was holding her to me. She had a forceful grip of my neck one that I wasn't sure she was aware of how strong she really was. I won't say it hurt but it was a firm tight grip one that I knew I wasn't breaking any time soon not that I had a desire to break it.

After a while she calmed and went to say something but her stomach spoke for her growling. I had to fight my lips from smiling. Her stomach wasn't one to be forgotten no matter the situation. Getting up we made our way to the bathroom at my suggestion that she get cleaned up.

I sat her up on the counter grabbed a wash cloth and began to wash her. It wasn't that she was dirty but if she had any remnants from Doug on her I wanted them washed off before she noticed.

I hadn't asked her about her dream but I knew it was because of Doug. All that had happened to her and she hadn't had a single nightmare until tonight. It made me want to rip his head off but I knew I had to let go of that anger and thirst for revenge. I had my revenge and it would have to be enough even if I knew it truly could never be enough.

Time now wasn't for holding on to the hatred for Doug it was about the healing of my Babe. Looking at her I couldn't help but feel her love wash over me causing my love for her to pour out of me. Watching her eyes I knew she saw it. I pulled her clothing off and continued washing her beautiful skin. I placed light loving kisses across her skin I didn't allow the kisses to turn sexual, I wasn't sure when she would be ready for that but I wanted her to know that I loved her, that I needed her, and that I was there for her to care for her however she needed me.

I dressed her then pulled her to me holding her placing soft kisses on her face and lips I lowered her. My body wanted to protest when I pulled away from her but I knew she didn't need my groping right now. That would come when she was ready because my body and soul always needed her.

Right now I needed to know that she was okay, okay from what had happened to her, okay with what had happened in that room with Doug, and further more okay with what I had done.

I turned her so she could brush her teeth and I quickly made use of my hands taking down her hair and untangling the knots that had formed for her fighting her attackers in her sleep. I took great care not to pull her hair as I fought with the tangles.

I saw her in the mirror staring at me. I saw the look of love in her eyes. I saw her soul in the depths of the ocean blue of her eyes and I felt my soul respond to hers. From the look of her eyes I knew she was seeing my soul, my heart as I was seeing hers and it was impossible for me to break eye contact with her. It was as if I were held in a trance.

She held my heart, she held my soul, and she was forever mine. I couldn't believe it had taken me so many years to finally realize the hold she had over me. The way she had me wrapped around her my life intertwined with hers and her life with mine.

Finishing her hair I leaned into her my lips close to her ear. Leaving a light kiss I closed my eyes inhaling her scent and then whispered "Babe let's get you fed." I said placing my hands on her hips. She leaned back into my letting me take some of her weight as she sighed shaking her head we turned to the door making our way out of the bathroom. When we entered the bedroom it was empty. My men or should I say her men had cleared out while we were in the bathroom.

Walking into the living room I briefly felt her tense up and I saw her looking at Matt. I hated that she tensed the way she did. Normally she would have gone straight towards him and introduced herself but today she didn't move. If anything she stepped closer to me looking at him. She turned her head away from him, I briefly wondered what was going through her head, but then I heard her call Lester, "Lester".

He didn't respond I knew he was lost in his thoughts but it took her calling him three times each time raising her voice even more before his head snapped up at her.

LPOV

I had helped dispose of Doug. The cleanup of the room would happen later. For now his body was burning in the incinerator he would never be seen again. Later his ashes would be vacuumed out and thrown out like the fucking dust he was.

It was the best way to get rid of a body there was nothing left but dust. It wasn't the first time this thing has been used and I knew it wasn't going to be the last time but it was something that we tried our best not to have to use. We were all capable of taking a life but we tried to remember what made us different than the killers we hunted.

It was time like tonight that we were all reminded of the killers we could be and it wasn't a great reminder. It was also a reminder of what could make us killers faster than anything. Beautiful. She was the best of us and she could bring out the best of us. But when someone threatened her, hurt her, or put her in danger it brought the worst out in us. Tonight was the worst.

We were capable of worse. We were capable of extracting more pain. I was surprise when Ranger ended his life so fast. I had sort of thought we would get another go of torture so I was a little disappointed.

I got it that by the time it was Ranger's turn he just wanted to be back with Beautiful. He wanted her in his arms, fuck I wanted her in my arms so I knew the feeling he was having had to be almost all consuming.

I went to my apartment and cleaned up. There was no need for Stephanie to see any remnants of Doug on my clothing. She didn't need any reminders. I knew she was going to have a difficult time from everything anyway so additional reminders wouldn't help only hinder her healing.

I quickly showered, dressed, and made it up to the seventh floor wasting no time. My need to see her was growing every second. I knew seeing her would help put away the monster within me. He had been unleashed in that room and I could still feel him just below the surface waiting to come out and play some more.

I knew seeing her would help appease him and he could go back in his cage for awhile, hopefully a long while.

Walking into the apartment I was met with my brothers, her brothers, and our coworkers. Walking up to Cal and Slyder I spoke to them both. "What the fuck, who is with her?" I looked around the room and saw Hector, as well as Bobby standing in the living room. In my mind I guess Ranger's name was there somewhere but in that moment all was registering was she was alone.

Slyder spoke up "Man she is with Ranger we didn't leave her alone. She had a bad dream woke up screaming he has her in the bathroom cleaning her up a little. Then she is going to get something to eat so they should be out here soon." He told me.

I nodded and relaxed a little hearing his words that Ranger was with her. I knew she would want him more than any of us not that she didn't love us but she needed him and he needed her.

I walked over to sit down to wait for them but I guess nervous energy kept me on my feet. Looking around the room I could tell I wasn't the only one that had nervous energy. I guess we all wondered if she would look at us differently. It wasn't like she didn't know that we had killed people before.

It wasn't like she didn't know we had killed people to protect her but it was the first time she had witnessed any of it. It was the first time she would be part of and have prior acknowledge of what was going to happen and that it would be our hands doing it. I was just worried that she would come to hate us. See us as the monsters we truly were.

I hadn't really paid a whole lot of attention from the time I stepped into the room. I had just been sort of lost in my thoughts. I heard someone call my name the voice was a voice I could never forget. "Lester" Her voice was higher than normal as though she was yelling. I snapped my head up and saw her standing there her hands on her hips and her eye brows bunched a little.

"Yeah" I said a little alarmed at what had her in her state but somehow I knew I was the reason but I wasn't sure what I had done to cause it.

You know that look that your mother gives you when you know you are in trouble and you don't know exactly what you are in trouble for. You don't want to just start apologizing because you might tell secrets she didn't know yet on the other hand if you remained quiet you knew you were going to get it worse than if you just confessed to something, anything. Well that is how I was feeling all of a sudden.

"Hey Beautiful" I thought I would start with that. Her eye brows furrowed further then she smiled.

"Where were you just now? I called you and you didn't answer. I finally had to yell at you to get you to acknowledge me." She told me. Fuck. I had been lost in my thoughts. Now I had to explain it to her not that the others here standing in front of me weren't doing the same fucking thing but it was me that she had called and me that hadn't responded. Fuck!

"I was just lost in thought." I told her. I was hoping she would just leave it at that. She started to say something. I should know she would never leave it alone but when she opened her mouth her stomach let loose with a huge roar. I think a lion would have cowed away from that roar.

I watched as several of the guys took a step back. It was amazing how something so loud could come out of someone so small. She started laughing. Her laughter started out as snickering and then grew to a full blown hold your side tears running down her cheeks laughter.

I looked at the guys and motioned they shrugged their shoulders, I shrugged my shoulders none of us had any fucking clue as to what had set her off but hearing her laughter was music to my ears and I am sure a few of the other guys as well.

The tension in the room lifted and the room felt lighter airier and if possible more joyful than it had when I walked in. Hearing her laughter we all knew she was going to be okay.

I finally couldn't stand it anymore I had to find out what it was that she thought was so damn funny that had her practically on the floor laughing. If it wasn't for her hands on her knees I think she would have gone down on the floor. I could see Rangers lip tipping up he thought it was humorous too I only wondered if he knew what she found so funny.

"Beautiful, why are you laughing so hard? What's so funny?" I asked her. She straightened up and sucked in a big breath of air to catch her breath. She was trying to get herself under control so she could speak but giggles kept breaking free and a couple of times full bouts of laughter broke free.

Finally sucking in more air and panting to catch her breath she started talking. "Nothing really." She started with but I knew that was bull shit and raised my eyebrow at her. She somewhat hated when I or the guys would do that to her. Not because it was questioning her but because she was unable to do it back to us and when she tried both of her eyebrows would go up causing her to look weird according to her.

I found it funny that she had actually practiced raising one eyebrow in the mirror after all how would she know it made her look weird if she hadn't practiced it.

She went on "Well you guys can be some of the scariest dudes I know. I mean you all could make the devil himself piss himself in fear if you wanted and you guys could stare down a terrorist with a bomb strapped to himself and show no fear yet when my stomach growls you all step back like you all are afraid it is going to jump out and attack you or something." She barely got the words out of her mouth before her laughter once again took over and rang throughout the room.

Several of the guys joined in hearing her comments about us being scary enough to make the devil piss himself was pretty funny and before long I was joining in on the laugh. It felt good to be here laughing with her hearing her laugh hearing some of the other guys laugh and seeing the smiles on some of the other guys faces. We were family and yeah looking around the room at the badasses, I know we all are, she wasn't too far off with us having the ability to make the devil piss himself in fear and stare down dumb fucking terrorists with bombs.

Laughing I walked over to her grabbing her and held her in a head lock while I kissed the top of her head and ran my knuckles over her head before letting her go. "Beautiful while it may not jump out and attack us we have all grown to have a healthy respect for that beast of a stomach you have." I told her.

Letting go she hugged me to her "Lester I love you." She said. It warmed my heart. I know she didn't love me like she loved Ranger but it didn't matter. It still made my heart warm hearing the words.

"I love you too Beautiful. Now how about we feed the beast before it scares all of us badasses again?" I told her. She just smiled giggled and I joined in laughing with her as we made our way into the dining room.

Some of her brothers were already around the table and few more just standing around the room. I knew they were just waiting for her. They would wait for her to fix her plate before they fixed theirs. We would all go without to ensure she had something she needed or even wanted.

Ella had been busy while we were down in the cell and getting cleaned up. She had fixed a full feast for us it smelled delicious and looking at the food it would have all of us back in the gym pulling double time even if we didn't want to step foot into the place. There was no way we could eat this food and not gain unwanted weight.

Ella had made lasagna, fettuccini alfredo, chicken ptarmigan, and some other dishes with fat, cheese, noodles and something told me nothing about these dishes were fat free, sugar free, or anywhere near being able to be called diet or even somewhat healthy food. What Beautiful didn't know but I saw when I went to get waters was in the kitchen Ella had chocolate cake, pineapple upside down cake, strawberry short cake, chocolate mousse, birthday type cake and some other cakes that I wasn't sure what they were. There was enough fat, sugar, carbohydrates to pack twenty pounds on all of us if we ate it all.

I briefly wondered if Ranger was having a coronary over all the full fat, full sugar food in his apartment. I looked across the table and all I could see was a man completely in love with a woman a man who had a look of relief on his face seeing her smiling and looking almost shocked as she took in all of her favorite foods.

That look in her eyes would have been enough for even the most body conscious of us to be okay eating whatever was sitting on the table just to share this time with her.

She picked up her plate and filled it until I thought we would have to put plate stretchers on the plate. One thing hadn't been affected by everything that happened and that was her appetite for that I was glad and I found myself smiling along with Carlos.

Making a note to make sure she made a couple of extra laps around the compound tomorrow to work it off and get her ready for testing on Sunday if she still wanted to test I sat down and started fixing my plate.

I had seen Matt in the living room earlier but once we had our plates he made his way into the dining room to fix his plate.

Matt POV

I had been waiting in the apartment talking and catching up with the guys. I knew how much they all loved Stephanie it was no secret. I knew they were up here to one know that she was okay and two to be close to her for their own fears, and their own hearts.

She had definitely turned Reggae and Demon when she met them. They came back telling everyone had much they had fallen for the beautiful Stephanie, Bombshell.

I had seen pictures of her so I knew she was beautiful. They had told me how warm she was to them, how accepting she was of them. How there was never a question of her being afraid of them, or put off by them. She just accepted them.

Ella had told me what she had learned about the attack but I wanted to know more. I had caught up with a few of the guys I hadn't seen since the last time I was down in Trenton or the last time they were up in Boston.

I had talked to Bobby about the upcoming physicals for the men in Boston. I didn't want to be noisy and just come out and ask about Stephanie and what had happened but I also wanted to know more.

Something wasn't sitting well with me. The conversation I had with Morelli hadn't satisfied what I was looking for. I wasn't sure if he was involved in Doug attacking Stephanie but something just didn't add up. He sounded as if he was over her but his actions up to date was speaking volumes as to how he was anything but over her. Knowing the connection between Morelli, Doug, and Mike it was gnawing at me that there was more going on, a whole lot more.

I knew the guys here were furiously protective of her so I knew I needed to be careful how I chose my words and what questions I asked. I didn't want them kicking my ass. This team was the best they were the original Rangemen and they could kick my ass without even thinking about it.

I could give some of the men a run for their money after all I wasn't a puts but there were a few in the mix here that I knew I wouldn't stand a chance in hell against and I would rather not have to fight them at all let alone if they were pissed at me because of something I said or asked about Stephanie.

I also was smart enough to know depending on how she was doing since the attack they would be even more protective of her.

Cal came in carrying Stephanie on his back she appeared to be asleep. Slyder who I was surprised to see here because I hadn't heard that he was working at Rangeman was walking close behind Cal appearing ready to catch her should she fall off of his back. You could tell by the way her arms were hanging over his shoulder she wasn't holding on.

I briefly wondered if something happened to her but I knew the guys well enough if something had happened to her they wouldn't be carrying her that way. They didn't pause to say anything to anyone in the room. They went straight to the bedroom.

Slyder and Cal both came out and got cleaned up in the bathroom one staying with her while the other got cleaned up. Her other brothers just roamed around the room some were talking low some were just lost in their own thoughts. All were worried about her, all were concerned, and all were thinking about her.

I had been there a while talking to some of the guys I assumed she had been sleeping Cal and Slyder sitting with her. Every now and then one of the guys would venture down the hall to peep in and check in on her.

I thought about the conversation with Morelli after watching the guys with her I knew if they ever heard the things I had said about her I would most definitely get my ass kicked. I hope they would give me a chance to explain myself before they sentence me to the ass kicking that I partly felt like I deserved especially since I hadn't uncovered anything other than he was ready to let her go.

I heard two things and I am not sure which came first as they seemed to both happen at the same time. I heard a high pitched panic scream come from the bedroom there was no doubt it was Stephanie screaming at the same time I heard the front door to the apartment slam open. Before most of us could even turn in the direction of the door Ranger was racing past those that had made it into the hallway running towards Stephanie's bedroom. The men in the hallway were abruptly and forcefully pushed out of the way or better explanation they were literally plowed over.

Some of the men found themselves on the floor others found themselves thrown into the walls on either side of the hallway. One thing is for sure a very large, very capable, and extremely well I don't know how he was actually feeling Cuban man wasn't letting anything stand between him and him getting to his woman who had just screamed out in her sleep.

I reached down and helped Hal up off the floor, you could tell he was half dazed not even fully realizing what happened or how the fuck he had ended up on the floor. Her screams hadn't ended so the focus was back on getting to her soon as his feet hit the floor. It was the same with the other men in the hallway including the men that hadn't made it to the hallway they were all moving to the bedroom to get to her, to help her.

Stepping into the doorway I saw Ranger holding Stephanie in his arms and at this point the screaming had stopped but she was sobbing in his shirt. No doubt a bad dream, part of me felt bad the other part just wanted to get the fuck out there. I didn't do emotions and I sure as fuck tried my best not to do women crying. For men, there was nothing worse than when a woman cries. We never know what the fuck to do, what the fuck to say. I mean telling them to stop is an asshole thing to do and yet telling them you are sorry they are crying seems like such a patsy thing to say.

Personally whenever I saw a woman cry it made me think of Tom Hanks in that movie where he yelled at the woman there is no crying in baseball. I always felt any crying woman that but I always refrained after all this isn't fucking baseball, and for what she had been through I guess crying was something women did. But it fucking definitely was making me feel awkward.

I knew half or more than half of these men felt the same yet they were all here for Stephanie. None of them even appeared to have the same thoughts going through their head as I had. Fuck, she had really changed them.

I am sure she had no idea how huge this was for the men in this room. Just them willingly staying watching her crying and for half of them their hearts breaking watching her because they couldn't make it stop. I just didn't fucking get it. She was no doubt beautiful but I just couldn't understand. It isn't like they all hadn't had beautiful women in the past hell more than half of them fucked a different one nightly and they were all beautiful. Rangeman men and beautiful women were not a new concept.

It was known that Rangeman was a hugely successful company that compensated their employees extremely well not to mention those of us that run missions get paid lucrative through the government. It is surprising how well the government will pay when they want someone taken out quietly and for many of us at Rangeman we had the required skill sets they were looking for.

Of course Rangeman being Rangeman negotiated our contracts on our behave making sure we got paid the most, and made sure we got benefits of things that no other hired killer wouldn't get. We were the best and the government paid when they wanted the best that was the bottom line. No further negotiations required.

But it was known quite well how much money Rangeman men had and the women well they liked it, they also liked the danger we represented because just like it was known the money we had it was also known that we were badasses, we didn't take shit. It was also known our bodies were in prime shape. Just anyone wasn't able to be a Rangeman we were among the elite our testing process proved that.

So the women would throw themselves at us if anything our biggest problem when it came to women is that we had more than we could choose from. Some nights it was difficult to decide which one you wanted to take home. Hell fuck it, some nights it was more than one if all were willing.

So I wasn't sure what it was about Stephanie that made it different for the men in this room, especially Ranger.

Ranger was a man that was wild as they came at one point in his life but Stephanie had tamed him. It had been known for a long time now that he only had eyes for her. He had quit the one night stand of barbie doll after barbie doll. We called them that because if he went with us to the clubs he was leaving with the woman that looked like a barbie doll, beautiful, perfect fucking body, big perfect fucking tits, and yeah some were a little air head but let's face it he didn't want them for their minds so it was all good. But, all that ended when he met Stephanie the barbie dolls of the world no longer held his interest.

I couldn't understand with all the women in the world how you could pick just one and remain with that one that no other woman would spark your curiosity or that you would never want another woman than the one you were currently with. It was a concept that I just couldn't grasp. I thought it was a concept that Ranger couldn't grasp as well but he seemed to not only grasp it but has lived it since he had met Stephanie.

When she stopped crying Ranger said something to her but I was too far back to hear what he had said. They got up and headed towards the bathroom.

Once they were in the bathroom the guys started to head back to the living room. There were a few words said between the guys some just a one word explicative statement others were wishes they had beat Doug more made me suffer more, I couldn't agree more.

I wasn't under Stephanie's spell like these men but he had hurt her and she was a Rangeman. Rangeman protected and watched out for our own. Seeing her crying made me want to beat the fuck out of him. Finding out what I had found out today made me want to beat the fuck out him for that but her having a nightmare and hearing her screams of terror and then crying well that made my desire grow.

I went back into the living room with the guys. It wasn't long after that that Lester, Tank, and Hector joined the party so we were all up here on seven. They were lost in their own thoughts and the other men in the room gave them their distance. You could tell they weren't in a place to want to carry conversation with others.

Lester was pacing in the living room when Stephanie and Ranger joined us. I saw her look around the room and when her eyes landed on me I saw fear flash, then her eyes sort of briefly clouded over as you could see she was battling her feelings.

I didn't advance on her she needed to come to grips with her feelings. I knew to her I was a stranger, and even though I was in Rangeman uniform she had been attacked by someone who was in Rangeman uniform that was an outsider of the group here and right now to her I was an outsider as well.

I could tell that she was debating if I could be trusted. I would just let her figure that out on her own and in her own time. I wasn't going to push myself on her. Before she made her decision Lester caught her attention and I saw her eyebrow furrow looking at him. She called his name but it wasn't until the third time when he acknowledged it.

He was really lost in his own thoughts. Once he acknowledged her they had a little exchange of words Lester grabbed her playfully and I was all but forgotten.

What surprised me the most was Lester looking at him you could see how much he loved her. I briefly wondered if Ranger doesn't kick his ass for it but then I didn't get any negative vibes from Ranger so I knew the answer. Once again I found myself wondering exactly what it is about her that tames the wild ones.

Lester when it came to women well he was the playboy of all the Rangeman playboys. He was a legend among the Rangeman men every one of us, including myself, wanted to take a few notes from his little black book. Looking at him it was clear the women he would choose if she were available would be Stephanie.

Part of me wanted to get to know her so I could understand and the other part of me was scared as fuck. What if I fell under her spell and then wouldn't want anyone else? Living in Boston there would be some cold and lonely nights ahead of me.

Cold and Lonely nights I didn't want. So part of me was glad her focus shifted to Lester the curious part of me had me wanting to get to know her better.

Lester, Stephanie, Ranger and some of the other men made their way into the dining room. I stood back and waited a little bit I knew it would take them time to fix their plates. Finally after a little while I stepped into the dining room to fix my plate.

I saw Stephanie sitting at the table moaning a she dug into her food. Her plate was full to maximum capacity and I briefly wondered if she would be able to finish the food on her plate. She was little and the plate well it was huge.

I reached over the guys sitting at the table to grab my plate. My movements weren't lost on Stephanie. Her eyes met mine and once again I saw them cloud over from the storm of emotions flying through her head. Ranger leaned in and whispered something in her ear but it was so low I couldn't understand or hear what it was.

Her eyes cleared and then they sparkled crystal blue. Her eyes were beautiful. She smiled at me and her eyes danced, her face lit up, and I knew in that moment I would do anything to keep that smile on her face. To make her happy and keep her safe I would do anything.

She opened her mouth to speak "Hi, my name is Stephanie, it's nice to meet you." My eyes locked on her lips watching the movement of her lips the smile on her face and I didn't think I could turn away if I wanted to.

I saw her eyebrows slightly furrow and it was then I realized I had fallen victim to one Stephanie Plum. I also realized I hadn't answered her question or introduced myself appearing like a love sick puppy to the men around me. Clearing my throat I finally answered her and introduced myself to her while completely embarrassing myself in front of a room of bad asses,, and in the process I managed to fucking flush my bad ass card all together but I really didn't care because in some ways now I was no different than the other men in this room.

The only thing I could think was fuck, I have managed to fuck up a really good thing now the women I picked up were going to have a standard to measure up to and I already knew that many of my prior conquests wouldn't cut it.

There were definitely going to be some lonely and cold fucking nights in Boston.

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	51. Chapter 50: The Day before the Test

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

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**I am sorry this chapter took so long…The holidays and Work life had me so busy that the chapter was delayed. Now that the holidays are over, and work life has calmed a little bit (not as much as I would hope for) I hope to get back to the normal schedule of weekly updates if not sooner. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and a fantastic New Year to begin with. So here is the next chapter I hope you enjoy it! Leave a review to let me know.**

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Chapter 50: The Day before the Test

SPOV

I was sitting at the table eating when the guy I had seen but didn't know from the living room walked in. Once again I felt my emotions go all over the place. I knew he could be trusted after all he was up here in our apartment, god I loved saying and thinking that, with my brothers so they had to trust him.

Yet the feelings that were running through me were so conflicting. I wanted to trust him. I wanted to believe that he wouldn't hurt me. Seeing him in a Rangeman uniform I wanted to feel safe and secure around him like I had before but part of me felt the need to protect myself, I felt the fear rise in me and thoughts flashed through my mind how he could hurt me.

I knew it was silly obviously if he was up here he was well trusted, and part of the family but I couldn't shake the "what ifs". I knew I brought out the crazy in people. What if I brought the crazy out in him too.

Hell Doug seemed normal, although a little a weird, until he decided to attack me and while I don't really remember what happened my subconscious remembers, my body remembers it is clear by the reactions it has. It is hard to describe how I remember it when I don't actually remember the events or what he did but I do.

Carlos must have felt my uneasiness with having the stranger close to me. My eyes hadn't left the stranger. Carlos leaned into me whispering in my ear "Babe, that is Matt, he runs our Boston Office. You can trust him. He is Demon's and Reggae's boss." Hearing that helped push the fear down.

I smiled at him looking at him I said "Hi, my name is Stephanie you can call me Steph." He smiled and nodded extending his hand to me.

"Hi, my name is Matt. I run Rangeman in Boston." He told me. I just nodded as I reached to take his hand in mine. "It's nice to meet you." He said and then it was as if he really didn't know what to say after that. I could see he wanted to say something but wasn't sure exactly what to say or how to say it.

"It's nice to meet you as well." I told him. I knew they were here to man the control room since the guys here flipped the switch to send the control room dark. But I wondered what he was doing up here with us and why he wasn't in the control room but I wasn't sure how to ask him that not that it was even my place to ask him so I too fell into an awkward quiet state not sure exactly what to say next.

I took in his looks and true to Rangeman he was everything you would expect. He was tall, his body was built like a god, and he was, like all Rangeman, easy on the eyes another fine example of man candy in black.

I heard a few sneakers under my brother's breath they were trying to hold it back but didn't seem to be able to keep it completely to themselves and I knew I had once again spoke my thoughts out loud for all to hear. Great, just great he was going to think I was some loon.

I knew my cheeks were red because I could feel the warmth rising as my embarrassment grew but I did what any girl would do I focused back on the food in front of me and started shoveling it in my mouth. My brothers went from snickering under their breaths to shifting in their chairs and I thought serves them right let them be the ones embarrassed not that I bet any of them had anything to be embarrassed about.

I heard more snickering and I knew I had once again failed to keep my thoughts to myself. I refused to acknowledge them and continue to shovel the wonderful delicious food that Ella had made me in my mouth.

No one had said anything since Matt introduced himself. Everyone around the table and those standing in the room were quietly eating but I could feel their eyes on me. They were watching me. I wasn't exactly sure what they were watching me for. I mean what were they looking for, what were they waiting for?

The air around the dinner table wasn't the same as our normal dinners together not that we have had dinners here in the apartment with all the guys before but in times past when we all ate together the mood was jovial now it was something else altogether.

Tonight the air had a feel of caution or feeling of awkwardness as if they weren't sure exactly what to think or feel around me. One of hesitance and I hated that I made them feel that way. I wasn't exactly sure how to change it how to fix it as I couldn't just fix the things wrong with me.

I kept my eyes focused on my plate and continue to eat my food trying my best to deny what I could feel around me. I didn't want my brothers to feel uncomfortable around me and I didn't want to feel uncomfortable with me being with my brothers. I was sitting at the table with all my brothers when I realized what Doug had actually been successful in doing to us and it was sitting at this very table that I quickly made my decision to not allow him to succeed.

Even after his death the wave of his horrible plan and wake of his attack was still affecting my brothers and me.

I began talking before I could force myself to remove my eyes from the plate. "Guys I am still your sister. I still love you all. I still need you all in my life. I know that some of you may not know what to say or feel the need to treat me somehow differently because of what happened but I don't need to be treated differently. I don't need to be protected more, or guarded more. I was attacked I survived you got the bastard and taught him a lesson, one that he won't be able to repeat. We all, including myself, need to let it go and quit allowing it to come up between us. I refuse to let the bastard win and as long as we feel awkward and uncomfortable together because you don't know what I am thinking or feeling and I don't know what you are thinking and feeling then that bastard wins." I told them.

I had finally looked up about a third of the way through my short speech to see if they were following me and I could see looks of shock, looks of understanding, and even looks of pride on their faces. Carlos leaned into me feeling his warmth radiate through me warmed me from the outside in as he whispered in my ear "Proud of you, Babe. I love you." I couldn't help the soaring my heart did.

It felt as though my heart was flying hearing those words from the man that I loved more than my life.

I wanted to jump in his lap at that moment throw my arms around him and claim him. Of course with my brothers in the room I refrained. Lester was the first one to speak after Carlos told me how proud he was of me.

"Beautiful, I think we were just wondering about your test, and what your plans were." He didn't elaborate further but I knew that wasn't what they were thinking about. It may relate but what they were thinking about was if I was going to stay with them, work with them, and continue to want them in my life. It was so clear then exactly what had been going through their minds.

My ESP was getting better it wasn't up to the level of my brothers but it was getting better the longer I was with them the less they had to say to tell me exactly what they were thinking and more importantly feeling.

I looked at all of them. "My plans haven't changed. From the moment I decided to become a Rangeman employee my plans or goal hasn't changed and what Doug did didn't change my mind. My test is still going to be done on Sunday and Saturday well a little later today I plan on having my last training day." I told them.

I saw a couple of my brothers shake their head as if they wanted to protest but this time Bobby was the one that actually spoke up. "Bomber are you sure you are up for it? You know what the test requires with all you have been through is your body able to handle it? Are you able to handle it? It isn't an easy test it pushes you mentally and it pushes you physically. I am not sure we shouldn't put it off a week just to make sure."

"Bobby, thank you. I am fine. Just some bruises you said yourself. Once I get some sleep which I plan on doing right after I finish my meal I will be back to new." I hope I sounded more convincing than I actually was but I knew the way to settle my brothers were to show them I was okay. The way I could show them that I was okay was if I was back to training, back to working out and on schedule with my test.

Postponing the test would have only proven to my brothers that I wasn't back to normal. That I wasn't able to handle what had happened to me. I wasn't sure I was exactly normal my dreams certainly said I wasn't. I admit a lot had happened with me lately between Joe, my mother, and Doug I wasn't sure I truly knew what normal was.

"Guys I know I have been through a lot with Joe, my use to be mother, and well now yesterday with Doug but I am not letting that change my goals. I am not going to let them win. I am going to show them I am stronger, I am Rangeman worthy, and I can do this." I told them. Definitely sounding braver and stronger than I actually was feeling at the moment but the words were helping me.

At least I at this point was beginning to believe what I was saying so that was a step in the right direction. After all if you believe you can win that is half the battle, just ask any professional fighter. Just ask my brothers part of why they were always so successful was the fact that they believed themselves to be the best because of that belief they were the best and they were successful in their missions. That is at least one of my theories.

I was surprised to hear the next voice that spoke up, it was Matt. "Concerning Morelli he and I had a chat at the station and I am not certain that he is going to continue to be a problem." He told me. I just looked at him. I knew my eyes were probably wider than normal displaying the shock I was feeling. Why was he talking to Joe? Doug had talked to Joe and they had formed some sick sort of pact between them to separate me from my brothers and Carlos. Had Mike done the same?

Would I be able to trust what he was going to say? How in the hell was I going to be able to know if I could trust what he was saying or if he wasn't just leading me down some path to later trick me. Like Doug was trying to do. Did Matt already have an alternate agenda what would have caused Matt to run into Joe at the station he was suppose to be here running Rangeman not running into Joe at the station I mean what would have been the odds.

Questions and thoughts were flying through my head. Questions I would have never had, feelings I would have never had before Doug. Fuck, Doug was once again interfering with my life but this time it may be questions and thoughts that would later safe my life. I couldn't feel bad about these questions even though part of me wanted to.

Looking at him my lips finally engaged with thoughts that were running through my mind and I became aware enough to ask the question that had been bouncing around in my head. "Why were you at the station and how did you just manage to bump into Joe?" I knew the words and the way they came out sounded almost accusatory almost bordering on some form of paranoia from me but I couldn't help it. I had already been through enough with one Rangeman even if he was a contractor that partnered with Joe and I didn't intend to let myself fall victim to another.

Matt took a deep breath and let it out. I knew he was thinking that he had stepped into it now and he would have to explain the whole thing rather than just tell me what he had found out and I could tell he wasn't too happy about that.

MattPOV

Fuck me! I mean jesus fucking Christ on a stick why does this shit always happen to me? I mean here I am finding myself drawn to a woman that I know I will never be able to have and hold and yet I would still protect her with my life. Yet my mouth still leads me down the path that I didn't want to go. Not only is it leading me down a path I never wanted to go but it was doing it in front of Ranger, and those that loved her the most.

If I lived though this explanation it was going to be a fucking miracle. If I made it out being able to walk and know my own name well that was going to be a sign from God that I needed to go back to church and start tithing or something because I was going to fucking owe him big time. I mean big time like build a church or something big time to pay him back for that fucking favor.

I looked around the room and at Stephanie and I could see the others in the room were thinking the same thing she had voiced. Yeah I was pretty much fucked at this point. Taking a big breath in and blowing it out I began.

"Well it all started when we found Mike in the stock room. He was hiding back there, we found him when we were doing the standard search of the building per protocol." Maybe it would help a little if at least they knew we were following protocol.

"I questioned him and found that he along with Doug had formed an agreement with Morelli. From what Mike informed me he wasn't really an active member but a member none the less and their objective was to report Stephanie's whereabouts to Morelli. Morelli wanted to know when she left the building and where she was. They were also instrumental in some package being delivered directly to Stephanie instead of going through the proper procedures here at Rangeman." I told them.

When I mentioned the package Stephanie shuddered a little bit. Ranger put his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. I pretended like the motion was lost on me and continued.

"After talking to Mike and already knowing why Demon and Reggae were brought down here because of a confrontation with Morelli I decided to do a little further investigating of my own. I decided to try to figure out what he was really up to." I told them.

The air changed a little in the room as some of the men seemed to calm a little bit. The tension released a little bit. Here is where I was going to get my ass kicked.

"I pulled Acer in on my plan and we went after an easy skip one that we could pick up and deliver to the station without any issues." Back tracking a little I added "by the way that was easier than even I anticipated the skip practically ran to the truck and jumped in I thought he was going to cuff himself." I said and I saw Lester and Bobby bump fists and Ranger gave Tank a look that I could only say meant Fucking A with a little bit of smug on the side.

I got back on track "we took the skip to the station and while he was being rebooked Acer and I found Morelli's office and we started a conversation outside his door. One that we were hoping he would join in on." I told them.

I knew from the look on their faces I wasn't going to get out of telling them what was said. Yep I was going to get my fucking ass dead right here. I just gave it up and started talking before I was asked because I knew it was only a matter of time and if they had to pull it out of me it would be even worse than if I just gave it up and told them what was said well the jest of what was said. Hopefully I could get away without having to tell them everything that was actually said.

"Standing in front of his door and speaking only loud enough for him to hear us. I began a conversation with Acer hoping to get him out of the office. I will say that the conversation wasn't the nicest conversation and I will also say that Acer went along with my lead. It wasn't his idea it was mine. But basically Stephanie we painted you to be a demanding, selfish, self righteous deserving bitch. All the things I know you aren't. It wasn't the truth it was only meant to get his attention for him to think that we had something against you so he would attempt to entrust Acer and myself like he had done Doug and Mike." I finished.

I felt the tension raise in the room with each word I said and I saw hector take a step closer to me his hands held just barely over his knives, Lester had turned toward me and his eyes were hard as steal and I could see the subtle shake which meant it was taking everything within him to keep his ass in the chair. Cal had stepped up behind me and I swear looking at him in the mirror that hung on the opposite wall his tattoo on his forehead was fucking glowing the fire looked like it had come to life. Fuck. I knew it. I couldn't even look at Tank or Ranger because I knew the look they would have and I would rather not piss my pants in front of everyone.

I could feel Ranger's hard black coal eyes of hatred drilling through my body I was surprised there weren't holes where they bore through me.

I continued as if I hadn't noticed the men around me. "It was the only way I knew to see if he would engage us I knew he wouldn't recognize us as regulars and thought maybe he would think like with Mike and Doug we were new and hearing we didn't like Stephanie he may decide to pull us in on his plan. But the plan backfired. I am not sure exactly backfire is correct maybe fizzled out but he did come out of his office and his message was that he was done with Stephanie that he was moving on. He even went as far as giving us some advice to how to get on your good side." I told her and them only hoping I would be forgiven.

She looked at me and during me telling her what had happened I saw questions and feelings flying across her face. Disbelief being the biggest one so I added. "I don't know but I got an odd feeling that somehow what he was saying and what he was thinking aren't the same thing but I have no proof to that."

She stared at me for a while I could tell she was trying to figure out everything I told her. If I was on the up and up and if I wasn't in fact actually partnering with Morelli behind her and everyone elses' back I was just hoping that my brothers in arms would know me better than to work along with Morelli to harm a single hair on Stephanie's head.

Even before I knew her I would willingly give my life to protect her because I already knew how much Ranger and the rest of the men at Trenton loved her but after meeting her well I would willingly give my life to protect her just to protect her for her. To keep that light alive within her.

She finally spoke "he said that he was done with me, and that he was moving on?" she asked me. I nodded and told her.

"I believe his words were that he was done with you and that he was going to be moving on that he no longer wanted anything to do with you." I couldn't remember his exact words at the moment they had escaped me I knew I would remember them later but right now I had other things to focus on like the men around the room not fucking killing me. I just hope the conversation didn't focus on what exactly I said about Stephanie again.

I could tell by the hard look on Ranger's face that we would have that conversation but hopefully by that time he wouldn't be so pissed.

She mumbled something and I briefly wondered if she was talking to herself or just once again speaking her thoughts out loud. Lester focused on her and I could tell he too was trying to make out her mumbling.

Ranger was also focused on her but I could tell that none of them could make out the mumble that was coming from her.

Ranger spoke up first. "Babe, are you trying to tell us something?" He asked her and her head snapped up and she took a quick look around the table and room. It was almost as if she had forgotten where she was for the moment.

She shook her head.

RPOV

I heard her mumble something at first I didn't pay much attention I thought maybe she was just saying her thoughts out loud and I was focused on keeping my ass in the chair and not taking a piece of Matt's ass for bad mouthing Stephanie down at the station. She already has enough people talking about her behind her back and for one of my men to intentionally do it regardless of reasons is unacceptable.

He will learn that later when Stephanie is sleeping when I hand him and Acer their asses on the mats.

I knew I could trust Matt a hundred percent and I knew why he thought it was a good idea and had it been anyone but my Babe I would have agreed with him but it was my Babe and he should have thought about that first.

He should have also asked one of us because there would be no Rangeman in Trenton that would have thought that was a good idea.

I was watching my Babe and watching Matt when I looked at Matt I made sure to let him know that I wasn't happy with his fucking bright idea. When I was looking at my Babe I was looking for any sign that she was breaking down, that she had heard enough, that she was getting upset and all I could see was emotions and thoughts fly across her eyes. I saw disbelief in the end and I saw what I was pretty sure was fear cross her eyes.

I knew she was becoming to fear him more and more with each attack, with every time he got close to her. She was strong when she confronted him in his bedroom but I knew under that appearance of strength she was a little unsure and a little afraid. I also knew a part of her was waiting for the retaliation from him.

I was definitely waiting for the retaliation and have even spoken to my men about it. I didn't think what Doug had done was part of the retaliation from Morelli. I had figured right in that Doug was just acting on his own Morelli had given him permission which in and of itself pissed me the fuck off that he thought he could give another man the okay to have sex with my woman but what Doug did he did on his own.

I saw her pale a little at one point and then I saw her shudder when Matt was talking about Morelli saying he was done with her. I briefly wondered if she wasn't having second thoughts having selected me. I had never thought that before but seeing that reaction made me wondered if she was sorry.

Had she selected him it may have saved her from Doug but then again if what Morelli said was true and he had given him a pass maybe that is something he thought was his right to "give" his wife to other men. The thought of that made me shudder on the inside I was only hoping no one else especially my Babe was following my thoughts.

My look hardened even more when I looked back at Matt I was letting him know I was definitely not happy with him or what he had done. Part of me wanted to get up grab him by his fucking throat and fucking throw him out of our apartment preferably out through the fucking living room window versus the door but I sat there though I wasn't acting on them I began thinking about all the ways I could throw him out and with each pass they became more painful for Matt.

I heard her mumble something at first I didn't pay too much attention but after a minute or so I started to get concerned seeing the look in her eyes.

"Babe, are you trying to tell us something?" I asked her and her head snapped up and she looked at me and looked around the room almost as if she just realized where she was. I wondered what she had been thinking.

She shook her head and then inhaled deep almost to center herself. She looked at me smiled briefly but it didn't reach her eyes she had worry in her eyes. Seeing her look, my body automatically went on alert.

She started talking "it's nothing really just hearing what Matt said made me remember something." She said. She looked down at her plate. I knew it was more than nothing and whatever it was she remembered she didn't really want to share it with us.

"Beautiful, you seem like you are upset, whatever it was you were remembering upset you so spill it, tell us if we can make it better you know we will." Lester spoke. Sometimes I loved Lester's and my Babe's relationship because he didn't allow her to get by with stuff like this like living in denial land even though there were times I wanted to kick his ass for what he thought he could get away with. Their relationship was god for both of them.

She looked up "It really is nothing. Matt saying what he did about Joe being done with me made me think about a time when Joe and I was together and he made a comment to me. So it really isn't anything." She said trying to play it off as nothing but I could see the wheels turning her head and I knew she would end up telling us what it was she had remembered because it was bothering her. It really wasn't nothing as she was trying hard to convince us along with herself.

"Babe what did he say?" I asked her. She looked at me and her eyes said it all. There was fear, there was uncertainty and there was something that I couldn't quite make out.

She took a breath "When Matt said Joe said he was done with me it made me remember a time that when Joe and I were together he said to me that the day he would ever be done with me would be the day they were burying me. That it would take me being dead for him to ever be over or done with me." She said.

It felt as ice water was being poured through my veins hearing those words she said. What he had said to her. I never realized the kind of man he was. I had pushed my Babe to fix her relationship with him. I had pushed her towards him to remain with him, holy fuck. I never knew the man he was the abuser he was.

That is classic abuser talk. Make your girlfriend, wife, or whoever it was you are abusing fear you by threatening them. The threat sounds like something someone who would love you would say but it isn't love it is abusive.

It is a fear tactic a way for them to make you fear them. To instill fear into those they are abusing to keep them from leaving or standing up for themselves because abuser steals all of the power.

The beast within me growled and rattled the cage he was currently contained in as the ice water reached his core.

I knew I had been an ass but it was only this minute did the realization of exactly what I had done to her hit me and if it was a man in my command that had fucked up as bad as I had well I would beat his ass daily on the mats for a month and make him pray and beg for his fucking life.

I was ready to command every one of my men to take my ass to the mats and beat the living fuck out of me for being such a dumb ass when it came to her. I subjected her to so much hurt so much pain and I hadn't even fucking known it. I thought the dumb fucking abusing prick was a decent guy because my limited dealings with him before I knew my Babe had me thinking he was a decent cop.

Had I learned that I can get it wrong sometimes? Had I learned that I could be wrong? Had I learned that I wasn't as good as I thought I was? Boy had I and at the expense of the one woman that I would give everything I had, everything I was, and everything I ever would be to see the smile on her face, to see the light in her eyes, to hear the laughter from her voice, and to have the love from her heart.

The sick fucking part of the whole thing, during all this time I was sending her back, I was fucking up so bad she thought I was fucking batman. She thought of me a super hero someone in her eyes that could do no wrong boy did I ever prove her to be wrong on that one.

She had been talking the whole time my mind was reeling but honestly I don't know what she said I have not a fucking clue the next thing I heard her say was "so see I don't think it is really anything to be concerned about. I don't think." She repeated the I don't think which made me believe that she was definitely trying her best to convince herself there wasn't anything to be concerned about when in fact she was concerned.

I knew I was fucking concerned. Because while most abusers would say no, hearing those words it is nothing but intimidating and threatening and I was definitely concerned that he would carry through on his plans and try to end my Babe's life.

"Babe it may be nothing, but it may be something. Please for me until we know differently make sure you carry your trackers and gun, and when you leave take someone with you be it your partner, me, Lester or one of the guys. Please don't go out alone." I told her.

"Carlos I haven't left alone in a while. I can't say a day won't come when I need to leave alone but for now I promise I will keep either my partner, when I get my partner, Lester, you or one of the guys with me."

I nodded and I only hoped that when I let out that sigh of relief that the men in the room with us didn't hear me. I would never fucking live down sighing but I couldn't help it. It just rushed through my body when she agreed it was out before I was even half aware that it was there.

I was going to have to have a serious talk with my badass self because I was acting in ways badasses didn't act and that shit was going to have to change. I wasn't sure badasses talked to themselves but this was getting serious so I was going to have to just suck it up and do it before I got labeled a fucking pansy.

Quickly my Babe changed the subject "So my training later today is Marksmanship and Defensive driving but I am thinking I am good on the Marksmanship I think I can pass the test on that what I need help with is that fucking wall. Is anyone willing to volunteer to help? I need to figure out how I can get my fat ass over that fucking wall so I can pass the test." She asked.

Lester spoke up first "Beautiful with Boston taking over all of us can be available so we can all help you. I hold the record here at Rangeman for completing the course in the fastest time. I will show you how you can get your beautiful ass over the wall."

There were a few courses of sure thing, and yeah from the other men in the room and I had no doubt before my Babe tested on Sunday that she would be able to make it over the wall.

"Guys I am going to go get ready for bed. I am tired. Thank you all for caring and staying with me." She told them. They nodded and wished her sweet dreams and good nights giving her a hug and a kiss but I knew none of them were leaving tonight.

I knew soon as we retired to the bedroom they would be retrieving the air mattresses and sitting them up in the living room. Normally I would never allow this but this was for my Babe they wanted to be here for her and I would never keep them from supporting her in whatever way they wanted. I was however going to draw the line at the bedroom door. If I didn't Santos, probably Cal and possibly Slyder would be up in the bed with us.

I stood up with her nodded to the men around the room and we walked out of the dining room heading towards the bedroom. Just like I thought Santos was right on our heels. She opened the door and walked through never seeing him behind us I grabbed the door and stood in the door way. I turned and held the door behind me hoping my Babe wouldn't see me.

"Santos what are you doing?" I questioned him. He shrugged

"I am just trying to be here for her." He told me I know my lips twitched because he was trying his best to fucking irritate me, and it was working.

"Santos you can stay in there" I pointed to the living room "it's the closest you are going to be to her while I am here. I am here for her; in our bed." I told him. He shook his head smiling shrugged and turned around; fucker.

LPOV

I followed them down the hall honestly I have no fucking clue why I was doing it. I know Ranger was thinking I was doing it to piss him off or something but honestly I wasn't I had just a strong urge to be with her I couldn't help myself.

When he turned me away I shrugged and acted as though I was just there to fuck with him but in actuality I had no fucking clue what I was doing other than just following her.

I needed to get control because Ranger wasn't going to tolerate me acting like a fucking freak with her. The only reason he was tolerating it tonight was because of what she had been through and he knew she needed us as much as we needed her.

I made my way back into the living room the guys had gathered around. "What a fucked up day. How many of us are planning on spending the night up here?" I asked. I could feel the exhaustion pulling at me but like any solider worth his fucking weight it wasn't something that would drag me down if I was needed.

I stretched my tired body as I sat down on the couch placing my feet on the coffee table I couldn't help but feeling the déjà vu of the moment. I remember just a couple of weeks before Tank, Bobby and I in the same position spending the night because of the bad shit happening to Stephanie.

Something really needed to change; her life was so fucked up. It seemed that people either loved her or hated her. We all loved her and would do anything for her under the sun and yet others seemed to want to do nothing but hurt her. Her mother, her ex-boyfriend and other fucking crazies out there that thought they could just take her and do what they wanted stalk her, kidnap her and threaten her.

I believe Matt is right Morelli isn't truly done with Stephanie. If he is then I am worried that he will try to kill her. I worried how the fuck we were going to protect her from him. Part of me wanted to sneak out in the night and pay a visit to one mother fucker and end the possibility of any future attacks but on the off chance that I was wrong I wouldn't take the chance with beautiful hating me forever for killing him.

While I know she doesn't love him, I know she is actually fearful of him and she says she hates him I know that she is incapable of hate. I know a part of her still loves him even though she doesn't really know it or won't admit it. Her heart is too large and she always wants to see and believe the good in people and that includes him even though she doesn't want to, she couldn't help it.

At some point during all my thoughts I fell asleep.

I woke up to Tank's voice "What the fuck? Get the fuck off of me Santos." I jumped up.

"What the fuck man?" I said back to him once I was standing on my feet beside the couch.

"Man you had your fucking head in my lap and your feet on Bobby what do I fucking look like your god damn pillow?" He bellowed. I shrugged my shoulders and sat back down putting my feet on the coffee table. What the fuck time was it? It couldn't have been five a.m.

I settled back down and closed my eyes trying to get more sleep looking at Tank "Man don't wake me up until morning I need my beauty rest." He just laughed shaking his head.

"Beauty rest my ass you could sleep all night and all day and it wouldn't do you a bit of fucking good. Just face it, you can't look this good." Tank said half laughing and pointing to himself as if he was better looking than me; yeah right. Not.

"Just go back the fuck to sleep, fucker." I told him.

"Just keep your got damn head off of me. I am not your fucking pillow." He told me. I nodded agreeing but I wasn't promising anything.

It didn't feel like ten minutes had gone by since I closed my eyes when I heard Bobby yell "What the fuck, man." I opened my eyes to look at him my feet were in his lap.

I moved so I was once again sitting up but Bobby couldn't just drop it. "Lester your feet are rank do you ever wash the fuckers?" He asked me.

"Yes, Bobby I wash my feet. They don't fucking stink fuck man I just took a shower tonight. Besides real men are supposed to have to stinky feet; go the fuck to sleep." I told him. This was the worse sleep I had gotten in years even when I had a woman in my bed.

"Just keep your damn stinking ass rotten feet off of me." He told me. I could only think whatever fucker my feet don't stink and they aren't fucking rotten. I stood up and stretched and then decided maybe I should see if Cal would let me crash on his air mattress. He was a big fucker but it was a king size mattress so I would be able to fit provided he stayed on his fucking side.

I walk over to Cal and he was fucking sleep so I don't bother waking him I just lay down on the empty side of the mattress. We have space between us so all is good. I finally close my eyes and let my exhaustion take over sending me in deep comfortable sleep. Well as comfortable as an air mattress can be.

But since I have slept on jungle floors, dessert floors, hard as fucking rock floors the air mattress well it is pretty comfortable. Not as comfortable as my bed but it's a lot fucking better than the floors.

Just as I had reached that perfect dream state and I was dreaming about Beautiful getting her gorgeous barely covered ass up on that wall Cal goes and ruins all. "What the fuck?" He yells and jolts me from my blissful dream. I jerk up and look at him.

"What the fuck is the wrong with you man? I would expect this from Hector but you? What the fuck?" Cal practically hisses out at me. What the fuck is he talking about. I looked at him.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I asked him. He just shook his head his fucking flaming skull almost looked like it was fucking glowing in the dark I wasn't sure that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Santos man I don't give a fuck which side of the fence you are on but I only bat one way and that is with the ladies so keep your damn hands off my ass or I will remove them from your body, you got it?" Holy shit I had my hands on a dude's ass I was going to need some old fashion fucking to get my mojo back with the ladies but first I was going to need some fucking Clorox. I had touched a dude's ass.

I held my hands up in surrender and then decided it probably wasn't best to hold the part that was to be removed in front of the man who threatened to remove them so I dropped them down "Sorry I was dreaming about a girl's ass not your ugly fucking ass, sorry if I touched your ass trust me it was totally accidental. I don't touch guy's asses I too only bat one way and it is with the ladies. I will sleep on my hands if that suits you." I told him.

"You can sleep anywhere you want and you can touch as many men's asses as you want but you aren't fucking sleeping in my bed." He told me.

"Cal last I looked this isn't your fucking bed. You are on a air mattress in Ranger's fucking living room. Now shut the fuck up and just go the fuck to sleep. I promise I won't touch your delicate ass again." Damn fucking drama queen.

He gave me a look and I swear the fucking tattoo glowed again before he turned over turning his back to me. I turned my back to him and drifted back off to sleep. Fucking pricks won't let anyone sleep or even finishing a good god damn dream.

I have slept more and had better night's sleep sleeping on the fucking jungle floor with people searching the woods to fucking cut our heads off.

I was once again dreaming. I am not saying what I was dreaming about because well I value my life and I really am not the kind of guy that dreams and tells anyway. It's enough to know that I was dreaming and let's say would rather not have been woken up at that moment.

"Man wake the fuck up, what the fuck are you doing?" I heard Cal yell.

I wanted to scream god damn it what a fucking good part and he has to once again fucking ruin it for me. I was so fucking close. Close to laughing at a joke someone was telling. I really wanted to hear the punch line. That's my story and I am sticking to it.

"What the fuck is the matter with you man. I was fucking sleeping." I told him. He shook his head his tattoo fucking glowing again.

"Man I don't know what the fuck you were doing all I know is you were moaning, growling, telling someone to not fucking stop. Man your body was moving in ways that it shouldn't be moving especially when we are fucking sharing a mattress. Say whatever the fuck you want to say but I think your bat doesn't care which team it bats for with the fucking noises you were making." He told me. What the fuck.

"Look man I don't know what the fuck you are talking about. I was dreaming about someone telling jokes. I don't know what you fucking heard but it wasn't me. Might have been Tank or Bobby over there or possibly Hector he looks pretty happy sleeping next to Slyder over there but it fucking wasn't me. Now go the fuck to sleep." I told him.

Fuck I needed to get control of these god damn dreams before I said something out loud that I didn't want anyone to hear. Damn I hadn't thought about it but if Ranger ever hears me dreaming about his woman I will be fucking fish food.

I gave myself this one indulgent behavior after all we don't have control over what we dream of. I allowed myself to have and be with her whatever way I wanted in my dreams and in real life just be happy being her best friend. I didn't count on sleeping with these fuckers so close to me when I made this deal with myself.

Now it was proving what a totally fucked up idea that was and I was pretty sure this bright idea was going to end up getting my ass kicked or worse fucking dead.

I laid back down closed my eyes and willed my fucked up mind not to dream about Beautiful at least not for the next two hours. That shouldn't be too fucking hard right? Wrong.

The next time I was jolted awake was when I heard a scream and then I felt someone land on me. I jumped up and ended up on the floor versus on the air mattress. My eyes bolting open I saw Beautiful smiling and laughing. Well I am sure as fuck glad she woke up in a happy fucking mode. Fuck I hadn't slept longer than two hours before being rudely woken up.

Cal was laughing fuck all the guys were laughing. Beautiful was laughing and smiling really big and it only took one look at her face to put a smile on my face. It was all worth it to see her smile like that.

"Morning Lester, blame Zip. Zip was the one that said to put the Rock smack down on you since you were sleeping beauty." I looked at Zip and he was laughing it up, fucker. When I met his ass on the mats later this week he wouldn't be laughing it up so much. I sent him a look that told him as much and at least he had the fucking brains to look a little afraid.

Beautiful was right she was ready for the day she had her workout clothes on she was ready for training. I noticed another oversized bag filled to the gill in the other room. I made note that it wasn't the same bag nor were the items within the bag the same but one thing I was sure of it would have a tracker, pepper spray and probably her gun in addition to everything else

We both got up and made our way into the dining room for a bite to eat before heading to the compound. Ella had already been there and dropped off enough breakfast to feed us all at least twice maybe three times.

We ate and I dealt with the ribbing from the guys as to my sleeping behaviors. Cal went easy on me and I was fucking grateful because I didn't want to have to explain the dreams. I knew Ranger would see through them and kick my ass so I was grateful that he kept his mouth shut.

Of course I should have known it was going to come at a cost because when I walked back into the living room he was waiting for me "Man you owe me. I will be collecting." He said. Fuck.

I nodded giving in knowing I had no choice now it was up to him when he decided to collect. I was certain it was going to be something big I just had no idea of knowing how big. He was right though it was either pay up at some point in time or fucking die by Ranger's hands so I would be paying up whatever the fucking price; prick.

At least I would get to beat Zips ass on the mats later today. Thinking about that made me a little happier.

I turned back to the dining room. "Beautiful I am going to run to my apartment shower and get ready to head out I will be back in a few minutes." She nodded and went back to her conversation with Bobby as I turned to walk out of the apartment.

SPOV

I was torn part of me wanted to continue to wallow in myself pity of what had happened to me. Part of me wanted to feel sorry for myself and guilty for what my brothers and the love of my life did for me. The other part of me wanted to move on and move on fast. I wanted to be over him and hopefully forget everything about him including his death. I didn't want Doug in my head I didn't want him controlling my feelings and the feelings of my brothers and lover. I wanted normal.

My body still wasn't totally cooperating but I was fighting it.

When Carlos and I went to bed he didn't think I saw him turn Lester away from our door. Part of me smiled that Lester wanted to be here for me and the thought of having my brothers with me was good because then I had a distraction from Carlos.

It wasn't that I didn't want Carlos with me I did more than I could tell you but I was nervous how I would feel in the room with only him. How my body would take him holding me during the night I didn't want to weird out and make him uncomfortable I didn't want him to think that I didn't want him because I wanted him more than I wanted air to breath or water to drink.

I willed myself to calm down as I stepped into the closet changing into one of his Rangeman T-shirts what fit him tight in all the right places hung on me. But having his scent his clothing on me made me feel stronger than I was. I pulled on my wonder woman underwear because I knew they would make me feel strong and I made my way back out into the bedroom.

Carlos was in the bathroom so I went ahead and got in bed. When he came out he went into the closet and I briefly wondered why but when he came out I knew why he had on his black silk boxers part of me wanted to cry and the other part of me felt love wash over me. He was doing that to make me feel more comfortable. He was wearing them for me so I wouldn't feel awkward, or scared of him.

When he made his way to the bed I couldn't help moving closer to his side of the bed as he crawled in my arms going around him when his arms came around me I was glad to feel no signs or feelings of awkwardness I didn't tense up I only felt the love from the man who I would give my life for.

Looking in his eyes I saw his concern I saw his doubt but I knew I could chase those thoughts away so I lowered my lips to his. We made love slowly and lovingly there was no screaming no begging for it to not stop there was only slow and loving moves.

When we both climaxed it was almost anticlimactic to the love that we gave each other it was second to the love we shared with each other. There wasn't heavy breathing, sweating, or holding on to each other for dear life it was just holding each other, looking into each other eyes, whispering love to each other as our legs and arms tangled our bodies pressed together. Kisses here and there movements that were sometimes so slow that you barely even realized you were moving. It was beyond beautiful it was beyond moving it was totally encompassing every aspect and it lasted what felt like hours and hours before we finally came together.

If I had a top five of nights it would have been in one of my top five, it would have been number one. I had never made love like that not even with Carlos in all the times we have made love since we got together had it been like that. I am not even sure I would have believed it was possible had someone told me even if they had even been able to explain it as I am having difficulty explaining just how wonderful it was. Words don't do it justice.

I woke up determined to make today a regular day back to normal. No thoughts, no weirdness because of Doug. I had the perfect opportunity when I walked into the living room. Lester was still sleep on the air mattress. The rest of the guys were up getting coffee, milling around waking up. I walked in and Zip walked up to me grinning. He suggested that I give Lester a Rock awakening. So I nodded and did what any Jersey girl worth her salt would do.

I took off running and then jumped and landed on Lester yelling as I landed on him. It was sort of a déjà vu moment although slightly different. We had been here and sort of done this before but after he jumped and landed on the floor it was still worth it. I laughed, the guys laughed, and finally Lester joined in. I told him I had put the smack down on him I wasn't sure if that was in with the Rock's sayings or not but no one corrected me if I was wrong. He wanted to be pissed at first but he couldn't remain pissed at me and just joined in laughing. I couldn't help smiling at the thought that things were going to be normal again.

We ate breakfast that Ella had brought up. She is so good to me and the guys the food she fixed was amazing it was just what we needed for our day of training. I was going to get my fat ass over that fucking wall today. I was determined that the wall wasn't going to beat me I needed to do it for the test and I wasn't going to let it get the best of me.

Lester said he held the fastest time on the course and he was going to get my ass over that wall if he had to pick me up and throw my ass over the fucker.

"Okay boys we are heading out in twenty minutes so be down in the garage ready." I told them. Knowing that they could be ready in twenty, hell that was giving them an extra fifteen minutes to do what they wanted. I knew these boys could shower, shave, and be dressed in less than five. That is what military training will do for you.

"Babe" I heard Carlos say. I think he meant "way to go Babe on rounding up the troops but it could have meant let me order my men around. That might have been totally possible. I smiled and shrugged my shoulders at him smiling he just shook his head and continued drinking his coffee.

Had I known then what I know now well I wouldn't have been in such a rush to have gotten there.

I was focused on today being a normal training day, me being normal, them treating me normally and not with kid gloves because of what Doug had done that I wasn't thinking about the training itself. I wasn't thinking having them all there with me how hard they would make my last day of training before my test.

I should have known better I should have seen it coming but I didn't. Even my spidey senses let me down on this one.

We met in the garage and made our way to the compound. I loved the compound more and more with each visit I uncovered a new little trove of something fun. I mean the race cars, the muscle cars, the motorcycles, the big trucks, the pool, the outdoor course, the woods to play in, the tracks, the gym, the shooting range and alley, the laser tag, and the pool area this place had it all and I was certain I hadn't seen all that it had to offer.

We rode in secured the gate behind us we knew we would be monitored by Rangeman Boston they were continuing to monitor the control room. I wasn't sure how Matt felt about it since technically we were all here and there was nothing major going on right now but I think the guys just wanted the down time until Monday so I wasn't going to say anything to mess that up.

We walked out to the course we had no more reached it when Lester yelled "Okay fuckers the last one to get to the wall completing all obstacles owes all of us one day of monitor duty." He took off running, god damn it.

I started running it was all men and one woman for themselves. I saw Tank running I was almost awestruck with how graceful he could be for his size tackling the obstacles as he went. Carlos or should I say Ranger was in front of me and I call him that because he wasn't slowing down he wasn't waiting up for me he was going to be sure it wasn't his ass last to the wall. Just further proving that it was all men and one woman for themselves because I was sure going to try my damnedest to not be last.

Where is chivalry when you fucking needed it? Assholes every one of them, I swear. If Lester thought he was going to be my best friend when all of this was over he had another thing coming especially if I was the one owing everyone a fucking day of monitor duty. Fuck. I just about fell off of the balance longs because of my internal rant so I decided to calm myself and concentrate on not getting further behind.

I wasn't anywhere near the front but so far I wasn't fucking last so that was saying something. I had lost sight of Lester, Tank, Bobby, and Ranger. I took a look around taking note of who I could see. I could see Cal ass just as he went over the hill in front of me. Vince, Binkie, Manny, Hector, Zip and Zero were around me I was in front of them but not by much but I was determined not to let them get in front of me if it meant I had to go to extreme measures.

I figured Hal was in front of Cal although I couldn't imagine it. I had no idea where Woody was I just know I couldn't see Slyder, Hal, or Woody. I figured they hadn't beaten Lester, Ranger, or Tank but I figured they were definitely in front of me.

Hector was the closet one to me and he was gaining. Fuck.

No one wanted Monitor duty when it was their turn let alone having to pull someone else's duty. Fuck I just knew I was going to end up last and have to pull a duty for everyone.

I pushed myself a little harder jumping over the logs and then I got to the maze, fuck this is where they were all going to pass me. I was betting that the bastard that started all of this was probably at the fucking wall laughing at all of our slack asses, Fucker.

As I made my way through the maze of stakes trying my best to step so that I didn't touch any of them I couldn't help but take that time to contemplate how I was going to fucking kill Lester, my former best friend. I was almost ready to rip off my t-shirt and leave it impaled on one of the stakes sticking up in this maze but then I thought that would be drastic measures and so far I still wasn't the last one so I wouldn't go to that extreme yet.

The shirt Lester gave me today said My Best Friend Loves the Ladies I wasn't sure if that was to be taken literally or figuratively, I didn't ask. Carlos sent him a warning and Lester just laughed claiming that he did in fact love the ladies of course when he showed me the shirt he was wearing I had to crack up. His Shirt said My Best friend loves the Merry Men. One thing is true I did love my Merry Men.

Just thinking about the t-shirt made me smile which was good because I needed to be reminded at this moment that I actually did love them since they were determined to fucking beat me and make me take a day of their fucking monitor duty. Damn it I hated when I was so torn between loving something and hating something at the same time. In this case is someone or should I say some ones instead of some things.

I make my way to the wall through the stakes I notice Hector is still slightly behind me I almost know he could have passed me if wanted but hasn't. I briefly wondered why not I mean I would pass me even though I knew I would be pissed at me I would still fucking pass me not to have to pull monitor duty but it was almost as if he wasn't even trying.

I was about to contemplate that when I decided that I needed to focus on staying ahead of the rest of them because even though Hector wasn't passing me now it didn't mean that the others weren't trying they were gaining.

I heard one of the guys yell I think it was Binkie I couldn't make out all he said but I heard him say "Fuck that was my good pants." I smiled at least if I was last I hadn't yet torn my pants. I thought serves him right for trying to pass me.

I made my way to the ropes I knew they couldn't pass me here no matter how slow I went. I mean they couldn't crawl over me or around me. If they tried I would make sure they would end up on their asses if I had to bite them to make it happen.

I throw my legs up on the rope and make my way across it and then take off running because I know these guys will be like fucking monkeys on that rope and in the time it took me cross it they had caught up to me.

I didn't even look back but I heard one of the guys yelling at Hector to move his ass. I thought he was feeling very brave after all you would never hear me yelling at Hector to move anything let alone his ass ever. I would sign up to be last before I would yell for him to move anything.

I just kept running it wasn't my life at stake for yelling at Hector after all it was every merry man for themselves and that especially included facing Hector's wrath for being yelled at.

I finally got to the fucking wall I wasn't the last one no one had past me because no one had past Hector. I just smiled. I knew he had done it for me. I knew he didn't want me to come in last so he had dared them to pass him and none of them had the balls to pass him.

So chivalry does exist and it exists in the form or a former gang member who was bad enough to kill someone just by looking at them. I know that sounds a little overstated but I would be almost certain that someone probably dropped dead from just being the subject of one of his deadly glares. Heart attack by fear it would still count.

When I got to the wall Lester was there, Bobby, Tank, and Ranger was right in there with them along with Slyder, Hal, Cal, Ram, and Woody all fucking traitors if you asked me. They left my ass behind. But I wasn't bitter; much.

"So who won?" I asked. Lester opened his arms showing his bare chest as he had lost his shirt at some point motioning to himself.

"Beautiful that would be me. I am unstoppable when it comes to this object course." He said smiling. I had to admit he was definitely man candy all of the men were and there they all stood in front of me shirtless muscle bulging with a slight sheen to their skin they were a woman's dream come true just one you add them all together and well it was Christmas come early.

They were the things legends were made from. Where stories were made told and definitely repeated. They were definitely gods walking among men when it came to their bodies and looks they were the whole package. It was one fine package.

Lester noticed me looking hell they probably all noticed the gazed look in my eyes I saw him smirk. He broke out singing and I couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah…When I walk on by, girls be looking like damn he fly. I pimp to the beat, walking down the street in my new lafreak, yeah" he started moving to the beat.

Continuing "This is how I roll, animal print, pants out control," he motioned to his pants moving to the beat I was still laughing. "It's RedFoo with the big afro. They like bruce lee rock at the club." He paused a moment and then went into the chorus

"Girl Look at that body. Girl Look at that Body" he motioned to his body "Girl look at that body I work out." He put his arms up and flexed his muscles, holy shit. He repeated that all the time motioning to his body flexing his muscles and I was laughing although he had one thing right everyone did look at him, he was every bit fly, and boy did he work out.

He continued singing and I briefly wondered if he was going to sing the whole song.

"When I walk in the spot, this is what I see. Everybody stops and they staring at me. I got passion in my pants" motioning to the front of his pants, need I say more, before continuing "and I ain't afraid to show it." He paused and then added "I am sexy and I know it. I am Sexy and…"

At this point Carlos stepped up and added "If you wiggle your dick for my woman you won't have to worry about wiggling anything else. Oh and Santos if your fucking smart you will be fucking afraid very afraid to show any passion in your pants if you fucking value it." Carlos had effectively not only stopped Lester from singing, Lester was definitely protecting the passion in his pants from Carlos.

But Lester couldn't just let it go so he had to inform Carlos half whining "Ranger man I wasn't even to that point of the song. Man you fucking messed it up." That earned him a sharp Santos of a warning from Carlos.

Me, well I was laughing. I was laughing to the point that I was a little concerned if I was going to keep from wetting my pants. I was holding my side, trying to gasp for air, one arm on my knee in a feeble attempt to keep me upright. I don't know what was funnier Lester singing the song and dancing or Lester trying to protect himself from Carlos or should I say Ranger.

Lester was right though he was definitely Sexy and he definitely knew it. Not to mention everyone would at least every woman stopped and stared when he walked in the room. Of course they did the same thing for Carlos, Bobby, Tank oh hell all the Rangeman. Women couldn't seem to function around the Rangeman.

**a/n if you want to see the video to lmfao's sexy and I know it check out my website, it is posted there.**

I finally stopped laughing some of my brothers had joined in others were just looking at me with smiles on their faces. Sucking in a big breath of air I let myself calm and caught my breath.

Once I had gotten myself under control I said "okay guys as fun as that was I need help with this fucking wall. I have yet to get my ass over the wall on my own so I need you to show me how to do it so I can pass that test tomorrow." I said while motioning to the vain of my existence standing tall in front of me.

"Babe" Carlos said which I thought meant that's what we are all here for but it could have meant what the fuck did you think we were here for. I am not sure which as both would apply after all.

Ranger climbed up the wall like it had built in fucking stairs forget the stairs like it had a damn escalator why was it so damn easy for them and so fucking hard for me? "Babe we all been there. We had to learn how to climb it too." He told me I rolled my eyes at that comment. Yeah right.

I was pretty sure he was wrong about that after all I was fairly certain Ranger was born knowing how to scale this fucking wall.

Lester spoke up grabbing the rope beside mine "Beautiful grab the rope and follow me. Do what I do and you will get over the wall." He told me. Somehow I think he had more faith in me than I did because I didn't think it was going to be that simple.

I grabbed the rope holding it the same way he was holding it we were standing about six feet away from the wall. "Beautiful when you get to the wall you grab the rope get a good grip. Back up from the wall holding on to the rope take two very determined steps don't stop just step on the wall with your third step sit back using your arms you pull your body up the rope just like in the gym only with the wall sit back push your legs against the wall. Don't let the pressure up on your legs. With the pressure on your legs, and using the strength in your arms and hand you have to pull yourself up the rope while walking your feet up the wall just as if you were walking on the ground. Don't let your feet lose traction and don't let the pressure up when your foot is against the wall."

He demonstrated very slowly for me how he took the steps to the wall while moving his hands up the rope his third step hit the wall his forth step hit the wall and looking at him it was sort of as if he was sitting the position he was in.

He stopped on the wall holding himself there like he could hang out all day long. Carlos was on top of the wall sitting there just waiting. I looked up at him and he smiled giving me the courage and the determination to tackle this wall. This wall was going to be my bitch.

I grabbed the rope took the two steps letting my hands walk up the rope just as Lester's had. My first step to the wall I pushed my foot against the wall while moving my hand up the rope. The next step was the hardest step. I took the step sitting back just like Lester had went to move my hand and found myself on my ass and back. Fuck I should have seen it coming but didn't. There was Lester hanging on sitting there looking down at me.

"Fuck Beautiful, are you okay?" I nodded my head. I was okay. Hector was there helping me up.

"Angelito" he said but whispered in my ear "you okay?" I barely nodded, he then whispered "you can do this" and I felt my heart swell. I could do this.

I got up brushed myself off grabbed the rope stepped back about six feet just as Lester had told me. I got a good grip on the rope as I took my two steps and walked my hands up the rope. I moved my hand first and then put my foot on the wall first step I pushed my leg hard into the wall. I decided to test myself with just one leg. Pushing my foot into the wall and making sure my hands had a secure grip I lifted my left leg off of the ground this time I was able to hold myself. So I placed my foot back on the ground and readied myself for the step to the wall.

Looking up at Ranger I raised my eyebrows and he smiled saying "Babe". I smiled back and gripped the rope tighter and put my foot up on the wall. I had done it without busting my ass. Now would come the hard part moving my foot again.

Lester spoke up "You got it Beautiful." I couldn't answer or say anything because I as too focused on what I had to do at the moment which was fall off the wall and bust my ass.

I felt hands on my back and I looked back to see Cal standing behind me. "I am just going to offer you some help so you can get the mechanics down and see how it feels. I won't hold you up there but I will offer you some support." He told me. I smiled…he was tall enough to really offer me some support at least most of the way up the wall.

I pushed my foot hard against the wall and then stepped my foot up higher pulling myself up the rope as I stepped. I did the same thing having Cal there giving me support helped because it took the fear of falling out of the window.

I did really well until I reached the point where he could no longer hold me. Then the fear set in because I was a good distance from the ground. "Angel you got it you are almost there just do the same thing you have been doing." Cal told me and I pushed my leg into the wall harder raising my hand up on the rope pulling my body up as I took my next step.

I prayed that Cal would stand there and at least catch me if I fell but I wasn't sure if that was possible or if I wouldn't just flatten him when I landed on him.

"Babe come on focus on me look at me and pull yourself up here." He said and I thought well shit. Digging in I continued to pull myself up until I was up with the wall.

"Okay Babe you are here…now hold on to the rope tight and take your foot and put it over the top of the wall. If you want you can grab the wall if you think that is better and you can reach it if not hook your foot over the wall and then reach for the wall. Work your leg over the wall so that you are straddling the wall just like I am sitting." He said.

I nodded my understanding still not able to talk because I was too focused on holding on and pushing myself into the wall to keep myself up on top of the wall last thing I wanted to do was fall now that I had made it to the top.

Lester had made each step with me and he was right beside me "Beautiful watch I will show you." I watched as he hooked his foot, and then used it to leverage himself closer to the wall he grabbed on and pulled himself up using his leg and arms. The last time I mimicked his motions I fell so I wasn't that hopeful this time.

I hooked my foot and using the rope and my foot moved my body closer to the wall now I had to make sure my leg was hooked well enough to let go with my hands, oh boy.

I tightened up every muscle in my leg making sure that it wouldn't for whatever the price let go until I was ready. Finally feeling pretty good I let go of one hand and grabbed the wall. Then I let go with the other hand and grabbed the wall. I was then able to pull myself up until I straddled the wall.

"Holy shit I did it!" I screamed from the top of the wall. I had climbed the fucking wall. I had made it.

"Babe" Carlos said and smiled at me his smile almost knocked me off the wall but I held on. I think I am going to sit up here all day I had climbed the fucking wall.

Lester spoke you "way to go beautiful" and the guys below were cheering for me giving me woohoos and I knew you could do it. I had made it I felt like there was nothing I couldn't do I was fucking wonder woman, I wasn't last to the wall, Binkie was the last along with his torn pants, and I had tackled the wall I had made it my bitch. It was turning out to be a great day Lester could continue to be my best friend and I didn't have to make Carlos suffer from leaving me behind. What came next I didn't expect.

"Okay Babe, do it again." I didn't know it at the time but before the day was over I was going hate those five fucking simple words.

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	52. Chapter 51: Rangeman Test Day Pt1

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

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Chapter 51: Rangeman Test Day Pt1

RPOV

I was so proud of my Babe. She had climbed the wall. She had done it. You could see the pride and self confidence in her eyes and in how she held her head up and her body. You could see she was proud of herself and her accomplishments. It is moments like this that reminds me of how much in love I am with my Babe.

It is amazing to think that I have the ability to fall in love with anyone let alone fall more in love with her, be more committed to her, and be willing to do and be whatever I could to make her happy.

I was quickly seeing how my life would be one spent trying to make her smile, trying to make her happy, trying to make her life easier in some way anyway to make mine more worthy of her. My life would have to become that in order for me to have any happiness, in order for me to smile, in order for me to be content with my life I had to be for her.

I wasn't willing to share my feelings with everyone but I wasn't going to pretend that I didn't have them, I wasn't going to pretend they didn't exist and hold her at arm's length ever again she was my woman, she was mine she wanted me and I wanted her and I would never again deny either of us of that.

I asked her to do it again knowing that her climbing it one time with Cal supporting her wasn't good enough for to be able t do it come tomorrow when she had to do it for the test. I knew she couldn't fail that piece of the test and still pass the overall test and I wanted her passing that test. I wanted her score to be better than some of the men I had hired in the past.

I know it was being smug, and being so proud of her but I knew in many ways she was better than some of the men on my payroll I knew she deserved to be Rangeman from practically the first day I met her. If I had my way I would have skipped the test but my Babe being her she wouldn't hear of it. She felt like that was giving her something she hadn't earned and far be it for me to try to give my Babe something she hadn't earned.

What she didn't know was that she had already earned it in my eyes. In my eyes this was just a formality that was going to be a waste of time because I knew she had the potential to pass the test a long time ago. She only needed to have wanted to do it.

I was going to let Matt from the Boston office do the test. He would give the test to both Stephanie and Slyder. That way there would never be anyone to say that I was bias in any way or adjusted the test scores not that I would do that to my Babe it would be an insult to her and I am quite certain she would want to kick my ass for doing it.

So she had climbed the wall for about the tenth time and she wanted to complain each time I told her to do it again but I wanted to make sure she was completely comfortable with the wall. I wanted her to know how to scale and be able to do it as though it was second nature.

So I kept telling her to do it again. The first few times Cal stood below her helping her and supporting her less each time until he finally was just standing there to help her confidence but not holding on to her at all. The last several attempts he had taken steps further back from her so that he wasn't under her at all.

You could see the desire to protest each time I told her to do it again but she would just sigh and then do it again. I could tell by the expression on her face each time I said do it again that she was cussing each word that came out of my mouth but I didn't care I had a larger agenda on my mind and that was her test come tomorrow.

I was going to make sure she got plenty of sleep and plenty to eat so she would have all the energy she would need to get her through tomorrow I know because I designed the test that it is a rigorous test. It is a test that is designed to weed out the best and it does in nothing but exhausting your body to the point that you want to give up. This test had broken many a good men but as good as those men where they weren't Rangeman good so they didn't get hired.

Her speed for the run, and the fitness part was demanding on the body. The Marksmanship was demanding on the mental and some physical, the driving was also demanding mentally and the fighting well that was as much mental as it was physical. It was all designed to be challenging and at the end I knew her body would be worn out.

What she didn't know is that I had her office ready for her on Monday. I also had a party planned on Sunday night we would celebrate her passing the test. I know this wasn't part of Rangeman protocol but hey this was my Babe we were talking about and I knew the guys would want to celebrate her victory along with her especially since they wouldn't be able to cheer her on during the test.

Lester was such a pain in the ass he would probably fucking cry if we didn't have something so I decided before I gave Lester the satisfaction of throwing something together half ass at the last moment to plan it right. Ella was going to be busy tomorrow sitting everything up at the compound pool building.

In a way I was glad Boston was down to monitor the control room so we could all be there to support her during the test. I am just sorry for the reason they had to come I would do anything to have changed that.

"Carlos?" My Babe brought me out of my inner thoughts. I looked at her and smiled. I hadn't heard what else she had said,so much for being aware of your surroundings huh? She smiled at me sitting on the wall facing me she had once again climbed it and was sitting on top of it like me.

"Babe" I said hoping she would repeat what she had said but she smiled instead.

"That was good one more time." I told her and I saw the bit of pout and maybe daggers being shot my way from those bright blue eyes of her. It made my lip twitch a little bit seeing her little display of anger and almost rebellion being directed at me.

But she resolved herself to doing it again and she scaled down and started climbing the wall again. I could tell with each pass she was getting the feel and the hang of it and I knew come tomorrow she would have no trouble climbing the wall. The guys watching were cheering her on and I notice that her speed for making it up the wall had increased as well. She was getting faster at scaling it.

Much more practice and she would be as good as some of the men standing here with her. She would have a ways to go to beat Lester or myself but it wasn't an impossible thing for her to do. She was definitely getting comfortable with the motions.

I watched her movements and decided she would be good for the test tomorrow. I didn't want her to get too sore or tire her body out too much today. I wanted her rested and I wanted her energized to take on the test tomorrow.

When she was once again sitting on the wall in front of me I smiled at her. She smiled back at me and I let her know how proud of her I was "Babe, I am proud of you. You never disappoint." I told her.

She beamed a smile at me and you could see the pride and confidence coming back with each successful climb to what it was before the attack. She was once again beginning to feel like Wonder Woman. My heart smiled at the acknowledgement of that. I know I am strong and I know I have faced more demons than I care to remember but my Babe she was what true strength and true courage was all about.

I know I wasn't the only one of my men to know it. As I looked around at my men gathered around the wall I couldn't help but feel good. They all loved her, they all supported her, they were all proud of her and they all believed there was nothing that she couldn't do. I didn't have to pay them to like her, spend time with her, or protect her. Okay so in the past I had given them hazardous pay when they had to go with her to her parent's house but that was only because of them having to deal with her family especially the groping hands of her grandmother.

In many ways they admittedly loved her longer than I had at least openly admitted and would say it. I loved her from the moment I saw her but I denied it for so many years, I hid my feelings. I hid behind my past I did everything to keep us apart some things I did I will never forgive myself for but my men, her brothers. Well they never let anything get between their love for her and her. In some ways they were smarter than me. I should have followed their lead years ago. Had I, we would be avoiding a lot of this shit now.

"Babe you think you got it? How do you feel about climbing the wall tomorrow with no one helping you?" I asked her. No one had helped her climb the last several times up the wall but I wanted to make sure she was comfortable on her own.

She nodded "I am good. I don't think I have it in me to climb this fucking wall again today." She said. I couldn't have stopped the lip twitch no more than I could have stopped what came out of my mouth.

"Babe"

She smiled and then called Cal "Cal, its piggy back time." She said he nodded and walked up the wall turning his back to her. She jumped down landing on his back. Grabbing on to his shoulders she laughed. We all shook our heads I think Cal has started something he may one day be sorry for. Lester and I scaled down off of the wall and we all made our way back to the buildings within the compound.

LPOV

Beautiful had climbed the wall all by herself multiple times. I was so proud of her. She had followed my directions perfectly and only one failed attempt she had made it all of the other times. She truly was an amazing woman.

My cousin was so fucking lucky to have her. So help me fuck if he fucks it up again I won't give him another fucking chance. Knowing my cousin he won't fuck it up again he is smart enough to now know what he has and he isn't letting go or going to fuck it up.

We made it back to the pool area and we changed. A bunch of us got in the hot tub some of the seals among us opted for the pool instead. Beautiful came out of the dressing room in one of her bikinis that Ella keeps stocked for her and I was pretty certain every man's dick went rock hard at the sight of her. It was a good thing we were all already in the water.

Water made everything look larger so we were good. We could blame it on the water if anyone said anything not that men usually called out other men's hard ons of course Ranger would have our fucking ass in a sling if he saw it.

She got in the hot tub and came over and sat down beside me. Of course she would sit close to me it wasn't like I wasn't having a difficult enough time controlling myself right now she would sit beside me. This woman was going to be the death of me and she wasn't even mine .

Ranger sat on her other side and put his arms around her. Lucky fucker didn't need to fucking brag or rub it in that she was his. We all fucking knew it he didn't need to further make the point, asshole.

She sighed and leaned back against the walls of the hot tub. Letting her head fall back she was relaxing at the warmth of the water swirling around her. "God I didn't realize how sore and tight my muscles were until I got in here." She said I wasn't sure who she was talking to or if she was just talking but it gave me an idea.

I smiled at my idea because not only would it make her feel great, it would piss Ranger off. What can I say part of me loved danger. I had always been drawn to danger like a moth to a flame. The other thing I loved was pissing my cousin off of course pissing Ranger was highly dangerous so they went hand in hand.

We had been in the tub about twenty minutes. Beautiful hadn't said another word since her comment about her muscles in fact looking at her made you wonder if she wasn't in fact asleep. Ranger's arms hadn't moved from around her. He was changing in front of our eyes and part of me was really happy for him and for her.

The other part of me was jealous that he had someone as wonderful as beautiful. That he had found his soul mate. It was funny there was a time when we would all have argued that Ranger didn't have a soul to have a soul mate for. Boy had he proven us wrong these last couple of weeks.

I just wish I had found her first. Then he could be watching us and wishing it was his woman instead of the other way around.

I got up and made my way out of the hot tub. I went over to one of the closets and pulled out the massage table. I placed the sheet over it and pulled out the massaging oils and lotions. I mixed some lavender for relaxation, with a tiny bit of mint for invigoration along with some arnica to help any sore muscles she may have. I also included some jasmine only for the scent it was one of my favorites.

I smelled the mixture and tested a little bit on my skin and it felt good. I had a feeling Beautiful would like it. She was about to experience something that most people never got the opportunity to experience. Only a few women in all the women I have had have ever been privileged enough for me to do this for them.

I walked back over to the hot tub. Leaning down close to Beautiful I said "Beautiful, wake up I have a surprise for you." I told her. Her eyes opened and focused on me kneeling down beside her. "Come on get out of the tub and come over here." I asked her offering her my hand.

She smiled turned and took my hand standing up and stepping out of the tub. Seeing her exit the hot tub I questioned the sanity of my plan but it was done now her eyes had locked on the table and the smile on her face said she was looking forward to my surprise or should I say her surprise.

Of course Ranger exited the tub with her, fuck this wasn't a bright idea, and came over to the table with her. "Lay down on your stomach beautiful." I told her. She smiled and laid down on the table on her stomach.

Ranger shot me a warning look. I knew the look it said touch anything inappropriately and you lose your fucking hand. I nodded back to him letting him know I got the message and I would be the perfect gentleman. I knew his eyes weren't going to leave my hands and I would never do anything to upset her so I was going to be the perfect masseuse.

I motioned for him to start on her feet and I began massaging her shoulders and arms with the lotion compound I had mixed up. What I wasn't prepared for was her vocal appreciation for what we were doing. It was worse than when she ate her favorite food. I found myself unable to finish what I had started and motioned for Ranger to take over. He nodded at my motion.

Fuck I had to walk away even though the last thing I wanted to do was walk away from her to remove my hands from her but I was going down a path that wasn't good and I was losing control so before I did something stupid like get my ass killed or piss Stephanie off I just walked away.

I walked over the pool and dove in I needed the cooler water to control my jets, I was running a little hot. It didn't take long before all of us were in the pool and I had a feeling it was all for the same reasons. Not that it was doing much good but the cooler water was helping at least a little. Of course hearing her moans echoing throughout the building wasn't helping any of us. Ranger is one lucky fucking bastard is all I am going to say.

Man I needed to get laid.

MattPOV

I had been hanging out in the control room with Acer watching the monitors. We were talking about the test tomorrow. I was to give Stephanie and Slyder their test. Part of me was worried I mean what if Stephanie didn't pass. It wasn't like I made up the test but I would be conducting it and the last thing I wanted was to face Ranger if Stephanie didn't pass for whatever reason.

Demon and Reggae had said she had it in the bag but I wasn't as convinced. Maybe it was because I knew it would be my ass on the line if she didn't that caused me to question things. It wasn't like I had much to do with it. Other than tell them the tasks they needed to perform and then it was either they performed the task or they didn't.

While performance was a bonus the test was based either you did it or you didn't. I mean there really isn't any way to fuck up on the test and succeed in passing the test. There was a little give you wouldn't be able to not complete one piece and still pass the test. The test was just as much to separate the good from the best as it was anything else.

I saw the SUVs pull into the garage. They had left several hours ago and went over to the training compound. I was certain they were giving a few last minute training tips for passing the test.

When Ranger exited the vehicle from the back seat warning bells started going off in my head when I saw him carrying Stephanie who appeared to only be wearing a shirt. She was laying limp in his arms part of me was ready to sound up the alarms but who was I alarming all of Trenton was with her. What the fuck did they let happen to her?

"Acer do we have anything on the feed from the compound as to there being a problem there with the security? Do we have anything on the feed that appears to have been a threat?" I asked him.

He immediately went to pulling up the feeds as I watched Ranger along with a few other men get in the elevator while the rest took the steps. I was hoping one of them would stop off here and let us know what the fuck had happened.

I continued to watch them on the elevator and I took in Ranger's appearance he was calm, he was controlled, he was relaxed. I looked at Santos, Slyder, Cal all standing comfortably relaxed. Bobby wasn't fretting over getting to her and Tank was in the stairwell climbing to what looked like the seventh floor as he passed the fourth floor where his apartment was.

I began to calm a little seeing that no one was alarmed. "Never mind Acer all appears to be well." I told him not wanting him to waste his time looking through the feed to find something that wasn't there and let him focus back on the properties that we are here to protect.

I went back thinking about the test and how I was going to line up the elements of the test. Part of me wanted to make it difficult for her not because I wanted her to fail. I wanted to make it challenging to prove to all of the Rangemen what she could really do. I just feared if I made it more challenging than what it was her brothers here would know and have my ass.

SPOV

My eyes popped open and I realized I was in our bed. The last thing I remembered was being at the compound on the massage table. Normally I would question how I got from there to here but I knew it was Carlos. I didn't even have to think about it.

I snuggled back into his body as his arms tightened around me. I heard myself moan at the feeling of him being wrapped around me. There was nothing better on this earth than having his arms wrapped around me. It calmed me, it excited me, and it made me feel like nothing could touch me. I never felt safer than when I was in his arms. I never felt more loved than when I was in his arms. I never felt more alive or more complete in my life than when I am in his arms and I never felt stronger.

I belonged here with him every fiber of my body told me so. Together we were at our best each of us I hope he feels that and knows that as much as I do. In his world I am strong, I am wanted, and it is where I have always belonged. The more I am here the more I feel it.

My bliss of lying there feeling him pressed against me was rudely interrupted by my stomach. You know it is bad when your own body betrays you and mutinies against what the rest of your body wants but a girl can't control her stomach. At least this girl can't.

I heard him half chuckle, now that was a word you didn't use in the same sentence with Ranger or even Carlos very often, behind me and I wondered if I had just spoken my thoughts out loud. I was fairly certain my lips didn't move but I wasn't a hundred percent sure that was another part of my body that often rebelled and mutinied against me.

"Babe, lets feed the beast besides I am sure the guys are hungry and are probably fighting each other over the food Ella brought up about an hour ago." Of course he would know this because even though he is Carlos to me he is Ranger to everyone else and only Ranger could be aware of his surroundings in his sleep.

I nodded and proceeded to pull myself away from what I loved most in the world. My body wanted to protest and I think somewhere along the way my heart, body, and mind decided to pay my stomach back some day. In all of the threats I think my stomach just laughed and gave another growl for good measure.

I made my way into the bathroom and took a quick shower. I hadn't washed off the day of climbing the wall. I smiled at my thoughts I had climbed that fucking wall. I truly was wonder woman, there was no stopping me now tomorrow I would be a full time Rangeman my brothers and soon to be husband will be proud of me. I knew I could do it because I had climbed that wall. I had done it. I wasn't last to the wall so I didn't have to pull monitor duty for everyone instead Binkie was last and would have to pull a duty for everyone one that I would be sure to cash in on.

I dried myself off stepping out I couldn't help the smile that crossed my entire face. Carlos had placed clean clothing for me on the counter nicely folded. He always thought of the smallest ways to take care of me. How did this man get so caring, so loving, and so wonderful and yet be such a total badass.

I quickly dried off, brushed my teeth, tamed my wet tangles and made my way out to the living room. I was surprised my brothers were still up here and hadn't retired to their apartments. I found myself scanning the room looking for strangers but it was just my brothers. I knew that was a carryover from what Doug had done and I found myself hoping that it would soon go away. I was worried my brothers would pick up on what I was doing and know why and things would get weird again so I tried to squash those feelings down and act normal.

"Hey guys whatcha doing?" I asked seeing them all sitting around the living room. The TV was on some basketball game playing. I have no idea who as I follow Hockey and not Basketball but whatever. I wasn't going to say anything.

Slyder spoke up "Incendia we were just waiting on you to wake up." He said as he made his way over to me wrapping an arm around my shoulder. He continued "dinner is ready. You hungry?" my stomach answered for me I didn't need words with the roar that came from my stomach. Slyder didn't step back like some of my brothers instead he stood his ground, brave man.

Slyder placed a kiss on the side of my forehead and we made our way into the dining room. Cal was standing beside the table. I knew that look on his face. He was guarding the food. What wonderful brothers I have. They spoil me. It is true that there is nothing I wouldn't do for them including giving my life but I know that there isn't anything they wouldn't do for me including guarding my food from my other brothers.

I sat down and Carlos came and sat down beside me. My brothers joined me and we started digging into yet again another wonderful Ella meal. I knew it was a healthy meal but I didn't care because it tasted delicious. I could close my eyes let the flavors of food burst forward on my tongue soothing the soul relishing in the moment of the taste the textures and forget all about it being healthy or good for me and just enjoy the moment of the tastes. Moaning at the sheer utter blissful moment I was having.

No one said a word, I enjoyed every mouth full. I hadn't realized how hungry I actually was until the food hit my stomach. It had been a while since we had eaten and I was definitely depleted after all my hard work climbing up the wall. I think maybe that made the food even more pleasing to my palate.

Once we had finished eating I suggested we watch a movie. It was still too early to retire to bed for the night but late enough there wasn't really anything else to do. So a movie sounded like a good idea.

"Hey guys want to watch a movie with me?" I asked and got back a bunch of nods and smiles. Did I mention they are such a talkative group? We cleaned up our plates put away the leftovers I was amazed there were leftovers but these guys weren't pigs. I mean they ate what seemed like a lot but for their bodies they could hold a lot of food. They would never over eat or indulge themselves in Carlos' presence even with me there trying to influence them.

On occasion they broke the rules with me but it was when no one else was around and since my rant and me telling on them who knew if they would be willing to do it anymore. I could only hope so I could only take so much of healthy before I just needed some junk food.

We made our way to the living room. Carlos, Lester, and I commandeering the couch everyone else grabbing spots where they wanted. "Okay so what do we want to watch?" I asked the group. I didn't want to pick the movie I mean these were bad asses they needed a bad ass movie not a sappy movie that I would pick.

I mean Ghostbusters isn't sappy but it wasn't a Ghostbuster night I needed that movie when I needed courage, when I needed to feel brave, when I wanted to feel like a badass myself I watched Ghostbusters. So short or that movie I would pick something like 27 dresses, Killers, one of the twilight movies, Hes's just not that into you, possibly a western such as Pale Rider, or Outlaw Josey Wales, and if I was feeling especially nostalgic I would pick something like Fried Green Tomatoes, Steel Magnolias. I also watch action movies but somehow they had sort of lost some of their excitement after being around my brothers and seeing the true heroes of this country, hell the world.

I mean I could always watch one of the Jason Bourne Movies, or a Jason Statham movie like The Expendables, or Transporter 3. In the end we all settled on watching The Mechanic a new Jason Statham movie.

It wasn't enough my brother's lived lives of action, lives of kicking ass and being bad asses but they had to watch it on the big screen as well but I was cool with that I got to watch Jason.

Before the movie started I laid down my head in Carlos' lap and feet on Lester. I silently wished their bodies weren't as hard as it would have been a little more comfortable. "Babe" I heard Ranger said and figured my silent wish wasn't so silent. I just shrugged looking up at him smiling.

I had sort of thought I would end up falling asleep that is usually what happened when I watched a movie but this movie had Jason Statham in it and it kept my attention right up to the explosive ending so when it ended I wasn't surprised that I hadn't gone to sleep not for a second.

When the movie was finally over I stood up and stretched it was definitely time to hit the bed especially knowing what tomorrow held for me. I knew I had to bring it and be the top of my game. I had to pass the test I had to make my brother's proud of me. I had to make myself proud of me. Show myself that I was worthy of being a Rangeman. That I could pass the test just like every one of my brothers had.

So I said night to my brothers. I gave Cal a hug and kissed his tattoo I thanked him for supporting me up the wall holding me to keep me from falling and for the much needed piggy back ride. I think he was figuring out that I loved piggy back rides. I gave Tank a kiss on his bald head. I rubbed Hector's tears away again and gave him a kiss on his cheek. I pulled on Bobby's braids and gave him a kiss on the cheek. I ran my fingers through Ram's spiky hair and I swear he closed his eyes but it happened so fast before he wrapped his arms around me hugging me to him that I may have made that part up. I locked pinkies with Lester and pulled back before hugging him and thanking him for all the help with the wall.

I said bye to all my other brothers hugging them giving them a kiss good night wishing them all sweet dreams. It seemed a little odd telling a complete and total badass to have a sweet dream. I mean I bet even in their sleep they are kicking asses and taking names. I mean would they even know how to have a sweet dream?

I mean I am probably the only one who really knows how to have a sweet dream. I mean after all I don't know many people that have dreamed of waking up in a land covered in candy, chocolate trees where boston creme donuts lined the streets with tastykake buildings and Lindt truffle street lights. Now that was a sweet dream. I am sure to my brothers and Carlos would feel like they had awoken in pure hell but for me it was a dream that was pure heavenly sweet.

That was a dream I had held back in telling Carlos I figured he might worry about me not being totally sane had I told him. I had no idea what that dream meant and I was happy just remembering the dream as it was and not thinking about what it could have possibly meant. Blissful denial land kept my sweet dream sweet.

Thinking more about the meaning and ruining the dream is like your best friend telling you that your favorite burger with onion straws, blue cheese, and swiss cheese has eleven hundred calories and seven hundred of those calories is from fat. I mean who does that to their best friend? I made the mistake of telling Lester one day about this burger and I think he thought he was being helpful but when he told me the values it just made me cringe. I know, me cringing at food it was an involuntary cringe but a cringe none the less I was ready to call Bobby to have him check me to see if I had the flu. Needless to say I haven't wanted that burger from that day to this.

Sometimes 'helpful' best friends could be pain in the ass. I held a grudge for a few days but finally let go well maybe not totally let go as thinking about it now certainly has me heating up but not quite as hot as I had been. It was like a week after that every time I drove by the fast food restaurant I would cuss Lester out but I kept on motoring by until I found a different fast food place where I could blissfully deny that what I was eating was completely bad for me and enjoy every bite without any thoughts of guilt or thoughts about having to work out extra hard to offset what I had just ate. After all I was practically eating a salad anyway I mean it had lettuce, tomato, onion and pickles and everyone knows pickles are nothing but cucumbers so all the fixings for a salad.

I also learned you just don't tell Lester anything about foods you like while he is sitting in front of his computer with nothing better to do than look up the nutritional values online. That was one mistake I had learned the hard way it had cost me my favorite burger at least it wasn't Boston Crème donuts I think that would have warranted murder in the form of me killing my best friend.

"Babe?" I heard Carlos say bringing me back to the here and now. I looked up at him and smiled I waited him out and it didn't take long "where were you? What were you thinking about?" He asked me. I smiled at him.

"Babe, your eyes went from dreamy like you were thinking about something that made you extremely happy to stormy like you were ready to kick someone's ass." He said and I couldn't help but laugh at his comment.

"Carlos it's nothing really I was just remembering a dream and then I thought about something Lester ruined for me." He looked at me waiting for me to elaborate but I just smiled and walked into the bedroom. Maybe he would try to convince me to talk torture me until I told him everything.

"Babe" he said and I couldn't help but laugh more at the thought that maybe all of my thoughts weren't as silent as I was thinking they were.

JPOV

I have been trying to figure out a way to get to Stephanie. Not just to her I want her life ended. She had effectively ended mine when she walked out for him. I wouldn't stop until I had ended both of them. I would make her suffer the question was what would make her suffer more. I could take Ranger out that would hurt her or I could hurt her and that would break him I wasn't sure which would be more fulfilling and satisfying.

I wasn't stupid I knew what he meant to her why did you think I didn't want them together. I didn't want her working for him, I didn't want him encouraging her or helping her because I knew how he felt and I was certain she felt the same way especially after he walked into her apartment when that psycho was trying to take Ranger's identity.

I always wondered why the fuck someone would want to be him but I have to say I was disappointed when he survived. Stephanie would have been upset but I could have made her forget about him but no he has to get shot saving her and she has to sit beside his bedside until he woke up.

No matter what I did no matter what I said she sat there. You could see her growing thinner by the day refusing food, refusing liquids, refusing to move. I even brought her mother to the hospital to try to talk some sense into her after all she was making a fool of herself. I was her boyfriend she was to marry me and she was sitting vigil at another man's bedside so upset she couldn't eat or drink.

I figured she would eventually break and leave but she didn't. She didn't know I saw it but I even caught a bit of the fight she had with Lester because he was begging her to eat, to go rest and she wouldn't do it. I didn't hear the ending of the argument because of his other thugs, who knows their fucking names, turned me around and made me leave. Apparently she had given them orders and they were following them. Who the fuck was she to give his men orders?

I should have known then and taken the opportunity I had to take her life then. But she came back to me and I was stupid enough to think that it was me she wanted and that we would have my dream. Now I know it was just bullshit. The longer I am without her I can see things for as they are and truth be told she had loved him long before then.

I should have fucking killed her when I had the chance. It isn't that I didn't have the chance now. Only now I would have to figure out how to get to her through all of those fucking thugs. If only I could find some of Ranger's enemies I would have help and maybe rid myself of both the bitch and the thug at the same time. Maybe not even by my hands I could play the mister nice guy the guy who has decided to be her friend all the while his enemies do my dirty work and take the fall. This plan was looking better every moment.

Stephanie had been closed lipped about Ranger but I had at least learned his full name, as well as the knowledge that he would go in the wind which I took to mean that he did jobs for our government. Jobs that our government would hire him to do well let's say I know it isn't delivering welcome baskets after all I was in the Navy. I know what our government and our military is capable of.

He has to have enemies I just needed to find out how to find them. I fired up my laptop and started searching for news reports from South America. I was looking for government coups and drug dealers that had been put out of business. I would have no way of knowing if the fucking thug was involved but hey if I could find a connection I could find an enemy. I knew they were out there and I wasn't going to give up until I found them at least one of them.

Once I found one the others would be easy. Now I just needed to find a way to get Stephanie to talk to me so I could ask her to forgive me and be my friend again. She would because she always thought the best of people including me. It was her weakness that I fully intended to exploit until I had what I wanted both of them broken, dead and buried.

I picked up the phone I was going to plan a meeting with Momma the boys were in need of some relief only she could provide besides our planned meetings would have to stop for a little while to gain Stephanie's trust again.

DemonPOV

I had just gotten up and was getting dressed getting ready for my shift on the monitors. I knew today was going to be busy day because today was Stephanie's test day. Matt had told me that Ranger had asked him to do the testing for Stephanie and Slyder.

I stepped out of the apartment we had been staying in and Matt was in the hallway. "Hey Demon I am going to need your help today for the test." He said to me. The first thing I thought was hell yeah. I would love to see her testing.

But it was his next sentence that took away all the fun and made me wish my fucking ass was back in Boston thousands of miles away from here. "Demon I need you to be the person who fights Stephanie, and be the partner for the self defense tests." He said and my first reaction was fuck.

I kept my mouth shut even though my mind was screaming obscenities that would probably make a sailor want to take notes. Finally I had to speak up. "Man are you sure? I am more than double her size I could hurt her without meaning to." It was well known that I didn't always have the best of control. I mean my name is fucking Demon because it was well known that there were times I lost control and bad fucking shit happened when I did. It was said the demon within me came out that is how everyone started calling me demon to begin with.

It wasn't really something I could control and here he wanted me to fucking fight and do the self defense stuff with Stephanie. If we fucking lived past today I would find a way to pay him back for this fucking shit. Even if he is my commanding officer I would find a fucking way to make that mother fucker pay for this shit.

I then had other thoughts that flooded my brain that had sweat beading on my forehead and my knees shaking. The only thought that was left was what if I hurt her, what the fuck would I do then? Would I ever forgive myself and if I did would Ranger, would the guys? I wouldn't be able to ask for forgiveness the only thing I could actually hope for was that they would kill me quickly and not torture me for days before ending my worthless pitiful excuse of a fucked up life.

I started to ask myself if today could get anymore fucked up and then decided to not ask that question because in my experience soon as that question leaves your fucking lips it somehow does manage to get fucking worse. I didn't need karma or whatever it was biting me ass even more than it already had.

If I knew how to fucking pray I would be doing it now I wore a cross but it was only because I had been given it by someone special in my life and it reminded me of her. She said it would keep me safe and save me when I needed it. Part of me believed it had done just that since I made it out of the military out of the hell holes of the world, places that the shit of the world called home I had walked through it and I had cleaned up what I was tasked to clean up and I had returned. Now I wasn't so sure this cross was going to save me or keep me safe if something happened to her.

"What time does her testing begin?" I asked Matt.

Looking at his watch he said zero nine hundred about two hours from now. Great I had two hours to figure out how I was going to fucking do this.

We made it up to the fifth floor. Reggae was sitting at the monitors lucky fucker would get a fucking break why couldn't he have asked Reggae he was always more laid back than me he could control himself without fearing he would hurt her. Why the fuck would Matt choose me over Reggae for that matter fucking ask Acer, Chase or Wire all of them were better at control than I was.

I finally decided my going on and on was making me feel like a school girl whining so I sucked it up. Turning to Matt I asked him "Do you have a schedule for their testing?" I asked him and he nodded handing me a piece of paper he had grabbed from the printer.

Training started at zero nine hundred with the physical fitness part of the test. That sort of made sense get the running out of the way while she is fresh of course that may leave her a little weak for the rest but if the other components pushed her too hard she wouldn't have the energy or the reserves to complete the physical fitness part.

The second part was defensive driving so she would get a rest and have time to recoup a little bit before she had to do anything physical with her body. I felt like that was good.

If she came top of her game when it came time for the self defense and fighting then maybe I wouldn't hurt her. At least I hoped like hell I wouldn't hurt her.

After the defensive driving came shooting and then finally the self defense and fighting the last part of the test was at the end of the day, great.

SPOV

Well today is the day I prove myself worthy or not. I need to pass this test. I don't want to just pass the test I want to fucking blow it out of the water. I am the very first woman to take the Rangeman test and I want to be the very first woman to pass the test. I want to excel and set the bar high proving that woman can be better than men.

Of course I truly believed women were better than men in a lot of things but I wasn't so sure that included passing badass tests put together by some crazy adrenaline junkies.

"Babe" I heard Carlos say.

I turned over in his arms "today is the day." I told him and he smiled and nodded.

"Babe you will do wonderful. Now let's get up and get some breakfast and you can get ready testing starts at zero nine hundred. I was proud of myself for knowing that was nine in the morning of course the morning hours were the easiest to know it was the afternoon and evening hours that things started to get complicated.

I dressed in my black yoga pants, my Rangeman t-shirt and briefly wondered if Lester would have a new t-shirt for me today, my bra and a pair of my wonder woman underwear if there was ever a day when you needed to feel like wonder woman today was the day.

I pulled my hair back in a pony tail I forwent the makeup I didn't need my face being a mess because of the sweating I was sure to do along with crying. I wasn't really going to plan on crying after all this was Rangeman and there was no crying in Rangeman testing but I knew this test was going to push me and I knew not to assume anything.

So with the whole crying thing I was going to hope I didn't, and try not to, but be prepared just in case I did. Isn't that like the mantra of the boy scouts or something? Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst? So I would be prepared. See I already started out test day making myself proud of my preparedness.

We ate and then made our way down to the fifth floor. When the doors opened I think everyone was there.

Matt was standing with the paper in his hand and he said "Slyder and Stephanie please step forward we need to go over the test before I give you your schedule and the testing begins." Great this appears to be a formal thing.

He continued "no one will know how you are doing except for me and I will tell no one. I hold all scoring for all the test categories. It is me and me alone that determines if you pass or not." I thought it was me that would determine that by how I did but whatever I wasn't going to split hairs with him.

"The test categories are going to be in the following order Physical Fitness, Defensive Driving, Marksmanship, and finally Self Defense and Fighting." Matt said. I felt like that was a good split between action and rest even though the test wasn't breaking. My body would get a break.

He went on "Slyder for your Self Defense and Fighting tests you will be partnered with Acer. Stephanie for your Self Defense and Fighting tests you will be partnered with Demon." I looked over at Demon taking in his size I think I slightly paled at least I didn't pee myself so I was taking that as victory.

Part of me wanted to raise the white flag and scream uncle and we weren't even to that part of the test yet. Fuck Demon was one big dude. He might as well said Tank I mean fuck I am screwed. I finally calmed myself down a little and decided I could do this.

I mean it was sort of like David taking on Goliath and David won right? At least if memory serves me correctly he won I mean Goliath went down and he went down hard and if I had my way Demon would be going down my only concern is would he just stay down when he went down.

Matt continued "We are going to start here the running will be the first piece and then we will go to the compound and complete the testing. The defensive driving part of it will be driving through the streets of Trenton as well as in the compound.

"I expect you to do your best at all times. It is okay to not know something but what it is not okay is to not know it and try to cover it up with some bull shit moves, or bull shit talking. I don't like bull shit do I make myself clear? Rangeman only hire the best of the best bullshitting your way through isn't the best of the best it is exactly what it says bullshit and Rangeman doesn't tolerate bullshit."

I thought that was a weird comment to be making and I briefly wondered if that was a statement that he made every time he gave this test or if he thought my being here somehow made the bullshit statement necessary. I didn't know Matt very well and I wasn't sure which was true.

I still wasn't back to my normal trusting self and I wasn't sure I ever would be but right now this wasn't helping. It wasn't helping me, it wasn't helping me focus on the test, and it wasn't helping my impression of Matt either so I decided to just forget about what he had said or why he had said it and focus on the task at hand passing this fucking test so life can go back to normal and Matt can go back to Boston where he fucking belongs.

We made our way to the gym walking in the door I said a little prayer I didn't know if God was listening or not or that he would even respond to my prayer I mean in the grand scheme of things my testing for Rangeman isn't as important as what some people are facing and I am sure praying to God for him to make it better, but none the less I sent a prayer up just on the off chance that it would catch him at a not too busy moment to listen and if nothing more it at least made me feel better.

Matt spoke up again "We will start the test with the physical fitness part of the test. I am going to go over the requirements of each element then we will get started. Run five miles in fifteen minutes because Rangeman has a woman testing for the first time this has been slightly adjusted just as the military does and for a woman testing they need to run the five miles in eighteen minutes an extra three minutes has been added. Rangeman will follow this protocol as the military."

Fuck that I originally thought Rangeman can change what the fuck they want to change but I wasn't going to change I had trained to pass the test the same as my brothers I was passing this test the same as my brothers or I wasn't passing.

Matt continued "this run will be outdoors once it is complete we will head to the compound and complete the rest of the test requirements which are fifty situps in two minutes, fifty pushups in two minutes, twenty-five pull ups in two minutes, and finally completion of the obstacle course in less than thirty minutes. Lester holds the title as the fastest on the obstacle course in having run the course in less than fifteen minutes successfully negotiating all of the obstacles." He told us. I realized then that he was going strictly by the book so my inner feelings calmed towards him regarding his bull shit speech.

"Okay men and woman" I could tell he added the woman on at the last minute and almost giggled but managed to refrain myself "get ready, get set, proceed." I guess that was queue for go. Why did men have to be so damn formal I mean really why couldn't he just have said fucking go? We made our way outside and both Slyder and I took off. It was my goal to keep up with him he had to finish in under fifteen minutes if I could keep up with him that would mean that I would have the same time. We had Acer running in front of and Demon behind us I guess if one of us or me fell behind they would split to be with each of us to determine that we didn't cheat or something.

Fifteen minutes doesn't seem like a long time I mean you can waste fifteen minutes doing nothing it just flies by but when you are running your hardest trying to keep up with men that you know you can't keep up and your lungs are burning so fucking bad you feel like they have bored their way out of your body, you are breathing like a fucking raging bull because you can't get enough oxygen. Your legs feel like any minute they are going to cave in on you and your hips and thighs are protesting every movement with feeling like they are fire from all the burning fifteen minutes is a long fucking time.

I wasn't even going to look at my watch I was afraid it was going to tell me what I already knew and that was I had only been running for two minutes not fifteen. I had no idea if we had done a mile yet I was hoping we at least had I could knock down the miles as it seemed closer to zero than fifteen. I then decided to do what I did when I ran with the guys and I focused on Matt's and Slyder's asses they did have fine asses and fine bodies.

They had stripped their shirts so it was all on display their muscle rippled with each forward motion sweat forming a gleam on their skin that made the ridges in their bodies stand out even more. Their asses were so hard I briefly wondered if I could bounce a quarter off of them.

I wondered if their bodies were as hard as Carlos' and I decided it wasn't possible that even though they had exquisite bodies of their own right Carlos' body now that was pure fucking God perfection. It wasn't that a woman couldn't appreciate the bodies of Matt and Slyder but when you had a God to touch, feel, look at, and kiss others just didn't measure up.

Thinking about Carlos' body had other things in my body raging which hopefully would help fuel my will to keep up with them. So far I had managed to keep up only a few steps behind Slyder that is exactly where I wanted to be. I wasn't trying to pass him at the last moment I just wanted the same time as the men and let's face it even though his body wasn't as good as Carlos' it still gave me something good to look at and encouraged me to keep putting one foot in front of the other. So it was all good.

By the time Rangeman came back into our view I had fallen a little further behind Slyder not three minute as I could still see him but further than I would have liked but at the moment I figured myself lucky to be still standing upright let alone moving and running the way I was. I was full out running there was nothing left to excel to.

I mean if someone was after me to kill me I couldn't have run any faster than I was running right now. My breath was extremely labored and everything hurt burned and stung on me. I saw Slyder cross the finish line and slightly less than a minute or I was hoping it was less than a minute I crossed the finish line. Soon as I did I collapsed on my back.

Slyder was standing up right his hands on his knees but when I went down he went down beside me. Grabbing my hand and holding it. I wrapped my hand around his "Good job soldier" I told him.

He smiled at me and nodded saying "good job soldier" to me. I know my smile beamed. I figured Matt would announce our times but the fucker didn't. After our breathing had returned to normal we stood up. I was hoping my brothers would be cheering for us but they were just standing around I saw a few smiles on their faces but no cheering. I guess they were going to be professional about this as well.

It would have been nice had someone at least told us if we passed as I had no idea other than I wasn't too far behind Slyder but had Slyder done it. I felt like slapping myself for not looking at the time.

Cal walked over to me and turned around offering his back and I took him up on it as my legs felt like they weren't strong enough to hold me up let alone move at the moment.

We made our way to the compound and went into the gym where we did our sit-ups, push-ups, and then pull-ups. I did the number I was supposed to do to pass but I had no idea if I did it within the timeframe. Slyder finished before me so I had no idea if I passed them or failed them.

The guys were quiet I was hoping for some hell yeas or cheering from them but they were quiet giving me nothing as to whether I passed or failed. I was a little confused but I kept going from task to task. It was time to go to the obstacle course and Cal once again offered me a piggy back ride. When I crawled up on his back he whispered in my ear "good job Angel". I couldn't help the smile at least there was a little feedback he felt like I was doing a good job.

"Thanks Cal, why is everyone so quiet?" I asked whispering in his ear thinking that he had a reason to whisper to me so I would whisper back to him. He once again whispered back.

"Angel we can't cheer you on during the test its part of the rules. No one gets to know if they passed until the very end." Now it made more sense but I can't say I really liked it. If they weren't able to cheer me on or give me any sense as to how I was doing part of me didn't want them being here just watching me.

Once we reached the obstacle course Slyder and I stood at the starting line. I decided that I wasn't going to race him I was going to race me. I knew Slyder would kill me on the obstacle course but I knew I could do it in the allotted time provided I didn't push myself so hard trying to keep up with Slyder that I messed up on the obstacles. I needed to focus on the obstacles at hand and make sure I cleared them one by one and keep moving as fast as I can from obstacle to obstacle.

I was happy with my game plan and when Matt said proceed, I will never fucking understanding him not using go but whatever, I took off focused on the goal of completing each obstacle within the course.

I made it through the maze and did fairly well with crossing the high wire that I knew was one of my slower obstacles including the wall but the work I had done yesterday I was hoping it would make me faster.

I made it to the wall and I kept repeating over and over the stepping up the wall. Step Step on the wall step push hard and step push hard and step pulling my hands up the rope raising my body up. I kept replaying in my mind as I was making my way to the wall. To my surprise and I am sure my brother's surprise as well although they didn't show it I made it up and over the wall the first try and my time was excellent I never paused for a moment I just scaled it. I sort of felt like I was Rocky when I hit that top of the wall you know how he danced when he climbed all those stairs I felt like doing that but I refrained and reined myself back in to finish the course.

Once this was done the physical fitness part of the test would be complete I could only hope at this point I had least passed thus far. I crossed the finish line Slyder was there waiting for me. I grabbed him and then let my legs fallout from under me taking us both down to the grown where I solemnly wished they would just leave me and let me die at this point.

My body ached and I briefly wondered why the whole test had to happen on the same day I mean I was this exhausted and I was only one fourth of the way through the testing how in the fuck was I going to be fit to fight anyone at the end of today let alone face Demon in the rings that alone was enough to frighten the shit out of me.

I mean the devil, demons, ghosts, vampires, werewolves or whatever else there is that walks the face of the earth may not scare my brothers but me hell yeah they scared the shit out of me. I didn't necessarily ever want to fight any of them. I will stick to the low life scum of the world but leave the super natural freaks to my brothers. I would have been happy with that arrangement but no instead they are going to put me in a ring with someone who prefers to be called Demon.

I felt shadows fall on me and looked up to see my brother's surrounding me. It was time to move on to the second part of the test, defensive driving. Great, just great I had to somehow manage to get this sore tired ass up off of the ground without alerting Carlos and my brothers just how sore and worn out I was.

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	53. Chapter 52: Rangeman Test Day Pt2

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

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Chapter 52: Rangeman Test Day Pt2

SlyderPOV

Fuck, I wasn't sure how Stephanie was holding up but personally I was only not collapsing because she was still going. When I was running I could hear her running behind me. I wasn't sure exactly how I could hear her but I could. I would have said it was because of the way she was breathing but I can't say I wasn't breathing any less.

I felt like a locomotive going down the track the way I was huffing and puffing I sort of doubted that steam engines huffed and puffed less than I was at the moment.

I could still hear her and I knew she was sticking close to me. She wasn't passing me not because I wouldn't let her at this point I would have no control not to let her as I couldn't have picked up the speed if I had wanted to because I was already running at full speed.

By the time I had Rangeman in my sites I couldn't hear her as easily but I knew she wasn't very far behind me. When I crossed the finished line it didn't come soon enough and I barely felt like I could keep myself up right trying to catch my breath.

I bent at the waist and put my hands on my knees to keep myself upright after all I wasn't going to collapse in front of these fuckers to tease me. However when my incendia crossed the finish line only matter of seconds after me she collapsed on the ground on her back and not wanting her to be the only one I quickly joined her grabbing her hand.

Truth be told I couldn't wait to collapse and her collapsing gave me the perfect excuse to collapse without being teased. They would never tease her and they couldn't tease me without teasing her.

We managed to get up and make our way to the compound where we did our sit-ups, our pull-ups and our push-ups and then we went to the obstacle course. We made our way up to it and Matt gave us the go ahead.

I took off running part of me wanted to hang out and wait for Stephanie but the more I thought about it the more I knew Stephanie wouldn't want me to show her any special treatment that I wouldn't show another man testing so I went ahead and just ran the course.

I would meet her again on the finish line. Because I knew regardless of which one of us finished this course first we would be waiting for the other one.

I hadn't been long crossing the line when my Incendia crossed it she immediately ran into my arms I could see the excitement in her eyes when she grabbed me her legs gave out from under her and I wasn't really ready for her weight not to mention I was barely holding myself up so we both went down. I somehow managed to not land on her when we went down.

They gave us a few minutes to catch our breath before getting our attention to move on to the next part of the test. I got up on my feet and reached down to help Stephanie up I knew she hadn't had the years of training I had I knew she would tire out before I did so I was determined to help her every chance I got if pulling her to feet was one way then it was one way I was willing to help her.

MattPOV

"The next phase of the test is the defensive driving. I will be riding with Stephanie Acer will be riding with Slyder. This part of the test you must complete the following passing each section in order to pass the Defensive Driving portion of the test. Driving defensively, detecting a tail, losing a tail, tailing another vehicle, and finally driving in excessive speed with obstacles." I told them. I wanted to tell them that rental vehicles will be used for portions of the test but this was something that wasn't permitted because that would be considering helping those that are testing. They should be good enough to pick up a tail or tail a vehicle regardless of the vehicle they were using.

It was all part of being aware of your surroundings and if you learned anything being at Rangeman was that you were to always be aware of your surroundings.

We made our way over the vehicles that Slyder and Stephanie would be using. This was the only portion of the test that I would need to trust Acer with how Slyder did. I knew I could trust him and I knew he would record only the facts not to mention we would have the video and audio going in the car to ensure no information was passed to those testing.

I handed Acer a tracking device that will tell him where the cars are that are trailing him. I have one as well. There were two cars that would be trailing them both were rental. Wire and Chase would each be in the cars tailing Stephanie and Demon and Woody would both be in cars tailing Slyder.

On my device I could see the blips and they were color coded Stephanie was red and Slyder was blue and the vehicles they were being tailed by was same color only darker. Hector had fixed me up with the devices I was certain he had a device that he would use to gage how they were doing. I knew he probably could care less about Slyder but who he wanted to know was Stephanie.

He had taken a phone call earlier that had him acting a little weird. Not that he didn't normally act a little weird, not that you heard me say that, so I didn't pay a whole lot of attention but you could see something had upset him and I briefly wondered how long the person who upset Hector would be breathing.

I climbed into the passenger seat as Stephanie got in the driver's seat. The Defensive driving isn't something that will be tested outside of the other test requirements. Driving defensively is just something you do while you are driving and that is how it will be scored of course I didn't tell them that as it isn't protocol to tell those that are taking the test. It is something that they should figure out on their own.

SPOV  
I got in the SUV Matt was in the passenger side and I briefly wondered if one of my other brothers or Carlos would join us but when I looked out the window at them standing around I had my answer. I guess it wasn't allowed for them to come with me.

Part of me felt the panic attack coming but I swallowed hard and tried my best to swallow the fear that was welling up inside of me. I saw Carlos and Lester take a step closer to the vehicle along with Hector and Cal so they must have seen the panic flood my face.

I quickly shook my head letting them know to not come closer I knew I could do this. I knew Matt wasn't going to harm me. My brothers trusted him. Carlos trusted him to run his company in Boston. So I knew I could trust him it was just my fears what Doug had done to me that was causing this and I would be damn if I was going to let him become between me and passing this test.

I took a couple of calming breaths deep in from my nose and release through my mouth and I felt better. I gave Carlos and my brothers a nod that I was okay and reached to start the vehicle. Slyder started his vehicle when I did he smiled and tipped his head to me.

I did the same to him and then backed out of the parking spot heading to the gates of the compound this part of the test was going to be on the streets of Trenton.

JPOV

Momma had been just what the boys needed. I called her and she had come just as always. We made it into the room it was a little earlier than normal but I knew she would come. What can I say? My boys woke up this morning needing a little attention. See if Stephanie had fulfilled her destiny it would have been her job to take care of them but since she decided to go and fucking get involved with thugs and killers and ruin her name, reputation along with our future well in some way it is only fitting that the woman that promised me that life pay up.

So we met early at the hotel and just like every time we meet Momma doesn't have to be told although I admit sometimes I like ordering her around or getting a little rough with her because it is just fun and I can imagine it is Stephanie that I am taking my aggression and I guess to some degree frustration out on.

Today was one of those days when I just wanted to work out my aggression so when she dropped to suck my dick I grabbed the back of her head and proceeded to pound my dick in and out of her mouth but Momma did what I expected she took every inch I pounded into her and begged me for fucking more. I am sure Stephanie would have choked and whined and practically cried and screamed for me to stop with Momma I didn't have to stop because she would give it to me anyway I wanted it.

When I was done and the boys had had their first much needed release I then threw her on the bed flipped her over and drove my dick into her ass until she was screaming. I didn't care why she screamed but hearing her scream only fueled my desire so I was sure to fuck her harder. Grabbing her hips I pounded her harder she knew exactly what I needed and she gave it.

I decided when my boys released for the second time that they weren't done. I hadn't had all I wanted. I hadn't possessed her enough she had screamed, she had taken all I had given and was begging me for more. I briefly wondered why the fuck wasn't Stephanie more like her mom. Momma should have raised her different because had Stephanie been like this well I doubted I would have needed much side meat to keep me satisfied.

I decided to give Momma a little bit and went down on her sucking and biting her pussy she was begging and pleading for me to not stop so I rammed my fingers in her just as my dick had done her mouth and ass only moments ago. It was only matter of a few minutes before she was screaming her orgasm as I took a final and what I am sure was a painful bite but with her that much in the throes of and orgasm the pain wouldn't really register with her.

I didn't give her any downtime before I entered her and once again began pounding my dick home. This time I chose to bite down on her nipples. I briefly wondered if I should leave a mark and thought about what she would do. It would be a bastard thing to do I mean the woman was married and sleeps with her husband nightly. Would he see my mark? Would he know it was my mark? What would he do? Would he care?

I finally decided fuck it and bit down on her nipple until I knew it would leave a mark we would find out what happened. I didn't really care because I was going to have to end this for a little bit anyway. I had to gain Stephanie's confidence again if I am going to get close enough to hurt her so fucking her mom was going to have to stop for a little while.

My dick was disappointed because even though I had my side meats momma just knows what I need and I don't need excuses but then again others have taken care of me I was just going to have to call Joyce more. Joyce lets me do whatever I want and if I ask or better tell her she will make special noises for me. Before you ask I don't ask for the barnyard sounds that Vinnie does, I just like the screams. Screams of passion, screams of pain, and screams of excitement or possibly fear of what I am going to do next.

Grabbing a hold of her hips until I was certain my handprints would be left I pounded my way to my third release. The boys were finally satisfied and if I say so myself so was Momma. She was lying beside me gasping for air basking in her after glow.

I didn't have time to hang around it was still before ten we had only been here about an hour but I had things to do like work so I got up cleaned the cunt juice off of me in the bathroom got dressed and left with her still lying on the bed. I didn't need to say anything she knew I was an important person in Trenton and my work came first. Besides it wasn't like she was my girlfriend or wife she was just a substitution to me fucking her daughter.

I got in my car and started heading back to the streets of Trenton after all keeping the streets of Trenton safe is part of my job.

MPPOV

I was happy when my son called me this morning I hadn't heard from him in a little while I was beginning to think since my bitch of a daughter had dumped him for those murdering thugs that he wasn't going to call me. He had told me he was done with her and I had sort of thought maybe he was done with me as well.

I was so excited when I picked the phone up this morning and it was him. With my mother living in Stephanie's old apartment she isn't around to have to give excuses to for my absences she has no idea where I am going or what I am doing and Frank well he hasn't been happier. I have been taking care of him practically daily to cover the fact that I am taking Joseph as well, so Frank is happy.

He won't question when I leave the house or when I get back. I mean his meal will be on the table at the normal times and I will be as wild in the bed as I want because now that I am getting what I have wanted all these years I am happier. So Frank shouldn't have a thing to complain about.

As far as Frank is concerned he is probably happier than he has ever been well been in a long time. There was another point in my life that I was this happy and made Frank happy and that was when I was taking care of Joseph's father.

It is something about those Morelli men they really know how to satisfy their women and keep them happy. Frank never knew and never has all those years that I went without a Morelli orgasm I tried to get Frank to step up to the plate but he never got it. He never understood how to make me scream so I had to fake it all these years with him.

I mean I had an orgasm eventually but the Morelli men could make me orgasm looking at me or with a single touch and Frank well let's say it took quite a bit more.

I was lying in the bed basking in the afterglow when Joseph left he didn't say anything but I know my son is busy protecting the streets of Trenton so he is busy, important, and was needed out there. After a few minutes I get up and made my way into the bathroom to clean myself up, fix my hair and try my best to cover up my afterglow appearances that is until I get home and take care Frank so I have an excuse for the afterglow.

Looking at my body I couldn't help the gasp that came out of my mouth. My son had left marks. I had bite marks on my nipples, hand prints on the side of my hips how in the fuck was I going to take care of Frank and him not see them?

Frank's love making always included sucking my nipples he loved my nipples and now they had the bite marks of another man. Joseph should have known not to leave marks but we were both into it pretty heavy and I never thought about it. How was I going to hide this?

Maybe he wouldn't be home when I got there and I would have time for the afterglow to wear off before he saw me. I looked in the mirror and immediately squashed that idea after all the way I had just been fucked I would be sporting this afterglow for days.

Long story short, short of a miracle I was screwed I needed to do some fast talking. Maybe I could make him believe those marks were from him last night. I would have to think about that more but Frank was never a wild lover so leaving marks on me wasn't something that he would do or had ever done.

HectorPOV

That fucker had called Stephanie's mother this morning I didn't even need to hear the fucking phone taps to know what that call would lead to, sick fuck. Well at least we no longer had to go stake out the hotel we had snuck back in when it wasn't occupied and placed motion activated cameras.

While it was true they were recording everything we would just delete what we didn't want. It wasn't like we weren't security experts we were good at not seeing what we shouldn't be looking at and at the same time managing to get what we wanted.

Not that anyone wanted to see what they were doing but hey every little bit of evidence helps when you are working with sick sons of bitches.

I had previously placed sensors on their vehicles. I knew her mom would never discover the one on her car but half expected the cop to. I mean anyone half trained would know what to look for and he had never bothered to look.

In his shoes I would be checking my vehicle, my home, my office multiple times a day but then again they all can't be like me. He is too arrogant to think that we would track him boy he should know to never under estimate Rangeman. He should also know to never under estimate the limit we will go to protect my Angelito. I had also activated his phone from the synch that I did when he was at the hotel I was able to tap into the GPS in the phone so I knew where he was even if he was in another vehicle.

As long as his phone was with him I would know where he was.

I had outfitted the vehicles that everyone was riding with a sensor so Matt and Acer could tell how Stephanie and Slyder were doing but I also configured a device for me so I could see how my sister was doing.

I was watching the device along with a few of the other guys when Morrelli's blip popped up on the screen. I had Stephanie's blip being blue, and Wire and Chase who were following her black, but Morelli's blip was red.

I kept quit even though I was cussing to myself. I stood there I didn't want to alert her brothers because I knew they would say fuck the test and go get her and part of me wanted to do that but part of me understood how much this meant to her.

I knew if I left I would raise suspicion and I knew then they would figure out it was because of the extra blip on the screen. Right now no one was questioning it. I knew Ranger would know the second he saw it as well as Manny. I was actually surprised the other guys didn't question it but with Slyder being out there they may have thought that blip was for him.

I felt my hand start to ghost over my knives, it was a given tell I had when things weren't right in my life and I was put on edge. I know it was tell and I know that I shouldn't have it but I just feel better when my hands are close enough that I know I can grab them in matter of less than a second if the need arises.

While the knives would do me no good in this scenario the feelings of being on edge was there so the tell was there and I am certain my actions wasn't lost on my brothers.

I knew what this test meant to her because I knew what it meant to me. When Ranger took me in and gave me a chance to have a life that my skills were used for good instead of the bad that had seemed to always be near me. It changed my life.

Passing that test meant that I belonged among this group of elite men. It is an honor to be considered a Rangeman even though for the most part our jobs of the world go unappreciated, unknown by the people that we work hard to protect. In some ways my Angelito was right we were super heroes we protected the innocent by hunting down and returning to the system the dredge of humanity.

The rapists, the killers, and the thieves we returned them to prison when they thought they could run. We find them when they thought they could hide and we stop them when they thought they could get away with it. Being on the right side for once in my life felt right I had a place. My Angelito just cemented it more.

But doing the work we did made a difference even if it was a thankless unappreciated job I knew the good it did and I knew that while maybe in the grand scheme of things it didn't change much in my mind maybe in some way it was allowing me to make right my many wrongs.

Angelito she didn't need it for those reasons but for others she needed and wanted to become one of us by completing the test. Her just joining us wasn't good enough for her. She wanted to prove that she belonged not that she needed to for us to accept her, hell she had belonged long before today but for her she needed to pass this test.

Even though swooping in and taking her away from the test wasn't the answer I finally decided standing here and watching the fucking blips wasn't helping me. I was her protector and I wasn't protecting anything standing here.

I handed Lester the device and walked away. I didn't explain the blips I would let him figure that out while I slipped away. I was good at that. One moment I was there the next I wouldn't be no one the wiser.

I could help her more being on the streets. The streets I knew the streets I could blind I could move silently and I could act if necessary. Once again I felt my hand ghost over my knives centering myself as I made my way out of the compound.

LPOV

Hector handed me the GPS tracker device. He didn't explain the blips on the device. I knew that Stephanie had both Wire and Chase in cars but I didn't know the fourth blip.

I could see that so far no one was tailing anyone at the moment she was just driving. It looked like both Wire and Chase was waiting for her to pass them and then they would pick up her tail.

I knew it would be a matter of a tag team tail the hardest of all tails to detect because you aren't just looking for one vehicle it is two working together the more cars you add the more complex the tail becomes.

I briefly wondered if the fourth dot wasn't a third tail that Matt threw in to complicate everything. If he tripped her up and she failed I was going to kick his fucking ass. I didn't know why Rangeman had even asked him to give the fucking test. He has to be so fucking anal about everything.

It isn't that I didn't like Matt fuck we are good friends outside of this test but I wanted to cheer for her let her know what a great job she was doing but the rules said that wasn't allowed and mister we are going by the rules had to be giving the test.

He was going strictly by the handbook when it came to his little fucking speeches which had me wanting to ram my fist down his throat on the bullshit speech. He should be one to talk the man was full of nothing but bullshit when you get him outside of the Rangeman walls. But inside he was all fucking pure business, pure by the book kind of man.

Unfortunately the test conducting wasn't as spelled out and if he wanted to use three cars for the tail there was nothing in the guide that prevented it. It was only sort of an unwritten thing that we used two.

I continued to watch the blips trying to figure out the blips. I knew the black dots was Wire and Chase but I couldn't decide which of the other two were Beautiful's the red or the blue.

Knowing Hector it could be either as red was her favorite color and blue well that was the color of her eyes so who knows which way he went on picking her color.

It wasn't long a fifth dot popped on the screen, this one was black, and it had me ready to slam someone into the wall. Tails with four cars involved where nearly impossible to detect for a newbie it took experience to detect you were being tailed. Hell some of the Rangeman we have would miss a four car tail.

Before Stephanie took off in the SUV I had given her a new shirt. Her Shirt said My Best Friend is a Badass Rangeman. I was wearing a t-shirt that I was going to unveil when she passed that said My Best Friend is a Badass Rangewoman and if Matt fucked it up I was going to have fun kicking his ass on the mats after Ranger.

SPOV

My spidey senses have been going off like party favors ringing out the New Year since I left the compound. I knew I was going to be tailed so I couldn't imagine my senses going off I know it is just Rangeman men following me of course I never met the two following me and I barely know the man sitting beside me so I think some of my alarming senses is just knowing they are strangers to me and me being really uncomfortable with strangers at the moment has me in my current alarmed state.

I am glad however for the test that I had to be fully dressed so I have my gun on me and I am glad to say that it is in fact loaded; fully loaded. I also have my trackers and panic button on me.

I was hoping I wouldn't have to use it until the marksman test portion but with the way my senses were alarming me I wasn't so sure.

I passed by a car and a shiver went down my spine. It practically shook me in my seat it was so violent for something that your own body does involuntary. I looked in my mirrors paying attention to my surroundings and sure enough the car pulled out a few cars behind me but that was protocol for tailing someone you didn't want to get directly behind them but on the other hand you couldn't be so far apart that you lost them in the traffic if a light or something were to catch you.

Panic was bubbling up knowing I was now being followed. I had to control the panic if I was going to pass this test. I didn't get a good look at the guy in the vehicle the windows were tinted and now with the window glare and the distance he is keeping I couldn't see the driver.

I made note of the manufacture of the car it was a Honda it was a small four door like an Accord but I am not really good with models of cars and it was grey. I wasn't able to see the license plate as the cars between us where blocking my view but I would continue to watch the car in hopes that I would get lucky and at least get a couple of the letters or numbers.

I wasn't sure if I was suppose to tell Matt that I knew I was being tailed or just do what was necessary to lose the tail but I didn't have time to really think about it before I was shook with another chill. Once again looking back I saw another vehicle pull into traffic behind me and the grey accord. This car was white again it appeared to be a small sedan type car possibly a Ford it was too far back to tell much more.

I took a deep breath in trying to control the panic that wanted to bubble to the surface. Why couldn't just one of my brothers be in the car with me it would have made it so much better. Not only did I have to deal with the tail but I had to deal with a stranger beside me who I was going to have to figure out to trust if I was going to control my own fears enough to pass this test.

While my brain was telling my body that I could trust him the rest of my body wasn't listening my hand shook and I tightened my grip on the wheel to keep from it being seen. I was hoping he was paying more attention to that little device in his hand than he was to me but he was in fact a Rangeman and I knew how they were always aware of their surroundings so I am certain he knew I was about to lose it.

The thought of losing it had my eyes stinging and my forehead breaking out in a fine sheen of sweat my heart was racing due to the panic bubbling up to the surface the fear was staking its claim over my senses and my spidey senses were going off like a five alarm fire when they call fire trucks from every fire house available to the fire.

Looking back I saw that both cars were still behind me this only caused me to shake more and my breathing felt like it was labored almost like when I was running. I knew it wasn't because exertion it was because of the state of panic I was currently in.

Part of me wanted to floor the gas pedal and just speed away as fast as I could but I knew in my state that wasn't the answer I would end up killing us both. I knew I needed to get control of my emotions just like my brothers and Carlos do but they had an advantage they were fearless. I think they were immune to panic, fear, and being literally scared shitless like I was at the moment.

I took a hard right and quickly pulled into a parking spot on the side of the street. I wasn't sure what street I was on but I knew Trenton so it didn't matter. I quickly shut my eyes and put my head back I needed to summons my inner Ranger.

I needed to become the badass that wasn't afraid. I needed to become the badass that was my best friend. At least according to the shirt Lester gave me. It said my best friend is a badass Rangeman. I needed to be that.

I took a calming breath hoping it would help get my emotions back under control and I only hoped that Matt wouldn't fucking fail me for this. When I opened my eyes I took in my surroundings and I saw where the grey car had pulled ahead of me and parked several spots in front of me while the white car had parked several spots behind me. Fuck.

Fuck, double fuck, triple fuck I was trapped between the two cars and I once again felt the panic. I needed to be Ranger. What would Ranger do? What would Ranger do? I kept repeating in my head looking at the cars I saw the men exit them and step up onto the side walk. I think my heart leaped out of my chest.

One of the guys was slightly smaller but the other one was large and they both had that badass Rangeman walk fuck I was a sitting duck neither man I knew but I was expecting that mentally emotionally on the other hand I wasn't as ready or expecting as I thought because I felt myself shudder from fear. Watching them stepping closer to my vehicle each of them closing the distance wasn't helping.

I felt my eyes widen, I felt my breathing hitch and I knew I was only seconds away from being frozen by my fears. It was in that moment that flashes of my brothers appeared before my eyes Ranger, Lester, Cal, Bobby, Tank , Hector and Woody all in full swat mode when Woody flashed in front of my eyes I knew what I needed to do.

I had never cut the vehicle off. I let them take a step closer and I knew I wanted to be on the other side of the street going the other direction so I took advantage of the light that had for the moment stopped traffic on the street and floored the gas pedal while turning hard and pulled a three-sixty out of the spot leaving them standing there a good fifteen to twenty feet from their vehicles. In that time I could be long gone as I flew to the light and fucking ran it. I knew the streets well enough to lose myself let alone a tail.

I didn't let up on the gas until I knew I was long out of their site before they got to their cars, got into traffic they would never see me. I turned so many times at first they would never know which direction I went. In actuality I was making a huge freaking circle only not in a circle form.

I was back in control or at least for the moment I was back in control. Now it was time for me to pull the tail.

I knew that unless they followed each other I wasn't going to be able to tail both cars it wasn't said which car I was suppose to tail so when I found them again I would pick one. I knew they would be pulled over somewhere hoping that I would once again pass them so I had to be looking for them the last thing I needed was for them to take back control and start tailing me again.

My spidey senses had calmed a little but they were still on alert. The fear was still there it was just being masked by my inner Ranger or I should say my inner Woody because it was clearly Woody that got me out of there.

Now I needed to pull out my inner Junior out and track these fucker down on the streets of Trenton. I needed to get this test over with and get back to the compound with my brothers.

I slowed the vehicle down slightly remembering that tails were usually picked up because of erratic driving trying to keep up with the car you were tailing. Right now I hadn't spotted their car but when I did I didn't want to change my driving and draw attention.

I knew they would be in the area as it was in fact a test but I knew they wouldn't just be in plain sight it would be a challenge to find them.

The closer I got the more my spidey senses sounded off. I was ready to cuss myself because I knew it was going to cost me the test. I wasn't going to pass the test and it was because of my fucking panicking all because of Doug all encouraged by Joe. Part of me wanted to hunt that fucker down and put one of my bullets between his eyes but I knew that wasn't going to happen today.

Hell I knew that wasn't going to happen period. He scared the shit out of me and while I stood up to him before in his bedroom it took all I had to do it without shaking and it took having my brother's and Carlos with me to do it.

Right now Matt was in the car and I already wasn't sure that I could trust him let alone trust him along with Joe who had already proved to me that I couldn't trust him. Doug had left me fractured and this part of the test was showing me just how much. I knew Matt knew Joe and I know he talked to him but right now I was questioning if I could believe what he said or if he had come up with a deal with Joe like Doug. This line of thinking wasn't helping my fears, panic, or my spidey senses.

I spotted a grey car that looked like it could be the car I wanted to tail but I wasn't sure. I was too far away and let's face it there are more than one grey Hondas running around.

I was hoping that it was the car I needed to tail because I really needed something to take my mind off of the path it was currently on because I was scaring the shit out of myself with all the different scenarios and possibilities I was coming up with. I needed to get it through my thick head I wouldn't be here with Matt in the vehicle beside me if Carlos didn't trust him implicitly. I knew it on one hand but on the other hand I couldn't make myself believe it with my spidey senses going off the way they were.

My brothers and Carlos had always told me to believe in my spidey senses so I had to decide trust Carlos wouldn't allow Matt in the car with me if he didn't trust him fully or listen to what my spidey senses were telling me because they never failed me. I was caught between the two and I didn't know which to believe and follow. I wanted to believe both but right now they were in complete contradiction to each other.

I decided to check the car out further and pulled over into an available spot. I only needed to see the driver and then I would know if I had the right vehicle. The car flashed its tail lights and started moving and I decided to give it a few seconds and pull out behind it.

I still wasn't sure if it was the right one but deciding not to lose the vehicle until I figured it out I let a few cars get between us and pulled out.

Besides it was better than just sitting there and letting my senses and my mind drive me completely insane.

I was following the car and knowing the streets of Trenton I knew I could circle around a couple of streets and come out possibly ahead of the vehicle or just where I was. This would throw them off if they had picked me up tailing them.

So I turned left and sped down the block turning right I was running parallel but this road had no other connections to the road they were on until up several blocks so I sped up the road. The only thing I had no idea of is if they maintained their speed.

Turning right to head back to the road they were on I saw the vehicle pass through the intersection and now I was able to get a good look at the driver it was in fact one of the vehicles so I was right to tail him.

I turned left and fell back in behind him several cars behind him.

I knew he had to know I was there I mean he was previously tailing me and now I was tailing him but this was a test not necessarily real life where hopefully whoever it was I was tailing wouldn't know to actually look for a tail.

I took advantage of another chance to turn off the one road and this time I turned right and did the same loop back once again falling behind him several cars between us. I was hoping that if he was checking his mirror he would see our vehicle and then see it gone.

Then he would probably see it again but at least it was better than just tailing behind him and he seeing it the whole time.

He turned left at the next intersection and I too turned left but I fell into a parking spot to wait for a few other cars while I had my eye on him. Before he could turn or get out of eye sight I pulled back out into traffic.

I maintained normal driving speeds and didn't drive erratically to draw more attention to my vehicle. But should he discover me I was ready for the sped up to catch up further with him to keep from him losing me.

Just as the thought came in my head he picked up speed I took advantage of a detour and turned right where I could speed up circling around like I had done before so I could get closer to the vehicle. Which when I turned left back on the road I was only a couple of cars from him now it would be much harder for him to lose me.

Tank had taught me these tricks when you were conducting a tail with only one vehicle I only hoped it was enough to make up for what happened earlier and I pass this portion of the test. Finally the vehicle pulled over and parked and I did the same only several spots behind him. He got out and went into the store. I wasn't sure if that meant that test was over or not so I just sat there waiting for him and then I had an idea and pulled out and went up ahead of him turned and circled around so that I was on the side street waiting. Just in case it wasn't over I wouldn't be where I had parked when he came out of the store.

When he came out of the store I saw him look in the direction I had parked and I smiled to myself. He got in the car and pulled back into traffic when he passed me he was looking the other direction so I am not sure if he saw me or not but once again I picked up his tail a few cars separating us.

My spidey senses started sounding off again I checked al my mirrors and looked around the grey car was still in front of me. However when I checked my rear view mirror I saw it I saw what had my senses going haywire and my panic raising to the level it was currently at, it was Joe.

LPOV

I had been watching the dots trying to figure out what was happening. I was disappointed that I wasn't out there with her but Asshole insisted that we not be with her he wanted to see what her skills sets were and how she reacted.

I knew it made sense on one hand but I wanted to see her excel just like I know Rangeman did. Rangeman stood down when Matt made his request because he had asked him to conduct the test I knew he wasn't happy about that when Matt asked him to stand down and not participate in the test in any capacity but sometimes you shouldn't ask for what you don't want because more than not you fucking get it.

Stupid fucker I should call his ass to the mats for that dumb fuck of a decision. He had effectively shut us all out and Matt was using his team from Boston and not us.

Watching the blips I was trying to figure out all the players. I briefly wondered if Slyder was one of the dots and then cast that thought aside while I knew Slyder's vehicles and those following him had trackers like Beautiful's did I was pretty certain Hector wouldn't have coded them to show because he would not have cared how he did.

Don't get me wrong Hector probably liked Slyder just as well as the rest of us but Stephanie now she he loved, he would want to know every second how she was doing so I knew the dots were hers but I couldn't figure the extras. I could only assume that Matt had pulled in more vehicles than I was a typical test.

I decided Manny would know so I called Manny over "hey Manny come here and look at this." I called out and he and Rangeman along with a few others walked over for me to show them what I was looking at. I think they thought I had some news about how she was doing.

Manny took one look at the device and started cussing "Fuck, that mother fucker." I instantly went on alarm what the fuck had set Manny off. Not that it took a whole lot sometimes but when his Wifey was at stake it took very little.

"What, what the fuck is the matter?" I asked him thinking he was going a little to the extreme even with the extra dots.

Manny pointing to the dots "The Blue one is Wifey's the Black ones are Rangeman and the red one there well that is Morelli's." Fuck. Now I knew what had set him off. Joe was right there with her.

I was all of a sudden glad there were three black dots on the screen and I wanted more.

Rangeman spoke up first "Tank who do we have out there. Who are the black dots?" Tank looked at a device he had.

"Chase, Wire, and I don't know the third dot. She is only supposed to have two tailing her." Tank said.

I instantly knew who the third black dot was and I silently thanked God. I wasn't going to say who it was but Manny spoke up.

"That third dot I would bet is Hector see how it is keeping its distance since he is no longer here and he would have instantly known the dots I suspect he took off and he is keeping an eye on her." Manny said. It all made sense now why he just handed me his device. I never paid attention to him leaving.

I saw Rangeman relax a little knowing that Hector was out there. Hector could blend he could be there protecting her in a second if necessary or he could be like a ghost never seen yet her shadow the entire time.

I don't know how he did it but he could do it with the best of us hell on these streets he was better than most of us the only one that was better on these streets was Rangeman and let's face it he could be like fucking smoke none of us were as good as him and none of pretended to be either.

I looked at Ranger "Rangeman what do you want us to do?" the thoughts of killing a cop came to my mind I briefly wondered if we would have time to snatch him kill him dispose of him before Beautiful got back to the compound.

But Ranger's reply had me confused "right now we do nothing Hector is out there watching her and she is with Matt who I trust to keep her safe. Hector will keep the fucking cop away from her and let her finish her testing that is most important she has put so much into this test if we take it away from her she will never forgive us. Let's trust her. She has her gun and before you ask it is fully loaded."

We all knew what saying that was costing him. Hell none of us wanted to do what he was saying even though we all knew it was the right answer. You could tell as he was saying the words he himself wasn't necessarily agreeing to them but he was going to stand behind them as being the right thing to do like it or not.

At least Hector hadn't asked he had just acted and now I was sorry that I had asked because we all knew we would be on edge until her vehicle was safe back within the gates of the compound.

Fuck this wasn't going to be easy.

HectorPOV

I left the compound went back to Rangeman grabbed one of the trackers and placed it on my personal vehicle. I didn't want one of the black Rangeman vehicles but I wanted to let the guys at the compound know I was out there watching her back.

I knew it would take them a little bit to figure out but knowing Manny was there he would know as soon as he saw the blips on the screen.

I found Joe when I saw that Angelito had pulled over with Chase in front and Wire parked behind her I briefly wondered what was happening. Why she would have pulled over and let them block her in but when they exited the cars they were closing the distance to her she let them get almost to where her vehicle started and stopped but still another six or so feet and she peeled out of the spot pulling a three-sixty I wasn't even aware she could do. She Left them both standing on the sidewalk about twenty or more feet from their vehicles.

Holy shit she had done it there was no way they would make it back to their vehicles and get in traffic and be able to find her. I couldn't help but smile at the fact that I had the opportunity to see her. I don't think she ever saw Morelli he was in a different vehicle since I had now had access to his cell phone since I had put the tap on it I had placed a program on it that used the GPS from the phone so I could track the phone just like we could all Rangeman phones.

Morelli went to pull away from the curb to follow her but quickly found that he had two flat tires sidewall damage on the tires from hitting the curb. You know he should be a better driver.

I saw him exit the car circling the car looking at his tires he cursed scanned the area and hit the top of the car in defeat. He could scan all he wanted but he would never see me I faded back into the shadows of the building.

For now the cop was handled. My hands ghosted over the handles of my blades and I took a moment to get lost in thoughts of sending the solid steel blades through his throat and let the wave of pleasure those thoughts brought me wash over me. Days that I relished in killing someone had been long behind me until this fucker hurt my Angelito.

I would gladly and proudly wear another tear to rid the world of this sick son of a bitch.

SPOV

Joe was standing on the side walk he had seen me and started my way but I was moving down the road so I knew he would never catch me. It didn't stop the fear bubble up from seeing him. I needed to deal with this but today wasn't the day.

I couldn't continue to live my life in fear of him. We had to come to an understanding I wasn't planning on running from him my entire life and he wasn't planning on leaving Trenton as far as I knew. We would have to come to a way to live in the same town without terrorizing each other. I briefly wondered if I hadn't paid him that visit in his bedroom would he still be after me.

Thoughts of what he had said to Matt that he was done with me flooded my memory further adding to my fears. What if he really did want to kill me? Would he actually take it that far or was that just foolish words a lover tells their partner to prove how much they are devoted to them and they don't actually mean literally bury you.

Needing to once again clear my thoughts I focused back on tailing the grey Honda. I could tell that we were heading in the direction of the compound and wondered if this part of the test was finished.

Until we made it back to the compound I wasn't going to go slack on protocol. I was going to make sure I continued to tail him and continued to elude him where I could when the streets became less busy I allowed more space between us when they picked up I closed the gap a little with cars between us.

I wasn't driving as though I was trying to keep up with someone I was just driving as if I was minding my own business being aware of my surroundings and always making sure I had space around me to escape should the need arise.

My spidey senses had calmed a little since pulling away from Joe although they were still on edge they at least weren't going off like the fourth of July firework finally.

I was never so glad to see the compound part of me wanted to floor the accelerator and go around whoever it was in the grey car. I needed to feel Carlos' arms around me. I need to hear him whisper in my ear that he was proud of me and I needed to feel the safety he provided me wash over me and let it wash my fears, my terrors away.

The closer we got the more I already wanted to be there and I felt my eyes stinging from tears that were just waiting to fall. I didn't want to cry right now but feeling the way I was it was doubtful that I was going to be able to stop it. My feelings had run the gamut and I didn't know if I was going to be able to further control them.

When we turned into the road to the gate I had lost my patience and I quickly sped around the grey car up to the gate I punched the number as fast as I could and it was all I could do to wait for the gate to open wide enough for our vehicle to fit through it.

The second I had clearance I floored it and sped to where Carlos was. He was all I could think about I knew the test wasn't over but I needed him and I wasn't asking. I was just doing what it was I needed to do.

Pulling up to where they were standing waiting on me I slammed on the brakes threw the car in park and jumped out running for all I was worth toward Carlos. I held my arms up when I got close and he opened his arms for me he knew I wasn't going to stop until I was in his arms.

I hit him at full speed and he didn't budge it was almost like hitting a wall and had it not been for his arms ready to wrap around me I would have bounced off of him and landed on my ass.

I threw my arms around him and buried my head in the crook of his neck and chest inhaling as fully as I could letting his special scent wash over me calming me. I felt him pull me tighter to him and like I feared I felt the tears spill down my cheek.

I had my eyes closed tight and I was just letting what being in his arms does to me happen. I was calming down, my spidey senses were gone, I was safe, I was secure, and there was no panic. There was just calm, love and acceptance.

I felt completely drained and I knew the test wasn't even half over. My emotions had zapped me and I needed to recharge but I knew there was no time. There was no recharging I would just have to push through the exhaustion, push through the hurts, the aches, and push through the tiredness that just had me begging for a bed.

Carlos didn't say anything he just held me he had to know the tears were flowing from my eyes but he said nothing he only brought his hand up and covered the side of my face that was visible holding me to him.

He never questioned what was wrong why I was in such a state he only offered what I needed and that was him holding me.

I wasn't sure what Matt, the other guy driving the car, or my brothers thought of my actions and right this second I didn't really care I only hoped that it wouldn't cost me the test but I was pretty sure my actions earlier had already cost me the test. Of course I wouldn't know until it was over if I had failed.

Right now I wasn't so sure that I would pass myself so I wouldn't blame him if he did in fact fail me I mean he had seen me practically fall all to pieces in that vehicle. He had seen me speed past the car to get here and speed through the compound until I found Carlos and then practically bowl him down because I couldn't get to him fast enough.

I hadn't explained anything in fact during the whole test there hadn't been a single word spoken.

Currently no one was saying anything everyone was quiet and I knew they were watching me I could feel their eyes on me even with mine closed and my face buried in Carlos's chest and neck I could feel their eyes on me.

It had been a few minutes that Carlos then spoke I guess my not letting go of him also set off alarms in him. "Babe" I knew this Babe meant are you okay but I waited.

He pulled back slightly and I fought the urge to pull him tighter against me to close the distance that he had created. "Babe, are you okay?"

No I wasn't okay. I wanted to scream that I wasn't okay. Did I look like I was okay? But I realized my anger at the moment wasn't at him it was at me. But even with that being the case I couldn't scream or yell at him not the man that was giving me everything I needed.

"Yeah I am okay. Just shaken I needed to feel your arms around me." I finally told him.

He squatted a little and pulled back more so he was looking me in the eyes and I felt embarrassed the longer I was standing here the more embarrassed I felt I felt stupid for the way I had acted, I felt like my actions just proved how un worthy I was of becoming a Rangeman.

I could feel the heat lighting up my face and I felt childish for my actions. I looked at him and said the only thing I could think to say. "I am sorry."

"Babe why are you sorry?" He asked me. Of course now he would ask me a question that I really didn't want to answer.

"Carlos, I failed the test when we were on the streets I completely panicked I let fear control me. My spidey senses were going off and I didn't know why I was panicked because I was in the vehicle with Matt with two other men I didn't know following me. I ended up pulling onto a street parking and I let them trap me. I got away and lost them but not before I completely panicked over the situation. I tried to trust Matt in the vehicle with me but my spidey senses were going off and I didn't know which one to believe or trust." I confessed to him, it all just sort of spilled out sounding as if it was one constant word instead of the many that it actually was.

"Babe its okay you are safe now." He told me pulling me closer to him.

Tears had sprung forward in my eyes at the thoughts of failing the test. I had been so set to pass the test but my panic and fear had controlled me there was no denying that.

"After I got away I circled back around to follow one of the cars and I saw the reason for my panic at least I think it was the reason Joe was there on the streets. I didn't see him the first time but when I was tailing the grey car I saw him. He didn't do anything or say anything because he never reached me. I just couldn't wait to get back here and feel your arms around me." I further confessed to him and all of my brothers that were standing around me.

I finally glanced at them half embarrassed of my action and confessions, and half ashamed of myself for failing the test that they had been training me, working with me, and believing in me that I could pass. I had let them all down including myself.

"Guys I am sorry." I told them looking at the for the first time since I got here. Lester spoke up first.

"Beautiful what makes you think you failed? Did Matt tell you that you failed?" He asked me and I shook my head no. He hadn't said that I failed.

"Well then Beautiful it isn't over until the fat lady sings and I don't see any fat ladies singing so I suggest you get back in that vehicle." He pointed to the vehicle where Matt was currently sitting he had never gotten out "and finish this fucking test. Show him what you are really made of Beautiful." Lester said smiling.

God there was a reason he was my best friend and there it was right there he wasn't going to let me claim defeat until I had in fact lost and been told I failed the test. I stepped back taking a deep breath centering myself.

I was going to go finish this test and fail it I may or pass it somehow by the sheer grace of god I was t least going to finish it.

Carlos spoke "proud of you Babe." Just those words alone had recharged me and along with what Lester had said I had my second wind to at least finish the test even if I didn't pass it I wasn't throwing in the towel now. I hugged Lester for telling me exactly what I needed to gain the strength I needed to pass the test and I stepped away from my brothers and got back in the vehicle with Matt.

Shutting the door I pulled the vehicle out and headed to the driving course within the compound now was time for driving in excess speed and the fast pick up that I had been training for.

I was now ready to finish this.

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	54. Chapter 53: Rangeman Test Day Pt3

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

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Chapter 53: Rangeman Test Day Pt3

SlyderPOV

My mind kept going back to my Incendia and I didn't know why. I was driving down the streets of Trenton doing the parts of the test that I needed to pass losing the cars that were tailing me and then tailing the very same cars that I was only moments earlier trying to lose.

I couldn't keep the thoughts off of her. I was hoping that she was passing and that she spotted the tails and was able to lose them and then I was hoping she was able to successfully tail them without any issues.

My mind wouldn't calm when it came to my thoughts about her and I really wished I was able to just pick up my phone and call her and check up on her.

It made sense that we would become partners us both joining at the same time and us both getting along but I was really hoping that she would pick me. I knew they would give her whoever she wanted as a partner regardless of how the men had to be shifted around. We all wanted to work beside her and be able to call her our partner.

However I also knew that she would never dream of asking the guys to break their current partnerships she knew the value of having a partner she knew how you trusted them with your life how they trusted you with their life.

She would never allow two partners to be broken up so she could be partnered with one of them.

I had finally finished the requirements of losing a tail and being tailed and was headed back to the compound. I briefly wondered if my Incendia would be there or if she was still out on the streets.

I knew I would wait for her before moving on and I briefly wondered if she would wait for me. When I pulled into the compound and made my way around to where everyone was I instantly went on alarm when I saw her vehicle sitting there running with the driver door open and her standing in Ranger's arms him cupping her head to his chest.

RPOV

I had been worried about my Babe from the time I knew what the blips were. Something told me she was struggling hell when she got in the vehicle and realized we weren't joining her I saw the panic flood her face and almost went against Matt's wishes and joined her.

I was ready to kick Matt's ass. Even if she passed I was seriously considering calling Matt's ass to the mats for the way he handled this test. If it had been anyone else testing then I wouldn't have had a problem but this was my Babe. She was one of us test or no test and his fucking way of doing the test was pissing me off.

He just better hope she fucking passes because if he fails her I will personally keep him in Trenton for a month where he will be my personal whipping boy on the mats for every workout and I would be sure to schedule additional workouts.

I had told the guys not to interfere the testing and just watch the blips on the monitor. I wanted to be out there for her but I knew I would be violating the testing and I knew that Hector was already out there. We weren't going to tell, and Matt and his lackey fucking team would never see Hector.

Hector wasn't helping her with the test he was only keeping her safe and while Matt or anyone could argue that these were dangers she faced and she would need to know how to deal with them so it was actually helping with the test let them.

They could argue all they wanted with me on the mats and we would see who the fuck would win that argument. I would however guarantee that they would be the only one arguing in the end because an example would be made of whichever brave fucking sole it was who decided to open his candy ass mouth to me about my Babe and her testing.

"Rangeman he got somewhat close to her but she is pulling away from him and it doesn't look like he is following her." Lester finally told me and the stress I was feeling about not knowing what was happening on the streets lifted a little. It wouldn't be gone until she was back here and I was holding her in my arms but I wasn't giving anything away to these fuckers.

To them I was nothing but supporting her and knowing she could pass the test. It wasn't that I was lying that was something that I tried very hard not to do and only in certain cases where a case or a mission I was on have I lied and that was to either maintain the cover or complete the mission.

I was doing this because I did believe in her. I knew what she was capable of and I knew when push came to shove she would excel without our help. I just had to trust that she would do what I knew she was capable of doing and stand down but it was not without great difficult to want to go and save my woman.

My woman was slowly transforming herself into someone that would no longer need saving. She was becoming someone who was perfectly capable of saving herself. On one had it made me feel great that she would be able to protect herself on the other hand it scared the shit out of me. It scared me that she would no longer want our protection, she would no longer be willing to have a body guard, she would no longer just allow us to ride up in our big black SUVs and save the fucking day.

I would always save her or die trying I just wondered how it would be when she no longer needed us saving her. It would definitely have to be something we all adjust to.

"Rangeman she is close she is almost to the gates, holy fuck she just passed whoever it was she was following guess he wasn't going fast enough to suit her." Lester said laughing as we heard wheels squealing at the gate.

I went on alarm hearing the squealing wheels when she came to a screeching halt and bolted from the driver's seat practically before she had the vehicle in park I braced myself. She was running full tilt towards me and I saw the emotions racing across her face. I opened my arms for her and I caught her against me.

I enclosed my arms around her and cuddled her against me. Holding her I could feel her body slightly shaking and I cupped my hand over her face holding her head against me. I knew she wouldn't want for her brother's to see her crying not that they would give a shit other than wanting to know why and what had happened that had made her cry.

I knew Morelli was out there but from what Lester said he didn't get close to her. I caught his eyes with mine and he confirmed my thoughts that Morelli didn't get that close. I questioned him what could be wrong and I could see Lester had no idea.

I then caught Matt's eyes and I narrowed my eyes at him. I saw his slightly enlarge but I could also see him questioning what could be wrong as well. If that fucker said something or did something to make her this afraid this scared and this terrified I will kick his fucking ass until he doesn't have an ass and then I will ship his ass back to Boston in fucking pieces.

The more she held on to me the more I wanted answers. I was within an ace of making Matt tell me the answers I wanted even if he had to fucking make them up when she spoke up.

Her apology to me had surprised me why was she apologizing to me she didn't need to apologize to me or my men for anything. She then told me that she just needed to be in my arms and I couldn't help the feeling of pride that washed over me that she needed me. That she sought me out. I hated the reason but I loved that it was me that could give her what she needed.

I held her listening to her telling me how she had panicked and I cursed myself for not moving the test further out. I heard how upset she was and I couldn't help but continue to blame myself. She hadn't had time to recover from what had happened to her.

I should have seen it. I should have known it. I should have known not to ask Matt to do the testing or tell him that one of us had to be with her at all times. I should have known and I felt like kicking my own ass for fucking up this bad. She was struggling with believing her spidey sense and believing that she could trust Matt in the vehicle with her. Fuck I should have seen that anticipated it and prevented it before it was ever an issue, fuck.

I looked at Matt and I saw him swallow so I knew he got the message. If he put any of this on the fucking test he would be picking his god damn head up off of the sidewalk in an attempt to reattach it back on his worthless fucking body.

He better forget about the panic attack, he better forget about her freaking out as she put it. I lowered myself to look at her and let her know that I was here for her and she was safe.

Her red eyes, the disappointed look in her eyes, the embarrassment rising up her face, and then her apology to me and the guys because she thought she failed the test just about broke my heart.

It was my idiot of a cousin that came through for her assuring her that she hadn't failed the test because some fat lady wasn't singing. Where he came up with this shit I had no clue but I was grateful for his shit when it made her feel better.

I saw her look at the vehicle and I saw her pull herself back together and I knew she was going to finish the test and I have never been more proud of her. I told her how proud I was of her and I saw her confidence come back. She made her way back to the vehicle she got in and I could see she was ready to complete the test.

When she got in the vehicle with Matt I could see she was still in control. There was no doubt that she wouldn't excel in the rest of the test.

MPPOV

The whole way home I was praying that when I got home Frank would be gone. He still drove the cab from time to time and he would on some days meet his friends down at the VFW for a hand or two of poker. I was hoping today was one of those days.

I knew if I went home now with my afterglow I would have to have sex with him in order to cover it up but I knew that would mean he would see the marks on my body. I needed to hide those from him.

If I had time to cover them I might be able to get by with it but even that was hard push and one I didn't trust. I was going to have to come up with an excuse to refrain from sex with him for at least a week maybe slightly longer for these marks to disappear.

All the times I had sex with Joe's father he never put a single mark on me, up until today Joe had never put a single mark on me and today I had several.

When I pulled up and saw Frank's car my heart sank. I had no real excuse to tell him. We had had sex last night but he knew as well as I knew that he didn't leave a mark on me, especially these marks.

This is all Stephanie's fault, my thoughtless bitch of a daughter. She has always been nothing but trouble from the very beginning. It started practically from the time she was born I mean she was my second child and she had put me through twenty-seven hours of labor just so she could give me a hard time.

She cried as a baby. My milk didn't agree with her unlike Valerie that took to my breast like a kitten to milk but Stephanie, oh she had to be difficult. I had to end up feeding her formula they said that my milk wasn't fortifying enough for her and she was starving so she was screaming her head off all the time hungry.

Of course that was such an embarrassment all the other burg mothers happily breast feeding their babies, their babies taking their milk as they should and here was Stephanie practically spitting it back in my face and forcing me to feed her formula. It was embarrassing going to the grocery store.

See how she had ruined my life from the very beginning and now I was trying to do her a favor, I was trying to get the only person willing to marry her and make a burg woman out of her to agree to continue to want to marry her to want her.

I was sacrificing my life, my marriage, to make sure my ungrateful daughter would be able to live a life of respect, value, and happiness in the burg and where had that gotten me? It had gotten me in a position where I have to face my husband with another man's bite marks on my body from a day of sex. I wasn't sure Frank would understand my sacrifice for our daughter.

I was hoping that he wouldn't want sex that he would have to go out or something. I parked the car, got out grabbed the couple of bags from the store that I had stopped at prior to coming home. After all I had to have an excuse for going out in the first place.

I came into the back door into the kitchen. Frank would be sitting in front of the TV catching up on whatever sports scores he hadn't seen. He would also read the paper although by this time of day he has probably already read the paper.

So he would be buried in the TV hopefully he would remain buried for the rest of the day and night and not pay attention to me.

I walked into the kitchen and started taking the groceries out of the bag. I bent over to put the things in the refrigerator when Frank walked up behind me pressing himself into me. Shit he wanted sex. I had been making him too happy lately.

Before all of this started he wouldn't have been so forward with me. Because I had allowed myself to be a little freer with him because I needed to get him interested in me again so I could cover up what I was doing had given him the permissions or maybe the confidence to be a little more forward with me.

Fuck. I wasn't sure what I was going to do. If I went with having sex with him he was going to see the marks if I didn't and turned him down he would see the glow and know I had just had sex and that it wasn't with him after all this glow wasn't here this morning.

I briefly thought maybe I could let him take me like this without really getting undressed and it would answer all the problems but I knew Frank well enough to know that he wouldn't do that Frank wasn't that kind of man.

Frank was actually a good lover in some ways he was caring, passionate, and a careful lover. He wasn't the kind of lover like my son Joseph or his father they were more light your loins on fire and Frank was more the touching, feeling, taking his time going slow kind of lover. Frank wasn't your rough and thoughtless lover so the idea of him taking me from behind while my head was refrigerator wasn't going to work for Frank.

I could feel his hard length pressing into me and I knew I was going to have to make a decision but I had no idea which I was going to decide or what the hell I was going to do. I couldn't be more screwed than I was at this moment and I couldn't help but think that this was all Stephanie's fault. My ungrateful thoughtless bitch of a daughter who has done nothing but make my life miserable and make my life difficult had struck again.

And this time it had disaster written all over it.

SPOV

At least with the marksmanship testing it was something that you knew if you passed or not. I mean you either hit the target where you are suppose to or you don't so it is easy to see if you are passing or failing miserably.

So far I was doing well. I was hitting my targets so I had no reasons to believe that I was failing this part of the test. I wasn't taking forever to make the shots and when I did shoot I hit the target.

I had successfully made my shots at fifteen and hundred yards and I had successfully made it through shooters alley shooting all of the bad guys and none of the good guys. I was feeling good about this portion of the test.

I was currently lying on the roof top sighting in the sniper rifle. I was lying on my stomach and Matt was standing beside me. I couldn't help the feelings of nervousness that came over me with me lying there in a vulnerable position and him standing beside me.

I swallowed the feelings as they began to rise and then decided to just focus on sighting in the rifle. Once I was happy with the settings I got up and let Matt lie down and check my settings on the rifle.

He stood up and nodded. I guess that meant that I was good to go to the next step which was actually firing the rifle and seeing if I was able to hit the target I had sighted in.

I laid down behind the rifle. I made sure my body was directly behind the rifle. I made sure that my body was in complete alignment my legs straight before I even pulled myself up close to the rifle.

I placed the butt against my shoulder I made sure my eye was far enough away from the scope that the recoil from the gun wouldn't put my eye out. I then opened the lock exposing the chamber I reached in the case and pulled a single cartridge out.

I blew across the cartridge just as I had seen Ram do it. He was the best sniper Rangeman had. Hell he was probably the best of the best when it came to snipers. I was making sure I was mimicking him in my moves and actions.

I knew if I followed him, I would pass with flying colors so I was definitely embracing my inner Ram.

I locked the chamber steadied and readied myself for the shot. Taking the moment to get my breathing in synch I took two breaths in slowly and let them out on the third breath in I held it in until I pulled the trigger. The gun fired, and I successfully hit my target. I wanted to get up and jump up and down and scream that I had done it but I successfully was able to refrain from making an ass out of myself in front of Matt.

Somehow I don't think jumping up and down while screaming I did it I did it was really what Rangeman wanted in their employees. I mean I couldn't see Cal doing that, Ram doing that, I briefly laughed at the thought of Tank doing something like that. When my thoughts went to Lester well maybe I could see it but then when they shifted to Ranger I had to control myself before I broke out in a side splitting laughter that would take me to my knees and possibly cause me to pee my pants.

I doubt Carlos ever did that even as a child or teenager let alone the badass Ranger he had become. I was definitely going to have to change my thoughts or this wasn't going to be good and was going to be extremely hard to explain let alone embarrassing for having an unexplainable wet spot in my pants it wasn't like I could say I spilled my drink in my lap.

Matt spoke up effectively shutting down all trains of thought. "The next phase of the test is self defense and fighting. You have Demon as your partner he will be the one that you need to break the holds from in self defense and he will be the one you will fight during that test."

Hearing it is one thing, but knowing that we are now heading over to the building to do this was something entirely different. My throat went dry, my head broke out in a fine sheen and I am certain but I can't see it but I would be willing to bet that my skin went a few shades lighter. It was official just those few words from Matt had me ready to tuck my tail between my legs and run for the hills.

I tried to clear my throat, I tried running my tongue around my mouth, I tried thinking about my favorite Ella meals, and tasty cakes, which I really needed right now, but nothing helped. I was hoping thinking of these things would help wet my uncomfortably dry mouth but I realized it was fear not thirst. I mean I could drink all the water I could hold and my throat would still be dry, my tail would still be tucked, and I would still be sweating fucking bullets.

Holy shit I was going to have to embrace my badass to get through this. I was going to have to find my inner beast that had come out to play with Doug, and Joe it wasn't something I could control, it was either there or it wasn't I didn't know how to summon it. I didn't know how to turn it on or turn it off.

It either made an appearance or it didn't. What did Ranger do? What did Lester do? What did Hector do? How did they just summons theirs and then put it back away? I was going to have to figure it out if I wanted to survive in the ring with a man named Demon holy fuck. I needed some holy water. He wore a cross so he was fucking immune to them so that would do me no good. I briefly wondered if we had time to call a priest in so he could do an exorcism or something before I stepped in the ring. I mean that might be worth a try.

In the end nothing was going to work I was going to have to face him. We reached the compound no priest, no holy water, and no cross. I did say a quick prayer on the off chance that God was actually listening to me but like all the other times who knew if he was or wasn't listening or if he would do what I asked or not. It was so unpredictable but like everyone else I still asked in hopes that this one time he would be listening and be willing to grant what I asked. Sometimes I wondered if the odds weren't better in Vegas.

I stepped into the building with Matt on my heels. Everyone was here waiting on us. I was so happy that my brothers were here. At least if things got out of hands they would hopefully be able to save my ass before he killed me.

We stepped up to the rings. In the ring was Demon waiting. Great just great I was hoping that maybe he got sick, or something. Anything to keep him from showing up but no here he was just standing there waiting for me; great.

I look back out in the sea of black and see Carlos looking at me. I see pride in his eyes. They aren't blank or maybe I am just getting better at reading the blank face. I smile back at him trying to show him my braver side not the side that is literally scared shitless at the moment.

I see Lester who is standing near Carlos and he has a smile on his face and he nods. He is looking confident. He is telling me I have what it takes to beat Demon. He is my trainer so I am going with that is what the smile and the nod meant and I am not reading any more into that. Lester has been my main trainer and I am going with he had trained me well enough to kick Demon's ass even if his name has me freaking out at the moment.

I like watching shit like that on TV but I am not really good dealing with shit like that in real life. I like to believe that it is just shit made up for TV and the movies and not real in the real world. So when faced with the supernatural in the real world it freaks me out.

There were still some priests that performed exorcisms I mean I think it happened more in the past than it does now days but hey I would be willing to bet when Linda Blair's head spun around it made a few priests rethink exorcisms I mean it wasn't bad enough that her head spun around but she projectile vomited on everyone and then what she did to that cross well if I was priest it would be all I needed to know to never perform an exorcism I mean it wasn't like it end well for the priest.

Matt speaking up brought me out of my inner dialog about the success of performing exorcisms.

"This is the final piece of the test. In this test you will need to perform the following in order to pass this portion of the test. You will need to be able to successfully break out of basic holds, you will need to be able to take down our opponent, you will need to be able to get your opponent in handcuffs, you will need to be able to subdue an attacker, and finally you will need to perform a basic knowledge of martial arts." He said.

He continued "Stephanie's opponent will be Demon, Slyder's opponent will be Acer." He said. Great why couldn't I get Acer and Slyder get Demon I briefly wondered. At least Acer didn't remind you of the supernatural. Not that I had really meet Acer before but hey it wasn't like I really knew Demon either.

"Any questions?" he asked us and I briefly wondered if I could ask to swap opponents but in the end I just shook my head no. I understood what I had to do I just wasn't sure how I was going to be able to do it. Someone once said the bigger they were the harder they fell I just wondered if that applied to big badasses with the name of Demon.

If I could face Ranger in the ring and survive then I could survive against Demon the man and the beast. I just had to keep reminding myself of that. Of course it helped a little when I did face Ranger that I knew he wasn't really going to hurt me.

"Okay if there are no questions then proceed." He said there he goes again with his proceed. Just say fucking go I mean really why the fuck would you say proceed.

I proceeded by removing my shoes, removing my belt. I did tuck the cuffs in the back of my pants because I would need those provided I could get him in a position to get them on him.

I then stepped into the ring.

DemonPOV

Fuck here we were. I had been waiting in the ring for her when they entered the building. I was hoping that he would change his mind and put me with Slyder and her with Acer but no in the end he had stuck to what he had planned.

I watched as she took in everything he said I saw thoughts and emotions fly across her face and I could see she was reluctant to get in the ring with me. Part of me wanted to cuss for that she was slightly unsure of me. She had the right to be scared of me. I wasn't a small man.

In fact I was probably twice as big as she was. If she was one ten it would be soaking wet. She was tall for her size at around five seven but her frame was small her body narrow and small.

I on the other hand was exactly the opposite. At two thirty five six three I was nothing but muscle hardened by years of service, years of training, years of working out.

I could kill with my bare hands it was one thing that was counted on me from my days in the marines. I had taken many of a men twice the size of her by my bare hands breaking her would be so easy for me.

The thing is I don't want to break her. Hell I didn't want to be fighting her. I mean how in the fuck had I gotten myself involved in this. I wanted nothing to do with her testing but Matt had pulled me in.

Hadn't he seen the number of men in Boston that had to have the medic fix them up for being in the ring with me? Hadn't he known that I didn't always have the control that I would like to have I blamed the military the years of training the special force group that I was in because there were times when something would snap inside of me and I would move in a way I would if I was on a mission and in danger versus just sparring with a friend.

It was something that I was always trying to control but it was a struggle. Today was going to be the biggest trial of my life. If I hurt her I would never forgive myself and the guys here would never forgive me. They would kill me I could just hope they would make it painful as possible.

She stepped into the ring. Fuck this was happening.

I stepped up to her trying to tell her with my eyes and my body signs that I wasn't going to hurt her, that I wasn't a threat to her. But I wasn't sure she was receiving my signals. I couldn't come out and tell her because that would be going against the rules. In truth I was supposed to be the most dangerous skip she would ever try to take down.

I know it sounded odd but it was actually for her own good for me to go tough on her and I then realized why I had been chosen. I wasn't suppose to go easy on her I was suppose to challenge her in a way that one of the other men in this building wouldn't challenge her that is what Matt wanted me to do.

Because if she could take me down, if she could break away from my holds, if she could effectively cuff me then she could take on whatever the streets could throw her way. Even though I knew why, even though now Matt's decision made sense to me it still scared the hell out of me because I knew how bad I could hurt her. Fuck I could kill her without even meaning to.

LPOV

Fuck I had trained her for this and I knew that she could do it. I knew she had what it took to be able to take Demon down she just needed to control her emotions and believe in her training. She needed to believe in what she knew and let herself fall back on that training and not allow fears to flow through her body seeing Demon in the ring.

Demon can be intimidating and I knew the name alone would intimidate her I knew she tried to like horror movies, she tried to like true thrillers but I also knew she was more your "Ghostbusters" type versus "The Ring" horror or thriller movie type.

I watched as she stepped in the ring and I saw the emotions fly across her face I saw Demon try to let her know that he meant her no harm but looking at Stephanie I don't think she was receiving his signals because she was lost in her own thoughts.

"Okay men let's get the testing started." I heard Matt say like that was making her situation better. I had already given her a nod and a smile to let her know that she was okay. That she knew enough to pass this test and take on Demon. Part of me wanted her to look at me again so I could give her more encouragement but she hadn't broken her lock on Demon.

She was currently breaking out of the holds that I taught her and she was doing well. I guess I didn't realize I was mimicking her until Matt spoke up "Lester if you mimic the moves she is to do again I am going to have to ask you to leave the testing area." He said. What the fuck?

I hadn't even realized I was doing it. I looked up at him "Excuse me?" I said to him something about his tone was setting me the fuck off. I was already pissed at him for today and was just itching for a fucking fight with him.

"Lester I saw you mimic the moves, did you not think I would see you helping Stephanie?" He asked me. Holy fuck he thought I was helping her.

"I wasn't fucking helping her with shit. If I moved it was unbeknownst to me, besides she wasn't even fucking looking at me don't you blame her for this shit, man" I warned him all the time feeling the anger rise in me.

Ranger spoke up a warning "Santos" I knew that meant take it back to my corner and fucking stand down. I know I was wrong in my movements but honestly I didn't realize I even did it I was just so focused on her I never even realized I was moving.

I knew me getting hot now wasn't going to help Beautiful so I took Ranger's warning and retreated back to my corner. "I will try not to do it again." I said Matt nodded but the fucker just didn't know when to quit.

"If I see it again you will be asked to leave and Stephanie will fail that portion of the test." He said I couldn't help my reply to his fucking comment.

"Fuck you" it was out of my lips before my brain was able to filter it. Not that I gave a fuck but I didn't want it going against Beautiful testing.

Matt started to say something but then quickly decided to refrain I guess he wasn't a stupid fucker because he was slowly bringing the monster within me out and if he fails Beautiful over this the fucker will have a one on one meeting with the monster within.

Hell I like Matt on a normal day he was a good guy. Outside of Rangeman he was a fun dude to hang with and he and I have certainly played the club scene together on more than one occasion. I considered him to be a close friend one I actually enjoyed hanging with but today he was pissing me the fuck off.

Beautiful was the most important person in my world she was my best friend, she was my center she kept me grounded in many ways and he was fucking with her. I knew it wasn't intentional but he was going strictly by the book she was getting no slack and if anything she was getting it harder than some. Just her facing Demon even though understood why was proof that she was getting it harder than most.

I mean Slyder got Acer who was about his size. He didn't put Slyder with Tank or someone who would have been a big challenge unlike Beautiful. We had all heard how many people Demon had sent to the medic ward while sparring and so help me fuck if he hurt her I would kick his Demon ass back to fucking Boston along with Matt's.

I watched as he locked her in a hold with his arms around her plastering her arms to her side as he picked her up effectively taking her leverage away from her. I watched her panic at first with him having grabbed her like that but the panic in her eyes quickly was replaced and the moves she followed up with I briefly wondered who had taught her that.

She quickly kicked him in both knees effectively taking him down but before his knees touched the ground her feet touched the ground and she took the opportunity during the drop to break her arms free when her feet touched the ground she had him leveraged and was tossing him over her shoulder onto the matt when he landed on his ass in front of her she used her leverage to push him forward her knee in his back while pulling his arms back and up. She grabbed the cuffs and cuffed him faster than he had a chance to respond.

She had basically bent him in a position that his head was in his lap his arms up in the air and her knee in his back with the other foot bracing her for any resistance he may have given her.

Not only had she effectively broken out of the hold but she had taken him down and handcuffed him. Now that is my Beautiful.

I briefly looked over at Ranger and you could see the pride in his face. He was proud of her. Fuck all the guys were you could just see it in their faces. When I saw Cal I knew who had showed her that move. He was fucking beaming in pride hell I think even his flaming skull tattoo was beaming at her.

I don't know if it was because it was on his fore head or what but that fucking tattoo seemed to take on its own personality at times. It was freaky like that.

She let him up and unhooked the cuffs. She put the cuffs back in the back of her pants. They went on to the next hold.

This hold he grabbed her from the front facing her. He grabbed her by her shoulders I knew he had clamped down as I saw her wince from his hold. I knew I went on alert and I saw Ranger's body stiffen he hadn't missed the wince either. This wasn't meant to hurt her. He wasn't supposed to hurt her.

Before either of us had a chance to move Beautiful was in motion. She reached up with her right hand and grabbed his left wrist. She then dropped to the right of him bring his hand down to the outside of his left leg she reached back grabbed the cuffs cuffed his arm and then quickly grabbed his left arm pulling on the inside of his body and cuffed his left wrist with the cuff behind his leg.

She had once again cuffed him before he realized what was happening. Before he could react she jerked his arms up causing it to take his leg out from under him and bringing him crashing down on the mat on his ass. Even I hadn't seen that move before. I quickly scanned the guys trying to figure out who the fuck had taught her that one. When I saw Hector smiling I knew it was him.

They got up and she undid the handcuffs tucking them once again in the back of her pants. Demon once again facing her this time grabbed her around her throat. We all knew in this test he would apply pressure it is what we did because the longer it took you to get out the less oxygen you had. So we knew she needed to break out of it quickly.

She reacted quickly taking her arms up between his and forcefully opening them hitting his arms hard enough to break the grip she immediately stepped in between his arms in his space she then hooked his leg and with both hands open handled punched him high on the chest together effectively pushing him back but she had turned to the side with her leg hooked in his so he feel backwards. Beautiful immediately dropped to her knee in his crotched when he went to fetal position she cuffed him. It was a brilliant move but I missed figuring out who showed her that move as the move itself caused all of us to wince and instinctively grab our crotch.

It was a guy thing. If a guy got hit in the balls all the guys around him wince and grab their own balls it is sort of a sympathy thing I guess you know like when someone pukes and you puke because you can't help but join in. Well it is sort of the same thing. We grab ourselves too because we are sympathetic to the pain.

Demon coughed a little bit. Stephanie apologized saying she didn't mean to land that hard on him but got excited and lost in the moment. The apology was as endearing as it was funny and personally in my opinion it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy well maybe Matt but hopefully he would get his turn later.

She had broken out of the basic holds, taken down her opponent, and handcuffed him each time. She had more than passed those portions of the test. She only had subdue an attacker and then to show some basic martial arts knowledge.

The attacker part is similar to the holds only Demon will be fighting back after all he will be attacking her. There are no rules he can attack anyway he wants. She has to defend herself and subdue him.

This is the part where I worried about him hurting her. Of course the knee to the balls would slow him down a little bit but he would still be a more than worthy adversary. She would have to be on her game but I knew she had the skills to take him down. Fuck I had trained her I knew what she was capable of. Slyder and I had both and together attacked her she was ready.

He got up off of the matt and she once again undid the cuffs tucking them in the back of her pants damn I have never been so jealous of a pair of cuffs. I might have to see if I can get them from her later to have as a souvenir. "Don't fucking think about it Santos" I heard Ranger say how the fuck could he have known what I was thinking? I didn't know but he was Ranger nothing more was needed to know. He somehow fucking knew, great.

MattPOV

Holy shit Stephanie was good. Demon didn't stand a chance with her. She was small, she was fast, but she had been taught by some of the best and she had obviously paid attention.

Not only had she managed to break out each of Demon's holds but she was able to take him down and handcuff him each time in a different manner, one he wasn't expecting. It was because she never went for the obvious she was able to subdue him. Someone had trained her well. Maybe it was a combined effort but she was good, impressive actually.

I felt bad about the knee to the balls but he should have come prepared for that nothing in the book states how so a knee to the ball is fair game. It was one that we didn't see often in Rangeman testing because most men refrained from kneeing someone's balls. It was sort of the unwritten code of men.

I mean if it was life or death, meaning your life or your death, then yeah a knee the guys balls but beyond life or death it was just something a guy doesn't do to another guy. I guess that rule is out the window when you bring a woman in they don't live by the same unwritten rule at least Stephanie Plum didn't.

It was time for her to demonstrate how to subdue an attacker. Demon got himself back under control and centered. Stephanie was hanging out on the one corner of the mat waiting for Demon. She was taking a few sips out of her bottle of water and I knew this was exactly what Demon needed, her distracted.

It wasn't like your attackers let you know they were coming. It was those that would wait and attack when least expected that did the most damage. Demon had the same thoughts as I did and he took advantage of the opportunity her head was tilted up as she was swallowing the water when Demon grabbed her and jerked her down to the mat. She dropped the water bottle which proceeded to spill out onto the mat.

She yelped from the onslaught of Demon but the second she hit the mat she was in fighting mode. They tumbled together a few times. Stephanie tried to get out of his grips but he was holding on rolling with her. When he stopped he was on top straddling her narrow hips.

Panic rose in her and I could see it as he was holding her hands to her side of her head and straddling her hips his weight on her slightly.

She struggled at first with getting herself under control but once she did you could see the determined Stephanie come out she raised her right leg and hooked it around his head almost as if she was going to sit Indian style and pushed with her leg causing his head to move back.

You could control the biggest beast so long as you had control of his head. Keep a horse's head down and he would remain laying down but let up pressure on the head and he would raise right up the strongest person in the world wouldn't be able to hold down a determined horse. Once she had his head moving back his body was following and she began to use her arms to get him to raise up off of her when she had him moved a little off she pulled her left leg up I think her knee caught him again because he jumped up allowing her to get her leg up between them.

Once she had her leg up between them she then kicked him hard in the chest pushing him further up off of her until she had both legs as weapons. When she had both of them there she let him have it with both legs effectively pushing him off of her and practically shoving him on to his back.

She gave him another two foot kick effectively knocking him backwards as she sprung to her feet. She brought her foot down right to his nuts again but stopped just shy of nuting him again. She then kicked her foot out and stopped just shy of his chin. Her movements had been precise enough for us to catch the drift of what she would have done had Demon in fact been her attacker and the movements would have been effective enough in taking out her opponent.

She was making it plan to all of us that Doug wouldn't have stood a chance with her had he not drugged her. By him drugging her he took away her ability to control her body to fight back. She did the best she could do and under the circumstances she had done awesome but had she not been drugged she would have kicked his ass.

She was making mincemeat out of Demon. I briefly wondered if his ego could handle the hard knock that Stephanie Plum was giving him. Thankfully and luckily for Stephanie Demon wasn't the type of guy that needed his ego to be stroked to be a man he could take the hit to his ego and be beat by a woman without feeling the need to retaliate to prove his manhood.

He would look at her as a worthy adversary a good opponent and not someone that he would need to pay back for making him look inferior or for her beating him.

Now was her turn to demonstrate a basic knowledge of martial arts. Demon stood up took his stance and bowed to her. She bowed and the fighting begun. She was good but Demon was far more superior when it came to the martial arts moves but she was quick and she was good for the little while she had been training.

I could tell from her moves and the fluidity of the movements that Lester had trained her it made since when it came to martial arts he was the best. He was the highest trained martial artist in Rangeman if he had his own Dojo he would be known as a Master to his students.

She held her own with Demon and in a few instances got in a few points. Had we been keeping points but this was just to demonstrate that you had the basics of a martial arts. Which it was clear she did so I called the test. "Okay guys go to your corners." I said and they stopped and each went to their corners.

She grabbed a towel that one of the guys handed her and another bottle of water where she started drinking only this time she turned to Demon so she could watch him. She wasn't a fool she wasn't going to fall for the same thing twice.

It was time for me to review how she had performed throughout the test and decide if she performed well enough to pass the test or not.

I needed a little distance so I could think about the test and her performance. "Guys please wait here I will be back in a little bit I need to review everything before I make my decision." I told them. She nodded that she would wait.

I walked out of the building to clear my head so I could review everything with the test.

The physical fitness part of the test she had performed well. She had run the five miles in less than the allotted time she had done the number of sit-ups, pull-ups, and push-ups in the allotted timeframe, and she had completed the obstacle course in under thirty minutes. So she had passed the physical fitness part of the test.

The Marksmanship test she had performed all the requirements with deadly precision. Fuck I would be so lucky to have her work at Rangeman Boston with that kind of accuracy in shooting and to be so new at it. She had passed the Marksmanship with flying colors.

The fighting and self defense test she had passed. I think she even surprised Demon with a few of her moves especially taking him down and cuffing him as many times as she did. She had done well with subduing her attacker and showing the basic skills of a martial art so she had passed that part of the test.

The part I was struggling with trying to decide if she had passed or not was the defensive driving part.

Stephanie had done a good job with the driving defensively. She had done a good job driving in excess speed. She had done a very good job at tailing however it was the detecting a tail and losing a tail that I was having issues with.

In the vehicle she had let her emotions control her. She had panicked she had lost focus. In real life that could get you killed. She had performed a risky move and pulled over allowing herself to be blocked by the two men following her. That is a big red flag and something you don't do. I don't even think it was something that she realized which is even worse.

It wasn't planned she did it to get herself back under control not because it was a planned it worked out in the end not only had she detected the tails but she had pulled them out and then she was able to flee without them reaching her.

As far as the test went she had in fact detected them and lost them the problem was in real life she would have put her and her partner in danger. In real life the bad guys have guns and they more than not use them especially in a situation where they are that close.

Had it not been Demon and Wire but it been the bad guys she and her partner could be dead right now and that was what I was having a problem with. Her panic had emotional state had put her and me in a compromising position. Were we safe yes, but only because of who it was not because of her methods, her training, her skills but by the sheer fact it was Demon and Wire who weren't going to hurt us.

I am not sure what brought on the panic or her emotional state. But there wasn't a place for that at Rangeman. You had to be able to control your panic, control your fear and keep the safety of yourself, your partner as a priority at all times. When considering that Stephanie hadn't passed that portion. The only gotcha was there was nothing that stated that as far as the test went.

The criteria for the test had been met but the unspoken foundation that Rangeman has been built on was broken and I needed to decide if I was going to over look that and pass her or if I was going to hold true to those values and fail her for allowing her emotions to control her.

It was even further clear how her emotions ruled her when she flew back to the compound and then exited the vehicle after barely placing it in park to run into Ranger's arms. I got the message from Ranger loud and clear and he said to not go there. His message was to forget about it, but I wasn't really sure how I was going to do that.

This wasn't just to pass her. I mean yes, she wanted to pass, we all wanted her to pass including myself. But could I consciously overlook something that had the potential for disaster written all over it. Could I consciously overlook the fact that Stephanie's emotions could get the best of her and when they did cause her to do something that was potentially reckless, life threatening, and dangerous to both herself and to he partner.

Of course partners talk to each other and help each other something I wasn't allowed to do as the one giving the test so that would make a difference. How much of a difference I needed to figure out. If it was enough difference that it would keep her from losing control or not that was the question.

I had to give her credit while she panicked and lost control she gained control in time to complete the objectives. She got the control she needed and put her emotions away to complete the task and in the process kept us safe. Of course had they been the bad guys they could have started firing on us but we aren't without weapons it has happened to us all.

She wasn't from military, gang related, or police force backgrounds like all of the other members of Rangeman. She hadn't learned through years of experience to control her emotions, her fears, and panic like we had been trained in the military, in gangs, and on the police force. Considering she had no training in that she did well getting them under control and not completely losing it.

With all that being true I still had a big decision on my hands was Stephanie Plum Rangeman material? Was she worthy of being labeled a Rangeman? Did she have what it took to be considered the best of the best and be a Rangeman or not?

The decision was completely in my hands the only problem was I wasn't sure what I was going to decide.

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	55. Chapter 54: Matt's Decision

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

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Chapter 54: Matt's Decision

SlyderPOV

I had been testing with Acer while Stephanie was testing with Demon so I hadn't been able to see how she had done. I was hoping she was doing well. The guys were quiet except for one outburst from Lester which I missed part of. I caught him basically yelling fuck you to Matt. But I wasn't sure what it was over but figured it had something to do with my Incendia. I only hope she was passing the tests.

I had to be on my toes with Acer but in the end I had succeeded and felt good about my performance with the test criteria. I didn't feel they had any reasons for failing me. I just prayed that they would pass my Incendia with me.

If for some reason she didn't pass I wouldn't accept my passing either and I would retest with her. I wasn't moving on and leaving her behind she was my partner even if she didn't know it yet and partners never left each other behind and I would never leave her behind partner or not.

I saw Matt walk out of the building and I walked back over and joined the group of guys. A few of them patted me on my back for a job well done. Stephanie was still standing in the ring her eyes locked on the door that Matt had walked out.

I walked up to Lester "so what's the deal?" I asked and nodded in the direction Matt had walked off.

Lester shrugged his shoulders and added "he had to go think before he made his decision." He said, I could tell Lester wasn't happy about it but there was little he could do about it. It was all wait and see now. Either we passed or we didn't.

It reminded me of when a jury went back to deliberate and then come back out and let you know their verdict guilty or not guilty but in this case instead of twelve it was just one and instead of a guilty or not guilty it was a pass or fail. I briefly wondered like in cases with jury if it was a good or bad thing the longer he stayed out of the building.

Stephanie finally let her gaze fall from the door and she walked over to us standing in Ranger's arms. He kissed her temple and spoke up "Babe I am proud of you, you never disappoint." He said and you could see the beam from her face from outer space she lit up so bright. It was as if she just found out that she had won a multimillion dollar lottery, or in her case, it would be more like she had just learned that she would be given free Tasty-Kakes for life I somehow think she would think that was the better prize.

You could also see how tired she was as she leaned against Ranger letting him take some of her weight off of her feet. I walked over and offered her my fist to bump after all we had both finished the test. Now if we passed that was another thing but we had both finished it and that says a lot. I can only imagine how exhausted she must be because I know how exhausted I feel.

While I am exhausted on one hand and I am happy and excited on the other I finished we both had and we could both be proud for that.

RPOV

Matt had to go outside to think about the testing before making his decision. So help me fuck whatever it is he has to think about he better for his own good and his own preservation of life come back through those doors with both having passed. I won't accept anything short of that.

He may run the Boston office and I may respect and trust him in doing so but I owned this company it was my rules, my say, and my law in the end that ruled. I wasn't accepting anything but pass from him but I wanted it to come from him that she had passed and not me telling him that I wasn't accepting anything short of that.

For one I wasn't certain how my Babe would handle me getting involved like that if she would take it and understand that she did pass the test in fact her performance was incredible. I knew what his issue was I knew when I saw the blips I knew what he was having trouble with. I also knew that even though I told him to ignore the fact that she ran out of the vehicle and into my arms I knew he was also factoring that in to his decision.

I motioned to Lester and silently told him to distract my Babe. I needed to slip out and have a private conversation with Matt so that he understood everything there was to understand about the testing.

I didn't want my Babe to think that I was going behind her back and making him pass her. Until he forced me to do that I was going to refrain from doing that out of respect for my Babe I knew how important it was to her to pass the test on her own merits.

Lester walked over and snatched her out of my arms saying "I think it is time you shared." I growled at him.

"Santos you should know I don't share." I told him just evenly as I could. He spun her around several times and dipped her pressing his lips against hers making a popping sound. I knew he was just doing this to piss me off after all I asked him to distract her, fucker.

"Mats zero five hundred." That made him straighten up a little at least he righted her and then decided to do what I ask him to do.

"Come on Beautiful, you know if you had seen me first you would have picked me over him." He said, only in his fucking dreams. He continued to carry on with her, her laughing at him as I snuck out the door.

Matt was standing not too far from the door. Good I didn't have to track his ass down. He looked at me and I knew he knew why I was out here.

"I don't want you to tell me your decision. Your decision is yours and it is a decision you need to make. However I want to tell you something you may have not known. Today when you were on the streets with her there was a real threat to her. Morelli he was out there." I told Matt.

Matt looked at me giving me a incredulous look "man say what you want he is always on the street somewhere every time she steps foot out of Rangeman that could be said that Morelli is out there." I looked at him I could feel my eyes harden as his words pissed me off with each echo I heard.

"Matt I typically respect you and trust you to run Rangeman and I trusted you testing her but honestly do you think I am a fool? When I said he was out there I didn't mean in the grand scheme of things I meant he was there right there on the street with her. Stephanie senses when she is in danger just like you and I on a mission but she doesn't have the training we have to know how to handle it yet. She will eventually have that training through Rangeman but right now it isn't there. Out there today she sensed she was in danger but because of events that happened she didn't know where the threat was."

I hated having to explain fucking shit that he should have just known but he wasn't getting it so I decided to just lay it out for him so there was no misunderstandings.

"She didn't know whether the threat was you, the men following her or something else. I should have postponed the testing but honestly I didn't think about it from that perspective I have always trusted you and I assumed she would too but after Doug she was having a difficult time trusting a stranger." I told him.

I hated bringing up Doug's name. He died too easy I should have made it more painful for him. I should have made him suffer more.

"Ranger you know I want to consider that and give her the benefit of the doubt but you know as well as I do regardless if I was the threat, the guys the threat, or it be Morelli it doesn't matter. What matters is how she handles her emotions. If this was any other tester we wouldn't be having this conversation if anything you would kick my ass for not failing them." He told me.

Fuck I knew he was right but this wasn't any other tester this was my Babe. Part of me wanted to fucking punch his ass out but part of me knew he was right and had a point emotions could get you killed. I had lived it, I had said it, I had trained it, and I had instilled it in my men time and time again. But it was never my intention of my Babe not having emotions like the rest of our damned souls. It was never something I thought would come back and bite me in the ass but karma can be a bitch.

"Man I know you are right, and you are right I would kick your ass if you didn't fail another tester but Stephanie has feelings, she has emotions, she isn't deaden and blackened like we are and I think that needs to be taken into account. She doesn't come from our world but she belongs in our world." I told him and I turned and walked back in the building.

When I reached the door I yelled back to him "Matt you and I have a meeting on the mats at zero six hundred tomorrow."

"What the fuck for?" He yelled back to me.

"You weren't aware of your surroundings, you didn't see Morelli today. You put my Babe in danger and no one puts her in danger. But if you want to think it is for questioning me just now then it can be for that as well." I told him in a no nonsense voice. I just wanted him to know that we had our meeting on that mats before his decision. Depending on his decision would be how well it went for him.

"Ranger my plane is scheduled to leave tomorrow at zero six hundred." He told me I just smiled.

"I have it on good authority the fucking plane will wait for you." I told him leering the whole time I was opening the door.

It was better to already have the meeting set for the mats than staying and beating the fuck out of Matt to get my way. I walked back over to the guys and my woman and she was laughing just as she was when I left. I couldn't help but smile at them my lips betraying my normally blank face. But seeing her happy, listening to her laughing I couldn't help the response that it caused in me.

I walked over and pulled her to me wrapping my arms around her. I heard her sigh against me. We were back to waiting for Matt to make his mind up. I could only hope that he decided the way I wanted him to decide. I wanted her working for me. I wanted her to have a full time partner, and truth be told I wanted to get her away from that job with her sick fuck of a cousin, Vinnie. This was one way I knew to always be able to keep her safe. The fact that she wanted to work with us just made life so much easier.

I would never tell her to stop anything. I would never try to rule her life and will always try to take her feelings and wants into account when I make decisions. I will always try to support her in everything she wants to do. I haven't always been successful in those areas but I promised her I would try and I will try not to fuck it up.

I sometimes struggle between keeping her safe and taking her feelings, wants, and wishes into account especially when they don't always coincide with each other. Her safety was my top priority I would do anything lose anything to keep her safe including my life.

JPOV

Fuck I saw her on the streets today and didn't get a chance to talk to her. I wanted to apologize for my actions. I wanted to let her know that I was sorry for how I had treated her and the things I had done to her. I wanted to let her know that she had nothing to fear from me that I was letting her go and I was moving on.

But the fucking bitch ran instead I was almost to her vehicle and she just pulled off and went down the street. I mean it wasn't bad enough that I got two flat tires how the fuck I ruined both of them I had no idea but they managed to get sidewall damage. I guess I hit the sidewalk or something on the sidewalk like a drainage ditch.

Anyway I thought I would at least get to say something to her but no she had pulled away. She wasn't going to make it easy on me to pull her in. I would just have to work harder. I needed to convince her that she could once again trust me. After all, the greatest feat the devil ever performed was convincing the world he didn't exist.

I had left marks on her mother today I did that in part to just see what Frank would do when he saw them but I also did it in part to make her mom mad at me. I knew I had to sever ties with her if I was going to gain back Stephanie's trust and friendship.

I was going to miss fucking her but I could use Joyce more, or pick up some whore down on Stark to fill my needs. It wouldn't be forever it would just be long enough to win Stephanie over.

I needed to gain back her friendship to get close. She needed to not fear me she needed to lower her guard around me. I wish I had thought about this sooner but I didn't have my head in the right place. I was under the illusion that I could just force her to come back. I have since seen the error of that logic.

Now I would be her best friend. I would suck her in and beg of her forgiveness she would never not be able to forgive me this was Stephanie we were talking about she didn't know how to not forgive someone regardless of what they did to her. I mean look at our history.

So I knew if I could get the chance to ask her for forgiveness and beg her to trust me again that she would. That would give me exactly what I needed, access to her. It would give me the access I needed so I could do them both in and end their perfect little world they were building with each other.

FrankPOV

My wife, Helen, came in from the grocery store she had been out for a good portion of the morning visiting and helping a sick friend of hers and then stopped by the grocery store on the way home. When I heard her come into the kitchen I got up from my chair and came into the kitchen.

She was putting some things away in the refrigerator and when I saw her ass sticking out I thought I would let her know of my desires. So I pressed myself into her letting her know that I would like to take her to bed and make love to her.

She had been such a different woman lately. It was like night and day. It was almost like we had been transported back twenty years with how forward she was being in our love making. It had rekindled our marriage in a way that I couldn't even describe.

Her mother no longer living with us also gave us a freedom we hadn't had in years. We could make love any time of the day or night without having to fear that some sex crazed loon was listening to every sound made. That always made me uncomfortable knowing the old hag was listening.

She always made a point to mention it the next morning at the breakfast table. Like I would want to discuss our sex life with her mother which I did not so much so that I had backed off making love to Helen.

It wasn't because I didn't want to make love to her I did it was because I didn't want to deal with her mother, now with her mother gone it gave us the freedom we needed. The freedom I needed to make love to my wife the way I wanted.

When I pushed into her I thought I felt a jolt of panic run through her. "Honey come on let's go up stairs for a little while." I said to her.

She still had her head in the refrigerator rearranging things "Frank, honey not right now I need to get dinner going. Besides I haven't been feeling really well today got a bit of a headache and half feel like I may have a slight fever I feel flushed. If I am sick I don't want you to get sick too." She said.

I felt bad that she was getting sick she had been helping her sick friend, she probably caught whatever it was from her. "Honey, why don't you just forego cooking dinner tonight and just go get in bed and get some rest it will make you feel better." I told her.

"Frank, that sounds great but what about dinner?" She asked me.

"Helen honey I can pick something up how would you like Pinos?" I asked her. She smiled and nodded. She did look a little flush. I put my hand on top of her head and felt but she didn't feel hot. But she did just have her head in the refrigerator.

"Okay go on up and get in the bed and get some rest I will take care of dinner. I will wake you when it is ready." I told her. She nodded, smiled at me almost sheepishly and then kissed me on the lips before heading up stairs to our bedroom.

I sat back in my chair and turned the volume of the TV down so it wouldn't disturb her.

Hopefully she would feel better later tonight after she got some rest.

LPOV

When Ranger got my attention and let me know that he needed Stephanie distracted for a little bit I couldn't have been happier and just to piss him off I twirled her around dipped her and laid a lip lock on her. Popping my lips against hers it earned me mat time but it was so fucking worth it.

Yeah he would kick my ass but trust me it was worth it. He wouldn't break me he would just kick my ass to show me whose boss and who Stephanie belongs to. Sort of like dogs humping only he didn't hump me to show dominance he would just kick my ass to prove he was alpha and well I was some other number of the Greek number system.

He needed a challenge to keep him on top of his game so in a way I was doing him the fucking favor. I made a comment about if I had met Beautiful first she would be my woman and she laughed smacking my chest. I don't know if it is true or not but I like to think it would be.

I moved her away from him and into the crowd of her brothers. Cal grabbed her and hugged her telling her how proud he was of her. Tank then wrapped her in a hug and told her how well she had done on her test. The rest of the guys were following suit and while her smile brought me joy there was turmoil mixed in.

It pissed me off that Matt had to go outside to think about his decision because I knew Matt was out there debating to pass her or not. I knew it was all because of what happened during the driving test and I knew why. But I didn't like it.

I willed him to walk through those doors and pass her. If he didn't pass her after we told her what an awesome job she had done it would crush her. The more I stood there and waited for him to come and give his decision the more I wanted to beat his ass.

I tried to not let Beautiful see me upset and I tried to keep the smile plastered on my face and I think for the most part I did a good job. Laughing when necessary and coming up with one liners to keep her laughing the whole time I really just wanted to run out the doors and beat the fuck out Matt while I was trying to clear my mind of thoughts of my Beautiful being disappointed.

She trusted us so when we told her she did an awesome job she believed us and us saying awesome job, good job, etc in her eyes would mean she passed the test. I don't think the other guys realized what Matt was doing or why. I knew Tank and Bobby did because they had performed tests before and knew this wasn't typical for the tests this was only done when there was decision to be debated and most of the time those decisions ended in failing the tester.

When Ranger walked back over to us basically just reappearing as though he had never moved I caught his eyes and he moved his head in a way that let me know he had done what he could do. I also saw a hint of excitement in his eyes so I knew he had already called Matt to the mats and I wanted to yell out hell yeah. But I refrained I didn't need to explain that exclamation because I didn't want to draw further attention to Matt being outside the building debating Beautiful's status on her test performance.

I could only hope that I would be around to watch the ass kicking. Hell it would be even better if I got to join in on his ass kicking.

Ranger walked over and pulled her to him and I heard her sigh as her body touched his and I couldn't help the wave of jealousy that washed through my body. I wanted to be the one that brought that reaction out in her but in the end I knew it was him and not me she wanted like that.

That is what they gave each other peace, safety, love, and total acceptance. I briefly wondered if there would be another woman in the world like her for me that I could have that with.

MattPOV

Fuck, I should have known this was going to end with me meeting Ranger on the mats. Stephanie had excelled on all of the tests but because of the panic and her inability to control her emotions during that one portion of the test it had me concerned.

She had actually pulled it together and successfully completed the test object at the last second. I knew if I failed her I would have a whole building of pissed off mercenaries all gunning for me but yet on the other hand they weren't with us in the vehicle to see her reactions on the street.

Maybe Ranger was right maybe it was because of what happened to her that had her panicking, maybe it was because Morelli was there on the streets, or maybe it was something else all together different.

I felt like Ranger was probably right in the cause but I stood behind my defense of regardless of what it was it shouldn't have fucking happened and passing her wasn't necessarily the right thing but yet failing her also seemed liked it wasn't exactly the right thing either as she had completed the test objectives.

I needed to come up with a solution to this problem because standing out here wasn't going to give me the answer I needed. It was time to face the music and go back inside and talk to the group. Turning toward the building I was reluctant to open the door but it was time. What could be worse than Ranger taking me to the mats?

Acer had handed me the scores for Slyder and gave him the thumbs up so I knew he had passed the Rangeman tests and would become a full time Rangeman no questions asked.

It was Stephanie that my verdict was still out on well at least until I got inside the building. I was hoping some peril of wisdom would fly in my head before I reached them with my decision.

TankPOV

My little girl had made me extremely proud. I knew she would do well. I knew she was ready for the test. I was ready for this to be over and her to be a full time Rangeman or I guess Rangewoman in her case. I didn't know what was taking Matt forever.

I knew he was outside debating about passing my little girl. I knew he was questioning her falling to pieces and having to run into Ranger's arms. I knew Ranger was upset and not happy with Matt at the moment you could see it in his eyes.

I heard her confession about panicking out during the driving portion of the test. It wasn't like we all didn't have moments in our lives of panic fuck every time her car went off the grid we all fucking panicked and couldn't get there fast enough to make sure she was okay.

She had pulled herself together and completed the objective that is all Matt should focus on. Fuck the rest. I saw Ranger slip out when Stephanie was distracted. I figured he had a talk with Matt hopefully he would knock some fucking sense into him but when he walked back into the building I could tell by the uneasy look that he hadn't accomplished his objective all though something was making him happy.

I assumed he had already scheduled a time to meet on the mats that is one thing that would make Ranger happy is meeting him on the mats. I briefly wondered how that would go and decided it would go better if Matt passed my little girl than if didn't.

I heard the door open, we all did and we all turned to look as Matt made his way back into the building and over to us. I could tell by the feeling in the room Matt wasn't the most like individual at Rangeman. In fact I would venture to guess right now he was the least like human being here.

This should go well for him I thought as a leering smile came over me. I couldn't help but direct it his way. If Matt failed her he would have a whole building just waiting for his ass on the mats.

SPOV

I heard the door and saw Matt walk back in. I stepped away from Carlos' arms. I was ready to hear the decision he had made. Say what he wants I know he was outside trying to make up his mind if he was going to pass me or not. I knew it wasn't because of Slyder it was because of me.

Slyder had passed I knew that. It was me he had concerns about.

I watched as Matt made his way to us and I could feel the air shift in the room. I didn't want the guys mad at Matt if I didn't pass. That wouldn't be fair to Matt he was just giving me the test he wasn't the enemy if I failed the test it was because of me, solely me no one else's fault.

Before he had a chance to reach us I spoke up "Matt I want you to know that I don't hold a grudge or I will say I won't hold a grudge. If you have decided to fail me because of my moment of panic on the streets I understand. I understand that I put both you and myself in danger. I didn't think about it when I pulled into the parking spot I just needed a moment to get myself together but when I saw they had surrounded me and blocked me in and were advancing on our vehicle I figured it out. That is why I did what I did and got us out of there." I explained to him.

Matt spoke up then "Stephanie they weren't going to hurt us but if you were in that situation with the bad guys yes, you would have been in a dangerous situation. You would have put both yourself and your partner in a dangerous situation. I would be lying if I said that wasn't bothering me." He said.

I nodded I couldn't argue with that he was right but I couldn't help the feelings of disappointment that washed through me. I had tried so hard and I had done well all but the panic attack.

"Well I wish I could say that I would never have another one that I could and would always be in check of my emotions like my brother's and Carlos here but that isn't a promise I can make and keep because like today it just came over me. I can however promise to work on my emotions and work on controlling them." I told him.

Hoping that something I said would change his mind and he would just fucking pass me.

"Stephanie no one can promise they will never panic, or that they have never panicked in the past. Every one of us in this room has panicked at one point in their life. We have also all come from some formal training such the Military, Police, or even Gangs that have taught us to learn how to control our emotions. I realize you don't come from any of those backgrounds." He said.

He took a breath and then said "Stephanie can you take a walk with me?" He asked me. I was at first reluctant to go with him but decided that this was the very thing he was testing me on. So I nodded stepping out of Carlos's arms I gave him a squeeze on his arm to let him know that I had this.

He stepped back and motioned for me to go first and we both made our way to the door leaving my family and Carlos behind.

Once we got out of building we started walking and Matt started talking.

"Stephanie I wanted to walk with and talk to you because I wanted to tell you a story. Everyone well minus Slyder and who knows maybe even Slyder knows this story. It is why I am the way I am." He says. Just hearing his voice I felt my heart pulling to want to comfort him.

I didn't say anything I just kept walking looking ahead figuring it would make it easier for him. It wasn't like many of the Merry Men just shared stories from their past with me often. Most of them were a little more closed off with stories from their pasts.

"I am telling you this because it is relevant and you need to understand the dangers and why I have he concerns I do. When I first went into the Army I was a wild buck. My twin brother Andrew was as wild as me if not wilder. You can imagine that when we met Lester the trouble we got into but that is stories for another day." I smiled when he mentioned Lester because I could only imagine how wild Lester must have been. Hell he was still wild and it had been around ten years ago.

"We all went to the Rangers and we all pulled each other thru that training. That training pushed us to our limits it tried us in every scenario they could throw at us. Our CO kicked our asses every way from Sunday. It was all done to prepare us for battle to make us total bad asses. Our training made us capable of killing, made us capable of fighting, made us capable to pave the way." He told me. I couldn't help but sense a but coming and this but was going to be a huge but.

"We all thought we were invincible we thought we were indestructible and we thought we were untouchable we thought we were the shit. We were young, we were all alpha males, we all had enlarged egos, and we were all stupid. We took nothing serious everything was taken for granted by all of us we excelled and we did kick some ass. We had no idea what the real world was like, what the real world would actually throw at us when we were turned lose. We weren't the only ones guilty of that. Fuck the military is practically full of that at least those in training. Those who have experienced war experienced the reality of what having that training meant or those that had experienced action it sobered them quickly and they realized where they really fit in the world." He told me.

"For a bunch of gun ho Army trained Rangers this was our story. We were all itching to put our training to use our band of brothers, our band of indestructible, invincible, untouchable badasses that had just graduated Army Ranger training. In truth we were nothing more than a bunch of blind backwoods hillbilly pecker head fools."

"It's funny how the Army can put together twenty men from varying backgrounds, varying lives, push us shove us to the point that a brother hood is formed with those that survive to the point that they are more than blood related but when one of those men is your actual brother it makes that bond even stronger. It is more than you just trusting them and them trusting you with their lives. That is just the beginning."

He took a deep breath and I knew the story he was telling me was getting harder for him to tell me. I found myself doing something that I didn't even think about until I touched him. I reached out and took his hand in mine. It was to offer him comfort to give him whatever he needed to continue because he couldn't stop now. I was hooked.

MattPOV

I was working hard to try to figure out how the fuck to tell her what I wanted to tell her and still have some form a dignity in her eyes. This story wasn't one that I shared with strangers, it took me time to trust someone well enough to share the secrets of my past. It took even longer for me to share the dark ones and this one well this is one of the darkest from my past.

But it was something I wanted her to understand, I needed her to understand because I feared if I didn't share it with her that history would be destined to repeat itself and if I could stop another human being from carrying around what I had for the last almost ten years I would do anything including sharing my story with a stranger.

When she reached out and grabbed my hand and started holding it I was shocked. I almost tripped but hopefully I caught myself soon enough that she didn't notice my moment of clumsiness.

Way to go smooth dude. That move would have me having to cash in my player card but this story had my mind in a different state not in my player state of getting the girl. Besides I already had one appointment with Ranger on the mats I didn't need a second one for trying to get his woman.

"Our bunch of young guns finally got the orders we were waiting for, we were all so excited, we were all so psyched that we were going to get our taste of the action. Boy were we fucking stupid. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Fuck we were kids."

I knew I was stalling and needed to just rip the fucking band-aid off and move on but that was easier said than done and a hell of a easier said.

"I can't tell you the details but they picked our team of six members, that is how they broke up the larger group, I can't tell you all the names, but you already know three." I told her hopefully she would know those were Andrew, Lester, and me.

"They dropped us in hell with our mission and it all went to shit. I wish I could share more of the details but I can't but it is sufficient to understand it was hell and everything that could go wrong went wrong for our group of six."

I saw her nod but she didn't say anything. I took it that she understood I couldn't share any details with her.

"Something happened, what isn't really important, but we were in a tight spot none of us were ready not really for what we were facing. Fuck none of us were over the age of twenty one. We could barely buy alcohol but our government trusted us with firearms, trusted us with explosions, allowed us to walk into situations where our lives were on the stake but buying alcohol or cigarettes weren't allowed because they were bad for our health, go figure." I told her and couldn't help but smile at her at the logic of our government. I was also putting of the inevitable.

"Shit went bad, things got hot and something happened that none of us expected in all of our training no matter how hard they pushed us, no matter how much they scared the shit out of us it didn't prepare us for the panic we would experience. I know they thought they were but when you are training in your protective safe zone even as scary as they make it, it wasn't anything like the real life of what we were facing out there."

"We thought we were prepared, we thought we were ready boy were we wrong. In that moment of panic we placed the whole team in danger only this danger cost us lives. In the end one guy on the team controlled his emotions and saved some of us in the end our six man team ended up being a three man team."

"Three of us now work for Rangeman two of the names I have already said the third one I am sure it wouldn't be hard to guess but I won't say his name. We all panicked and it cost of three men one of those men was my actual blood brother Andrew and two other men who were my brothers in arms."

I hope she understood why controlling your emotions was so important. Why controlling the panic was so important. Why I was having trouble ignoring her panicking today which could have cost her, her life.

"I am sorry" I heard her say her voice horse I ventured to look and saw her eyes wet with tears that had yet to fall down her face. I didn't mean to make her cry it wasn't my intention to make her cry, fuck I hate it when women cry.

"I didn't mean to make you cry." I told her. "The only reason for telling you this is for you to understand why I am concerned with your panicking it could put you in danger and it could put your partner in danger. I know you aren't going to war like we did but in a way the streets are a form of combat. I also understand that no matter how much you prepare you are never prepared for every situation hell even we aren't prepared for every situation. When you set off your panic button I assure you several of those men back there fucking panicked before they got to you. No one is above panicking you just need to understand the dangers of it. The consequences more importantly I never want you to have to live with what I have for almost ten years and I sure as fuck don't want them to have to live without you." I told her hoping she would see why I struggling. Why my concern. It was all about her all for her.

"I know my brothers back there say I am mr by the book and I am when it comes to Rangeman business and missions I am on I am. It all comes from that first fucked up beyond any repair mission that cost me more than I ever was prepared to pay. I try to never step into a situation without a plan without being prepared and hopefully ready for anything that could happen." I told her.

She was quiet taking it all in.

"I also have an apology I didn't know Morelli was on the streets today. I didn't see him close to the vehicle I fell down on my job and wasn't aware of my surroundings I was focused on the screen for your testing and not aware of our surroundings as I should have been and I am sorry for that. I put you endanger and for that I am sorry." I confessed to her.

"It's okay I saw him, and I got us out of there." She told me.

"Okay lets go back I have to announce my decision." I told her. She smiled at me as we turned to walk back to the building she was still holding my hand as we walked.

RPOV

I heard the door open and my Babe and Matt walked through I could see her eyes shining from tears and I came within an ace of calling Matt's ass to the mats now. If he said something that hurt her out there while they were talking I wouldn't be able to control the way I would kick his ass we would need Bobby standing by with an ambulance running and waiting to save his fucking life.

She made her way over to me and I could see she was calm so I calmed. I looked at Matt and he gave me a nod. I couldn't help but smile even though I tried to keep my face blank so he could make his announcement.

Matt started speaking "Slyder has passed the test, after talking to Stephanie I have decided that Stephanie too has passed the test. Welcome to Rangeman Stephanie and Slyder." He said and the building erupted.

We had all been betting on who would reach Matt's ass first if he failed her while I was boss and called first dibs if I were a betting man I would have bet my money on Hector. He was protective of his Angelito and well if I had been Matt I wouldn't have slept tonight had I failed her.

I hugged her whispering in her ear "Babe I am so proud of you." I started to tell her that I was looking forward to celebrating tonight but she was ripped out of my arms by my dumb fuck of a cousin Lester.

"Beautiful I have something to show you in a show of strength and I don't know what maybe his own desire to be known as a super hero he ripped his shirt off showing the shirt underneath. She started laughing and I couldn't help but smile at my cousin his shirt read 'My Best Friend is a Badass Rangewoman'. I hated to admit it but his dumb ass antics made her laugh, made her smile, and made her happy so I would tolerate them. I just had to remind myself every now and then not to kill him because it would piss her off.

She was passed among the guys there each giving her a hug and welcoming her to Rangeman. Telling her how well she had performed on the test objectives. How proud they were of her seeing her smiling seeing how proud she was of herself made me smile. It also confirmed how much I loved her.

She finally made her way back around to me taking her in my arms. "Babe it's time to celebrate." I told her. "Ella knew you were going to pass and has set something up in the pool area. You feel up to it?" I asked her knowing the answer before I asked it. The test was exhausting but the boost for having passed was giving her energy.

"Hell yeah I feel up to it." She said laughing as Lester and Bobby hoisted her up on their shoulders carrying her to the pool area like she had just been handed the VIP player award at the Super Bowl. Slyder who also passed had basically been forgotten I looked his way and he was just smiling happy for her.

"Good job man." I told him and he nodded to me.

"Thanks Rangeman but I am just happy to see that he passed her. I was beginning to worry he was going to ask for a retest and if so I would have asked for a retest as well." He told me. I couldn't help arching my eyebrow at him questioning for him to explain.

"I want her to be my partner provided she wants to be and I wasn't going to leave her hanging having to retest alone. I don't leave a partner behind." He told me. I nodded understanding what he was saying. We never left a man behind. I offered him my fist to bump in understanding the gravity of what he saying.

We made our way to the pool area. Ella had a huge banner hanging up saying Welcome to Rangeman.

I walked over and picked my Babe up off of the shoulders of clown one and clown two. Carrying her to the dressing room I clicked the lock on the door walked across and clicked the lock on the second door before Lester could make it there and open the door. I no more engaged the lock that I heard his dumbass bounce off of it.

Smiling I carried my Babe into the shower area. "They are going to know what we are doing, we can't do this." She said. I didn't give a fuck let them know it wasn't like they had the balls to say anything about it.

"What difference does it make? They will think what they want to think. But they sure as fuck won't say anything." I assured her, not unless they wanted their asses handed to them. They would never be that disrespectful of her like that.

I pulled her shirt up and off of her letting it fall to the floor. I pulled the strap of her bra down trailing kisses down her neck and out across her shoulders. I knew I didn't have time to pay all the attention to her I wanted but I wanted to give her a taste of what was to come tonight once we got home.

I pulled her to me her body close to me my lips finding hers. I felt her hands lift my shirt pulling it free from my pants and then her small hands running up my back my muscles twitching at her touch, God, how I loved that feeling the feeling of her touching me and my body's response to her touch.

I would like to say I was in control but I wasn't. I needed her too much. Clothes were torn off and I had her up in arms pressing her into the wall of the shower area while I was pressing myself deep into her hot wet core.

Feeling her ready for me just about pushed me over the edge I was so ready for her. I was hard, throbbing hard for her. Control was something that neither of us had at the moment I felt her nails dig into my shoulders and back and she held on rubbing herself against me as I was pumping in and out of her. My heart racing I could feel her heart racing along with mine as she pressed her chest against mine.

Her wetness running down me with every thrust God how much I wanted to just bury my face in her and drink from her fountain but right now I needed to just take her and make her mine again. It was almost feral in the way we were mating. This was both our need and desire for each other coming to the surface and we were both taking from and giving to each other what we wanted.

I heard a growl and assumed that came from me as well as a scream I assumed came from her but fuck it could have been the other way around. We were both so close to having what we both needed yet we were both holding on to the last possible second to feel it because we didn't want to give up the now feelings just yet. We let the feelings build and build pushing us further up the edge that we knew we would eventually fall over but we weren't ready for that we weren't done with each other's bodies just yet.

I felt my balls tighten further I felt the quake in my legs. I felt her shiver in arms and her walls start to clamp down harder on my hardened dick as it pressed in further and further with each thrust. My lips finding hers and then releasing hers to work her neck and shoulders only to find her lips again to allow my tongue to mimic what that of our bodies were doing.

Her legs wrapped around my body tighter her heels digging into my back as she was pressing me into her tighter and tighter with each thrust into her body. I wanted to scream at the feelings I wanted to yell out but I refrained and controlled myself as best I could. "Damn Babe what you do to me I could never have you enough, get enough. Feeling me inside of you with you so wet with desire, feeling you so hot your walls milking me you have no idea how feeling you like this just drives me crazy with need." I whispered to her in her ear.

She didn't answer but her partial moan scream and the tightening her legs around me along with the walls of her sex that were pulling me in further and holding me tighter let me know she felt the same she was struggling to hold on and I think had she taken the time to speak she would have fallen over the edge falling into her orgasm that was building higher with every movement. It was all she could do just to hold on.

"Oh God Carlos I love you." I heard her exclaim as I felt her body shiver and shake and her walls clamped down on me milking me. It was all that was needed to give me that final push off the edge of the cliff.

I pumped in and out two times before I came with her telling her "Babe I love you too." As we slid down the wall still connected unable to stand any longer as wave after wave of orgasm crashed through our bodies draining us.

After a few minutes I pulled out of her my body protesting leaving her body. I stood up gathered our clothing and moved them out of the way of the water from the shower head. Helping her to her feet I turned on the shower to wash away any evidence of our love making and hopefully any smell of sex in the room.

While I knew no one would say anything I knew the hound dog Lester was would be like a bloodhound on a scent trying to find the smell of her sex.

Touching her body under the shower was all I needed to be ready for her again but I refrained. I knew it would be a while tonight before I would have all of her hell that was every night there wasn't a time I didn't want to be buried inside of her feeling her walls pull me in clamping down on me. If anything I needed to be sure that I didn't make her sore in how many times I claimed her a night.

Once we finished rinsing our bodies off I grabbed a towel and wrapped my Babe in it as we made our way to the dressing area. She pulled on one of her Bikinis, Black in celebration of being a Rangeman I guess as I pulled on a pair of my black swimming trunks.

"You ready for this?" She asked me nervously and I just smiled.

"Babe" I knew why she was nervous but I also knew the guys wouldn't say anything to embarrass her. If they did then they would meet me, well maybe I would let them meet Tank on the mats as I already had a schedule of people to meet me on the mats and I already had planned on using most of my energy celebrating with my Babe later tonight.

I clicked the lock on the door and opened the door there was no one in the hallway they had given us our privacy. We made it out to the pool area to join everyone in celebrating my Babe's victory in passing the tests.

Everyone knew we had started celebrating without them but no one made mention of it. We walked over and got in the pool the music was flowing and the guys slowly made their way to change into their trunks.

She was on my back trying her best to dunk me when the guys came back out and started getting in the pool. Thankfully they distracted her and she stopped trying to dunk me because I was holding on for all I could hold on to keep her from dunking me. I don't know how much longer I would have been able to prevent it.

Some things I just couldn't cave to and being dunked was one of them I was about to pull out the heavy artillery but the guys thankfully came in just time.

I heard her scream and saw Lester throwing her up in the air.

Hal was setting up the basketball hoop at one end while Cal was setting up the other one on the other end. They were going to get a game of pool basketball going.

These guys could be such kids at time but it kept them happy, it kept them sane. Laughing and having fun even doing stupid shit like pool basketball was one of the ways these guys decompressed and let go of stress and the bad shit they dealt with day in and day out.

My Babe being part of their life just made their life even better. I knew tonight would be a night of celebrating her being officially recognized as a Rangeman. I knew how proud of her I was and I knew they felt the same we were all proud of her accomplishments and we all looked forward to seeing her grow, seeing her confidence soar, seeing her embrace the new life that she has created for herself.

A life where she was in charge, she made her decisions, where she had a family that would support those decisions accept her for who and what she was and love her until they day they all die. I found myself for the first time looking forward to my life with a partner that wasn't Tank a partner that was going to be my wife, a partner that was my best friend in a way no one else had every been or ever could be.

Watching them playing in the water seeing her happy laughing having fun I couldn't help but thank God for everything I had. I had walked through hell but I had somehow landed in heaven at least a life that I could only see as heaven with a wife that I would love until the day I die, with family that I trusted and loved, though I would never admit it those fuckers, and with a successful company that provided a service that I could be proud of.

Matt brought me out of my thoughts when he swam up beside me.

"Rangeman I never thought the day would come. When I first heard stories of the bombshell I couldn't believe my ears. I couldn't believe that you of all of us allowed yourself to get tied to your emotions." He said.

I understood what he meant but I also felt the sting of it but honestly had someone told me four years ago I would be here I would have bet against them and swore they were fucking crazy. I have seen the error of those ways even though hearing it almost made me wince thinking about the cold almost heartless son of a bitch I was I could only thank God once again for Stephanie warming my heart and bringing back a man that I hadn't known in a long time.

"Shit happens. I was stupid back then and didn't realize what I had cut out of my life it was only having Stephanie that I can see that now." I confessed to him.

"Man she is special. I can see how she would have quickly stolen your heart and given you a reason for breathing a reason for living fuck even a reason for dying." He said while we both watched her bobbing up and down in the water trying to make her way to the net with the ball without it being snatched out of her hands by her brothers.

"She means everything to me." I admitted and only half believed that I was talking to him about this let alone admitting this shit to him but he was one of my closest friends.

"What changed your mind? When I spoke to you outside it seemed you were pretty adamant to fail her." I asked him. I really didn't c are the reason but I was curious what was the changing decision factor.

He looked at me "You want to really know why?" I nodded.

"Well we talked and walked. I told the story. The fubar mission that none of us will ever forget. I explained my concerns and in telling the story, no real details and never mentioned your name, but just focused on what panicking can mean and why we control our emotions." He told me.

That was one story he didn't need to tell me I had lived it and we all almost lost our lives on that fucked up hell hole of a so called mission. We were all green we trusted the government had made us ready boy were we fucking fools and it cost us three of our brothers from our unit. It was however a mistake that was never made again.

"I would think that would even further solidify your reasons for failing her." I told him. I couldn't believe part of me was questioning this as all I wanted was for him to pass her and he had. I guess I just wanted to understand what had changed his mind. Why had he done the one eighty. I didn't feel like it was because of anything I said to him. I figure it happened when they went on their walk.

"Well in part it did but I took some of what you said to heart about her being a civilian never having formal training to heart. Then in telling the story I remembered how in all our training we weren't prepared and I realized that for us it came with experience. I figured I would cut her the same slack that was cut for us. I only hope nothing happens that she has to live with every day knowing there is no way to go back and fix it. That is what I want to spare her from."

I nodded I understood what he meant and I would be lying if part of me was a little worried what working at Rangeman fulltime was going to do Stephanie. I worried how it may change her or possibly harden her in some way but regardless I knew we would love her. I just loved her light and I hoped and prayed working here wouldn't dim it. It would be my biggest regret but I couldn't and wouldn't let her go to prevent it I knew that was selfish but I just couldn't and wouldn't live without her any longer.

He looked at me "I apologized to her for not seeing the threat of Morelli on the streets. When I told her she told me that it was okay. She had seen him and gotten us out there. I couldn't help but smile at the irony. It was her telling me that which actually caused me to change my mind and solidified in my mind that she had in fact passed the test. Even in her panic she had been more aware of her surroundings than I was. Rangeman her performance on the test outside of the panic was nothing but stellar. I have tested men on my team that didn't test as well as she did." He told me.

I couldn't help but smile or the bubble of pride that rose through me. I knew that, hell we had men here in Trenton that didn't test as well as she had. She had blown us all away by her performance. But I had no doubts after all she was my Babe, she never disappointed and she never knew how to fail.

**Please take a moment and leave a review. Let me know your thoughts…I love every review it does wonder for my soul and wonders for my fingers! Don't forget to check out the accommodating website and my writer's journal…I put sneak peeks into the chapters in them! **

**You can find it all at www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com There are playlists there for the party and songs that are mentioned through the different chapters, pictures of the characters along with their bio as I see them in my head, as they are in my story. There are pictures of some of the clothing, and places that have been in my chapter, as well as pictures of cars, trucks, motorcycles from the Rangeman compound. I hope you enjoy it Leave a comment there as well if you wish!**


	56. Chapter 55: First Week at Rangeman

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

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Chapter 55: First Week at Rangeman

SPOV

Well I had done it I had passed the test. We had partied at the pool for hours, and then Carlos and I partied in our bed to the wee hours of the morning. Somewhere in my head I was telling myself that I should be getting rest, I should be getting sleep, that I had something important to do the next day but in all my Carlos induced orgasmic bliss I really couldn't think what that was at the time. Now well I could kick my own ass for not remembering and letting the voice in my head rule but at the time who in the hell would turn down Carlos induced orgasms for sleep? I can catch up on my sleep when I am dead.

So here I am at some ungodly hour in the morning that no human should be awake let alone out of the bed, dressed, and working out. I thought it was bad during all of my training well this was even earlier.

I was standing in the gym trying to focus on my work out luckily it had sort of gotten to a point of routine and I didn't have to think too hard about it because I had yet to have coffee, I had yet to have a hot shower all the things that really go the distance in the morning to waking me up and to add insult to injury I was pretty sure it was still dark outside. If we had chickens around even they wouldn't up yet.

The only reason that I remained in the gym was because of the Carlos and my brothers. They were down working out. I know I never really worked out with them but I decided the only way I was going to feel comfortable in this gym again was if I was here surrounded by them at least until I washed the demons out of my head.

So here I am lifting like twenty-five pounds and besides me sits Cal who I am sure is lifting over a hundred pounds if I counted and added right. But none of them laughed at me or made comments on the amount of weights I was lifting compared to them. They grunted and ground out their sets and I followed suit. Hearing them made me wonder if it made it easier, if it made it go faster or something I figured they had to have a reason but in doing it I couldn't really figure it out.

But if they felt like they needed to do it and they had been working out a lot longer than me I figured it was something I should do.

"Ah Beautiful, whatcha doing?" Lester said breaking my grunting and grinding in trying to do my set. I didn't miss the little whatcha doing like Penny does to Sheldon on 'Big Bang Theory' when she is sort of making fun of him. So I knew he was being amused by something but what I had no idea I was just working out like all the other guys around me. I didn't see him asking Cal beside me what he was doing.

"I am working out what does it look like?" I asked him a little annoyed that he broke my concentration and made me lose count, shit now I was going to have to do that set over.

"I just thought I would ask because you were making such loud noises I wasn't sure if you were lifting weights or giving birth over here between the noises and the breathing." I looked at him not quite sure how to answer that. I looked down at my stomach and it was perfectly flat, thank fuck for that. I mean mention babies, giving birth, pregnancy and I always had to check just to make sure my stomach was flat before my brain could process anything further.

"Lester, do I look like I am pregnant to you? Do I look like I could possibly be in labor?" I asked him partly sarcastically and partly pissed at him for fucking up my concentration, messing up my counting, and mostly for putting it out there in the universe that I could be pregnant or giving birth. You just didn't say certain things out loud because by putting the possibilities of it out there made the chances of the shit coming true. So for really bad shit you just didn't say it out loud.

Me and pregnancy, giving birth well that was completely classified as really bad shit. In the words of prissy 'I don't know nothing about birthing no babies' and I never wanted to know anything about birthing babies that was Valerie's life not mine. But Lester had said it out loud put it out in the universe and I briefly wondered if killing him and burning the body would somehow put the words back under wraps.

I quickly wiped that thought out of my head as he was my best friend and I would miss him but I did add that if this shit came true because of him he would pay and he would pay dearly. He would be the Rangeman nanny. I then decided to end this line of thinking as it was headed down an extremely scary path.

Lester spoke up "Beautiful, did you hear me? Are you alright?"

I heard Cal speak up "Lester man I think you sent her into shock or something? Maybe we should call Bobby?" Huh call Bobby, why?

"Beautiful, can you hear me? Look at me" he said forcefully "Beautiful" came out and I could hear the concern laced through.

My eyes snapped to him taking me out of the place my thoughts had taken me. I was still laying on the bench the weights having been dropped at some point. I felt chilled the sheen of sweat across my forehead and body along with the air in the gym was chilling me.

"Beautiful?" I heard him question as my eyes focused on him and I blinked. I then looked at Cal who was now standing beside me crouched down.

"Angel? You okay?" he asked me. My first thought was no, not really my second thought was kick Lester's ass for scaring the shit out of me with thoughts of pregnancy and giving birth.

"Gladly Angel, any day I get to kick Lester's ass is a good day." I heard him say and I couldn't help the nervous laughter that bubbled out of me. Great I had spoken out loud I had now put it out in the universe Lester was so going down for this.

"Beautiful you didn't mean that you know I was just joking because you were making all those noises following skull head here. I thought it was funny between the noises you were making and the faces you were making it reminded me of women giving labor on TV." He said.

I looked at Cal "kick his ass before I have to get up from here and do it." I asked him and he just smiled. Nodding his head he turned towards the mats.

"Beautiful I will figure a way to pay you back for this I already had a meeting with Ranger on the mats and got my ass handed to me. Now I have to take on the flaming fucking skull. I thought you loved me." He said.

I looked at him "Ranger went easy on you there are no bruises and when you put me with the pregnant people of the world and classify me into their world of birthing babies then don't expect love here." I told him.

I briefly wondered where Leonard and Sheldon's time machine went. It didn't seem to work during the episode but maybe that was a cover if I could find it maybe it would work and let me back up and erase those thoughts from universe. It was a thought it might work, right?

I picked the weights up to finish the exercise but not only could I not remember what number I was on during the rep but I couldn't remember the rep I was on. Sitting the weights back down I decided to fuck it. I quickly decided today wasn't going to hell, it wasn't going downhill, it was already there, in hell.

Getting up I made my way to the mat where Cal and Lester were going at it looking to the other mat Carlos and Matt were going at it. Fuck. I didn't even have an available mat to kick someone's ass. Stepping into the mat with Lester and Cal I decided Cal could maybe use a little help and we proceeded to gang up on Lester.

Regardless of how today turned out I bet Lester will think twice before opening his mouth about me and pregnancy again. Maybe after we were done with him we will have sent a message to all of the men of Rangeman that there are some things you just don't say in the same sentence as my name. For example saying my name in the same sentence as pregnancy or giving birth will get your ass kicked on the mats even if I have to ask another Rangeman to help me kick it.

He was just lucky Carlos was already on the mats with Matt because if he had been available I would have Carlos kicking his ass again.

LPOV

Fuck. I had no idea a simple little joke could go so badly at first it scared the shit out of me because she sort of went catatonic lost in her own mind. I saw her look at her stomach, then she asked me those questions but then it was as if something set in because her eyes went glassy, her face went pale, sweat beaded on her head and it was like she couldn't hear, couldn't speak, and couldn't see.

Even Cal stood up taking in her presences both were questioning her Cal was ready to get Bobby when she sort of snapped out of it. I have to say when she said for Cal to beat my ass I was shocked. I was her best friend normally she didn't ask others to kick my ass.

Ranger had already handed me my ass, now I was going to have fight the flaming skull. I knew I was better but I was already at a deficit having come off the mats with Ranger I had a few bruises only you couldn't see them through my shirt.

When Beautiful joined us in the ring I was thinking at first she was sorry and was going to help me out but when they teamed up and started both beating my ass I knew it was bad.

I knew enough to know never say her name and pregnancy or giving birth in the same sentence again.

As I made my way off the mats hobbling to the shower I briefly wondered how the rest of the day was going to go as it had seemed to go to hell in the blink of an eye or should I say the slip of the tongue.

Today was Stephanie's and Slyder's first day as full time Rangeman. Being new to Rangeman it was one of the rules that they had to shadow a core team member for a week. I had Slyder this week and Beautiful she was with Bobby.

Shadowing Bobby should be fun because you never knew what he would be into. It just depended. He could be fixing someone up in the clinic, in the hospital, on the scene of a takedown gone bad it just depended and changed by the minute so I knew she would have a busy and active week.

Slyder and I did well together we had been friends for a long time it was easy working with him so I knew that my week should go pretty smoothly or at least I hoped that it would.

BPOV

Today's was Bomber's first day at Rangeman I had been given her this week for her to shadow me or me shadow her however you want to look at it. Basically a new hire was put with a core team member for a week it was sort of like the evaluation period. Depending on how well they did in the real world so to speak is what made the difference if the person was kept on at Rangeman or if they were let go.

I knew that Stephanie and Slyder were going to perform well enough that there would be no decision as to their status here.

It was going to be fun getting to work with her for the whole week. I had planned the week out but I had no idea what we would end up really doing as I could be needed in the field, in the hospital at the drop of a hat depending on if any of the men were injured. I was really hoping we wouldn't have any major injuries this week but that was something that was completely unpredictable.

I would show her the other side of my position here which was ordering medical supplies, keeping first aid kits in the vehicles full, routine checkups on the guys, we had physicals and retesting that needed to be done, oh and my favorite part the reports.

I would definitely be showing her the reports.

MattPOV

Fuck. I can't believe that Ranger actually had my plane held so he could kick my ass on the mats, but he had.

Of course the plane is Rangeman's plane so he was right when he 'had it on good word that the plane would wait', fucker.

This morning I step in the gym and he is already in the ring kicking Santos' ass for something. If I had to guess it was either for something he did or said to Stephanie that Ranger thought was crossing the line. That fucker never knew when to stop pulling the tiger's tail. Sometimes you would think he actually liked getting called to the mats by Ranger.

Lester was a good fighter probably one of the best within Rangeman if the truth be told but even in all his skills he couldn't kick Ranger's ass on his best day and Ranger's worse. I guess he thought there was always that once in a blue moon where he would get his chance to claim victory but he should know he would have a better chance at seeing the blue moon or winning the lottery. Could it happen, yes but would it happen, hell no at least not in this life time.

I stepped into the ring at exactly zero six hundred reporting like a good soldier to get my ass handed to me for fucking up. At Rangeman we didn't really deal with personnel write ups you messed up it didn't go in your employee file. We called you to the mats and kicked the shit out of you and you learned not to fucking do that again. If you did it again we kicked your ass and fired you. Depending on what you did originally you may be fired then but not before the ass kicking you were going to get. It was just what we did. It was how we operated and the men respected it. They feared it.

I had in fact fucked up being focused on her testing I missed seeing Joe. It was a classic example of not being aware of my surroundings if there ever was an example. Not only was I lax in my surroundings I failed to protect Stephanie while doing so. Nothing happened, thank God, but it wasn't because I was aware and stopped it or prevented it. That is why I am going to get my ass handed to me. I could only hope that he wasn't pissed off. If he was just going to make an example of me and wasn't pissed I might be able to walk out of the ring on my two feet.

I stepped up and his eyes steeled on me. I am not a man that fears much. But Ranger was one of those things I feared. A man would be stupid not to fear him. He was lethal. He was dangerous. He at times did things that made you question if he was at all human. When he was on your side and fighting for you, you wanted him on your team because you knew your chances of coming back alive was significantly higher. But when he was not on your side and you were standing on the mats facing him or god forbid on the other side of the war it was your worst nightmare come true because the chances of your survival well just decreased ten-fold. Actually in war, if you were his enemy, I would say call home and make your amends because chances of you going home just went to zero.

He didn't bother speaking. He knew I knew why I was there so there was no need to say it. He just swiftly moved toward me and proceeded to kick my ass. I fought back but it was futile in my attempt.

He did however show a little mercy on me and after kicking my ass for almost forty-five minutes he let me walk, okay it was a severe hobble, but we are just going to say walk out of the ring. We were once again square so to speak.

"Matt it was good having you and your team down. You all did excellent work. We will discuss the Boston office business next time I am in Boston which will probably be a few weeks." Ranger said as he made his way off of the mats.

"Okay Rangeman. This time bring Stephanie with you, the guys would love to meet the famous Bombshell." I told him and he nodded. We bumped fists as I headed to the shower to welcome the hot water on my sore fucking muscles. Fuck I wasn't use to getting my ass handed to me. I normally handed my guys their asses. Fuck I am getting too old for this shit.

FrankPOV

I had gotten dinner from Pinos. When I walked in Pinos everyone turned and looked at me. It was rare that I came in Pinos especially ordering dinner. It was a Burg thing the women cooked dinner they didn't do take out.

It felt odd the stares and the looks I was getting. I walked up to the counter and placed our order I told old man Pino that Helen was feeling under the weather and I know I said it a little louder than necessary but I was actually hoping that some of those staring at me would hear me.

Most of the customers in Pinos were cops, single men of the burg, and young couples dating. You would see a burg family or two for lunch time in Pinos but not during the dinner hour.

This was Stephanie's favorite restaurant and while it was good I never really saw the reason. I don't think she ever understood the importance of cooking. I don't know why she was never interested in learning how to cook.

But no matter how hard Helen tried to teach her she rebelled against it. I stayed out of it maybe I should have gotten more involved it was always a fight between them. The things Helen wanted to teach her and then things Stephanie wanted to learn, they never coincided.

While waiting for my food I took the opportunity to look around the restaurant. I half expected to see Stephanie I thought it was her typical hang out for her when it came to meal times. I missed her and I was hoping to have a chance to talk to her. See how she was doing, I hadn't seen her since she came and had dinner with us the night that everyone ended up screaming at each other and her storming out.

I wanted to ask Stephanie to try to forgive her mother and come and have dinner again with us and try to patch things up. She maybe mad at her but Helen is her mother and some things need to be forgotten and forgiven when it comes to families.

Pino got my attention, the food I had ordered was ready. I quickly paid him and headed back home somewhat disappointed that I didn't run into Stephanie.

Once I got home I put the food on the table along with our plates and then I went to wake up my wife. Stepping into the bedroom, she was lying under the covers asleep. I walked over and gently pulled the covers down.

Dropping my body down I gently placed a kiss on her neck. Placing my hands on her side I moved them up her sides pulling her shirt up. I lowered my body and placed a few kisses along her stomach. Her voice stopped me as she grabbed her shirt attempting to pull it back down to cover her body.

"Frank, what are you doing? I told you I am sick. I don't want you to get sick." She said. I rose up looking at her.

"Helen, don't worry about me getting sick." I told her as I continued to kiss her stomach. I tried to edge her shirt up higher but she held on to it.

"Frank did you wake me up because dinner is ready?" She asked me. I nodded against her skin. "Well don't you think we should go down and eat it before it gets cold?" She asked me but honestly at this moment the last thing on my mind is food.

"It will keep. Can't I love my wife?" I asked her while placing kisses along her stomach. Reaching for her pants I started undoing them.

"Frank, why don't we go and eat? I don't want to make you sick." She stated again grabbing my hands keeping me from pulling her pants down any further.

"Helen, let me love you. Let me make love to you. I don't care about getting sick, I am not going to catch whatever you have I just want to make love to my wife." I really didn't care if I got sick. I had a raging hard on and I wanted my wife.

I batted her hands away and went back to the work of removing her pants. The room had darkened as it had gotten dark outside. The only light in the room was what was filtering in from the hallway. I had unbuttoned and unzipped her pants and was trailing kisses down her body toward where her underwear was lying across her lower stomach when I heard the door.

Fuck.

"Helen! Frank!" I heard the old bat from hell yell. I sighed and then rose up

"Come on Helen guess we better head down before she ends up eating our food or worse yet standing in our bedroom." I told her and I reluctantly got up and headed for the door.

I went downstairs and rounded the staircase "Hey there sunny boy where is my daughter?" The old bat asked me.

"She will be down in a minute she is upstairs. I actually just got home with dinner and was waking her up to come down to eat. She isn't feeling very well." I told her hoping she would take the clue and just leave.

"That's why I am here. I heard you were at Pinos tonight and told old man Pino that Helen was sick. So I thought I would stop by and check on her. Mable brought me over." How the fuck had she heard that fast? I almost laughed when she said old man Pino as she is probably a hundred years older than him.

Helen came down the stairs only moments later.

"Momma what brings you by?" She asked.

"I heard my daughter was sick and thought I would check on you. Sunny boy here announced it in Pinos that you were sick. Well Mary Ann told Amelia, Amelia told Mable and Mable called me. She came and picked me up and dropped me off here." She told her. Boy I wished I had kept my big mouth shut.

"Mom, Frank picked up dinner from Pinos. I don't know what he ordered but if you would like you can have some of mine." My wife offered.

"No that's okay Mable will be back to pick me up in about an hour or so we have a viewing to go to tonight and we are going to grab some food afterwards." She told us as we made our way into the dining room.

EdnaPOV

Mable had called me to tell me she had heard that Helen was sick. That Frank was just in Pino's announcing it. I thought that was a little strange as we had just seen her car earlier that morning. So I thought I would pay my daughter a visit and see how she was feeling and ask her about what I had seen.

What my daughter didn't know was that I had spent most of the weekend in Atlantic City with my friends. Mable drove us and on the way back home this morning we had spotted Helen's car and Joseph's truck at the rent by the hour hotel on route one.

So when I heard Frank had said she was sick I knew something was up and being nosy I decided to figure out what it was.

"So Helen, how are you feeling? What's wrong?" I asked her. She looked at me and blushed.

"Mom I am fine, I just felt like I had a cold coming on or something. Earlier today I felt flush, almost as if I was running a temperature my head felt a little congested but I am feeling better after I took a nap." She told me. I nodded.

"Good I am glad you are feeling better." I told her.

They started to put their food on their plates. I waited until they were eating to ask my questions.

"So Helen I saw your car earlier today out on Route one. I wanted to ask you what you were doing out there." I asked her.

She chocked slightly on her food. Oh this was going to be good. I could only wish that Stephanie was here to witness this. I had heard about the hard time she was giving my baby granddaughter and I thought this would be some righteous payback.

"Mother I don't know what you are talking about I was visiting Mrs Bestler today she is sick. I was helping her with some things around her house. I then went to the grocery store and came home." She told me. So she was going to play that game.

"Really? I could have sworn it was your car in the lot same car, same color, even down to the same bumper sticker error of our ways McCain and Palin." I had told her to remove that stupid bumper sticker but leave it to her to not only vote for McCain but to support him with a stupid bumper sticker.

"What? There must be some mistake I wasn't there." She said her voice getting higher to the point it was screechy.

"Helen it was your car, in addition to your car I saw Joseph's truck and was wondering what you two were doing there." I told her. She looked at me with her mouth opened.

"Mother I don't know what you are trying to say, but I wasn't there today I don't know how you could have seen my car there. Why are you saying this stuff?" She questioned me.

"Helen I was just curious I thought it was your vehicle from the road but when I wasn't sure we drove through the parking lot and sure enough it was your car and Joseph's truck." I told her.

I then looked at Frank.

"Frank that hotel is the type of hotel you rent for the hour not for the night." I told him making sure he was catching on to what I was saying but he just had his head buried into his plate of food acting as though he hadn't heard a word I was saying.

I had seen him do this before bury his head in the sand. When my daughter was sleeping with Joseph's father he never saw anything even though I tried to tell him. She carried that relationship on for so long. I am still not certain that Valerie or Stephanie actually belong to Frank.

I mean Frank raised them but I don't know biologically which are Frank's.

"Mother sometimes I don't know where you come up with these things." My daughter said her voice sounding as though she just couldn't believe what was coming out of my mouth. I just smiled at her before I dropped the next bomb.

"Well there is talk all over the streets that since Stephanie left Joseph he has been doing crazy things. He has been seen down on Stark Street picking up hookers, he has been seen in the company of both Terry and Joyce. It was even a rumor on the streets that you were seen sneaking around with him at that hotel." I told her.

Her eyes got big with shock and I just smiled. I glanced over at Frank and he still had his head down looking into his plate just eating not acting as though he has heard a word. I briefly wondered if he would ever pull his head out of his ass and see my daughter for the woman she was.

It wasn't that I liked telling on my daughter but something about her putting everyone else down acting as though she was better than anyone and then on the sly she was worse than the people she was pointing her finger at and talking about rubbed me raw.

I knew some of the things she had said to Stephanie I knew how she always treated Stephanie like a second class citizen as though she wasn't worthy because Stephanie didn't do what Helen said or followed Helen's advice at all. Helen took it personally like Stephanie was doing it to spite her and Stephanie well she did it because she was capable of making her own decisions.

I never understood why my daughter never accepted that, why she never allowed that but she didn't and Frank went along with it. I guess part of me really wanted to say hey your life is more fucked up than those you point your finger at but Frank refuses to open his eyes and my daughter well she will never see the error of her ways.

FrankPOV

I heard my ding bat of a mother-in-law accusing Helen, her own daughter, of sleeping with Joseph. I knew years ago she had a fling with Joseph's father, Anthony senior. I never told her I knew it, I never let on. I just went about my life with her. She was providing for me, cooking for me, caring for me, allowing me to make love to her when I wanted my life could have been worse.

I was proud to be married to Helen and I wasn't letting her go.

We ended up having two kids together that we cared for. I can't say I was sorry when Anthony died. I expected our marriage to go on as it had but what happened was our sex life dropped off to practically non-existent. Of course by that time we had two teenagers living in the house so we needed to be careful.

Careful they didn't hear or see us by mistake. When you become a parent it makes it difficult for spontaneity. Things need to be thought out and planned a little more and for some that takes the fun out of it. Even in planning things change. Well as time went by our sex life dropped off more and more.

I think we both told ourselves that it was something that wasn't needed. Maybe to some degree it wasn't as we stayed together all those years. Then her ding bat of a mother moves in and makes it even harder for Helen and I to make love and have a normal or should I say a healthy sex life.

Her mother was always starting trouble. She was always saying something. Someone had told her this, someone had told her that. She could never just mind her own business. I tried hard not to pay attention to what she said. Now she was going on and on about how Helen was meeting the Morelli boy the same boy that she wanted to marry Stephanie at the local hotel. She was also insinuating in not so subtle way that they were having an affair.

Our sex life had returned to the point that we were both happy again, at least I was. Her mother had moved out giving us freedom, privacy, and some fucking peace and quiet from all the crazy that is her mother. Being here alone like it was before we had children before the crazy mother living with us had allowed us to find each other again. It had allowed us to reach out to each other and once again have a healthy sex life. Connect to each other and I wasn't willing to let that go now after all those years.

Now her mother comes here for dinner talking all this crap that she had heard and seen and while a part of me doesn't want to care, doesn't want to know, doesn't want to acknowledge any of it and throw the ding-bat out on her head a part of me is curious if any of it is true. Was my wife stepping out on our marriage again? Was Helen actually screwing the Morelli boy at the rent by the hour hotel in town?

I had overlooked and ignored her affair with Joseph's father Anthony senior. I had pretended I never knew and let her do whatever she wanted greedily taking what she was still offering me while I kept my head buried in the sand because I didn't want to give up the life we had together. I briefly wondered if I would be able to do the same if she was in fact screwing the Morelli boy now.

Even though she had continued to care for me, cook for me, and provide a family with me. Our sex life was back to what it was before children I briefly wondered if I could once again hold on to all of that while ignoring what Helen was doing if in fact she was having an affair once again with another Morelli man. Somehow this time seemed much worse, when the affair was with Joseph rather than his father. Not to the mention the fact that he is the one that she has been trying to force Stephanie to marry all these years.

It wasn't like I was innocent myself. I mean all those years when Helen and I basically had a non-existent sex life I found substitution in Angela Morelli. I had been backing off now that Helen and I seem to be reconnecting again but in light of everything I heard tonight I don't see why I should.

It was one of the more tightly controlled secrets in the burg. No one knew or if they did no one sure as hell spoke about it. Maybe they feared Angela or maybe they feared Grandma Bella but whatever or whoever it was they feared it was enough to keep their mouths shut. For that I was grateful.

SPOV

Damn what a first week, all I can say is thank you Jesus, God, Mother Mary and Elvis that it is Friday. I had been put with Bobby and I loved being with Bobby but Jesus I wouldn't want his job here. I don't know how he does it and stays the least bit sane. The man is a miracle. I have decided that. He is a healer.

The week started with a bang and it didn't slow down. No before you go there I did not blow up anything the bang wasn't much in sound as it was just in there never being a dull or lull moment.

Binkie got hurt on a takedown. Some dumb fucker pulled a knife of him and slit his arm open before the others could get him under control. When we got on the scene I proceeded to kick the shit out of him for cutting my brother. I know I should have been under better control and I know legally we aren't allowed to kick a man once he is cuffed but when we got the call that he had been sliced open I got worried.

When we pulled up on the scene and I saw the blood running down his arm and the man sitting there the anger took over and I reacted before I thought about it. The other guys there grabbed me before I could get in enough blows to satisfy me but I got in enough to let him know you don't cut one of my brothers. The fucking skip was lucky. I held Binkie's hand while Bobby stitched him up and tried hard not to look because needles and blood make me queasy.

Woody got sick and came to the infirmary to be seen. I ended up sitting with him while Bobby examined him while we sat there.

Cal, Hal, and Manny were all due for their physicals. I had to set out on part of the exam but was able to be there with them for most of it.

We had gone through the emergency kits in each vehicle making sure they were full. Since the kits get used if there is a problem during a takedown a lot of them had to be restocked.

The worst part of the week was the paper work. Well that isn't necessarily true while the paper work was crazy and the reports well let's just say that was a lot of fun, Not! The worse part of my week is what was happening right now.

Currently it was Carlos, Bobby, Lester, Cal, Vince, Hector, Binkie, Ram, and I all sitting in conference room down on the first floor. Joining us in the conference room was none other than Joe, and Eddie. My stomach was in a tight knot and my nerves were on edge. Okay I admit it I was scared beyond shitless at this point to only add to my level of fear it looked like I was going to be arrested any second.

The skip Lawrence Pendleton who sliced Binkie open went to jail screaming about how I had attacked him while he was cuffed. He ended up filing charges against me, I am sure he had help or encouragement to do that, and now the police were here to arrest me.

Joe walked in holding his head high the look of smug on his face. He loved every minute. I wasn't surprised when he started talking first however I was surprised hearing what he said. Looking around the room my brother's looked as if they were ready kill the tension in the room was beyond palpable.

"Stephanie let me start off by telling you something that is not concerning the business reason I am here and that is, that I am sorry. I am sorry for my actions, I am sorry for my behavior, I am sorry for the things that I did to you. When we broke up I will admit I lost it and did some things that I am not proud of. I scared you, I treated you ways that I am ashamed of. I would like to ask your forgiveness even though I know I don't deserve it. I can see you are scared of me and I never thought the day would come when you would be afraid of me. I never wanted this. I am fixing my life, I have decided that I am going to move on and in so doing I would like to apologize to you and ask you for your forgiveness. I doubt that we will ever be able to be friends again with everything that has happened but I hope a day will come when you will no longer be afraid of me and that you will be able to eventually be able to forgive me." He said.

I know during part way through his speech my mouth opened on its own volition my brain not being able to fully understand the words that were coming out of his mouth. He wanted me to forgive him. He was sorry for what he had done to me. He was sorry. Like that just fixed everything saying I am sorry.

I mean I am sorry for a lot things but it doesn't fix shit. I mean I am sorry for the starving kids of the world, I am sorry for famines, I am sorry for wars, I am sorry when someone I love loses something or someone close to them but being sorry doesn't fix any of that shit.

He harassed me, he stalked me, he hit me, he shot my brother Cal, he held a gun to my head and threatened to shoot me in front of my brother Vince while he violated me out on the streets, he sent me a box of sick fucking shit along with putting sick shit on my bed scaring the shit out of me. He threw me down stairs, he cheated on me, he was fucking my mom at the local hotel and sent me pictures, he called my brother's and Carlos thugs and murderers what exactly was he sorry for and did he think him being sorry actually fixed all the shit that he has done to me? Did he think I was just going to forgive him and be like oh that's okay Joe it was no fucking big deal like he had just backed into my car, or accidently stepped on my foot?

I didn't know what to say, It wasn't like I was going to forgive him, it wasn't like it was all of sudden going to be okay between us and everything go back to the way it was when we were just friends. We were never going to be friends again. I was never going to be able to trust him again no matter what he did.

He could help every old lady cross the street in the state, he could save every kitten that got too high up in the tree, find the home of every lost puppy out there, single handedly feed everyone who is hungry in the state and give them warm shelter and I was never going to trust him again. He could go to church every Sunday and go to confession daily and I was still never going to trust him again. We were never going to be friends again; we were never going to be anything again.

Joe didn't realize how close he was from never walking out of the door of Rangeman. If it weren't for it was Eddie who was with him Trenton would be down two cops and no one would be the wiser. But he had brought Eddie who was a friend of mine from childhood he had married my cousin Shirley the whiner. My brother's would never hurt Eddie.

Joe finished his little speech and was waiting for an answer. He actually looked like he was expecting an answer from me. I was holding Carlos' hand and my hand tightened in his and he squeeze my hand back letting me know he was there.

Lester was looking at me. I could read his thoughts and his thoughts were to rip Joe's fucking throat out to prevent him from speaking again. I looked over at Cal and Cal was looking at me I couldn't tell what he was thinking because I got too distracted looking at his tattoo it appeared to be glowing; angry.

I am new to Rangeman ESP so being distracted by the tattoo I think is why I was missing what Cal was saying to me. It was enough to see it glowing that whatever he was thinking wasn't good. I would even venture to guess that he was pissed. I didn't think he was pissed at me. Well maybe in a way he was that I actually caused the reason they were here by kicking the skip but it was his word against our word right?

I looked at Binkie and Ram and they were staring Joe down so hard that if I were him I would pissing my pants but in all Hector was the one that when my eyes hit him he was the one in the room to fear. I briefly was afraid for Eddie when I saw Hector.

His eyes were different. They were just black no sparkle no light just black. His face was steeled as if it was carved out of granite not a twitch, not a single movement. Looking at him I couldn't even tell if he was breathing. He looked downright scary, he looked hardened, he looked lethal.

I looked over at Eddie and I could see the fear in his eyes. Eddie had the brains to be scared he knew the position he was in and he knew it was only me and our relationship that was saving his ass at the moment. He knew the right words from me and he would never see the light of day again but he also knew those words would never come from me.

Joe didn't have that fear. He was stupid he was arrogant he was a complete dumbass if he thought I was going to just accept that apology and forget everything that had happened. I know he thought he would appeal to the side of me that wants to generally believe people are good but he had proven the type of person he was and there was no going back to the point that I thought there was something good in Joe. Something worth forgiving him and forgetting all the things he had done to me.

Some things you just can't forget and you can't forgive even for forgiven people. What Joe had done to me were things that couldn't be forgiven and would never be forgotten for me or my brothers.

I finally spoke up. "Joe, if what you say is true that you want me to forgive you, you want me to go back to a time when we were friends, then why are you here to arrest me? I mean friends, as you say you want to be now, don't go around arresting friends." I told him hoping that I would convince him to not arrest me by using his words against him. It wasn't that I was going to actually forgive him and be his friend but I wasn't going to let him know that at least not right now. Right now my goal was to not go to jail.

"Stephanie I do want you to be my friend again but I am a cop and Lawrence says you kicked him once he was in handcuffs we have to look into it. I can't ignore my job, my responsibilities even for a friend." He told me.

Boy was he trying hard when hadn't he ignored his job and his responsibilities when it suited him? I briefly wondered. I felt Carlos' hand tighten on mine and I feared I had spoken that thought out loud but when no one responded I figured it was just him having the same thoughts as me.

Binkie spoke up next "Officer Morelli I was on the scene, in fact Lawrence that you speak of so kindly sliced my arm open to the point I had to have twenty seven stitches." He showed Joe and Eddie his arm with the bandage. I briefly wondered if this was helping or harming my case, now I had motive for kicking him after all.

Binkie continued "Stephanie was there on the scene but she in no way kicked the skip after he was cuffed. He went after Stephanie first and she defended herself. When I stepped in to assist her he pulled a knife on me and proceeded to slice my arm open with it. If anything charges should be added to him for assault with a deadly weapon." Binkie added and I was all of a sudden glad he had spoken up when he had finished.

Eddie spoke up "Who else was on the scene?" He asked and Carlos spoke up at this point.

"Eddie it was a takedown that Rangeman was tasked with, Lawrence was FTA as you know and a team of five was on site. Binkie, Ram, Vince, Bobby, and Stephanie were on site for the takedown. Stephanie just joined Rangeman full time and she is currently training. Lawrence saw a woman there and thought he would go after the weaker team member. He was surprised when she wasn't, with her training she was able to defend herself. I guess Lawrence didn't like that a woman could defend herself against him and made up the story of her attacking him once he was in handcuffs. After all he is a serial rapist, who for some reason keeps getting bonded out of the system only forcing us to have to return him, who likes to beat on women."

Eddie nodded looking at us he asked "Is that the way you all saw it?" He asked. Part of me couldn't believe he asked that question like they were going to say no we saw it some other way than what their boss had just said, did he truly not know how Rangeman worked?

Carlos spoke up "Eddie here is the report that was written that afternoon once the team returned to Rangeman it has the events of what happened all documented you can see the timestamps of when it was created and if you want we can show you that it hasn't been edited in any way for further proof. What I told you is what happened." Carlos slid the paper across the table to them.

I had to bite the inside of my lip to keep my mouth from falling open. They had actually written a report the day it happened covering my ass? I felt Carlos squeeze my thigh and I knew what he was saying to me "Babe" and that "Babe" meant of course it was written to cover your ass I will always cover your ass. Then I heard "figuratively and literally, always" as if he had said it out loud but yet there was no sound.

I wanted to scream that I had mastered ESP I was so excited but I remained quiet. It was actually a little weird on one had but completely awesome on the other.

Eddie looked at the report Carlos had slide across the table. "Can I keep this coy?" he asked and Carlos nodded his head. He showed Joe the report. Joe hadn't taken his eyes off of me the entire time he was there. It was a little weird. It was a little unsettling and it had my spidey senses going off but he said he wanted to be friends, not that I was going to be friends with him again I just hoped that meant that he wouldn't have a target on me from this point forward.

I was hoping that he would leave me alone and go along with his life. Somehow I had a feeling that while that was what he was trying to sell me it was just that a sale, nothing real, nothing sincere just a sale at trying to get me to buy what he was saying. I just couldn't figure out why he would go to the trouble to say anything at all.

RPOV

That fucker had come into my company demanding to talk to Stephanie the only reason he was sitting in this room across from us was because Eddie was with him.

I wanted to just say fuck it and let Eddie be a casualty of war and if it wasn't for the love of my life sitting beside me they would have walked in Rangeman and never walked out.

They weren't the first and I was certain they wouldn't be the last but this time they would both be walking out even when I can't tell you how much I didn't want that to be the case.

I was glad that Eddie had accepted the document without asking for further evidence. Not that it was a big deal the document was written when I said it was. There were no lies or cover ups the document was written like that from the beginning.

I was so proud of my Babe when her ESP as she called it kicked in. I had a feeling this was going to be a double edge sword as she could clearly hear me and I could hear her. I could tell she wanted to jump up and down screaming yes she has ESP but I also knew she would refrain.

Eddie showed the document to Morelli, Morelli nodded. "Well Stephanie I don't think we have any further questions. This document gives us a good account of what happened." Morelli said and part of me was shocked. I expected him to fight it. I figured he came here ready to arrest her ready to take her away from the building.

Not that we would have allowed it, but I figured he would do his best to make that happen. I figured he would do whatever it took to get her alone with him, or as alone as they could be with Eddie in the same car with them.

They had come in separate cars the guys at the control room had informed me. I made sure one of the men made it so Morelli's car wouldn't be able to start so he would be unable to get Stephanie alone should they decide to arrest her.

I didn't have to ask if it had been done I knew it had. I stood up when Morelli finished talking. "Well I am glad we were able to set the record straight now if we are done we have work that needs to be done." I said.

All of the Rangeman stood up hearing my words but none of us made a step for the door. It would be Morelli and Eddie who would make the first steps. They stood up nodded.

Morelli decided to talk to my Babe one more time. "Stephanie I want you to know that I am really sorry I hope you can find it within you to forgive me for the things I have done." I wanted to ring his head right off of his chicken shit of a neck.

He then looked over at Cal "Cal I am sorry I shot you. I was crazy with rage and jealousy I wasn't really able to control myself at that point in time and I acted poorly, selfishly, and recklessly. I now have myself under better control." He said.

I briefly wondered what his game was. What was he up to? I knew he wasn't as sorry, as he was trying to come off. I knew he wasn't really apologizing for the things he had done. He was too cocky, he was too stubborn, and he was too full of himself to ever really be sorry for anything he has ever done so why was he laying it on so thick here? What was his motive? I briefly wondered.

They headed for the door with Rangeman falling in behind him. We weren't letting him near my Babe we made sure she had plenty of us surrounding her making her feel safe and secure in his presence. When they left I wrapped my arms around her. I felt her weight fall back on me as her body leaned heavily on me.

"Babe, I am proud of you, you never disappoint." I told her. She was the strongest person I knew. She had stood up to him while she was afraid of him she sat there stared at him and never let them see her sweat.

She smiled at me. I brushed my lips over hers unable to keep myself from feeling her lips pressed against mine. She lightly moaned and I could feel things begin to stir deep inside me. I had to end this or we would end up giving the guys a show I never had any intentions of them seeing or being privy to ever.

I pulled back and whispered in her ear "later Babe, later" promising her there would be much more to come. I smiled when I heard her sigh and I took it that she was as much disappointed as she was excited thinking about later. It was the same way I felt.

SPOV

Well at least they left without arresting me. I guess that accounts for a lot. I still wasn't sure what was up with Joe but I planned on talking to Carlos about it tonight to see if he got any of the same feelings I was having about what he was saying versus the looks and tone I felt. Somehow the two didn't seem to mesh but I didn't understand why. It didn't make sense to say the things he did if he didn't mean them.

I mean no one was expecting him to say those things, no one expected him to say he was sorry, apologize even down to telling Cal that he was basically out of control and in front of Eddie. Why would he do that? Why would he risk it I mean he basically admitted to stalking me, shooting cal, causing me the trouble he had all in front of Eddie. Yet the word didn't match the body language and looks.

Why say them why put yourself in jeopardy to say them if you didn't mean them? I didn't like it when things didn't add up. It made me crazy, it made me have to figure out why not, it made me want to sink my teeth into the puzzle and figure out the anomaly why two plus two wasn't adding up to four.

I guess that was what made me good at my job but it was also a curse as it drove me to do things I didn't really want to do at times but it was the puzzle that had to be figured out almost as bad as some people with OCD who had to drive home and check the coffee pot even when they knew they had turned it off but the voice in their head just won't leave them alone and give them any peace until they have turned the car around that fifth time to check the coffee pot.

That is how a puzzle or an anomaly affects me until I solve them. Until I figure it out it just bounces around in my head and I can't stop trying to solve it. It isn't something I can ignore. Normally I don't want to ignore them. Normally I want to solve them. Like finding a skip, putting the pieces together until I catch them or solving a mystery.

There were however were times when I didn't want to go near them. I knew it would lead to trouble I was scared to the point I had to check myself to see if I peed my pants but I did it anyway all to solve the mystery in spite of being scared or afraid and I had a feeling this time would be no different. I needed to answer the question why was Joe being nice to me, apologizing to me, asking forgiveness when in fact his body language and even his voice tones at time sort of belied the words that he was saying.

I needed to figure that out.

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	57. Chapter 56: Second Week at Rangeman

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

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Chapter 56: Second Week at Rangeman

RPOV

My body hovers over top of hers as my eyes fully take her in. She is so beautiful slightly flush from having her first of many orgasms to come tonight. I paused just to look at her to take in her beauty. Her lips slightly swollen, her eyes partially closed and her breathing still slightly heavy.

The blue in her eyes that I can see is sparkling with excitement. I love the affect I have on her. I love the fact that she can't get enough of me just as I can't get enough of her. I love the fact that we have the rest of our lives to try to get enough of each other. I hope it is something we are never able to achieve.

My dick is hard, swollen to what feels like capacity almost to the point that it is painful in anticipation of sliding into her wet warm walls. Pulses run through it in anticipation of feeling the muscles of her walls close around me and pulsate against me. The feel of how her muscles hold me tight as I push myself into her and try like hell to not let me go as I pull myself out only to once again push my way back deep inside.

I lower my lips down to her placing small kisses on her face. I put my lips first on the tip of her nose, then on each of her eyelids. I lower my body so I am resting on my forearms with my hands framing her head. Holding her head I kiss each of her cheeks running my thumbs across her cheeks and my forefingers across the sides of her face near her eyes.

I kiss her chin and place kisses up her jaw line almost to her ear before retreating to place kisses along the other side of her jaw working my way up to her ear. I feel her shiver at the feelings. Not shivers of fear, but shivers of excitement roll throughout her body.

"Querida, I love you. I love the feel of you under me. I love the feeling of having you in my arms, the feeling of my body pressed against yours. I am so hard for you, I am so ready to take you but I want to savor every bit, every morsel your body has to offer me. I want to feel my lips on your face, your ears, your sensitive neck, your silky body, and your wet sweet lower lips. I want to feel my dick enter your warm wet, for me, body as your lower lips caress me take me in hold me enveloping me. I love making love to you, I love feeling you make love to me." I told her as I kissed my way down her neck around her neck paying particular attention to her sensitive spots.

I could feel her wetness pooling at her entrance and my dick pulsed and jumped in anticipation rubbing her as it moved. My hips were developing a mind of their own as they tried desperately to lunge forward. I could feel my juices pooling on the head of my dick and I knew it was only matter of seconds not minutes before I would no longer be able to hold myself back.

I needed to be buried within the love of my life. I needed to feel her warmth envelop me I needed to feel her muscles clamp down on me. Finding her lips I greedily kissed her running my tongue across her full swollen lips begging at this point for entry. My tongue was anticipating the taste of her as she opened for me and I deepened the kiss. My tongue runs along the walls of her mouth done her smooth tongue. Her tongue matching mine as she presses forward into my mouth. The feeling of feeling her tongue in my mouth touching the sides of my mouth is all I can take no longer being able to control my hips, my dick pushes ever so slightly into her.

I feel my eyes roll back as I move ever so slowly into her feeling the muscles within her walls clamp down and pull me further in as the size of me stretches her walls open. I have to concentrate not to just plunge into her and allow myself to release with the feelings of her wrapped around me being so intense.

Her hips rise to accept me further into her and I had to grab them and hold them still, her moving like that right now would definitely have me releasing well before I was ready. This was something I wanted to savor something I wanted to enjoy for awhile. I didn't want to be shooting off like a teenage boy that some girl had just rub against.

This was my woman, the love of my life. I wanted to show her just how much I loved her, just how much I wanted her, needed her, and exactly what she does to me, how my body responds to her.

"Oh God, Carlos." She said with heavy breath closing her beautiful blue eyes as her body trembled beneath me. Having her in my arms like that is something that no matter how many times I hold her, no matter how many times I have her I still find myself unable to get enough.

I finally bury my hardened throbbing aching dick to the hilt. I feel her womb pressing against me as I feel her walls stretch to accommodate me. Once I know she has adjusted to me being buried deep within her I slowly pull myself back; retreating.

My body protesting every millimeter I pull myself away from her body the warmth, the wetness, the smell of her, the taste of her everything about her my body craves my body desires. Feeling her touch the softness of her skin, the silkiness of feeling her body move against mine all of it I crave. The feeling of her body pressing against mine or my body pressing against hers is my undoing. Feeling her muscles contract, feeling the blood pulsating through her veins as I am buried deep within her the feel of her body under mine. My hands running down her body feeling her skin feeling the air from her labored breathing blow across my cheek and ear as my lips work magic around her neck and shoulders.

My eyes closed as the rest of my senses drink her in. The smell of her all that is her pulls me in the smell o f my shower gel on her that makes me want to growl with possession when I smell it on her, the lingering smell of her perfume that I know she sprays on her hair brush before running it through her hair. The smell of her sex, the wetness that I could never drink enough of, assaults my senses the combination can only be described as deadly. Those smells alone have me moaning and grinding into her harder pressing myself into her as deep as I can.

My hands find her hardened nipples and saliva pools in my mouth from the desire I have to take them into my mouth suck them in. My tongue moves on its own in anticipation of toying with her hardened peaks. I can't wait to taste her breast, her nipples, and her skin.

Her breast lunge forward into my mouth practically before my mouth reached them. Her need for me growing with every lick, suckle of her skin, and every movement of our bodies rubbing together. Her arms wrapped around me pulling me tighter to her with one of her hands on the back of my head holding me to her breast her other hand splayed across my shoulder blade that she runs down my back and pulls me back to her every time I pull away even the slightest of motion. Her breathing is labored and every once in a while, when she is able I hear the chant of my name mixed with God's.

I feel the slight bite of her fingernails in my back as she tries harder to pull me in deeper and deeper with every surge forward of my body. Me burying my hardened throbbing aching dick into her soft, wet warm body I feel my dick twitch inside her as I feel the electric pulse that shoots throughout my body. Her walls clamping down on me pulsating against me a rhythm they are beating to on their own yet somehow in perfect sync with each other. I feel fresh juices coat me and I know she is only moments from falling over the edge.

Knowing this, feeling her nails pressing into my back, her pulsating body against mine makes me pick up the pace of my body movement almost involuntary a hand goes to her hip to hold her tighter against me as I change the angle of our bodies slightly. I know what this angle does to her and I know she won't be able to hold on with the feelings my body creates when I rub against her as I press myself into her further and further harder and harder faster and faster. I briefly lose sight of her as my eyes roll into the back of my head with the pleasure coursing its way through my body trying to keep my body in check to wait for her to fall is no small feat.

I hear my name being echoed off the walls as she screams it and it just pushes me to move faster and press harder against her body. Hearing our bodies slap together the feeling of her wetness and hearing how wet she is for me remembering the taste of her has me ready to echo the screams of my name with hers. I feel a shutter run down my body and I know I am only seconds following her but I hold out to let her ride the feeling for several seconds longer before I join her in falling over the edge.

My body shakes as I give in and let my body release. My dick jumps as my sperm shoots out with vengeance finally able to break through my control. I feel my body shake and pulsate with every surge of release one after the other her body milking me for every single drop I have available to give. This part is my favorite part well I don't know if that is true but it is one of my favorite parts when our bodies pulsate together pulling each other further into our own orgasms.

Our bodies milking our orgasm for every ounce of feeling, sensation, juices the other has to give. The feel of our bodies collapsed against each other both of us trying to control our breathing or hearts both beating so wildly they can be heard and felt beating a rhythm together, both wild and yet in perfect synch and harmony together.

My body collapses down on top of her I try to hold some of my weight off of her but she pulls me to her tighter her way of welcoming my weight against her in her orgasmic bliss. I still hold up as much as my arms and legs are able to hold at the moment it isn't as much as I would like and nothing of what I normal capable of holding normally. My body spent, my body satiated in a way only my Babe can.

Gathering her in my arms I roll so I am lying with my back on the bed and she is splayed across my front. Her weight pressing into me is better than my weight pressing into her. I hug her to me holding her against me as our bodies start to calm and relax against each other. I am still buried deep within her as sleep pulls at the edge of my blissful mind.

SPOV  
Well my first week was behind me and it was time to move on to the second week. Monday morning came fast. Of course when you worked Monday through Friday and then things come up on Saturday and Sunday it seemed like it was always Monday it just sort of got lost in the days.

This week I was with Lester. I was looking forward to spending the week with my best friend. The week with Bobby had been fun and I enjoyed spending time with him but I knew this week with Lester would be even better.

We had so many of the same things in common. We liked the same music, the same kinds of food, we liked the same dumb movies, we laughed at the same stupid jokes, and we loved just hanging around each other. Oh and he loved to talk almost as much as I did.

While he could say the stupidest things sometimes and his mouth always got him trouble with Carlos I loved him in spite of all of it. He was my best friend. He was my brother by a different mother. A mother I wished I had.

I walked into the gym on Monday morning still not understanding why it had to be so freaking early but I was committed to being a Rangeman so early mornings went with the job. Rangeman worked long hours, it was a job that was worthy of the devotion of time and energy. It was a job that at the end of the day you knew your part however small however it may seem insignificant at the moment made a difference. It made a difference to the people of Trenton.

We kept them safe, we protected them. It was as close as it comes to being a member of the Justice League the real world had to offer. The scumbags who skipped we tracked them down, those that needed security systems we provided. We even provided protected detail for some.

Because of Rangeman, our jobs, Trenton was a better place.

Carlos was already down in the gym and was on the mats with Junior. I wasn't sure what he had done but he had screwed up somewhere along the lines and gotten called to the mats to work it out.

I jumped when I felt an arm go around me. Jumping out of the grasp of whomever it was who grabbed me yelping a little bit in the process.

"Whoa Beautiful, it's just me." Lester said holding his hands up in the universal sign of surrender.

"Fuck Lester don't sneak up on a girl at this time of the morning. Make some noise for fuck sake." I said with my hand over my heart. Damn how the hell are they that quiet?

"Beautiful you need…" I glared at him daring him to say anything more. He smartly took a step back "Whatever" he said still holding his hands up in the air.

"That's better. Oh and you owe me coffee this morning." I told him. His face registering shock and resistance but I could see his eyes betraying him. He would get me coffee. I smiled at him stepped closer and kissed him on the cheek.

"Why exactly do I owe you coffee?" He questioned me. I just smiled at him.

"Because" I told him not giving anything away. In actuality I had no reason other than I just said it and he knew that but like I said he would get me coffee in spite of it.

Putting my arm around him as he put his arm around me we made our way over to the treadmills to get on with our workouts.

LPOV

I am excited this week I get Beautiful all to myself. It is my week that she partners with me and to tell you the truth I couldn't be happier about it. I wanted her for a partner permanently but Bobby and I have been partners for so long that would be a tough partnership to end.

We all wanted Stephanie to pick us to be her partner. I mean we all loved her, we all loved spending time with her and we all loved watching her work her magic in finding the bad guy. Her spidey senses was amazing to watch. Her senses rivaled that of Ranger's it was actually a little freaky how she did it.

Now that she was getting trained I was anxious to see how well she would do in the field. I had shadowed her and helped her with a few take downs before her training when she was working for Vinnie. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with the way she did things then, though granted there was room for improvement, but isn't there always? I was extremely excited to see how well she did now with the training.

Her self-defense training should come in handy if one of the skips decides he is going to attack. She is no longer afraid of her gun nor does she keep it in her purse. I never understood that one. Carry a gun but keep it in her purse so when she needed it she had to go digging around in her purse to find it.

Then half the time it would have one or less bullets in the gun. I know there were several times I snuck in her purse and loaded it I know Ranger did as well. I don't know where all the bullets we put in her gun went because I don't think she fired it that much but inevitably her gun was going to be close to empty every time.

Her training had fixed that and I was glad. Now you would see her check her weapons, yes I said weapons, to make sure they were ready. If she learned nothing more than that from her training it made me happy. I knew it made her safer, and anything that made it any bit safer for her in this world made me happy.

We worked out in the gym and I was really careful not to make any comments hearing her grunting through her reps. I found it funny that she decided to mimic skull head but she must have figured it made the rep easier. I mean for us sometimes we grunted but we were men, not that women couldn't grunt but I guess I was use to hearing those noises come from women in a slightly different activity.

When we finished working out I put my arm around her "Beautiful how about we get some breakfast out then swing by the bonds office and see what Connie has for us?" I asked her.

She smiled her eyes smiling I knew the mention of breakfast was exciting her it wasn't me or going by the bond's office. I smiled some things would never change no matter how much some things have.

"Deal, Santos, meet you in the garage in thirty?" she said and I couldn't help but laugh at her trying to sound like one of the guys. I just shook my head at her as I made my way to the showers.

RPOV

Today was the first day my Babe was going to be out in the field since she had become a full time Rangeman. I was excited for her but I was also on edge. I wanted today to go well for her. I wanted her to have a good day. I wanted her to see what her training did for her when it came to the streets but I also knew the dangers of the street and two weeks of training even intense training isn't enough training to always keep you safe out there on the streets.

The fuckers we went after were mean, cruel, sons of bitches. Some were tougher than others and some were just fucking crazy and it was those that had me on edge.

She was with Lester and I knew he would keep her safe or die trying to keep her safe but that only slightly eased me. I would never keep her in the building or tell her that she couldn't go into the field but I hoped that as she learned different aspects of the business she would find something she enjoyed on the safer side of the business like client meetings, installs, or the business side of Rangeman.

I didn't have a whole lot of faith that would be the case because this was Stephanie a true Wonder Woman in the flesh and I figured she wouldn't be happy and satisfied unless she was doing her part to save the world or at least Trenton.

I loved that about her but because of it I worried about her. I worried about her getting hurt. I worried about her being taken from me. I couldn't survive that and who ever hurt her sure as hell wouldn't survive it either.

I knew if I stayed in the office today I would drive myself crazy with pulling up her trackers, the video and audio feeds from the vehicle. I was going to do my best to trust her, trust her training, and trust Lester to keep her safe if all else failed. I didn't want to be the overbearing over protective man I had been in the past but it was going to go against everything ingrained in me to do it.

I walked into Tank's office "You schedule those client meetings for me today?" I asked him. I knew he had or at least that is what I told him to do so he had better done it.

He nodded looking at me. He knew my problem and his lips twitched because of it, fucker.

"Man we are all going to worry about her but we have to trust her training. Fuck man she is better trained than some of the men who have been working for us for years. They don't get the benefit of having us head up their training." He told me. I nodded.

I knew that but I also knew they had other experience like years of fighting in a war. Experience that sometimes prepares you better than just training could ever do. Training is great, and a hell of a lot better than nothing but experience goes the mile. I just had to believe that her training along with her spidey sense it would keep her safe out there so she could get experience to make her even better.

"I know man, I am just trying to not be overbearing and overprotective of her now that she has her training I need to trust that she can keep herself safe and if she needs us she will let us know. I owe that to her with all her hard work." I told him. He nodded agreeing with me, fucker could at least disagree once.

The meeting was at eight-thirty her and Santos had left for Breakfast and to pick up files from Connie before the meeting. They were due back any meeting and I didn't want them to walk in with us talking about her.

I picked up my schedule of meetings and made it back to my office. I no more walked into the door of my office when the elevator dinged opened and I heard her laughter sing out down the hallway. I stepped back out of the office to see her and Lester laughing at something. The smile on her face was practically blinding she was happy.

She made her way to her cubicle and sat down. I had yet to show her, her new office I was going to save that for when she spent the week with me. I smiled just knowing how much she was going to like it as I made my way into my office to pickup what I needed for the meeting.

I made my way out of my office to the conference room down the hallway from our offices I saw my men going into the conference room. I knew they would all be there by the time I got there.

I walked in and everyone was sitting around the table. My Babe was sitting to my right and Tank was to my left. This was how Rangeman should have been for years. I don't let my lips or face give away the happiness that I feel at the picture before me. I just step up to my chair and do what I do every day "Report" I bark at the men sitting around the table.

Hal spoke up first "I just got word that the package we shipped was delivered without any problems." I nodded. I wanted to smile but I refrained. I would take a moment to smile when I was in my car alone heading to a client meeting. Fuck I may end up actually laughing. That marshmallow of a dumb fuck, Mike, wouldn't survive a day where I fucking sent him.

Cal spoke up next "we have Jamal Jenkins, Carl Perkins, and Walter Humphries that need to be picked up this week." So we had three take downs to get this week. I nodded.

He continued "we have done the searches on these guys Jamal we think we can get at his home without any issues, Carl and Walter won't be so easy. We are going to have to pick them up at either their job or the bar where they hang out after work. Carl and Walter are both drunks." He said. I nodded. I figured we would use Stephanie for a distraction if she felt up for it and was willing. It was and always would be up to her. Just because she was full time Rangeman didn't obligate her to distractions.

They passed around a copy of their files for all to read. I knew their stories and I knew they were scum.

My Babe spoke up next "Lester and I just picked up the files from the bonds office, we were giving three. Harper Talins, Jeffrey Shifflett, and Thomas Adens we will run searches on them later. Their time isn't up for a few weeks so we should have time to decide the best way to catch them." She said.

Binkie spoke up next "there were no issues with any of the accounts over night. The control room has been quiet." I nodded thanking whatever God I needed to for a quiet control room. It had made life easier without having active cases there these past couple of weeks.

I looked to Junior as he spoke up. "The new account installs are scheduled to be completed this week. We have two others scheduled for next week." I once again nodded.

Adding "make sure we have the needed supplies on hand and if not order what we need for those installs so they are ready for next week." He nodded

"Rangeman I believe we have everything ordered but I will double check." I nodded. I liked when things were thought of ahead of time. I hated when we lost valuable time waiting on parts.

"I have client meetings all day so I will be out of the office most of the time. You can reach me on my cell phone but only in the case of an emergency all regular business should go to Tank." I told them before standing up and effectively ending the meeting.

I made my way out of the conference room to my office to grab the files I needed for the client meetings. Before I left I stopped by my Babe's cubicle.

"Babe" I called her name and she jumped.

"Damn make some noise." She stayed half winded. I smiled.

"Babe I am getting ready to head out I will see you for dinner tonight I should be back by six provided everything goes as planned." She nodded.

"Don't get shot" she said and I smiled.

"Don't go crazy, Babe" I told her as I pushed a curl behind her ear. I wanted to tell her to be safe, to be aware of her surroundings out there on the streets but I didn't want her to think I didn't trust her training. It isn't like I tell Santos those things when he leaves the office or any of the other men for that fact. If I did they would think I was fucking insane.

I nodded "I love you" I did tell her.

She smiled at me "I love you too" she told me as I turned to walk to the stairwell.

SPOV

I had kicked off searches for the three new skips that we had picked up from Connie this morning when Lester walked over to my cubicle.

He leaned up against the side of the panel and gave me one of his sexy grins. Yeah I know Carlos has my heart and soul and even my eyes but I would be amiss if I didn't notice how sexy Lester was I mean all my MM were. I was taken, not dead.

I smiled at him. "You ready to kick some ass in the field?" he asked me and I nodded. It had been a long time since I had been out in the field working. We had been training, and I had been in Rangeman a lot the past two weeks. Most part training and some part hiding out.

I will admit it part of me was scared of Joe, and the other part of me didn't want to deal with my mother so it was just easier to hang out here and train. It wasn't like I had much downtime from my training anyway. At night when I could have gone out I was too tired to even think about it and when I had gone out it was Joe that ruined my night and shot my brother, Cal.

It would be nice to get out of here and do my job, the job I had been trained to do. I gathered my things. My bag I had packed this morning with my treats, some things would never change, checked my gun, loaded, I checked my knives that Hector had outfitted me with, no doubt about them being sharp. I grabbed my purse.

I reached back and grabbed my sunglasses that were sitting on my desk as I grabbed my Rangeman jacket and pulled it on. Lester threw his arm around my shoulder pulling me to him. "You got anything in that bag for me?" he asked. I just shook my head something never changed.

We made our way down to the SUV where I got in the in the passenger's seat and Lester got in the Driver's seat and we made our way out of the garage.

We had been given Jamal Jenkins' file. We were to just do some surveillance of his house. I opened his file he was a bad dude. He had be arrested for theft, assault, assault with a deadly weapon, he was suspect in a murder case, he had used explosives in the past, he was known for being a little crazy when it came to making homemade bombs. Why was this guy allowed out of jail? I briefly wondered.

He had a rap sheet the size of my arm and none of it good. The only thing that wasn't on his sheet was rape, or sexual assaults. I guess that said something for the guy but not a whole lot.

We pulled up several feet down from the suspect's house. His house, if you could call it that looked like it was ready to cave in on itself. The porch was barely hanging on, the roof above the porch looked like it was ready to fall off. The growth around the house looked like a garden allowed to grown wild for years.

Bushes, brush, long stalks of flowers that had long since seen their prime resided around the house. It wouldn't take much imagination to see that the house was once a beautiful small home that had someone who cared for it living it in but that hadn't been for years.

It was suffering from years of neglect. "This is his house?" I questioned and Lester nodded. As the house was now itwouldn't be hard to imagine the amount of animal life dwelling there I could picture rats the size of alley cats, and probably snakes and spiders, and an infestation of roaches. My body shuddered at all the thoughts going through my head. I briefly wondered if we had to go in that home would I have to burn my uniform.

At least it was a uniform one Rangeman would replace if I did in fact have to burn it, which it was looking more and more like the case, to keep from carrying a disease back to Rangeman it would just be a uniform easily replaceable thanks to Ella, my God send.

I looked at Lester and he looked at me smiling, fucker. He loved the fact that I was worried I was going to have go into that yard and into that house.

I flipped his file over and saw that he was out on bail for attempted theft and arson. Apparently he thought he could take a bomb into a convenience store and demand that they hand him all the money. To his surprise he picked a store that doesn't carry more than fifty dollars in the cash register at any given time.

They have a floor safe they put the money in and no one has the combination that works there if you try to put your hand in the slot the money goes in well there are barbs that keep you from retrieving your hand at least in one piece.

What was he going to do with the bomb I mean besides blow himself up it didn't seem like a well thought out plan if you asked me but sometimes criminals aren't too bright. Apparently the arson charges came when he proceeded to light the bomb in his hand again I ask why. Well he cut the cord because the clerk opened the register and the burning cord set fire to something in the store.

"We are just to watch and see if we see activity correct?" I asked him while watching the house.

"Well if we think we can get him then we try to get him but other than that yes, just watch the house looking for activity. If we think he is in there alone we can see if we can get him." He said. Great, just great, it would be my luck that not only is he home, he is home alone.

We waited, watching the house for any activity and there was none. I was happy with the idea of not having to go near that house.

I didn't even see the weeds around the house moving from any animal moving along them going in and out of the house. That I took as a good sign maybe the rats have already feasted on whatever it is they eat for the day.

We had been there about an hour when we saw a man fitting the description of Jamal walking towards us down the street. I looked at the picture again and was convinced it was him. "That's Jamal walking down the sidewalk. He must be headed home." I told Lester who nodded he had seen him as well.

I turned the picture toward Lester for him to verify "yep that looks like him" Lester said. I nodded.

We watched as Jamal went up his side walk and into his house so there was no doubt that he was home, and he was alone. Fuck. I looked at Lester "how you want to do this?" I asked him.

He looked at me smiling. "I say we just go up together and convince him coming with us is best for his health." He said. I smiled at his choice of words.

"Lester I am not sure he cares what is best for his health, look at his place that couldn't be good for his health but he still lives there." I told him as I exited the truck.

Lester rounded the truck and we made our way to his house. Walking up the sidewalk I wondered if this was the best of ideas. "Lester I am not sure this is the best approach." I told him. He paused for a moment.

"Beautiful your spidey senses telling you something?" He asked. I shook my head no. It wasn't really my spidey senses as much as my being scared of what was going to come out of that house after us. Like huge ass spiders and rats, and who knows what else.

"Not really, I think I am freaked out by this place alone." I told him. He laughed and continued up to the house so I followed him my hand having pulled my gun out. I once shot some snakes and I wasn't above doing it again if need be I would add some rats to my list of kills.

I was a little nervous both Lester and I standing on the porch at the same time. It didn't look like it was going to hold us. I looked at him "Do you think it is safe for us to be standing on the same board let alone the same porch?" I asked him. He just smiled.

"Relax Beautiful all is good." He said as he beat against the door.

Jamal opened the door and I started with my speech "Jamal Jenkins?" He nodded. "We are here representing your bond office. You missed your court date and we need to take you in to get you rescheduled." I told him. It was always important to start out being nice.

He tried to close the door but Lester had his foot in the doorway so he wasn't going to close it on us. "I am not going back to jail you all can go to hell." He screamed at us as he turned and bolted from the door running through the house. Fuck why do they always have to run?

We pushed through the door running after Jamal and if outside was nasty inside was far worse. The smell alone was enough to make you vomit. I gagged. We came to a screeching halt when Jamal turned toward us with a bomb in his hand, holy shit.

Part of me wanted to just "Opps my bad" and walk out but I knew that wasn't really the Rangeman option but getting my ass blown up really wasn't an option for me either.

I knew this was a bad idea.

Lester spoke up "man that isn't a good idea. That bomb isn't very stable you need to put it down slowly." As he started backing up his arm out to his side pushing me behind him as we both started stepping backwards to the front door.

Fuck this man was crazy. He once again held a bomb in his hand threatening someone else. It was clearly obvious he didn't really care about his health.

I looked at Lester "Good for his health, huh?" I questioned and he shrugged as he was slowly backing us up. I still had my gun in my hand and I thought about just shooting him but I didn't know what that would do to the bomb. I mean how big was this bomb?

Would be like poof and blow his hand off or would be like boom and blow the house up? I decided I didn't really want to find out and just kept backing up the only problem was with every backward step we took, Jamal took a step forward a smile forming on his lips he was enjoying this.

Lester spoke up one more time "Jamal I am telling you put the bomb down its not stable." He said and I could tell by how coiled tight he was he was deadly serious. There was no sign of the Jokester or playboy this was solider Lester. He pulled me completely behind him. As I stepped backwards my foot passing over the threshold of the door to the porch I touched Lester on the shoulder.

Lester spun grabbed me by my side lifted me and started running full out run across the porch down the stairs and towards the car we were half way across the lawn when the house exploded propelling him forwarded taking him off of his feet. We landed in the tall grass me on my back and him completely on top of me.

His body being thrown down on mine pushed the air out of my lungs. Debris from the house started landing all around us and on Lester. I piece of board had hit him in the back of his head I quickly removed it with my free hand but Lester was out cold.

"Lester" I screamed on the verge of panic shaking him with my hands trying to get a response. I felt for a pulse and he had one, thank god. It was strong, and he was breathing so I calmed a little bit and managed to hold the tears back. I tried turning to get him off of me but he was completely on top of me dead weight all two hundred plus pounds.

I pushed and pulled but he wasn't moving. I remembered my panic button and knew he had one too in his back pocket so I felt around until I found it and pushed it. I knew that help would be here soon.

In the distance I heard the sirens and knew the ambulance and police would be here soon as well. I wasn't looking forward to this. My first day in the field and a house explodes. I mean it doesn't really matter that the man living their liked to play with unstable bombs and would have more than likely blown himself up in time he had to blow himself up when I was there. Go figure.

I heard tires squealing and I knew it was Rangeman responding to the panic button. I heard doors slamming and heard the pounding of boots on the sidewalk until they reached us. I managed to smile at Tank and Bobby from under Lester.

"I am okay. I am not hurt. Lester got hit in the back of head by a board from the house when it exploded and it knocked him out. The good news Jamal Jenkins won't have to be returned to jail, he managed to blow himself up." I told them and they sighed.

They reached down and picked Lester up off of me and I struggled for a minute to get myself to my feet. Cal reached down and helped me. I figure it took a few minutes for my body to de-flatten itself. "You sure you okay Angel?" Cal asked me and I nodded I was okay.

"Yeah I am fine Lester here protected me. We were in the house when Jamal pulled the bomb on us we backed up to the door when we reached the door Lester turned grabbed me in his arms and took off running when we got almost here the house exploded and threw us forward we landed where you found us. I moved the board from the back of Lester's head. I wasn't able to move him off of me he was just dead weight on me." I told them.

"Lester warned Jamal at least two times that the bomb was unstable. He asked him to put it down but Jamal didn't he just kept moving closer and closer to us as we were backup in the house. I don't know what set the bomb off as we were retreating but something set it off." I told them.

They just looked at me. "What? It wasn't my fault." I told them and they just snickered, fuckers.

About that time the police and rescue arrived on scene, great just great none other than Joe Morelli, Big Dog, and Eddie. At least they knew me and hopefully they would believe me and Joe wouldn't arrest me.

The EMT went to work on Lester. Bobby had already begun looking him over. Lester was still out and that bothered me. I worked my way over to him sitting down grabbing his hand and holding it in mine.

It wasn't two seconds later that I heard screeching tires and I knew who it was. It was Carlos. He came running around the other vehicles and I saw the look of panic on his face until his eyes landed on mine and I smiled at him. He calmed and I could see Ranger come forward as he made his way to me.

"Babe" he said as he kneeled down beside me. I looked up at him. "I am fine, I didn't get hurt. Lester here took the brunt of it. He is still out cold." I told him.

He nodded and walked over the Tank. He wasn't going to ask me to retell what happened he would get it from Tank who he knew I had already filled in. Tank was talking to the police officers including Joe. I had my eye on him making sure he stayed away. I didn't want him near me. Cal came over and sat down beside me. "Don't worry Angel he won't get to close to you." He told me. I smiled at him.

"I am not so worried about him not as much as I would have been without his apologies but I am more worried about Lester. I just don't want to be stuck here going over and over what happened when they take Lester. I want to go with him." I told him. He nodded.

Cal motioned to Tank and Tank, Carlos, along with the cops came over to where I was sitting. Carlos kneeled behind me. He pulled me back against him even though I didn't want to get his suit dirty.

"Babe" he said telling me he didn't give a shit about his suit. I leaned my head back against him letting him take my weight. I noticed Joe watching me holding Lester's hand and I saw red around his neck but he was trying to hold his temper back.

"Stephanie, can you tell us what happened?" He asked. I nodded.

"Jamal Jenkins was FTA and we had been giving him to return to the system. Lester and I came to stake out his home. We had been here about an hour when he came home. We made our way to the house knocked on the door. I informed him who we were and why we were there and asked him to come with us. He refused and took off running through the house. We followed him. He turned on us with a bomb in his hand." I told him. I felt Carlos stiffen behind me.

"Lester told him that the bomb he was holding was unstable and asked him to put it down but Jamal didn't. We started to backup making our way to the door. Every step we took backwards Jamal took a step toward us. Lester told him again right before we reached the door that the bomb he was holding was unstable and he needed to put it down. When we made it to the threshold and I stepped across it Lester turned picked me up and started running we got to almost this point and the house blew up. It pushed us forward throwing us to the ground a board from the house hit Lester in the back of the head and knocked him out." I told them.

The cops nodded. "Anything else you can tell us? Did you see Jamal after the explosion or before the explosion?" I shook my head no. "The last time I saw him he was stepping toward us with the bomb in his hand. I don't know if he was in the house or if he got out." I told him. I suspected he was still in the house but I just went with I didn't know.

I didn't want to think about him being in the house at the time of the explosion.

"Babe" I heard Carlos say behind me as his hand caressed my neck and cheek. I wanted to turn around and bury my head in his shoulder and cry but I refrained I was full time Rangeman now and Rangeman didn't cry over a house blowing up or a fellow brother who was just knocked out.

Lester started to stir beside me and I grabbed on tighter to his hand squeezing it. I ran my hand over his head and called his name "Lester?" calmly to see if he would open those beautiful green eyes and look at me with his smile.

I looked up at Carlos behind me and I could feel the tears in my eyes but I refused for them to fall. He stroked my neck and cheek again with his fingers his eyes searching mine. He was asking if I was in fact alright. I told him I was. His lips curved slightly you would have missed it unless you had been looking for it. Our ESP was strong. I heard damn straight from him and almost laughed.

I looked down at Lester who had his eyes opened looking at us. "Lester can you hear me?" I asked him and he nodded. My heart began to beat normally again and I could breath my best friend was going to be okay.

He sat up rubbing the back of his head. I touched it and a big knot had formed he winced when I touched it.

"Beautiful, you okay?" He asked me and I nodded.

"Yeah Lester you blocked the blast with your body. You fell on top of me and the board hit you in the back of your head." I told him. He nodded. He turned and bumped fists with Carlos behind me.

I knew it was his way of thanking Lester for protecting me, but it didn't make me feel good for him having gotten hurt protecting me.

"Are you going to the hospital?" I asked him and Lester shook his head no.

"I think you should go and get an x-ray." I told him. He once again shook his head no.

"Beautiful I am good just a knot it will go down with some ice." He told me, I fumed how men could be so hard headed but if the shoe was on the other foot I would be saying the same thing we hated hospitals it was another thing we had in common.

The fire department had been putting the blaze out that had started when the bomb went off and they were looking for Jamal. Something told me they were finding pieces of him but I wanted to keep my mind away from that. Not really acknowledge what they were putting in the black bag.

"Bobby you are going to have to take a look at him he is refusing to go to the hospital." I told Bobby. Bobby nodded.

"We will check him when we get back to Rangeman and I will tell him if he needs to go to the hospital or not." I nodded happy with that.

The Cops was just watching our interaction with each other. I turned toward Carlos "you heading back to Rangeman or do you have more meetings?" I asked him. He kissed my cheek.

"Babe" he said not sure exactly what that meant other than I knew he would be going back to the office with us just to make sure I was okay and then he would decide his day. I nodded fully understanding what he was saying to me. Once again I caught the cops' confusion looking at us.

We didn't need words not really.

I looked at the cops. "Do you have everything you need from us? I asked them and they nodded.

"If we need more we know where to find you." I just nodded and went to get up. Still holding Lester's hand I tug on him to help him up and he wobbles so I put my arm under him around his waist to help him. Bobby gets the other side while Carlos walks beside me.

I see a look on Joe's face that I wasn't sure about it looked like he wanted to scream something at me but was refraining. I put it out of my mind as we made our way back to our vehicles. Cal was going to drive our SUV with Lester, Tank, and Bobby. I was going to ride with Carlos back to Rangeman.

I got in the turbo feeling the soft feel of the leather seats cupping me as I sat down and relaxed back against the feel of them and the smell of him in his car. I loved this car for that. It was so him. When I was inside this car it felt like I was wrapped up in him. His smell his feel his everything.

I let out a soft sigh "Babe" Carlos said beside me as he shifted in his seat before starting the car well maybe it was more of a moan.

We made it back to the Rangeman garage. Pulling into the parking place Carlos put the car in park and turned it off but didn't immediately exit the vehicle. He instead leaned over and pulled me to him.

Kissing me deeper as he pulled me over onto his lap I guess he realized then that I was fine. After making out like horny teenagers at a drive in movie we made our way out of the car to the cat calls of my brothers who I swiftly gave them the finger and then followed Lester to the infirmary.

Carlos went to change to head out to his next meeting. I had convinced him in the car that I was okay that I hadn't been hurt during the explosion. I hadn't. My back was a little sore but I think that was from the impact nothing was broken or anything it was just sore. I doubt there was even a bruise.

I knew Lester wasn't feeling his best because he said nothing, didn't even laugh when the guys saw us in the car. He had to be hurting and knowing that was causing me to worry that maybe he should have gone to the hospital instead of Rangeman infirmary.

LPOV

That mother fucker pulled a fucking bomb on us. I mean a god damn bomb what was he thinking? The fucker was completely unstable.

It would be something that we wouldn't even worry about trying to diffuse because it is too unstable it is something we would just blow in a safe environment or as safe as we could make it.

Here was this stupid fucker holding a fucking bomb in his hand as he advanced on us. We were backing our way out of the house I made sure Beautiful was behind me because if that fucking thing went off I wanted her as protected as possible not that this distance would make much difference. We would both be dead.

When I heard her foot hit the porch I turned gathered her in my arm and took off running as fast as I could. I slammed the door between us and him to give some barrier and just ran. She was in my arms and I was just running as fast as I could when the house exploded.

I felt it propel me forward and I couldn't stay on my feet as the impact pounded us to the ground I knew I had landed on top of her and I winced for her but before I could do anything a board hit me in the back of the head. Pain shot through me and then everything went black.

When I came too I saw Beautiful sitting beside me looking over me. She honestly looked like an angel with the sun shining through her hair. I briefly thought I had died and gone to heaven then I remember I wasn't getting in heaven so I must be still alive as this wasn't exactly hell even though it hurt like it.

I looked at her and smiled she was okay that was all that mattered. She was holding my hand I tightened my grip on her hand. I asked her if she was okay and she told me she was. I sat up and I saw Ranger kneeling behind her I bumped fist with him. He was thanking me for protecting her and I was telling him always.

My head felt like someone was doing to the mambo in it the pain was overwhelming and part of me wanted to just lay back down in the grass but I didn't want to look like such a chicken shit in front of Beautiful, the guys, and the cops so I grinned and bared it. I did refuse the trip to the hospital. It wasn't like they would do anything. Give me some pain meds and tell me I had a concussion. Been there done that probably have the t-shirt and the hat. Bobby would take care of it for me back at Rangeman.

I get out of the car and the guys are calling out to Ranger and Beautiful who are making out in the turbo. I was hurting to bad to even yell anything. My head was busting and their yelling wasn't helping. I looked over in time for her to give them the finger and while normally I would have thought that was funny I hurt too bad to fucking laugh.

I just kept making my way to the elevator. Beautiful came over and joined me taking my hand and walking with me to the infirmary.

When I saw the bed I didn't hesitate lying down and closing my eyes. I heard her pull up a chair beside the bed and take my hand in hers. "How bad is it Lester?" she asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders I wasn't going to tell her my head felt like it was split in three different places and my brains felt like they had been turned to mush. She tightened her grip on my hand.

"Lester I am sorry." She said and I could hear the tears in her voice I didn't need to open my eyes.

"Beautiful, you don't need to apologize. There is nothing to be sorry for. I am just glad we both made it out of that house before that bomb went off." I told her.

"Lester bombs just like to go off when I am near. That is why I am sorry. Some things never change." I don't think she meant to say that last part out loud but she said it and I heard it.

"Beautiful you had nothing to do about that bomb going off. Had you not been there that bomb would have gone off. It was an unstable bomb you can't add that much motion to a bomb as unstable as that bomb was without it going off. It didn't matter had it been you, or one of the other guys it would have gone off. Like I said you have nothing to be sorry for. As for things changing, things do change. Your training, your hard work has changed you and no things just don't go boom around you anymore." I told her hoping she would just go with it and not ask me to explain any further as my head was fucking killing me with every word spoken.

I would never tell her that it hurt to talk and if she needed me to explain how this wasn't her fault I would as much as she needed to hear it to make her understand how much I meant it even if my head was splitting and my brains were running out.

"Lester this was the first time I was out in the field and the house explodes." Damn I knew where she was going with this. Of course we would have gone to that crazy fucker's house.

"Beautiful listen to me it wasn't the same. Did you see the cops saying anything? Did you see the EMTs saying anything?" I asked her.

"No I didn't see them saying anything." I smiled and pressed on.

"Did you see them passing money between them?" I asked her.

"No" she said.

"See Beautiful it isn't the same. No one is blaming you, no one was joking with you, no one was betting on you. They knew it wasn't you, you weren't the reason the house exploded. We were doing our job and you did an awesome job and I will tell anyone that." I told her hoping she would just believe me so I could lay here in the quiet. Where the fuck was Bobby?

I felt her lay her head on the bed beside me and I moved my hand to put it in her hair and rub my fingers through it. She was quiet after that I knew she was lost in thoughts about what I had told her.

"Beautiful once Bobby has seen me we will go out and get some lunch, okay?" I asked her and felt her head nod.

Bobby came in about that time "I doubt you will be going anywhere Santos." He said effectively bursting my bubble and making me happy at the same time. I wasn't sure how I was going to press past the pain in my head to enjoy taking her to Pinos.

"Well maybe dinner." I told her she didn't respond she pulled her head back and I heard her slide her chair back but she didn't let go of my hand.

RPOV

Fuck this was day one and a panic button had already been pushed. I was cussing allowing Lester to take her out in the field on my way to the scene. I was all the way across town so it took me a little longer to get there, even though I was pushing the turbo for all it had to offer.

If the fucking cops wanted to pull me over they would have to fucking catch me and then stop me first.

My nerves were on end and I was ready to kick Lester's ass. I couldn't imagine why his panic button was set off but not hers. I don't even want to say the things that went through my head while driving to the scene. When I got there, after rounding all of the response vehicles and saw her sitting there my heart started beating again and I was able to breathe. I got myself back under control. I didn't want the EMTs and the fucking cops to see me in my current state.

Of course if something had happened to her they would see a far worse state, but that wouldn't be today. She was alive, she was sitting beside Lester, and she appeared to be unharmed. He had in fact protected her.

I couldn't wait to hold my Babe in my arms. I supported her kneeling down behind her. I rubbed her face and neck with my hand. I had to touch her I couldn't have stopped myself from touching her.

When we were ready to go she asked if I was going to Rangeman or to another client meeting and the clients could wait fucking forever I didn't really give a shit. She came first.

I wanted to rip Stephanie's hand out of Lester's and pick her up and fold her in my arms and never let her go. I wanted to take her to Haywood and lock her up on the seventh floor where she would never be in harms way again but I knew I couldn't do that. I knew one it would never work and two it was just my overbearing over protective way I had for her showing itself.

She looked at me and I saw the tears swimming in her eyes I also saw the determination to not let them fall. She was worried and upset about Santos. She pulled it together and I gave her support. Had she cried I wouldn't have cared I would have just held her and comforted her it wouldn't have made her less in my eyes but she held it back. She was going to be strong in front of us, in front of the EMTs, and in front of the cops.

While she was telling the cops, Morelli none the less, the details of what happened I couldn't help but stiffen hearing her tell them how Jamal had turned on her and Lester with an unstable bomb in his hand.

Pipe bombs are known for being unstable. Depending on what he put in the bomb could be even more unstable. I reached for her to ground myself in the knowledge that all was good. The only fucker that he managed to blow up was himself. Lester got hit by some debris but he would be fine.

Lester had picked her up and was running with her in his arms when the house exploded. He was trying to protect her. I am not sure how landing on her protected her but considering the circumstances I will go with it. He had protected her. It wasn't that I didn't think he would. I knew he would. He just sometimes loses focus around her.

They are best friends they have a lot in common. He loves joking with her, playing with her, and sometimes those things can add up to disaster in the field but today in the field he had been the solider I always knew him to be and he had protected her first above any and everything else.

It wasn't that I didn't think he would I knew he loved her and would die for her it is just that I worry about her. I worry about losing her. I know I would never survive losing her. If the military taught me anything it was to survive I am a survivalist at my bare core and surviving without her would be impossible for me.

When we got in the Porsche I wanted to drag her over to me and hold on to her forever but I held back until we got to the garage.

When I parked the car I immediately grabbed her and pulled her over the console onto my lap holding her in my arms I never wanted to let her go. I wanted to hold her to my body and never let her go. I settled for kissing her. The deeper the kiss went the more I wanted, my body calling out for her. I completely lost focus of where we were and who was around us. Not that I will admit that out loud.

My body was impossible to control. It took everything I had in me not to rip her clothes off and claim her right there in the car parked in my garage, our garage. I managed to control myself and pull away from her. My body protesting every second every millimeter of space between us but we exited the car to catcalls from my men. I looked at them and they shut up they all knew they just earned mat time I didn't need to tell them. They would be waiting for me tomorrow morning. Disrespecting her wasn't tolerated and they would pay for it on the mats.

It wasn't like they were really disrespecting her as I knew they loved her and were more just giving her a hard time like they would me, or one of the other guys but I didn't tolerate it with her.

This wasn't my Babe's fault I knew that much. I knew it was another explosion with her on the scene and we would have to deal with that but I knew this wasn't because of her. She had been trained, she was good. She wouldn't make mistakes that would cause houses to explode. That wasn't her anymore.

I had stopped and talked to Tank before leaving for my appointment. I asked him what had happened with the cops prior to my arrival. He had told me nothing, that money hadn't exchanged hands, there were no jokes, just them doing their jobs and I was happy about that.

Of course they knew she was full time Rangeman and they knew she was my woman. They also knew that if I learned of them betting on her or making fun of her they would be dealing with me at the precinct and they wouldn't want that personally or professionally. Rangeman helped the police too much and I wouldn't hesitate to pull our support we weren't being paid enough for them to make fun of my Babe or bet on her and for Rangeman to continue our relationship with them.

I was smiling as I made it to my car to head to my client appointment. I knew I would need to talk to my Babe tonight because I knew she would be upset that Lester got hurt and I knew she would try to blame herself but I also knew that Lester was the one that would make her feel better about that. She would believe him more and he would have the most impact on her as he was the one that was hurt.

I actually took a moment and thanked God for Lester being there with her and having the sense to get her as far away from the bomb as he could before it exploded.

SPOV

My week with Lester started out loud. I had been upset that everything was the same that nothing had changed. I still managed in all my training to make things go boom around me. I had been very upset that day and it took Lester telling me over and over that it wasn't my fault that things weren't the same.

Carlos even tried convincing me later when I voiced my concern to him. We made love for hours and somewhere between Lester talking to me and Carlos loving me I began to see where it was different. I was different, I had changed.

Later that week we managed to round up the other two skips with distractions that I pulled off. When Carl thought he would use me as a human shield against my brothers to keep from going to jail my training kicked in and let's say he realized rather quickly what a bad decision that was.

I tossed him on the ground disarming him of the knife he had so thoughtlessly held against my neck and cuffed him. It was Lester and Carlos who said he was extremely drunk at the time that he couldn't walk down steps or down the sidewalk without tripping over his own feet and landing on his face.

Hector had once again saved me he had taught me that move to break out of the hold safely and subdue my attacker that held me at knife point. So in fact things had changed, prior to my training I would have completely relied on my brothers to save me. It was nice to be able to save me.

Walter followed me like kid following a trail of candy of course it may have had something to do with the promises of what he thought the night held, little did he know he could have all he wanted in jail. I am sure there would be someone there willing to make all his dreams come true it just wasn't going to happen with me.

Even with the disaster of our first day Lester continued to take me out in the field with him. He did have a concussion and I insisted that since he was my partner for that week that he sleep on the couch on seven so I could wake him up every two hours. I have had plenty of concussions and knew the protocol and the signs of when I should call Bobby.

He was fine, he woke up without any issues and the next day he felt better. We went after the three skips that Connie had given us earlier in the week and we managed to capture all three without any incidents.

During those take downs I realized I wouldn't have been able to have done any of them without having the training I had. Harper Talins we captured at his home and before you ask his house is still standing and he is still breathing or at least he was when we dropped him off at the precinct.

Jeffrey Shifflett he was a hard one that thought he could run from us but Lester and I chased him down and I took him to the ground with a flying leap. Lester said his life flashed before his eyes when he saw me jump and sail through the air landing on his back but he also said that he had never been more proud of me when I plowed him to the ground. Lester said that linebackers didn't take down their opponents any better than I took him down.

I am trying my best to not make any inferences to Lester's comments and just take it that I did a nice job of taking him down, but it is hard. Even in remembering his comments I still find it difficult to not double check the size of my ass in the mirror.

Thomas Adens tried shooting us but only succeeded in blowing a hole in his door. His weapon of choice was a sawed off shotgun so he only succeeded in blowing a hole in his door so big that you could put your head through. Luckily we heard the ratchet of the gun and were able to get out of the way in time.

We were able to get him apparently he only had one cartridge for ammo and he had spent it blowing the hole in his door. We took him back to jail making sure he locked his door of course with a hole in the door big enough for your head I don't know how secure his house will be but we saw that as his problem, not ours.

That was what Lester said in his pissed off voice. It really pisses Lester off when you shoot at him just ask Thomas. He had a rough walk to the truck and an even rougher ride to the station. When we got there and opened the back door he managed to fall out of the SUV face first on the pavement.

Lester and I got ice cream after that take down. I felt like we deserved it and Lester needed it to help him cool down.

To round out our week we finally took that trip to Pino's and here we sat in the booth in the back corner of the restaurant. It should be labeled Rangeman booth because it is where we set when we are here. Our backs to the wall, both doors in sight, we can take in our surroundings in order to keep ourselves and partner safe.

We had ordered our food and were sitting there I was laughing at a story Lester was telling me about a takedown him Binkie had gone on when Binkie was new and had partnered with him for a week. They had a man who weighed about five hundred pounds according to Lester and well he managed to trip and land on poor Binkie flattening him the funniest part of the story according to Lester was that it was mid-august and well hotter than hell. The guy was sweaty and wasn't wearing anything but a pair of boxer shorts when all this happened.

I shuddered at the thought but Lester was laughing and I had to admit that sounded like something that would have happened to me so I could see the humor in it and had joined Lester when I heard the door.

I looked up and Joe had walked in and was making his way to our table. I quickly noticed the laughter had stopped Lester seeing him the same time as me. I felt Lester tense beside me as Joe made his way to the booth sliding in the empty seat in front of us.

"Joe we didn't invite you to join us." I told him. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise in defense, on alert and I tightened my muscles to prevent the shiver that wanted to run up my back.

"Stephanie I just came over to say hi and to congratulate you on your newest Rangeman boyfriend." He said snidely as he flashed his eyes towards Lester. What? I looked at Lester questioning had Joe flipped out?

"Joe what are you talking about?" I asked him.

He motioned between Lester and me, and said "you are seeing each other right I mean sitting beside each other now, holding hands earlier this week while Manoso stood behind you. Did you move on or did he?" He asked me and I felt my hackles rise in defense. I was like Wolverine on the x-men only I didn't have blades that came out of my hands but I did have finger nails and I felt the claws come out.

"Joe neither of us moved on. I am still with Ca..Ranger, Lester is my partner this week, my best friend and my brother. I will sit beside him and hold his hand if I want." I told him my voice taking on its own pissed off characteristics.

I saw Joe turn reddish purple and I felt the fight rising in me. I was ready to take him on if that is what he wanted.

"You don't even know your boyfriend's name, or are you just not sure what to call him?" Joe asked me and I fought the desire to roll my eyes against his ignorance. I didn't need to explain anything to him. I didn't want to call him Carlos in front of Joe I wanted Joe to hear the name Ranger and let it strike fear in his cold calculating heart.

"I know his name, what I chose to call him and when is my business Joe. If you don't have any business with us other than harassing me then you need to leave. I thought you were sorry for what you have done to me. I thought you wanted my forgiveness Joe. If so, this isn't how you get it." I reminded him of what he had told me and asked of me not more than a week ago.

I noticed Lester's hands were down in his lap I knew it was because they were closer to his guns if needed.

Joe should know that while he fears Ranger and probably Hector at this point all of my brothers are lethal and none more so than Lester when he is cornered and right now Lester was cornered. I could feel it radiating off of him.

"Joe you need to move on. I am still with Ranger and will be to the day I die." I told him and I saw a flicker of something in Joe's eyes but wasn't certain what it was. It was almost like he enjoyed part of that sentence.

"Well I was just checking Stephanie. It seemed like you were very comfortable around Lester here a comfortable that comes with certain familiarities if you catch what I mean." He said inferring we have had sex. I briefly thought about taking my fork and stabbing him between the eyes but when Lester put his hand on my arm I knew it was to stop me from acting on those thoughts.

I only hoped he had ESP'd me because I really hope I didn't say that out loud and give Joe a reason to arrest me for threatening a police officer. I wouldn't put it past him. I couldn't trust him I would never trust him and I knew he was up to something I just didn't know what.

"Joe, let's just say hi, and bye and you can move on to the booth across the room with your cop friends. You know you don't want to be here anymore than I want you to be here. I haven't decided if you will ever be my friend again and I am certain you don't view me as one of your friends at this point." I told him.

"I thought you were going to try to let me be your friend again Stephanie, I want us to be friends again." He told me feigning a look of hurt that look more acted than real.

"I am trying to decide if I can forgive and forget the things you have done. Sorry doesn't just fix everything Joe. I need time. Right now, you aren't helping your case accusing me of things I haven't done. So please just leave us alone and allow us to eat our lunch in peace." I asked him.

He got up sucking in air through his nose his face changing color again. He didn't like it but at least he was leaving. I really hope this wasn't going to be something I was going to have to deal with every time I came here. I didn't want to have to give up my meatball sub because of him. He had caused me enough trouble in my life and now taking away my food choices wasn't sitting well with me.

Before he walked away I said "Joe, why don't we just agree that the next time we see each other unless I speak to you just ignore me and assume I am not ready to forgive you or forget what you have done. The next time I speak to you outside of official business that I come to you and talk to you I will have made my decision until then I ask that you leave me and my brothers alone."

He didn't respond he just turned and walk across the room. I laid my head over on Lester shoulder, closed my eyes and just took several deep breaths through my nose slowly letting them out throw my mouth. It helped calm me it helped control the adrenaline that was pumping through my veins. Joe had put me on alert.

Lester started whispering in my ear and I knew what he was singing. As the words started to filter through me I began to calm.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger. Just me, myself and I. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Stand a little taller. Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone." He continued.

"You heard that I was starting over with someone new. They told you I was moving on, over you. You didn't think that I'd come back, I'd come back swinging. You try to break me but you see." I turned slightly my head still on his shoulder.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Stand a little taller. Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone. What doesn't kill you makes a fighter. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Just me myself and I. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Stand a little taller doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone." I started to smile this is why he was my best friend he continued.

"Thanks to you I got a new thing started. Thanks to you I'm not the broken hearted. Thanks to you I'm finally thinking 'bout me." I now knew why he chose this song and was singing it to me, it wasn't just because he knew I like Kelly Clarkson.

"You know in the end the day I left was just my beginning….What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Stand a little taller. Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone." He finished singing in my ear and I smiled and gave him a hug. He was my best friend. He was my brother. I loved him and he knew what I needed. He knew me better than I knew myself. I gave him a kiss on the cheek

"Thanks Lester, I needed that. You know I love you right." I asked him he shook his head.

"Yeah Beautiful I know you love me, you couldn't resist me." He said jokingly smiling then he got serious and added "I love you too beautiful." His eyes flashed and his smile was back laughing. "I got your back Beautiful." He said. I knew it was true. He always managed to have my back.

I just hoped that when the day comes that he needed me I would be able to have to have his back as much as he always had mine. I knew one thing I would either have his back or die trying.

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	58. Chapter 57:  Third Week at Rangeman

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

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Chapter 57: Third Week at Rangeman

TPOV

This was my week with Stephanie, my little girl; I couldn't wait to spend time with her. I would give up Ranger as my partner for her. Just don't tell him that. I am sure he probably already knows but some things are better just not said.

I am trying my best to keep my face from giving away my excitement. Right now I am standing on the mats Ranger across from me and I have to keep reminding myself who I am facing to keep from getting my jaw broken.

He knew I was excited he knew I was struggling to keep focus and he was testing me, fucker. He was actually enjoying himself.

My little girl walked into the gym, alone, but it wasn't long before Slyder was climbing on to the treadmill beside her. I was surprised Lester and him weren't fighting over the treadmill. I figured he must have won or bet or something or Lester would have been there.

Even though she worked out with all of us it was really only Lester and Slyder that interacted with her in the gym. She was use to them and they were use to her workout routine so they would help her and push her by changing her weights when they thought she was ready to move to the next level.

You could appreciate her efforts. We all sort of thought after her training that she would slack on working out daily but she hadn't. She had taken full time Rangeman seriously and she worked out every morning with us even though as a Rangeman she was only required to work out three times a week; none of us did that.

Since her attack she no longer worked out in the gym by herself and I felt like that wasn't something that would change. She had been nervous to work out with us from the beginning she thought we would tease her or make her feel pressured but we would never have do that. Now I believed if we weren't in here working out she wouldn't be here either.

She and Cal often lifted together him spotting her when Lester or Slyder wasn't available. She even took to copying him with grunting through reps and we all thought it was sort of funny but we would never laugh in front of her and Cal.

Of course Cal was proud of her copying him and he would call any of us that laughed at her to the mats. He had taking on Lester when he gave her a hard time and set the example, the rest of the guys didn't want to face a pissed of Cal on the mats.

I finished my work out heading to the showers I passed her while she was laying out on the bench working through a rep of bench presses she spoke up "It's you and me big guy" smiling I just smiled in return and gave her a slight nod of my head.

Inside I felt like jumping up and down but bad asses don't jump and down because they get to work with a girl we just put on our blank face and growl and threaten to pound someone's ass into the ground. That's what bad asses do.

We like to see how far we can get people to move to avoid walking near us. That was our fun. It was a guilty pleasure at least for me. It was also left us lonely because only brave ones dared to step closer to see us, to get to know us.

Stephanie was one of the brave one, the bravest, she never allowed us to be bad asses around her. She never allowed us to scare her away if anything the more badass we acted the closer she got. The more we growled, flexed our muscles, and turned on our blank faces the more she wiggled her way into our life and heart.

The happier we were. She was Ranger's woman, his lover, but she was ours as well. She filled a void in all our lives she made us feel like we were human beings and not just muscle bound bodies that death followed.

I walked into my office after grabbing a cup of coffee from the break room. I was going to show Stephanie the business side of Rangeman. Typically when a new hire was with me we didn't go over all of the business side I was going to show Stephanie.

We didn't show them the payroll or the incomes and expenses of Rangeman but Rangeman wanted her to understand it all. She would run Rangeman alongside Ranger, Lester, Bobby, and I. I knew this was Ranger's dream come true not that he would be candy ass enough to ever admit it out loud.

I heard the ding of the elevator and I knew it was her. She was the only one who consistently used the elevator. She figured that she got her workout in the gym she didn't need to take the stairs. It was fine by us it wasn't like there was a rule against using it was more unspoken thing among us. Unless we were with her we took the stairs.

She walked up to my door and knocked on the open door and I motioned her in. She knew she could just walk in, I wouldn't care, but she was business today so she waited for my okay.

"Hey Big Guy" she said when I hear her call me that it warms me. She smile and I look up at her and give her one of my rare smiles reserved only for her and Lula.

"Hey Little Girl" I say in response and she smiles at me her eyes sparkling with excitement to do whatever it is I have planned for her to work on this week. Maybe I should start with the reports and paperwork.

We needed to do the ordering for client installs scheduled three weeks out so I thought we would start there. Standing up I went around my desk. I walked over to the table in my office that had all the plans for the installs.

"Little Girl, here are install plans for future security system installs, or upgrades." I told her picking up the plans. I rolled the first one out on the table. They were bound together like a set of house plans.

I started explaining the different pages starting with the actual blueprints of the structure. "Here are the blue prints of the building we are installing the system in. These are included with every plan." I tell her and she nods looking at them laid out in front of her.

"Ranger has showed me something like this in the past but it has been a while. He had a client that was a woman and he wanted a woman's point of view." She told me. I nodded.

"Stephanie he has wanted you to work here a long time." I told her and she turned looking at me. I don't know why it would be surprise for her but she looked a little surprised or maybe taken aback. I just hope I didn't overstep any boundaries because if I had he would be calling my six to the mats.

Oh well fucker should have told her a long time ago. Maybe had he, things would be different for her now.

She finally nodded seeing the truth in my words and went back looking at the blue prints. I pulled the first piece of vellum down over the blue prints. "This layer shows notes of where cameras, sensors, and lighting will be placed throughout the rooms both internally and externally." I told her. In this case, the plan didn't include a panic room but I wanted her to understand all the elements so I continued.

"This layer would also include any plans for a panic room." I told her and she nodded.

I pulled the next layer over on the plans. "This layer is sort of the finished look with the sensors, cameras. Many clients want to be able to see what it is going to look like so we have CAD drawings of what each room will look like with the sensors, lighting, and cameras in place. Many want to know the devices won't take away from the room." I tell her and she nods.

I pull the final level down "this level actually shows the client what the camera will see or how much of the area the sensor will cover." I told her. Looking at it she nodded. "We like to have as much covered as possible under the agreements of the contract with the customer." I told her and she once again nodded her eyes not leaving the blueprints.

"Once it gets to this stage the client has agreed to everything in the contract and it is a matter of ordering the equipment needed for the job." I told her. Her head popped up slightly almost as if I had said something that sparked her interest.

I handed her an itemized list that goes with the blue prints. "This is an itemized list of what needs to be ordered. It is our job, well my job normally, to review the plans, and verify that the itemized list includes everything needed and then place the order with the vendors." I told her.

She nodded but I could see the wheels working behind the nod.

"Tank, can I ask you something?" She asked me and I nodded thinking she had a question about the blue print.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but why is it your job?" She looked at me blushed slightly and then continued. "What I mean is why isn't it automated built into the cad system. Who does these plans?" She asked me

"Various guys do them. Whoever we chart with that client works on the plans the ones in front of me was done by Cal and Hal. They were partnered together for this client." I explained. She nodded, but once again I could see the wheels turning.

"Well what I mean is that the program gives this list, right?" She asked and I shook my head no. "Really" she asked.

I nodded "Really. I have to make sure the guys have everything listed and then order it."

"Well maybe we can look at changing that. Make the system so that once these detailed drawings are done it gives us a list of what is needed. If we decreased our line of suppliers we could possibly automate an ordering system and if we purchase things from one or two suppliers we could probably negotiate better pricing especially if we combined offices." She said just talking but was continuing to look at the blueprints. She was talking almost like she didn't realize she was talking out loud but I really liked what I was hearing.

I continued to explain the devices, the suppliers, and explained why we got certain things from one vendor and certain things from other vendors.

Once we verified everything was on the list I showed her the process for ordering the items. It was then she spoke up again. "Tank you order the items you need for each job separately? " I nodded. It was one way to keep items separate when it came in the boxes had purchase order numbers and we knew that purchase order number was for a particular client and it was easy packing the vehicle for the job every box with that purchase order number went with that job. It was a system that worked for us.

"How many of these do you typically order?" She asked pointing to a common sensor that we use. "Well that sensor we order a lot of. It is our favorite sensor for glass breakage and every window gets one so depending on the structure and how many installs it can easily be hundreds." I explained.

"This vendor is also the vendor that you order cameras through as well right?" She asked me and I nodded.

"It is items like those that we could order bulk of and stock them then when they are needed for a job we could just pull them from stock." She explained. We kept some stock for when something happened and we needed to switch out a sensor or camera but we didn't keep the stock she was speaking of. I just nodded following her logic of saving money.

It wasn't like Rangeman was hurting by any means. Range man was a very successful, extremely profitable business each of the offices as well as collectively but when money could be saved without cutting our service, our quality then it was just foolish for us not to investigate the possibilities further.

I heard her stomach let out a huge growl while we were working on the third set of plans. Looking at my watch I saw it was already noon and I was starting to get a little hungry and a little hunched back. I hadn't planned on spending that much time on the plans but Stephanie had gotten involved with it and wanted to know more and more.

She even made some notes that she didn't want to forget on how we were doing some things.

"Little girl, what do you say about us getting some lunch?" I asked her and she nodded smiling.

"Pino's?" I asked her and she nodded her head. I was a Shorty's kind of man but she loved Pino's and well she was with me this week so I wanted to go where she wanted where she would enjoy.

She walked out of the office saying "I will be ready in ten I am just going to see if Carlos is back." She told me. I knew he wasn't but I let her go while I got my things ready.

Meeting her in the garage we got in one of the SUVs and headed out to Pino's.

MPPOV

Stephanie, my bitch of a daughter, has managed to do it again. It has been almost two weeks and I haven't heard from my son, Joseph. I expected him to call me asking to meet me but nothing. Not since he put those marks on me.

That was another fiasco. My mother had to come snooping, tattling, and putting her nose where she didn't belong and all but told Frank about my having an affair with Joseph and Joseph's father. What was worse? That night Frank saw the marks on my body and decided that he no longer wanted to share a bed with me.

He moved out of our bedroom and into Stephanie's old room, why not? I mean just add insult to injury? I was doing this for her. I was doing all of this so Joseph would still want her as his wife. So she would have a chance, her only chance, at happiness.

I had sacrificed everything including my marriage and my ungrateful daughter didn't care. I had been fuming for days trying to figure out how to fix it but so far nothing has worked. I have fixed all of Frank's favorite meals, I have ironed his clothing including his underwear, I have made sure dinner was on the table sharply at six and the pot roast wasn't dry.

I have kept the house spotless the windows washed, the floors done, and he still was sleeping in the other room. I mean that is what a man wants right, a clean home, clean clothing, and a wife that keeps her self looking nice and dinner on the table at six p.m. sharp. Right?

What else could I do? Frank was being unreasonable. I guess he wanted me to apologize but why would I apologize for trying to do everything in my power so that my daughter would end up living a happy life; married with children? I was ensuring that she would marry the right man, a man the burg would accept and appreciate and have children with; giving us more Grand kids. I didn't want to tell him this but in Joseph's family his father produced all boys and one girl so it would be likely if Stephanie married Joseph she would give us a grandson.

We all knew how much Frank wanted a grandson so in a way I could say me doing what I did was for Frank as well as it was for Stephanie.

This is so difficult to explain but Frank needs to move back into my bedroom. If rumors get around in the burg that Frank has moved out of my bedroom my reputation will be ruined. I mean how could a woman show her face if she couldn't keep her husband happy and sleeping with her in the burg? I would once again be laughing stock of the burg and it would once again be all Stephanie's fault.

I was on my way back from the grocery store with these thoughts going through my head. I was desperate to get Frank back in my bed when I saw her. She was crossing the parking lot heading towards Pino's.

I quickly turned the car and accelerated through the parking lot until the point that the big hired killer of a thug grabbed her and pulled her behind him. I mean I didn't like my daughter but I wasn't going to run her down with my car, I mean what was he thinking this was my daughter.

I got out of the car racing up to confront her. My rage boiling over in me I wasn't sure what I was going to say to her but I wanted her to know that she was once again ruining my life. That I was going through hell because of her. I couldn't voice it here, this was the burg. If I said what I wanted to tell her it would be all over the burg before I would pull out and I would be ruined; completely ruined.

"Stephanie what do you have to say for yourself?" I asked her and she looked like she had no idea what I was talking about. I figured great play the innocent by stander like you have no idea what is going on.

"Stephanie don't you play coy with me. You know you are ruining my life, embarrassing me, disappointing me again. Just as you have done your entire life. Really Stephanie when are you going to grow up and act like a woman of the burg instead of some, well I don't know what to call it." I told her.

I saw her face change as I was talking to her.

"Helen I told you to leave me and my brother's alone. I told you that I was done with you as both a mother, and a friend. You are no longer anything to me, I no longer know you. So you need to move on and let Tank and I go get our lunch." She said and I wanted to smack her. How dare she talk to her mother like that? I raised her better than that. This is what happens you hang out with trash.

"Stephanie I raised you better than that. You don't talk to me like that. Whether we like it or not I am your mother, you are my daughter, and I demand respect when you talk to me. I didn't care for you all these years to be spoken to like that." I told her.

"Cared for? You cared for me all those years? How so? You yelled at me, you told me how I embarrassed you, you told me how I disappointed you, you told me how I wasn't good enough to be your daughter. You cared for me? You were too busy using me as a distraction for fucking Joe's father all those years. Just like right now, you are too busy trying to use me as a distraction for fucking Joe." She said

I gasped and I heard gasps around me and I knew the burg was standing outside of Pino's watching and listening to our confrontation. I should have known better but I was so mad at the point when I saw her I couldn't do anything but confront her.

"Stephanie I don't know what you are talking about? I have done no such thing. I was trying to convince Joseph to take you back, to marry you, to continue to want you so you could have a happy life. I wasn't doing anything you suggested with anyone. Stephanie I think you need to clean up your language and stop trying to bring any further shame to this family with these ridiculous accusations and your fowl language. I know I taught you better." I told her fuming about her, at the burg, and at my own stupidity.

This just proves that once again, blinded by my daughter leads me to embarrassment, disappointment, and scrutiny from the burg.

"I have asked you to leave so we can get some lunch. Staying isn't in your best interest." She tells me. But that just riles me fueling the fire of my hatred at the moment for how my daughter has ruined my life.

"I am not going anywhere until you apologize for how you have spoken to me and the things you have accused me of." I told her.

"Helen, I warned you. I gave you ample opportunity to leave peacefully and you are the one that has chosen this fight so don't forget that when I have won. Not only am I right in what I said and supposedly accused you of I am sure it is far worse." She said practically spitting my name out at me.

I looked at the thug standing beside her and he was scanning the crowd.

"Stephanie you going all over town with these thugs, with the likes of this trash and you expect someone to believe what you have to say. You think you still have any credit any clout in the burg? You think someone would listen to you?" I asked her.

"Helen, it's your turn to apologize to my brother. He isn't trash and he isn't a thug. These are honorable men who make Trenton a safer place for all of us. How dare you, standing on your own mental pedestal thinking you are better than my brothers when you are the trash here." She says.

"Stephanie they aren't your brothers. You are delusional if you think they are your family while you talk to your own family like that. What is wrong with you? Did they brain wash you?" I asked her.

"Helen, the only one that brain washed me is you when you were chipping away at my self esteem, my self worth. You were the one that should have supported me but all you could do is pull me down, put me down, and make me feel like a failure because it was you that was the failure." She said and fire rose up in me how dare her call me a failure.

I heard gasps around me at my own daughter calling me a failure.

"Stephanie I don't know what has gotten into you but all I have done is sacrifice for you. So that you could be happy, so that you could have a family of your own, so you could be considered an upstanding citizen of the burg and you have done nothing but try to destroy that from day one. I mean what child doesn't drink from their mother's breast? What child doesn't want to learn what their mother has to teach them? What child doesn't do as they are told and ends up in boy's garages playing choo choo or allows some boy to take your virginity behind the counter after hours? What child jumps off of roofs? What child decides to throw away their life for a life of taking up with common criminals, thugs, hired killers doing god only knows what with them? You tell me Stephanie because that seems to be what you have done. Every action just brought more disgrace and embarrassment on our family." I told her.

But I couldn't stop, not now not when it was all coming out my anger fueled by hatred for her. She had ruined my life.

"Stephanie I have made sacrifices and tried my best to get you to do the right thing. It has cost me everything even your father has chosen not to sleep in the same bed with me all because of you and you don't even have the common decency to say I am sorry or admit that you are to blame for any of it." I screamed at her and heard the exclamations from around me but at this point in time I was too mad, seeing red, to care what they thought.

My daughter laughed and I briefly had thoughts of just killing her with my bare hands I was so enraged with anger but I would never do that she was my daughter after all and though she has done nothing but destroy my life and my name in the burg I would never harm her.

"Helen!" She said as though she was spiting the devils name. "Did you just hear what you said? All those things that I did well the man who you are so insistent that I be with, that I marry was responsible for two of those things. Both times he took what he wanted, he is no different than his father a fucking alcoholic and an abuser. But we both know that doesn't matter to you because you fucked his father and now you are fucking him that is why your husband, Frank, is sleeping in another bed. It has nothing to do with me. If you think you fucked him for me? To convince him to take me back you are the fool he just wanted a fuck mother any hole would have done. But you just couldn't wait to give him yours. That's on you not me." She screamed at me and I couldn't help my bottom jaw from dropping.

"I don't know where you get off accusing me of such things Stephanie but honestly just because you are unhappy you shouldn't attack me. I am not responsible for you running with the thugs and scum you are running with." I screamed back at her.

"I am not accusing you of anything that isn't true and I have pictures to prove it. Oh you don't know what to say now do you. I have pictures, fuck I have video. I have known for a long time because that man you seem to cherish and want your daughter to marry him well he sent me a package in the mail and in the box among some really disgusting stuff were pictures of you and him." She screamed at me.

"So you put your eyes back in your head, and you get in your car and you drive home and you beg your retard of a husband to keep your filthy diseased riddled ass because I doubt you were smart enough to use a condom and pray that when he finds out you have passed whatever it is you have to him that he doesn't walk out and leave you husbandless, and lifeless. You brought this on yourself so don't be mad at me and I wouldn't have said anything had you not pressed so hard trying to convince yourself and the burg that it was all my doing, all my fault when it fact it is all yours. Every bit of it is your fault. You couldn't just allow your daughter to make a life for herself; you couldn't allow me to find my own happiness my own life that I could stand on my two feet in and be proud of myself. You couldn't be happy for me, you couldn't support me because it wasn't your idea of a life, it wasn't the burgs idea of life. You couldn't just let them live their lives, you live your life, and let me live mine so now you will have nothing. I hope you are happy." She screamed at me.

Hearing her words effectively took all the air out of my lungs I just stood there frozen on the spot her words echoing in my head my thoughts were all over the map hearing the people behind me I started to panic at everything they had heard would they believe her or would they believe me? I wondered panic bubbling up from within me. Her words pulling me back once again.

"You ever talk to my brothers, my husband the way you have again and I swear to God you will be sorry, you will live to regret every word that came out of your mouth. I will make it my life's work to ruin you, you hear me? I will make it so you will be afraid to show your face in Trenton let alone the burg. Do I make myself clear? Look at me and tell me you understand push me Helen and I swear to God you will regret it."

I saw the hatred in her eyes the steal behind them as they threw daggers at me that felt like they pierced my heart as they slapped me across my face word after word of her threat but I was her mother and threat or not she would never actually go through it. I couldn't let her win.

"Stephanie I honestly don't know when you decided you could talk to me like that but I demand an apology for everything you said, all the lies, all the false accusations. You know you are just trying your best to ruin my name in the burg. You want me to look bad in front of all of these people as though I am the enemy or something. I am your mother and only have the best of intentions I want the best for you a life in the burg a family is that not so hard to understand?" I asked her hoping she would understand my need for saving face.

"I never meant to hurt you I only wanted a happy life for you and I did everything I did to ensure you have a happy life. The things you are accusing me of I don't know what caused you to think those things or voice them but you know they are just lies you have been fed. They have brainwashed you and they have made you do things that you didn't want to do and say things you know you didn't want to say or didn't mean." I told her.

She smiled and added "lies huh? Well we will see who is lying." She said and I could see I had in fact pushed her too far that she wasn't going to back down now. So I did. I got in my car.

Yelling back at her "honestly Stephanie you will be the one that is sorry. When you are a sixty year old woman and you have no one, no kids, no grandkids, no one to watch out over you, take care of you, you will be the sorry one." I yelled at her as I got in the car. I rolled the window down.

"You turn your back on your family for thugs, killers, scum and trash. That is fine Stephanie but don't come crying to me, or your father when they turn their back on you because we all know trash like that doesn't have bonds they don't care about you only what they are getting out of you and we have all heard the rumors of what they are getting from you. Yeah Stephanie that is right my daughter the Trenton whore." With that I put the car in gear and sped out of the parking lot. Yes I was running but I needed to get those words out there to let the burg hear it to save face. I needed to be the last voice heard.

SPOV

My mother had cornered me again in the parking lot of Pino's I was shaking mad when she got in her car and yelled out at me about my brothers and I. I felt sick they were my brothers and people were thinking what that I was having sex with them all. How could they think that? Such narrow minded busy bodies that have nothing better to do that talk about others.

Part of me just wanted to bury my head in my hands and cry another part wanted to jump in my car and chase my mother down and tell her how wrong she was and that if anyone was a whore it was her with the things that she had done with Joe and yet a third part of me wanted to turn around grab my gun and shoot everyone of the busy bodies that was standing outside of Pino's listening to our fight. I am sure the burg's phone was all a buzz by this point.

I turned facing them. They were all looking at us some even had cell phones in their hands. Tank hadn't left my side even though he had said nothing during the whole confrontation. He was a smart enough man to know this was my fight and I was now capable of taking on my own fights. He would intervene if needed and he would keep me from going postal on anyone's ass but short of that he was here for support, he was here to be my rock that I needed when I felt like I was crumbling inside.

Looking up I saw the busy bodies standing there some were talking on their cell phones, some were just watching me as if trying to figure out what I was going to do and there were others that were talking amongst themselves.

"If there is any question what I am doing with the men of Rangeman I work there now. They are my brothers, I love them as my brother they love me as my sister. Ranger is to be my husband and I am to be his wife. There is no Joe in my life, there is no Helen in my life, and there is no Frank in my life. They have never supported me, they have never loved me for who and what I am a woman who believes in this town, a woman who wants a better town for your kids, for your family and I have made the sacrifices necessary for that. I fight alongside my brothers to provide that to you. For those of you who don't know the services Rangeman provides we provide security systems so you can sleep better at night knowing your property, your home is protected. We provide support to the local police department we go after the guys that skip the system, the guys that are too scary for the police to go after. We go after the murders, the rapists, the child molesters that are out on the streets. If you don't think we make this town a better place I tell you what we will do we will close this office and move our office to another city and see how much you will miss us then. When your children aren't safe to walk down the street, they can't go to the park, nor can they ride their bikes to school. That is what these brave men do for this city yet you are insistent on calling them thugs, scum, killers. They have served in the armed forces they have kept this country safe and yet you point fingers at them but I don't see any of you standing guard at the gate saying you are safe tonight. I don't see any of you sacrificing anything for your freedom, for your safety to walk down the street you take it all for granted, you think it is something owed to you. Nothing is owed to you and you sure as fuck didn't do anything to deserve it. These men do it because it is who they are and yet you stand there and you judge them because what they look different than you? They don't hold the same values as you as they don't care if dinner is on the table at six because they are still working they are still searching for that criminal, they are still doing whatever it necessary so you can be safe on the streets, and safe in this town, and safe in your homes so you can put that dinner on the table and six sharp. You should be thanking them every time you see them. Instead you shun them like they are trash. You don't deserve what they give you." I screamed at them.

The tears at some point had started rolling down my cheek. I wanted to scream at them, I wanted to pound it into them how nearsighted they were how narrow their minds were and how stupid they were for believing everything they heard and then repeating it. I wanted blood, their blood.

Tank put his arms around me and held me to him as the tears started pouring. My body shaking partly from being so pissed off, I was seeing red, and partly from being so upset that once again my brothers were being treated unfairly and being judged by people who weren't good enough to call their name let alone judge them.

It was the first time that I had broken down and cried since joining Rangeman and I was pissed off that I was crying over this but the emotions was just to raw, just too much for me to hold back and it bubbled over in the form of tears.

Tank had me cradled into his chest his hand rubbing the back of my head while his other hand was rubbing my back he was trying his best to calm me saying shhh little girl it is okay over and over but it wasn't okay there was nothing okay about any of this.

It was so unfair if I were them I would be pissed but they weren't they just went with it and didn't let it bother them that people thought they were killers, thugs, trash. I didn't understand how they could just not care. I needed to understand that.

TPOV

My little girl had been crying now for a few minutes she had gotten so upset, so mad that she just couldn't hold it all in and the tears just over flowed. Her bitch of a mother had cornered her in Pinos parking lot. Stephanie held her own and I think for the most part got the better of her mom.

I wanted nothing more than to put a bullet between the eyes of that bitch but this was my little girl's fight not mine. I would only intervene if she needed me.

I was so proud of how she had stood up for herself and she didn't allow her mother to control her or the conversation. She then turned on the burg and blasted the busy bodies that were standing outside Pino's listening the confrontation between her and her mother but what came out of her mouth floored me.

It wasn't her defending herself her actions her accusations against her mother it was her defending us. Not that she would do it as much as the way she had done it the things she had said. If I wasn't such a badass I would have been teary eyed from the expression of love she showed toward us.

We didn't give a fuck what those nosy busy burg bitches and bastards said about us. We knew our place, we knew our purpose here and we did what we did for our reasons not for their approval. We didn't live our lives, or run Rangeman seeking anyone's approval especially not the bitches of the burg.

We didn't need their business to be wealthy fuck we already didn't have most of their business and if we lost what little we had it wouldn't be a drop in a bucket on our profit scales.

I was ready for someone to attack I stood there beside her saying nothing only offering my support, my unconditional support and love for her. This was her fight one that had been long coming both with her mother and the burg bitches.

I can say I have never been more proud of her, felt more appreciation for her in my life than I had at this very moment when she spoke up against those people for us. Even if we didn't need approval from them or anyone it was warming to hear her thoughts, her standing up for us. It made my heart smile.

Her crying made me want to rip their throats out and I gave them all a look that had them breaking apart and disbanding some went back inside some left the parking lot while there were a few that seemed glued to their spots that weren't able to move; my glare scaring them.

I tried to calm her rubbing her back and the back of her head as I held her to me. "Sshhh little girl, its okay. It's all okay ssshhh." I said a few times and then when that didn't seem to help I decided to get dirty.

"Little girl a meatball sub awaits you why don't we dry up those tears and go get the lunch we planned these assholes aren't worth it." She stilled when I mentioned the food and was nodding her head when I was finished. I couldn't help the smile she was coming back.

I nodded gave her the minute she needed and then released her as we walked into the restaurant to a bunch of stares but I didn't give a fuck. We took our booth and we ordered our lunch just as if nothing happened. I knew I would need to tell Ranger about it but at least I could tell him this time how strong she was and how proud of her I was for everything that was said and I do mean everything.

FrankPOV

The phone rings and I debate on answering it. I know it is either her mother, or another busy body of the burg calling with something that they can't seem to keep to themselves. This is one point where Helen and I can't seem to see eye to eye on. I hate the gossiping old women of the burg but Helen is right in there with them. Having to call them at the sign of anything worth gossiping about and that seems to be a lot.

"Hello" I say to the caller.

"Frank? This is Angie" she said.

"Hey Angie, what can I help you with. Helen isn't here right now." I tell her.

"Frank I was calling because I got a call from Gladys that said that Helen and Stephanie were having a confrontation in front of Pino's." Busy bodies I tell you can't keep stuff to themselves.

"Angie I don't know I haven't seen Stephanie for several weeks. I know her and her mother are having a disagreement lately so anything is possible." I told her I didn't want to get into all of the details.

"Frank, are you okay?" She asked me and I knew why she was asking me

"Yeah Angie I am okay, I will let you know if that changes." I told her and then I hung up the phone.

We haven't seen each other for a while I sort of broke things off with her once Helen started paying more attention to me. It wasn't like I was a cheater. I mean I did cheat but it wasn't because I just cheated on my wife.

I was committed to my wife and when we were happy and had a healthy sex life I would never consider wavering away from her but there were several years, okay more than several where my wife wanted nothing to do with me as a man.

I mean she kept the house clean, she cared for our daughters, teenagers at that point, she had dinner on the table every night at six p.m. But she was missing from our bedroom. She didn't want to touch me, she didn't want me touching her and our sex life had fallen to nothing.

One day she asked that I go over and help Angie with something that she considered man's work and well one thing lead to another and we ended up making love. Angie's husband had been dead for a few years at this point. I felt like I had more of a mother than a wife as it had been years at this point since I had touched a woman and we both lost control.

When we were finished I couldn't believe what had happened between us. I wasn't this guy. I wasn't a guy that slept with other women while I was married but Angie was there in a way my wife hadn't been. We both decided that this was a mistake and I went home.

I couldn't seem to stop thinking about her even though I wanted to. Part of me felt really bad and I wanted to confess to Helen what I had done but she was so withdrawn from me I was afraid that she would just kick me out and I wasn't ready to give up my life with my wife and my two girls. I loved them.

So life went on and the longer she was withdrawn from me the more I found myself thinking about Angie. The weaker I got until finally I gave in and sought my needs out with Angie. Angie was okay with being the other woman and I was okay with her being the other woman so long as Helen never found out about it.

However, when my wife started showing me attention again I told Angie that I was going to end it. That I was getting my wife back in a way that she hadn't been in years and that I couldn't continue a sexual relationship with her now that my wife and I had one.

After seeing those marks on her body I knew she was fucking that Morelli bastard. Another Morelli man I guess she liked abusive men because I had never abused her a moment of her and my life together but she didn't seem to be able to function sexually unless she had an abusive man fucking her.

It was pretty clear why her interest was back in wanting to make love to me.

I moved out of the bedroom unable to look her in the face, unable to look at her and see anything but her fucking the Morelli boy that she was trying so desperately to marry off to my daughter.

I was tempted to pick up the phone and let Angie know all bets were off and I would still be her lover but I was holding back I wanted to see if Helen would come to me and try harder to explain why she was doing what she was doing other than using the excuse of her trying to make our daughter happy I really couldn't see the link between her fucking the Morelli boy and it making our daughter happy.

I thought briefly about calling Stephanie but I have never been there for her those words never stopped ringing through my head from the moment she said them. I had thoughts of the past and the words rung true every single time. Even up to the last night I saw her and she said those words they rang true I was never there for her.

I briefly felt like I was losing my mind, going insane with all the thoughts that ran throughout my head. One thing was true though I hadn't been there for her, I hadn't supported her, I hadn't shown her the unconditional love that I actually felt for her. Stephanie was right and she had every reason for feeling abandoned by me because I had basically abandoned her and allowed her mother to do, say, and be whatever she wanted to our daughter. It had been a mistake, a huge mistake, and one that I was certain that Stephanie would never forgive me for. Provided I even had the balls to ask her for her forgiveness.

Exactly how do you say I have been an ass my whole life and allowed your mother to control your life while I just checked out because what she made my dinner at six every night, she kept my clothing clean and wrinkle free and she kept our house cleaned and I thought she was doing the best thing for you. Yeah she would see through that pitiful excuse, even if it was the truth, in seconds.

SPOV

I was fuming from my run in with Helen, my nonexistent mother. I wanted nothing but for her to leave me alone but could people just do that. Leave me alone? No they had to press me, they had to push me. They had to challenge me.

There was a point in my life when I would have just caved and maybe she thought I was still at that point in my life but there was no caving not with my support system of my brothers. There was no forfeiting from the fight. I no longer retreated into myself. I stood my ground, I extracted my claws, I fought for myself and I fought even harder for my brothers.

There would be a fight only I would pick the time, the place, and the way. I would also win.

We walked in Pino's and a thought hit me but I would need my best friend and my brothers to pull this off. I pulled out my phone and dialed Lester.

"Yo Beautiful" Lester answered and I smiled. Tank must have seen my smile because he started smiling and Tank didn't do smiles in Pino's because bad asses didn't smile. Just ask him. He would tell you Bad Asses just look blank, null expression, or pissed off expressions they didn't do smiles and gooey shit like that at least not in public.

I saw Tank's shoulder jump and I knew he was holding in a laugh he had ESP'd me now if they didn't smile they sure as hell didn't laugh in public that would be sacrilegious. Wouldn't want people to think they were happy; no way. People had to believe they were fully capable of ripping a kitten's head off not holding it and petting it and loving it. Tank was all of those things but yet only a few of us knew it.

"Lester I need your help." I told him and I heard him rustling around his desk I was sure he was strapping on additional weapons as his voice got silent the humor gone from it. You could feel the tension through the phone so before he got the wrong idea I added. "Lester I am fine Tank is with me this is more a favor I need you to do for me." I told him and you could feel the tension dissipate with every word registering with him. That's what best friends do they have your back. They are ready for action when you call saying you need them.

"What do you need Beautiful, you know I aim to please." He said and I couldn't help the smile.

"You know those pictures we have? The ones that were sent to me and the other pictures that we took?" I asked him.

"Yeah Beautiful I know the pictures you are talking about." He said and I could feel some of the tension come back and I knew it was because of his thoughts of what were in those pictures.

"I need to see them all along with the video footage when I get back. I have plan and I will need you, Manny, and whoever else you know that is good with pictures and video." I explained.

"Beautiful are you going to tell me why you need them? Why you want to see them?" He asked me.

I wasn't ready to share just yet my plan as it was still forming in my head exactly what I wanted to do with them. I had to decide if this was something I really wanted to do. I needed to decide if I really was going to make such a huge splash in the pool that was the burg. If I did there would be no going back. There would be no more family or friends; I would never be forgiven.

I needed to decide was I ready for that even though they had turned their back on me, and I had effectively turned my back on them. I needed to decide if I was really ready to say there would be no more ever because if I did this that is exactly what would happen.

Before I would tell my brothers anything of my plans I needed to know the answer to those questions.

"Lester I am not sure yet what I am going to do just have them ready for me when I get back. Depending on what's on my plate this afternoon this may have to be an afterhours thing, is that a problem for you?" I asked him.

"Naw Beautiful you know if you need me I am available day or night and I have been hoping you would say you needed me at nights now for years." He said laughing I swear he could so easily be sidetracked.

"Not happening Lester just make sure you tell the others it may be an afterhours thing and make sure they know this is not Rangeman business this is personal to me." I told him.

"Sure thing Beautiful whatever you say, I will get it all setup for you. See ya later." He said and hung up. Fuck now that is why he is my best friend he knows how to say bye well at least he is improving. He didn't give me a chance to say bye but at least he said bye to me.

Baby steps, when you train men you have to take baby steps. I think dogs are easier but some of the same tactics apply. They like praise when they do it right and you need to let them know when they are doing something wrong.

I smiled at Tank and Tank gave me a quick smile and a shake of his head I am sure he had some idea where I was going with wanting to see the pictures.

We ordered our food, ate and left to head back to Rangeman without further incidents of which I was nothing but relieved.

TPOV

We walked into Rangeman and I knew they had some idea there was an issue and I wondered how. I knew they knew more than what Lester would have been able to have told them from their conversation. Ranger walked up to her and took her in his arms holding him to her. She wrapped her arms around him and I just gave him a nod letting him know that she was okay.

I walked into my office booted up my computer and pulled up the reports that needed to be approved.

Ranger walked into my office "What the fuck happened, Pierre?" He asked me and I didn't miss him using my name, Fucker. I knew it was a way of letting me know that he wasn't pleased with me and thought I should have protected her better.

Maybe I should have but there was little that I could do when her mother came at her like that. I mean I could have grabbed her and jerked her back to the car, or inside but Stephanie isn't a child. I could have shot and killed her mother and while that is a nice thought there were too many witnesses for me to walk away from that. My options were limited.

"Look man, what would you have done differently? Nothing, I can tell you. We were walking across the parking lot when her mother pulls in the lot and starts screaming at her." I tell him and he raises his head looking at me down his nose his signature way of saying he wasn't pleased with me saying that he would have done the same thing.

"Man if you think I can't tell that she has been crying then you are fucking crazy. I can see it in her eyes that she was crying. I also know that she called Lester and asked to look at the pictures and footage we have of her mother and that fucking cop. Why the fuck would she want to look at that? What gave her those ideas until now she hasn't mentioned that shit and she knew we had it?" He asked me anger dripping from every word.

I shrugged my shoulders "it was after the confrontation, and yes for the record she cried when her mother pulled out of the lot but I think it was because of all the emotions not so much her mother getting the best of her because she didn't." I told him. Once again his head went up. This time he wanted more information.

"Man you would have been proud of her. She held her own and personally she got the better of her bitch of a mother. That is why her mother left because she knew she couldn't win. She would have made you proud at what she told the busy body bitches of the burg. She was pure gold." I told him. He pulled in air through his nose trying to calm the anger radiating within them.

"Tank I am always proud of Stephanie." He told me. He was letting me know that doesn't change the fact that he felt like I left her unprotected out there.

"Look man she didn't say why she wanted to see that shit. I think she has some plans for revenge against her mother but I am not certain she only called Lester and said she wanted him, Manny, and anyone else who knew about video, pictures, etc and to ask them if they would be willing to help her off hours. I am not sure what is going through her little mind on that one and I don't fucking care I will help her if I can." I told him and he nodded his head.

"Tank you know I stand behind her and I will help her with anything she decides it is just I would rather her not look at that shit. It is just going to upset her. I want her protected physically and mentally." He told me and I knew that was the truth. I knew that was the only reason we were having this conversation.

I nodded my understanding to him and he turned and walked out of the office. He must have believed me because he didn't call me to the mats. Thank fuck for that. I don't like meeting a pissed off Ranger on the mats. Not that any man scared me, okay maybe one and it was only when he was pissed off.

It wasn't ten minutes later that Stephanie came back into my office knocking on the opened door before just walking in. "Come on in Little Girl. You ready to get started?" I asked her and she nodded her head walking up to my desk.

Pulling up the schedule I thought it was perfect time to go over how we scheduled the guys. This should be fun. If they got word of her doing the schedule they would probably be giving her gifts for the better shifts, conning her into letting them work the easier cases, but I would bet my dick that they wouldn't complain about whatever she gave them. She would never hear the complaints they would keep them to themselves. Those thoughts made me smile as I slid away from the computer letting her pull her chair up to it as I started explaining the schedule, the cases and how we broke up the work among the men, among the partners, and different teams within Rangeman.

SPOV

My week with Tank was spent going over reports, payroll, ordering, scheduling, and all the business of Rangeman and I would be lying if I didn't say that part of me enjoyed it. Maybe it was just learning all about the finer workings of Rangeman. Maybe it was just learning something new besides chasing bad guys. I don't know but part of me enjoyed it.

I offered some different ways I felt like we could save some money as a company and I think Tank was happy to hear those ideas. I think he is going to talk to Carlos and we are going to see about implementing some of them.

The reports were a little boring but I could see the need for them. Not only was it documentation on the take down or the client installs to cover our asses should there be a problem but it was a way to account for the work Rangeman did. It was somewhat incredible to see the amount of work that gets completed in a week. Even though Rangeman is no small company for the people we have a considerable amount of work gets completed in a week.

Payroll was a nightmare and I suggested a way to make it better. I think I almost made Tank cry at my suggestions not that he would have done that or said that because if bad asses didn't laugh or smile they sure as fuck didn't cry. I mean you could probably cut their right arm off and they wouldn't shed a tear. They would just rip your throat out with the left one and then put a band aid on it or something.

We went out to a client install for inspection and I walked through the property with him. He was nothing if not thorough. When we left I was confident that the property was a hundred and ten percent secured with Rangeman security. It was stellar customer service. I expected nothing but the best, I have been to client homes before but this was slightly different.

We went over every square inch of the place making sure there wasn't a single vulnerability in the design, layout, or implementation of the system planned. Once we were satisfied with the installed system we walked the customer through how the system worked. We walked each member of the household through how to arm and disarm the system and what to do if the alarm was accidentally set off. We also told them if they needed to activate the alarm how to do it and what their next steps should be.

Tank said that my presence at the home helped put the owners at ease I am not sure that is true or not but I could see where he could be a little intimidating. He wasn't called Tank for nothing and he wasn't considered a badass for nothing. But watching him with the family and the children he was patient he was kind and he was extremely professional.

Seeing him further solidified my belief in Rangeman and the service we provide. Not that I needed that but it was just icing on the cake so to speak.

It had been a good week.

After the long hours spent with Tank, paperwork is never done, I spent some of my after hour time with Lester, Manny, Demon, and Cal. Lester had done what I had asked and got the pictures and video together.

Seeing them almost made me sick but I managed to hold it down and made a note not to eat before looking at the pictures. I picked out several nice shots from both the pictures as well as the video and took a nice clip of the video that I thought showed both of them in their finest moments.

My plan is to put together a nice little package and send it to the residents of the burg. Sort of like that packet of coupons that comes monthly to the residents of the dwelling only this is going to be slightly different. Before you ask it will come with its own rating so no children should be privy to the content within.

I just need to decide once I see the final product if I am going to actually go forward with it or not. If I do I know it will mean I will have forever severed the ties with my family, with Joe, and probably people I considered friends of the burg.

Not only severe ties but make enemies. Joe would once again be out for blood as it would probably ruin his career. We tried looking at the photos in a way to remove him or cover his identity but we decided if we did that it was sort of useless as it didn't prove me right and her wrong and just made the pictures look doctored. So to do this I was going to be taking both of them down not just her.

It wasn't like they both didn't deserve every minute of it but Joe and I had just come to a civil agreement where we could be in the same building at the same time without it exploding around us. I briefly wondered if Helen and I could come to that same agreement and then I could leave well enough alone. That was the question I needed to answer before moving forward with my plan.

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	59. Chapter 58: Fourth Week at Rangeman

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

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Chapter 58: Fourth Week at Rangeman

RPOV

I walk into our apartment, god how I loved saying it was ours. It was something that I would have never believed had someone told me even a year that this day would be here. It had only been a few weeks but it felt right, it felt like such a part of my life that in a way if felt as if it had always been that way. I was kicking myself for not having done this sooner.

It was quiet despite that it was still considered fairly early. The TV was off, the living room and kitchen were quiet no sounds of water running and the home office was dark. Had I not known she had come home already I would have expected to be alone but I knew she was here.

I walked into our bedroom and I found her splayed out across our bed in her thinking position. Hearing her sigh when I walked into the room told me that she was having a difficult time making a decision.

"Babe?" I asked her sitting down on the bed beside her. I then turned and laid down starring at the ceiling like she was doing wondering what made her think starring at a ceiling was going to give her the answer to her life questions.

"Carlos I don't know what to do." She said and I raised my eyebrow. I knew she couldn't see me, but it was something that just came natural.

"About what Babe?" I asked her.

"I have a plan but I am not sure I should do it." She told me. I knew her plan but I hadn't heard it from her so I didn't give it away that I knew anything. I waited for her to tell me.

I knew she would start telling me when she was ready so I stared up at the ceiling mimicking her and waited her out.

"I had a run in with Helen at Pino's and I accused her of sleeping with Joe. She denied it of course but she all but called me the whore of Trenton saying no one would believe me. It isn't that I want to ruin her name as much as I want to show the world the woman they hold in such high regard in the burg is nothing but a whore herself." She said.

"What's the problem Babe?" I asked her.

"The pictures." She said. Yeah the pictures I could have killed fucking dumbass Manny that night. Not that it was really his fault but he was the one that blabbed and I wanted to fucking kill him at the time.

One night about four weeks ago Stephanie was down in Hector's lab. He was teaching her Spanish and she was supposedly teaching him English. We since learned Hector knew English all along, the fucker.

Well Manny walks in talking before looking carrying one of the pictures that had been taken at the hotel.

That was Stephanie's introduction to the pictures that had been taken she later found out about the video that had been taken at the hotel of her mother and the fucking cop Morelli but had never seen it and I wanted to keep it that way.

Manny and Hector both new they were screwed and would have to show her the evidence they had gathered. Upon the first look of a picture she went running from the room. I was only told the events that occurred as I was out with Tank on a client call.

She went running from the room her hand covering her mouth she literally ran into Santos in the hallway who was with Binkie. When she ran into him he knocked her down and in going down she managed to grab a hold of Binkie and take him down with her to the floor. The part that I found funny was when Lester went to help her up she lost it and threw up on both Lester and Binkie.

Well according to Manny and Hector that was when the fun started. My dumbass cousin can deal with all kind of shit people getting their heads cut off, limbs cut off, and arterial blood spraying out of a body. He can deal with the gross and the disgusting smells of rotting flesh, body bloating and exploding, even burning flesh and never once display a weakness but someone puking all bets were off.

She puked on him and Binkie. Lester proceeded to puke on her and Binkie. Binkie not wanting to be left out by this time decides to puke on her and Lester. Mean while she is crying shaking uncontrollably none of the guys were sure if she was crying because of the pictures, because she threw up on them, or because they threw up on her. Of course Cal was in the control room and takes off for the stairs he was ready to beat whoever's ass puked on her and made her cry, according to Hector.

It took both Manny and Hector to keep Cal from beating Santos and Binkie's ass. But when they told Cal about the pictures he walked over picked up my Babe and took her upstairs where she was able to get cleaned up.

He stole one of my shirts changed and stayed with her until I got home. Lester later joined them once he had gotten himself back together and cleaned up from all the puke. Fucking puke sissy.

It would have been funny had it not been for what set all of the chain of puke in motion; the pictures.

It took her the rest of the night to calm down. She was so upset about the pictures and mortified that she had puked on her brothers. Oddly she wasn't upset that they puked on her personally I would have been more pissed about that. The only one here that I would allow to puke on me without meeting me on the mats would be my Babe. The rest of the fuckers better fucking swallow it before puking on me or puking would be the least of their concerns.

Nothing else had been said about the pictures or the video until her confrontation with her mother at Pino's. I swear some people just needed to fucking disappear in the middle of the night and never be seen of or heard of again. Trenton seemed to have a growing list.

I briefly wondered how Helen would fair where I sent Mike. My contact had let me know he made it two days. I was actually surprised he had survived two days. I figured he wouldn't make it hours let alone days. The Sudan is a bitch. It is a god forsaken hell hole of dessert but that wasn't the worst part. You could survive the dessert, maybe, but you first had to survive the military regimes, the government-backed militias, the actual government troops, and local insurgent groups first. The Sudan made Hell seem like a fucking vacation.

Her voice pulled me out of my day dreaming of sending to Helen to the Sudan, Colombia, or possibly South Africa. "I don't know what to do with them." She said and continued "I don't know if I should go through with my plan or not."

"Plan" I thought I would play dumb.

"Yeah you know the plan; you know I know they told you." She said in a voice that told me she wasn't falling for my dumb act.

"Yeah Babe they told me, but I wanted you to tell me." She huffed.

"Them, me what's difference? I just need help making my mind up. If I do this there is no going back." She said as she rolled on her side looking at me. I rolled on my side looking at her.

"Babe, I can't make this decision for you. This is your decision." I told her but then added "my role here is to listen, support, and be there for you regardless of your decision." I told her. This wasn't my decision.

Personally I would say fuck the pictures, fuck the video and just fucking make them disappear off of the earth but I didn't really have the power to do that. It was her decision.

"Thanks for the help there Batman" she said as she puffed air out and up moving the hair that was dropping down on her face and she flopped back on her back looking up at the ceiling.

"Babe" I said continuing to watch over her.

"Carlos if I do this they are all going to hate me." She said. I briefly wondered who all was.

"Who is all Babe?" I asked her. She groaned, not in the way I like hearing her.

"Carlos everyone in the burg they are all going to hate me. My parents are never going to speak to me again, Joe well he is probably going to want to kill me, not to mention people I don't even know. They are all going to hate me." She said.

"How do you know they will hate you?" I asked her. I knew we would think she was awesome. Some of the guys that heard about her plan was bouncing on their toes anticipating the burg's reaction.

"Because they are burg and it has been clear for years that I am not. They will ban together and I will once again be the one that did something, said something, acted some way that they believed I shouldn't and they will shun me.

"Do you care?" I asked her wondering if she really cared what a bunch of fucking nosy women said or thought.

She huffed "that's not the point. I don't care if they believe me or not, if they shun me or not I want them to see her for the nothing of a human being she is. But if I do that I also take Joe with her not that he doesn't deserve it because he does. But it hasn't been but a couple of weeks that we have been able to be in the same building without him trying to hurt me, you, or my brothers. If I do this I know he will be out for blood. All of our blood and I am just not sure I want to start that battle again." She said blowing out a puff of air and wiggling on the bed.

"Babe don't worry about us, we can take care of ourselves. We have all survived worse, and we will survive Joe. He can't touch us nor can he hurt us." I left out the point that he could only hurt us through her. If he hurt her he would hurt us. Of course that would give us the excuse we needed to make him fucking disappear.

She nodded her head. "You really aren't going to tell me what to do here?" She asked me. I shook my head. This was her decision not mine to make for her. She had to decide what she wanted. She growled. I knew she didn't want me telling her what to do she was just frustrated about what to do.

I put my hand on her stomach her shirt had ridden up a little she stilled her head turning to look at me. Rubbing circles with my thumb on her tight little stomach sometimes I was still in awe of how small she was to me. Just my hand laying on her stomach my fingers stretching from one side to the other they didn't wrap around on her sides but it was only a matter of inch or so in total that kept my fingers flat.

I lowered my lips to hers. Pressing them to her lips feeling her soft plump lips against mine just made me want more. I pulled her to me opening my mouth and taking her mouth deeper. Her response to me makes me crave more. I knew there would be no further discussion of pictures, Helen, or Joe well at least not for a while.

SPOV

This week was my week with Carlos, or should I say Ranger. I knew last night he had just been distracting me from my decision but I didn't care, I would never turn him down to think about them or the pictures.

I walked into the gym it was Monday. Carlos was already in the gym and on the mats and for fun I thought I would join him. We hadn't faced off on the mats since well since the contest, or challenge thrown down from Doug. I thought it might keep me on my toes with my training.

He was finishing up with Lester. Lester was forever doing or saying something that landed him on the mats with Ranger and it was definitely Ranger on the Mats not Carlos. I don't even know what he had done this time. Most time I just ignored whatever he said or did to earn him mat time.

I stepped into the ring and I saw both his and Lester's eyes widen at me standing there. I saw a moment of hesitation and I willed him to treat me the same as any of his other men. He must have understood me and nodded. Stepping forward towards me he excused Lester off of the mat. I knew he wouldn't go far.

I knew we were going to be watched but I was looking forward to this. I instinctively and instantly went in fighting mode. He mimicked my movement and we circled each other just waiting to see who was going to make the first move. I was looking for any sign of vulnerability but there was none; of course this was Ranger I was facing. He didn't have any vulnerability.

We circled each other one more time searching just patiently searching for the right moment. I stayed focused on him my eyes never leaving him. I was watching his every move his whole body. I wasn't going to let him pull me into a fake move by faking a move in one direction only to strike from the other. The best way to prevent from falling for a move like that was to be patient and not lose focus and be ready to counter should it not be a fake.

He finally made the first move and I successfully blocked him but on my counter strike he blocked it as well. I wasn't surprised but I was wishful thinking. I would strike and he would block then strike; he would strike and I would block and then strike. We went after each other for over thirty minutes without a single strike made in the contact zone.

He was testing me he was stepping it up with each strike and I could tell that I was passing. Sweat was pouring down me and he looked like he had been just sitting on the couch watching TV; where was the justice?

I caught him and went to take him down but he reversed it and took me to the mats. He wrapped his arms around me so I was cocooned within him so when we landed he didn't hurt me. Part of me wanted to scream that he wouldn't have done that for Tank or Lester but part of me was secretly glad he had absorbed the impact with his body and not mine.

However I didn't hesitate to use it against him even if I was grateful when I threw my leg out tapped his kidney to let him know I had gotten a hit in. He was up in fighting stance in a flahs and I followed him. Him moving like a super hero, at super hero speed, me moving a little more at the speed of human.

Fighting Ranger told me one thing I needed to get a lot faster, a lot harder and a whole hell of a lot better if I was going to truly stand on my own with him in the ring. I nodded given him my form of I surrender and he smiled and nodded.

He walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me. "Proud of you Babe" he said and even though we all know I caved or lost, however you want to look at it, I couldn't stop the smile that formed. If he was proud of me then I was proud of me. He was the best of the best after all; and I well, I was lets just say getting better.

I walked off of the mat and decided that I would just go get ready for the day there was nothing I could do in the gym that would give me more of a work out than what I had just done. I was done.

I took a shower, got dressed and headed down for the Monday meeting. Sitting to the left of Carlos we were all in the room sitting around the table when he walked in. It was amazing when he walked into a room. He commanded the room. He demanded attention, respect. He had an air about him that spoke volume to his important position but I would be willing to bet even if he wasn't the owner of Rangeman he would still have this air about him. It was sort of beautiful and definitely breathtaking to witness.

His voice snapped me out of my trance of awe when he barked out "Report" and I jumped. I was never military but hearing his voice the level of command laced through it had me wanting to snap my heels together and give a salute worthy of a commanding soldier.

Everyone started giving their reports and I sort of zoned out. I knew I should have been paying attention but my mind was so clouded with everything I couldn't focus I heard one of the guys start and then I would sort of zone out what they were saying. My mind switching between the guys and the decision I needed to make.

I was brought back to the real world when I heard the chairs moving and before I realized it I was pushing my chair back from the table. When I felt him touch me I snapped out of it and focused on him.

"Babe why all the smoke I don't think you heard two minutes of meeting with all the heavy thinking you were doing." Of course he would notice. My face flamed red. This is the first time since joining Rangeman that I had zoned out during a meeting and of course Carlos would notice.

"Just couldn't seem to stop being about to think about things." I told him trying to blow it off and not mention what those things were. It isn't like he wouldn't already know I just wouldn't have to necessarily say them.

I looked around the room and all of the guys were standing but no one had moved out of the room. "Babe I have something to show you." Carlos said and I nodded once again looking at my brothers just standing there. Normally when he dismisses a meeting they all file out.

Why were they just standing there waiting?

Carlos took my arm and placed his hand at the small of my back and led me out of the room.

We turned down the hallway where all the offices were and we came to a stop and a door before his office. It was the supply room for office supplies and I briefly wondered why we were coming here with my brothers following us. The question had barely left my thoughts when Carlos opened the door and before me was the most beautiful office I had ever seen.

The walls were a beautiful light blue and the furniture a rich chocolate color. The accents were blue and brown. Behind my desk was a beautiful mural on the wall of Wonder woman standing tall with her lasso of truth and Batman crouched ready for the attack. Tears welled up in my eyes at the sight. I hesitantly stepped into the office looking at Carlos.

I tried to raise one eyebrow but I am pretty sure both of them went up; traitor. Carlos smiled and I thought I detected a bit of a jump in his shoulders he was amused; they both definitely went up.

I walked into the office and looked around. The bookshelf had pictures in frames, as well as the walls. The pictures were pictures of me with my brothers. Some were of me and Carlos. I turned around taking in the breathtaking room. I had a huge flat screen on one wall. A beautiful round table in the room with four chairs, a beautiful chocolate rich looking leather sofa that looked like it was going to feel butter soft to touch, just like the seats in his Porsche. It had a beautiful blue throw and pillows accenting the couch.

I couldn't help the thoughts of taking a nap on the couch it was so inviting. My desk was huge wooden desk, much like that of Carlos' and Tanks' I had a huge flat monitor sitting on the desk along with two action figures; Batman and Wonder woman.

The accessories on my desk were Wonder Woman accessories the pen holder, the paper weight, even the name plate had the wonder woman emblem on it as well as my name. Stephanie Manoso. Holy shit he had gotten the gold plate, I had no doubt that it wasn't gold, engraved with his last name. I picked it up looking at it as I felt his arms around me. His voice whispered the air blowing across my ear "I had to put my name at the end. I can't wait until you have my name." He said and I felt a surge go through me almost like a wave I don't know but tears burned my eyes. It was a good thing it overwhelmed me. I guess in movies it has been described as my cup had runnith over.

I turned in his arms wrapping my arms around him pulling him closer to me if that was possible. "I love it. I love everything about it and I love you." I exclaimed.

"Beautiful, I don't think you have enough of us represented in here. It seems to be only you and Batman of the justice league I think you need more." Lester said and I looked at him noticing a box in his hand.

He gave me the box I opened the top and inside was Flash. I guess Lester was saying he was the Flash and I guess that wouldn't be too far off of the bunch of men Lester was the most approachable and had the heart the size of Alaska; Alaska is bigger than Texas. I smiled at him as I added it to my shelf.

Bobby stepped forward and handed me a box it was the Green Lantern. Smiling and giggling a little bit I also added it to my shelf. My brothers the justice league it wasn't that far from the truth. I had noticed a couple of pictures covered up but hadn't said anything. Now I was figuring out what was behind those pictures.

Tank stepped forward and in his box was Atom-Smasher made since it sort of fit Tank to a T. His size, his massiveness, his stamina I could easily see Tank as Atom-Smasher.

Cal stepped forward and gave me a box inside the box was Aquaman, who else. Cal was a seal when you watch him swim you knew he was born for the water the way he slices through it. There would be no other justice league member for Cal.

The guys poured in my office filling it to capacity it seemed. My eyes were swimming in tears but they didn't fall. "Guys I love it. I love everything about it." I told them. They smiled. I hugged them and they begin to slowly filter out of the room after taking a look around. I think some of them were seeing it for the first time as well.

I looked over at Carlos. "You shouldn't have done this." I told him as he pulled me to him. He placed a kiss to my temple.

"I have another surprise unless you don't want to see it." He teased me knowing that he was just baiting me. Knowing that is all he had to say and I would want to see it. I am curious like that.

He pushed a little guiding me over to the door I had noticed but hadn't opened. Opening it, I saw it was his bathroom. His personal bathroom from his office it connected our offices. "Now we have a secret passage to each other's offices" he told me while kissing my ear. I might be mistaken but I think I accidentally let a soft moan escape.

The bathroom was his bathroom done in beautiful tones of grey and black like his office. Before everyone left my office they uncovered the two pictures and like I had expected it was the Justice League all of them standing together. Just like my brothers.

In one picture it had just Batman and Wonder Woman standing side by side. In the other picture it was Flash, Green Lantern, Atom-Smasher, Aquaman and bunch of others from the justice league.

I could see me working in this office every day. I would love walking in the door every single day no matter what was on my desk I would love sitting at that desk, in the soft brown leather high back chair. It wasn't stuffy or bulky it look super comfortable, super soft, like it would cup my body just right.

I didn't even want to think what the furniture alone must have cost for this room let alone everything else. Like I said he shouldn't have but I would definitely be lying if I didn't admit how much I am so glad that he did.

Once the pictures were uncovered and I told my brothers how much I loved everything they left to get their Monday morning started. Carlos and I sat down at my new table talk for a moment about what we were going to do.

"Babe in the bathroom is a closet your business suits will be in there. So you can change for client meetings. We have a client meeting today at zero ten hundred so we need to go over everything and then get ready." He stood up walked to his office and came back with a folder in his hand.

"Here is the client we are meeting. This is for a home security system." He told me handing me the file.

I opened the folder and looked at the family. The family seemed nice enough looking although I sort of thought the father was a slime ball for some reason. He just had that look. I didn't know them the father's name was Derek, the mother's name Sylvia, they had two kids, Audrey and Johnny and their last name was Richards. They wanted a home system which included cameras it seemed that Audrey was a fan for sneaking out in the middle of the night to meet up with her friends or boyfriend. Boy do I remember those days another thing I did to disappoint my parents.

"I will run a quick research on the family and see what I get back." I wasn't going to say anything to Carlos but I was going to focus on the father.

I walked over to my desk grabbed what I knew was going to be a brand new laptop fully loaded with everything imaginable including the programs Rangeman used. Brought it over to the table and fired it up kicking off the search program. While that was running we got down to the basis.

"Babe this is what we start with when we do home security systems. Essentially this is what we discussed with the client prior to scheduling the site visit. It was what they would like, why, what they want the focus to be on with their security. In this case it isn't so much keeping intruders out as it is their teenage daughter in." He told me and I nodded.

"Is she sneaking out to have fun or is it she is getting in trouble?" I asked him not sure if he knew the answer or not.

"So far as we can tell she is just having fun, hanging out with friends, she hasn't gotten in any trouble to date. But we both know that can change and it isn't safe for her to be wondering the streets in the middle of night." He said and I couldn't agree more. I know I use to sneak out but that was different times. It seemed safer even if it wasn't. Maybe I just didn't know the trouble that could have found me at the time. I counted myself lucky.

We all knew there was no good to come from hanging the streets of Trenton in the wee hours of the morning we had all been out on these streets during those hours and there was nothing good that could come from it, especially for a teenager.

The search finished and it didn't find anything about the father. He was typical father trying to support his family. Working a decent job for middle class maybe not quite middle but it seemed better than any salary I had ever made prior to coming to work for Rangeman. He didn't seem like a bad guy had an average to slightly better than average credit report. He wasn't upside in his home like so many families have been.

I set my initial thoughts about him aside. Stepping into the bathroom I opened the closet and my mouth literally hit the floor. I thought my body was going to follow as my knees got weak but Carlos was there to support me; how the hell did he know.

My business suites were designer suits Armani, Donna Karen, Michael Kors the shoes were Louis Vuitton, Christian Louboutin with the red soles, and Jimmy Choo. I had knock offs that some Chinese woman painted but these screamed authentic they screamed rich and they screamed classic. I spun around so fast the whole room spun and it took me a second to catch up. "These are…" not able to form the words only pointing.

He just smiled you could see the humor or amusement he was having by the lines forming around his eyes and mouth.

I was speechless he had done it he had knocked me speechless. He kissed my temple. "Get dressed Babe we leave in ten." He said and he walked into his office. Holy shit I needed more than ten minutes. I had no doubt it all would fit but damn I needed to make a decision about what to wear in only ten fucking minutes. I mean what man would hand a woman these clothes and these shoes and then only give her ten fucking minutes to get ready.

I tell you one who had no true appreciation for the sheer beauty hanging in front of him. I heard Carlos speak up from his office "Babe I see the beauty in front of me and trust me when I say it isn't hanging in the closet." Damn I said that out loud. Shit.

I agree to disagree and then I heard "Babe" so I was still broken. Shit I thought I had a handle on that I guess beautiful office, beautiful clothing, and incredibly amazing shoes all had an effect on the filter from my brain to my mouth. Picking the Armani suit and the classic black pump with the killer heel Louis Vuittons I was ready. I touched up my makeup also waiting for me in the bathroom fixed my hair and I was ready.

I stepped into Carlos' office as he was putting on his jacket. I smiled when I realized it was his Armani suit. Didn't we just make the pair? Armani suits, weapons at our waist, ankles, and under our jackets. Me in my killer kitten heels and him in his shiny dress shoes we were all set to represent Rangeman; and we looked damn fine. "Babe!" Yep still broken.

We were both lost in our own thoughts for the drive to the clients home. I am sure he was just in his zone but I was wondering exactly how the meeting with the client would go. I wanted it to go well as this was my first meeting. I wanted for Rangeman to get their business.

We pulled up and from the outside the house looked extremely nice. It was a large brick home with huge windows. I would have thought the family living here would be rich at one point in my life. I have since learned there is well off, there is rich, there is really well off, and really rich and then there is Carlos who seemed to be above all of that.

I stepped out of the car with Carlos beside me. I had my note book in my hand and I grabbed my pen I wanted to write down a few things I observed from outside of the house.

I started to walk around the house to get a good feel for the outside I jotted a few things down and then we headed to the door. Carlos rang the bell and Mr. Richards, Derek, answered the door.

"Mr. Richards my name is Carlos Manoso and I am here representing Rangeman Security." He introduced himself. He motioned to me "This is Stephanie Manoso." He said I didn't bother correcting him if he wanted to give me his last name I wasn't about to give it back. I wanted it forever.

I reached to shake his hand and when his hand touched mine I knew I was right from the beginning he was a slime ball. I felt like I needed a shower. The leer he gave me was even more evidence of what true slime he was.

He stepped back and we stepped in. Carlos motioned for me to go first and he followed closely behind me. I think Carlos got the same vibe as me. This guy was slime.

"You talked to us about getting a quote for a security system for your home because your daughter likes to sneak out at night." I said and he nodded.

Carlos spoke up next. "You mind if we take a look around while we talk about what your needs are exactly. We have several options available to you from just having sensors, to a full security system even up to twenty four by seven monitoring including response options." He said. The guy nodded and began the tour of the downstairs.

The home was nice. Moderately to nicely decorated not really my taste but it seemed to fit the house. No doubt the wife's doing. I spoke up "Mr. Richards is Mrs. Richards available?" I was hoping he would say yes that she was just upstairs or something but no of course not. He shook his head no.

"No she is at school with one of my sons. Today they are having some event and with her being room mother or whatever you call it she has to be there all day today." Great, I thought but I nodded my head in acknowledgement.

I was following Carlos through the house and I wasn't really sure what he was looking at in each room but I made note of windows, furniture placement near windows the doors in relation to the windows, etc. I don't know why I was doing it more to just make myself look like I had purpose here other than a third wheel.

I am sure Carlos was cataloging everything in his mind but for me it worked better to see it. When we were finished walking through the downstairs we headed up the stairs. I hesitated I wanted to go first and I wanted Carlos behind me or I wanted Mr. Richards to go first I didn't want him behind me.

Carlos motioned and he followed right behind me I was never so relieved. I should have known he would cover my ass without me having to even ask him. I heard him answer always and just smiled to myself.

When we got to the daughter's bedroom I walked over to her window looking out I made notes of what I could see from the yard, what was directly below the window, I looked to the sides but couldn't see much. I thought about raising the window and looking out. Looking at Carlos he nodded following my train of thought so I did and made notes of what I saw.

We went to her younger brother's room and I did the same things in his room. We then went to the bathroom and I did the same thing making notes as I went along. I didn't bother with the parent's room because chances were pretty good she wasn't sneaking out of their bedroom window with them in the bed sleeping. They would need to be extremely sound sleepers if she was and no security system was going to help them.

We exit the rooms and move to go down the stairs. I felt Mr Richards reach out and touch me. He put his hand on my shoulder in an attempt to hold me back. I turned towards him moving in such a way that broke his hold on me yet didn't make me appear to be offended by the touch; which I was.

He smiled at me and the thoughts of hot shower poured over me as if I needed to cleanse that smile off of me. I managed a smile as I reached out for Carlos stopping him from moving further away from me. Thoughts of Doug flashed through my mind and I felt myself start to panic.

I felt Carlos' hand tighten on mine and it pushed the panic down it had been weeks since something like that had happened to me. I wasn't sure if it was his beady eyes, his slimy smile, or his nasty touch that brought it on maybe it was just the combination of them all but I was ready to leave. I no longer cared if Rangeman got their business or not.

We walked downstairs Carlos spoke up "Mr. Richards I am not sure we are the best fit for your security needs but we will put together a report and someone will be out to go over what we found. We will proceed from there in making the decision if we are able to accommodate your needs." He said.

My Richards spoke up at this point looking at me. "Can I ask for a particular Rangeman to be the lead on my account to be my contact person with the company?" He asked. I knew where he was going and I knew we did that I was only hoping that Carlos had seen what I had seen and wouldn't answer that question.

"Mr. Richards we do assign specific Rangeman to be specific contacts for accounts but it all depends on the size of the security system you select. I can tell you core team members are only contacts for security systems that are over a million dollars. I don't see this home system in that dollar range. I will however allow you to meet those within Rangeman that do handle the accounts within the range of your home system and you can select which one of those men you would like to handle your accounts." He said and I almost sighed out loud.

He looked disappointed. "I was hoping Stephanie here could be my contact." He said out loud and I held my breath I didn't really want Rangeman to lose the customer but I wasn't going to agree to be his contact.

"Stephanie is a core team member Mr. Richards and actually she is special accounts and her accounts all range in the five to ten million dollar systems. So she won't be able to be your contact. I am sorry." He said. He wasn't sorry and neither was I. I was so damn glad he said that I wanted to jump up and down screaming yay…yay…yay while throwing my hands up in the air but I remained there standing with a smile on my face.

He finally nodded stating "just get back with me on the report and we will go from there. I have been told your company is the best and my daughter doesn't seem to want to listen to us anymore." She was sixteen and I knew those are the tough years. Too young to do the fun stuff yet too old to do anything else and the peer pressure is at its greatest.

We left and once we were inside the car I allowed the shiver I had been suppressing in the house to run down my back. "Babe" Carlos said and I wanted to say see what you would do if he was looking at you like that, and then reached out and touched you. I bet he would do more the shiver. When I heard him say "Babe" again I knew I had said it out loud but I didn't care it was truth; he would have shivered.

We had another meeting that Carlos didn't tell me about or maybe it was just because the last one ran over I don't know but we pulled up to the next meeting location and it was a business. He turned to me.

"Babe we are here to meet with the owners of a jewelry store. They have two stores here and one in Maryland. They want us to give them a quote for the two local stores as well as a quote for all three with the caveat that we will be unable to respond to their Maryland location alarms." He told me.

"Their names are Harry and Alex Vanderplum. The business is an old business that has been passed down for generations. It is a great opportunity for Rangeman." He told me. Great Stephanie don't fuck this one up; not the one he wants to land.

I get out of the car once again Carlos puts his hand at my back as we make our way to the business store front. I take mental notes of things I want to add in my note book as we are walking up to the store front.

We get the glass front and I once again make a couple of mental notes of things to either ask or just note in the report.

We walk in and once again I am surprised the store is beautiful, the cases are beautiful with beautiful jewelry. Jewelry I would never ever been able to look at let alone purchase. Looking at it had to cost something and there were days when I couldn't afford to look. Hopefully now working at Rangeman those days were behind me. But I still wasn't sure with my Rangeman pay I would ever be able to purchase jewelry from this store.

It screamed money. I know I was screaming money with the clothing I was wearing but we all knew where the money was it wasn't with me.

We walked up to an older man Ranger stuck his hand out "Mr. Vanderplum my name is Carlos Manoso with Rangeman Security." He introduced himself and then motioned to me. "This here is Stephanie Manoso." He said and I shook his hand. I had none of the same reactions with Mr. Vanderplum that I did with Mr. Richards and I was glad.

He called for Alex and in walked a striking older woman. I assumed Alex was short for Alexandria. I briefly wondered how wonderful it would be to work with all of these beautiful jewels. I could only imagine the stock pile of jewelry she owned but looking at her she was moderately dressed with just a hint of jewelry.

If I were here I think I would have at least a ring on every finger. Maybe not every finger okay that really doesn't do it for me but I would definitely have a couple; maybe.

Carlos introduced us again to Alex I was assuming it was wife but I guess Sister would work as well as I didn't see rings on either of their fingers insinuating they were married.

We walked through the store, through their inventory and I made a few notes. We went over their safe in the store. As well as their procedures for handling gems, jewelry, and any cash they may have. We went over their policies for opening and closing the store, who had had access at what time of the day, got a complete list of all staff, and persons who had access to anything from behind the counters.

I couldn't imagine another question for us to ask when Carlos stated that I would be getting back in touch with them with a report, as well as quote estimates for the different options available to them in a couple of weeks. He also wanted us to do the same thing at their other two locations and scheduled a time we could go there and get what we needed to put the full report together.

We left walking out to the car. I was staring at him and I am quite certain my mouth was gapping open. We get in the car and it is like my face is stuck like that. I think I am in shock.

"Babe?" Carlos said snapping me out of whatever had glued me in place.

"Yeah" I asked him.

"What had you looking at me in shock Babe?" He asked me like he had no fucking clue. Sometimes men could be clueless even when they were Batman and fucking perfect.

"Babe" shit I said that out loud.

"Carlos you just told Mr and Mrs Vanderplum that I would be getting back with them with the report and quotes. Me Carlos, you told them I would." He looked at me like yeah so, I could just read it on his face and part of me wanted to scream. I was almost in a panic.

"Carlos I just started with Rangeman and this is an important customer I don't mind shadowing you or something to learn the ropes but I don't want to cut my teeth on an important customer and risk losing it for you and Rangeman." I told him. He just shook his head.

"Babe" he said in a way that said he wasn't the least bit concerned. The air of confidence in his voice like he had asked me to go pick him up a burger at Burger King well that wouldn't happen in reality but you get my drift as if it was something I couldn't mess up when I knew good and well I could. Hell some days ordering your food and then having exactly what you ordered when you got home was challenging for me.

He pulled away from the curb and before I knew it we were parking in the Pinos lot. Great I loved the pizza and the meatball subs here but every time I came here there was always trouble, or so it seemed. Of course today Carlos was with me and I wasn't sure anyone was willing to give us trouble. Of course we were both wearing thousand dollar suits and I still had on my kitten heels.

Walking in literally you could see the shock register on everyone's faces. Mouths opened food fell out, forks hit the plates, and the place went silent the only noise was the clank of silverware falling. I personally wanted to back up and leave well part of me did. The other part wanted to say that's right bitches this is an Armani suit and these are real Louis Vuittons so suck it. But that was the crazy side of me so I just kept myself under control.

We did look good. Well I looked good. Carlos looked like something from the pages of a magazine. If Armani could see what Carlos did for his suits he would have him on every page of every magazine and men would line up to buy his suits to even have a remote chance of looking like him.

The women were mesmerized by him they were staring their eyes glassy the closer ones I could see their pupils dilated with the images running through their heads, their food forgotten, their children forgotten, their husbands forgotten they had only one thing on their mind and it was my man and that wasn't sitting too well with me.

But before the possessive side of me stood up and took charge by standing on the table top and shooting everyone one of the gawking women with my own gun Carlos guided me back to our booth in the back of the restaurant where we sat with our backs to the wall side by side.

Putting his hand on my leg leaning into me he whispered "I am yours." In my ear and if I hadn't been sitting down he would have had to pick me up from the floor. Damn straight he was mine but hearing him say that made me all warm and fuzzy and no longer had any interest in eating at Pino's.

JPOV

I pulled up into the parking lot at Pino's to hang out with my cop friends and get a bite for lunch. It was my go to place for lunch. I mean I ate lunch here just about every day. The only day I didn't was when I had a meeting at lunch time.

Last week Stephanie had come into Pino's with Tank I wasn't here I was out over on Stark Street getting my fill from the ladies or maybe they were getting their fill of me, that was more accurate at least.

Momma had confronted her in the parking lot and Stephanie had screamed all kind of accusations while the whole burg was listening. I wanted to slap the fuck out of her for being so stupid. Part of me said this was just Stephanie and she did stupid shit but the other part of me that was trying to avoid the burg and put the flaming rumors out of how I was fucking Helen Plum. I didn't need this shit. I didn't need the guys looking at me closer I didn't need the burg's eye on me.

Why the fuck wasn't she just happy that I was being friendly with her? Some people you just couldn't be friends with. It was looking like Stephanie was fast becoming one of those people.

I parked looking out over the cars and I cuss under my breath when I saw his car in the parking lot. Once again he is here and I know she is with him. Hell he never stepped into the building prior to meeting her.

His people would eat here on occasions but nothing like since they met her. They practically had their own booth in the back and the fuckers are going to be sitting with their back to the wall.

I sighed got out of the car and made my way in the restaurant.

I was debating on confronting her for her stupid comments against me when I walked through the door but when I saw them sitting there I almost took off running across the restaurant to scream at her but I held it back and forced myself to move towards the other cops sitting across the restaurant.

When I got there they were talking about her and him. "Did you see their suits? They had to be thousand dollar suits. They looked custom. I have never seen her looking so fine." One of them said. I didn't bother to register who had said it my anger just grew. Since when did Stephanie wear thousand dollar suits? Had money really changed her as the man from Rangeman said?

I was glad her days were numbered I was getting closer and closer to finding his enemies. I was getting closer to finding the missing link to find his enemies. I had done my home work, I had done my research and I was slowly but surely hunting down the enemies.

I had something in the works and if it all went as planned I would know something by the end of the week. I just needed to hold it together for a little while longer and play nice but my anger was making it hard.

"Joe I heard you fucked her mother. Please tell me that isn't true while Stephanie is a fine ass that we all would line up for the opportunity; but her mother?" He shuddered and then another one of the guys added "her mother really? Damn…" I breathed in through my nose trying to control it but I was losing the battle. I shook my head.

I stormed over to her table banging my hands on the table causing it to jump their drinks jumping. "Joe what the hell?" she yelled.

"Stephanie I hear you were accusing me of fucking you mother in Pino's parking lot last week. What is up with that shit?" I practically screamed at her so if anyone hadn't been privy to the information they were now. I couldn't help myself.

She gasped hearing my voice the anger behind it. Watching them I saw ranger let go of her hand and place his hands by his side I knew he had weapons there but I didn't give a shit he wouldn't draw them on a cop especially in Pino's with cops sitting across the restaurant.

"Joe you need to leave, or go sit down. You don't want to do this here and now." She warned but I did want to do this here and now. Actually I wanted to do more I wanted to wring her neck, I wanted to watch the life drain from those blue eyes. I was mad, I was furious, and I sure as fuck wanted to do this here and now.

"Stephanie I do want to do this now because you have lost your fucking mind if you think I would fuck your mother." I yelled at her banging my hands down on the table once again making the dishes jump and the water spill out a little more. I briefly wondered if they would mind if I stained their expensive suits.

"Joe I am warning you to walk away." She said and I could hear the fire in her voice. She was sitting against the wall which was a good thing because had she been on the end I would have jerked her up to her feet.

"Stephanie I am not going anywhere until you tell everyone that you made up those lies to deface me. You wanted me to look bad as a cop all because I decided I no longer wanted you, you are just trying to get back at me. You are out for some revenge." I yelled at her loud enough for everyone to hear me.

"You no longer wanted me?" She said and I saw the steel cold daggers from her eyes piercing me. "You no longer want me, that is funny. Everyone in here knows that you stalked me they know you did everything you could think of including man handling me to get me to come back to your dumb ass. It is me that no longer wanted your stupid cheating diseased ass." She yelled at me.

"That is what you want to think, if I wanted you so bad why do you think I was fucking Terry on the side." I screamed at her. "You couldn't satisfy me with your just laying there dead fish ass. You were nothing but a lame fuck I have told you that before. Why would you think I would want you?" I screamed at her I knew I had admitted to fucking Terry but that wasn't exactly a secret and it was a whole lot better than admitting fucking Joyce, the street walkers on Stark, or her fucking mother.

I saw her eyes go wide when I said she was a lame fuck and I knew I had won. Everyone would say what a lame fuck she was and everyone would feel sorry for me having dealt with it as long as I did.

Ranger was quite but I knew he didn't want to be. He was shaking with anger and I briefly wondered how smart it was of me to anger him the way I was after all I could disappear in my sleep but right now I needed to fix my good name with the burg. I needed to remain the golden boy.

"Joe you can say what you want about me. But we all know it was you with the problem. You fucked Terry, you fucked Joyce, you fuck the girls down on Stark Street and you fucked my mother at the hotel out on Route one. You forget you sent me the fucking pictures in your box of sex toys, and S and M paraphernalia along with your sick little suggestions of what you wanted to do with me. You are a sick fuck that needs some help. But I have no interest in giving you any help especially with your credibility in the burg or with anyone else. If I thought your sick shit would get your badge taken away I wouldn't hesitate to let the whole police force know. Maybe I should make a call to Internal Affairs maybe they would be interested." She spit out at me.

I pulled my gun pointing it at her and Ranger was on his feet blocking me from the shot within the second. I didn't give a fuck because I could just shoot him but I really wanted to put a bullet in her. The cops from across the restaurant were on their feet and behind me hands near their weapons. I heard them asking me to drop the gun but I had no intentions of dropping my weapon.

I was going to get the fucking truth out of her, even if it wasn't the actual truth. She was going to admit she lied about me fucking her mother and those whores on Stark Street and she wasn't going to be making that call to IA or she was going to die before Ranger's enemies had a chance to reach Trenton.

"Joe put the gun down!" One of the cops yelled out but I didn't acknowledge him I did look around to see who was behind me. I needed to know if I could get by with killing her and covering it up or if we had one of the by the book cops joining us. I was sorry to see two of the rookies and both of them were too new to the department to not go by the book. Fuck.

I turned my head back to see a blur flying toward me hitting me high in the chest the jar it caused made me pull the trigger and the gun went off. I have no idea where it was pointing I had no idea if the bullet hit anyone or not. I was slammed into the floor. Before I knew I was down I had been disarmed, turned over hands behind me and a foot in my back. My hands were being wrenched up so high that I could almost feel my shoulders popping from the joint and part of me wanted to scream uncle.

Fuck.

I heard the cuffs go on me and then a stiletto connected with my balls and I howled in pain. "You ever pull a gun on me again Joe and you will be a dead man I won't question your intentions, I will take that act as your intention to kill me and I will protect me and mine I won't hesitate in shooting you and I will shoot to kill make no mistakes about that. Do you understand me?" She yelled yanking my arms up until I heard them popping and again I wanted to scream uncle.

Fuck she had taken me down. I quickly scanned the restaurant and there was no blood so the shot must have missed everyone.

"Babe" I heard Ranger say and I wanted to puke did he never said anything but Babe did he know how to say anything else? He made me want to puke with his fucking Babe. I could just see her beaming back I didn't need to look at her to know it. I had seen it before.

"I want to press charges." I heard Stephanie say. I should have never came here this wasn't going to go over very well at the precinct. I wasn't sure how I was going to get out of this one. Fuck.

RPOV

Fuck my life has flashed before my eyes twice in the matter of minutes. The first time was when that fucker pulled a gun on her but I quickly blocked him from having a shot at her. The second time was when she lunged around me actually using me to swing her legs around to tackle him and then fucking gun of his going off. So make that three fucking times.

I quickly scanned around her body for blood but when she stood back up and quickly took him down and had him in cuffs I knew she was fine and my heart was allowed to fucking start. She had taken him down and she had taken him down hard and then she kicked him in the balls letting her stiletto heel slam into them.

I wanted to say ouch for him. But I was to fucking pissed to care.

She had him handcuffed her foot in his back his hands wrenched up so far I was wondering how his arms were staying in their sockets.

I heard her tell the police she wanted to press charges and I just smiled. The fucker was going down; finally.

We had been watching him not only what he was doing with Stephanie's mother but we heard some chatter that someone was looking for my enemies and there was a distinct possibility it was the fucking cop. If he brought my enemies to Trenton he would have no idea what shit he would unleash on his precious fucking burg. They wouldn't just come here to kill me. He was too stupid to know that.

He was too stupid to fucking think about the consequences of his actions. To date we had been able to basically block him but I had just gotten word that he may have something else in works that I had contacts checking on. To date he had followed the fake trail but he was close, closer than I ever wanted anyone to be to reaching my enemies.

I hadn't told Stephanie because before I accused him I wanted to be sure it was in fact him and not someone trying to make it look like it was him. Now I was pretty certain it was him. Soon as she stood up I was reaching for her pulling her to me holding her body to mine feeling up and down her body searching for any injuries on her body. My hands knew her body as well if not better than they knew my own and once they were satisfied that she was fine I lowered my head to her ear.

"Don't ever do that again, always let me protect you. I can't live without you. Let me protect you please." I begged her whispering in her ear holding her to me I felt her shake against my body and I knew it was the adrenaline wearing off.

I looked at her cupping her face in my hands starring in her eyes so she could see the gravity of what I was begging her for. She smiled her eyes watery but nothing falling she nodded.

"I couldn't let anything happen to you. I had to protect you. Like you, I can't live without you." She finally whispered to me as I held her to me my body gladly taking her weight. Holy shit she had done that to save me. Didn't she understand that my life wasn't worth hers?

One good thing the cops had witnessed everything so there was no need for any long telling and retelling of what happened. Stephanie just had to give them her account of the events as well as me and we were able to leave. I had never been so glad to get back into my car and head back to Rangeman. I briefly wondered if I could come up with a good enough excuse that would keep her within the walls of Rangeman where she would forever be safe.

We arrived back at Rangeman but there was no more work to be done for the day. I couldn't concentrate. I know let it be know the mighty Manoso couldn't concentrate I could only think about one thing being buried in the love of my life. My body needed the connection with her. I needed to hold her and feel the strength of our connection and know that it is still there whole; alive.

I parked the car and immediately went to her door before she had a chance to open it I opened it and picked her up in my arms. She started to protest but I silenced her with a stare; I needed this. The beast within me needed to know she was okay.

SPOV

Monday was a mess the confrontation with Joe and then Carlos being so upset with me because I tried to protect him. He wasn't really mad at me he was more on edge that I would do anything to protect him including risk my own life but I didn't understand why he didn't get it. He didn't mind putting his life on the line for me but thought I was wrong, maybe that isn't the right word, for putting my life on the line for him.

We finally agreed to sort of disagree okay maybe I agreed to disagree I would always try to save him and he would always try to save me. I guess we can always hope that we are both successful in always saving each other because honestly neither of us would be able to live without the other.

The rest of the week was spent doing the reports. I wrote the report Mr. Richards home making notes of where there were vulnerabilities that would make it easy for his daughter to sneak out of the house. I made suggestions of moving the trashcans, removing the lattice work on the side of the house that a vine was growing up. I made notes that if they wanted cameras outside to place them facing the house to see which window or windows she was climbing out of. All windows and doors would get sensors but we all knew having the code would only allow her disarm the system.

She needed the code because she came home every day before the other members so she needed to be able to get in the house and disarm the alarm and rearm it so having the sensors wouldn't be good enough she would just disarm the system sneak out and then reset the alarm. It was my recommendation that a second system be placed on the windows that she wouldn't have the alarm code for since I was ninety five percent sure she wasn't using the front or back door to sneak out as she would have to sneak downstairs to get out.

The steps made too much noise but just in case she has worked through that I suggested that they include motion sensors on the stairwell that's connected to the system attached to the window so an alarm would sound. The parents could disarm it when they used the stairs at night but during the day the sensor would be off for the stairway. They would activate it when they went to bed at night.

Most of the week was spent working on the report for the Vanderplums. I needed to make sure their reports were exactly what they needed. I needed to make sure their needs were satisfied and I wanted to make sure I gave them extra things they hadn't thought about when it came to securing a facility.

Carlos and I had visited the other two stores of theirs and I had made my notes which I added to the reports. I didn't have too many suggestions. One of my suggestions was to place bars on the windows in the back of the buildings but with locks so that if you were in the store and needed to escape you could unlock the bars and get out. These bars are actually placed on the inside of the window so they are completely inaccessible from the outside.

I also recommended that they do background checks on the employees every year instead of one time when the initial system went into place.

I had the cost analysis done for every scenario I was proud of my end product for the Vanderplums and even the Richards. I felt like I had put together a sound reasonable system that met their basic needs and more without costing them a fortune.

I was never happier when Carlos said to give the Richards case to Woody and Vince for them to report to him. I called Woody into my office to hand over the report and give him the rundown of my notes within the report and my suggestions and why I made them.

He walked in smiling and held something in his hand behind his back. He walked over hugging me "Morning Darling" he said and I couldn't help but smile at his southern drawl. He was Texan and looking at him I would say all the rumors you hear about Texas are true. He was a big man, he was beautiful, and his voice well I am sure had all the women of the north swooning to hear it again.

He didn't wear his cowboy hat when on duty but that was just icing on the cake. He handed me the box and I opened it. It was a figure of the Lone Ranger. Woody spoke up "I know you have all justice league but none of them fit me, so I went with my first cowboy hero; the Lone Ranger." He said. I smiled walking over and placing the figure on my shelf alongside the justice league figures. I admit it looked a little odd but no different than our family here. We were odd looking at us but we were all family we were all heroes just like those on my shelf. So in a weird way the figure fit among the other heroes there.

"Thanks Woody I love it." I told him. I moved over to the table and gestured for him to join me so we could go over the report I was turning over to him.

I didn't really like the father but I felt like the daughter was endangering her life sneaking out and I wanted to help protect her. Too many kids did stupid things that ended up costing them their lives or making them vulnerable to predators that were just waiting to rob them of themselves. We all did stupid things as kids some were lucky and some weren't I didn't want her to be on the side that was forever regretting those stupid teenage decisions.

Hour later Woody walked out of my office and I was happy he completely understood the report along with my suggestions and recommendations. I was confident he would be able to present the report to Mr. Richards without any problems nor would he have any problems answering any questions Mr. Richards may have.

I went to the bathroom changed into one of the designer suits today it was Michael Kors and the shoes were Jimmy Choo. I couldn't imagine the money spent on this closet I would have never dreamed of buying these clothes or shoes for myself, even if I had the money, but I had to admit when you put on nice designer clothing that was made different than other clothing and nice shoes they just fit in ways other clothing didn't. These felt custom like they were made for me and while they were business suits I felt beautiful in them.

Each rack held the outfit along with a pouch that had the accessories for the suit in it was the jewelry, a handbag, and the shoes were matched to each of the outfits I had no doubt whose doing that was. That screamed Ella but it made my life simple because all I had to do was pick the suit.

I was just going to have to have a conversation with Ella about how much she was spending on me. It wasn't that I didn't think Rangeman could afford it I just didn't want Rangeman to have to afford it a suit from Macys or even Dillards or any other store like that would be good enough. She didn't have to buy designer for me. I wasn't exactly a designer kind of girl.

Ranger walked into the bathroom as I was finishing putting on my shoes and did a low whistle I know it was to amuse me, but I couldn't help the smile on my face. Every woman wanted to know that her man loved the way she looked.

I looked at him "Whistle it up because this is totally the suit working. Do you have any idea the money that was spent on the clothing in this closet?" I asked him.

"Babe I can tell you that the suit isn't what is working. I do happen to know exactly what this closet cost because I picked out everything in the closet." My mouth gapped open I thought Ella had done it when in the hell did he have time to pick designer clothing and be a bad ass saving the world?

"Babe when it comes to you I make it a habit of knowing. Besides this is an investment in Rangeman. When you meet clients you need to look your best. I know you could do that in a flour sack but clients recognize expensive clothing even if they don't know designer branding and that speaks volume to the service Rangeman provides, our success, and our quality." He spoke and when he put it like that I could see the logic always leave it to Carlos to use logic to justify spending this much money.

"I am not exactly the woman that wears thousand dollar shoes, and suits literally worth thousands of dollars." I tried to explain to him. Looking in the mirror looking at myself I had to admit I looked good in this suit.

"Babe that suit looks like it was made for you. How could you not be the woman to wear it?" He asked me and I didn't have an answer for him. I knew I wasn't going to win and honestly there was a part of me that didn't want to win because I was loving these clothes.

I touched up my makeup and when I was finished Carlos asked "You ready?" I nodded stepping back in my office to get the report I wanted to present to Mr and Mrs Vanderplum.

We walked down to the elevator and then in the garage we got in the Porsche and made our way to the Vanderplum's jewelry store.

Walking in I was nervous I had never presented a proposal to a client. This was my first and it was a big account, well maybe not big for Rangeman, but for me looking at these numbers they were huge numbers I would never see in my lifetime.

I wasn't sure how this was supposed to go I had never seen Ranger do one of these nor anyone else so I wasn't sure exactly how they started their presentation but for me I wanted to focus on what we could for them before talking numbers.

We walked in to the store and once again shook hands with both Mr. and Mrs. Vanderplum and then I started the presentation.

I went over where I thought vulnerabilities were and what we suggested to make them secure. I went over the plan for the system, exactly every detail of the system I was recommending and why I felt like it was the best choice for their business.

I went over the details of the new safe I was recommending for their businesses in each of their locations. Their safes were older; they had vulnerabilities that if the right thief hit their stores they would be able to access the content in a relatively short time frame.

I went over the changes I recommended from lightening, to exterior changes I felt like would better secure each facility. Once I walked them through my suggestions and recommendations for changes to be made inside as well as outside of each location in addition to the security system to be installed I then tackled my ideas about securing their employees.

I didn't doubt they trusted the people working for them most had worked for them for years but this was more a protocol to have in place should they end up hiring someone who isn't as trustworthy as they may have believed.

I then went over securing specific pieces of jewelry even when in the case. Most all of their jewelry was expensive but they had some specialty pieces that were even more so. They needed special protection additional securing when in the case during business hours. I had documented those pieces from each location and went over what we could offer for those pieces.

I then explained to them the benefits of having the locations monitored by Rangeman. Our response times our protocols for when alarms are activated. I wanted them to know if they decided to go with Rangeman that they just didn't have our security system they had us working to keep their property safe and secure.

When I was done I then sat down and we went over the numbers. What it was going to cost them to have the service and the system I had designed for them. I had pictures of the devices, as well as costs and installation figures.

When I was complete I closed up the report and handed it to them fully expecting they would need time to review the report and make a decision. Carlos hadn't said a thing I sort of expected him to add something here or there that I missed but he never spoke. He just watched me, looked at what I was showing them and listened to my whole presentation to them.

I should have been nervous but I wasn't tell you the truth when I got involved I sort of forgot he was here with us I was so involved in making sure I covered everything with our clients. I guess you could say I sort of zoned into my presentation.

When I looked at him he was smiling and I saw what looked like pride in his eyes. I looked back at the Vanderplums and they were smiling. "Mrs. Manoso where do we sign?" She smiled. I wasn't really sure what to tell them.

"Well we need to know which service plan you want to go with and then we can draw up a contract and get things started." I told her. She smiled.

"We want it all dear and we want you as our contact." She said and I couldn't help the smile that exploded from me. I had landed my first client.

RPOV

Holy shit; I had come with my Babe today to support her. I knew it was the first time she had presented a report to a client and I gave her no pointers. I wanted to see what she would do on her own. I had seen pieces of the report when she had questions she would show me and I worked with her on the cost pieces. But I never expected the report she gave them and the way she would presented it.

I had never done it that way, I didn't think Tank had ever done it that way not that there was anything wrong with the way we did it but we were more meat and potatoes where as my Babe was appetizer, meat, potatoes, and dessert. I shouldn't have expected anything less.

She had suggestions, recommendations that I would have never included in the report. She not only had information about the system she was recommending but why she was recommending that system and not some of the others. It was precise it was to the point but it was completely all in compassing for not only their businesses here but the one in Maryland as well.

She pointed out changes that could be made at each location that would make the building more secure, changes with the jewelry cases, as well as how to further protect certain pieces they carried in inventory that were significantly higher in value than other pieces. She identified the pieces and suggested ways to secure each of them. Our report wouldn't have included those things. I made a note to have her visit the other jewelry stores we currently had contracts with because these ideas were great ideas.

I knew she would be great at client meetings she had a way about her that made everyone feel comfortable around her. She made them at ease and they took in everything she was telling them. They saw the truth behind her words and they could see she wasn't trying to just sell them something that she didn't believe in. She believed in Rangeman and she cared about their business being secure.

She gave them recommendations that they could change some things on their own to further secure their facility without our intervention further proving that she genuinely cared about their safety, security and the protection of their merchandise.

I would say I have never been more proud of her but she had been amazing me so much lately that I knew that was no longer the case she made me proud and continued to make me proud. She would have made me proud if she did nothing just because of my love for her but because she cared about Rangeman and I could see she wanted to do a good job and make a good impression on our clients it made my heart sore with pride.

This is how it should have been all these years I was pussy footing around too fucking scared to admit my feelings too scared to pull her into my world of darkness. I should have known that it wouldn't have darkened her she would have only brightened my world.

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	60. Chapter 59:  First Week wa Partner Pt1

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

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Chapter 59: First Week with a Partner Pt 1

**HectorPOV *in Spanish**

Fuck, that fucking asshole had confronted my Angelito at her favorite restaurant. It seemed every time she went there something happened.

I was her protector I was shadowing her even though she was with Ranger I was her protector so it didn't matter. I watched as she swung around from behind Ranger when he was protecting her from the dumb fucking cop and take him down.

I couldn't help but feel the pride I had for her. I had shown her that move. I had taught it to her thinking it would assist in saving her life I had no idea she would have to use it on the fucking cop. But she did it exactly as I had taught her and she had kicked the gun in a way that the bullet should it have gone off, which it did, wouldn't hit anyone.

The fucking cop didn't know what hit him. He wouldn't know what would hit him later either. If he was lucky enough to get bonded out, if Ranger had his way he will be in jail until his trial but we all knew she had very little to charge him with and that was if the police were willing to file charges.

He did pull a gun on them, but he hadn't threatened to kill them. He could easily explain it away the only thing that was getting him arrested at all was the fact the other officers in Pino's knew he pulled his gun because he was pissed versus under a threat.

I watched them haul him out of Pino's and I watched as they put him in a police car. I walked up no one noticing me. I placed a tracker on the car. I wanted to make sure the car went to the police station and not make additional stops giving Morelli time to talk his way out of the charges.

Once I had put a tracker on the cruiser I let one person see me I put my face down to the glass and glared at him giving him a slight smile while my finger tapped right below my eye. The smile said that we would have our moment alone the tap meant my eyes were on him but if he took it to mean that I would be adding a fourth tear then so be it because I wouldn't hesitate to add a tear to save my Angelito.

If it was to mark me taking this fucker's life I would wear it with honor every day.

I saw him pale a little and I knew he got the meaning at least one of them. Maybe he wouldn't fight so hard to get out of going to jail if he feared what was waiting from him on the outside. He was a fucking coward he wouldn't look a real man in the eye and confront him but he would attack Angelito.

Although after today and the moves she made on him he may reconsider that. There was no doubt that she couldn't take him. She had been trained by the best and she was a good student.

I slipped back off into the shadows no one the wiser well except for one but I doubt he would be dumb enough to say anything to anyone. At least if he valued his life any he would keep quiet about what he fucking saw.

**TPOV**

Son of a bitch! Morelli that fucker had done it. He had managed to get through our defenses and find an enemy of Ranger's. Fuck.

We had just gotten confirmation from our informant in Colombia that contact had been made but we weren't certain how much information was given. Our informant took out Morelli's contact but we are unsure if it was before or after the information was delivered.

Fuck. Now it was a wait, watch, and see what happens I hate that shit.

We will be diligent in security as always and continue our defenses we have already put into place but we will also look for increased activity. If one of his enemies knows where he is it won't be long before the activity will pick up.

This has been one fucked up day already and it only just began but I was beginning to wonder if it wasn't going to end up as fucked up as last week.

Morelli was never arrested, not that we weren't surprised. My Little Girl went to the station to press charges only to discover that he wanted to charge her with assault since she attacked him.

Ranger already had her protected with our lawyer present so no charges were filed on either side. In the end the cops wrote it up as an ex-lover quarrel that went bad. I wanted to rip their fucking heads off.

Rangeman spent hours down in the gym ripping our heads off to work off how pissed he was over what had happened. Thankfully we all survived but I think Zip and Binkie may need to rest for a few days so I am assigning them to monitor duty until they heal up.

They got the brunt of Rangeman's assault because they happened to be in the gym when he walked in. While they are competent soldiers and great Rangeman and a normal guy wouldn't stand a chance against them. They didn't stand a chance against Ranger. Ranger was too good, too fast, and too fucking lethal in his form of attack. Add him being pissed and none of it went in their favor. It wasn't minutes before Ranger had wiped the mats with both of their asses and Bobby and I were running to the gym.

We entered the gym about the time the beast within Ranger roared in anger; Bobby for medical attention for Zip and Binkie while I gave Ranger a worthy opponent to work his aggression out on.

He handed me my ass but I gave him a challenge. Lester was next, and then Cal and the list went on. We all managed to survive. But he finally dropped to his knees. Once he was on his knees and we were lying sprawled out on our backs my little girl came running into the gym.

She had been out with her partner, Slyder. When her eyes took in the scene before her, her feet faltered and she came to a halt. Looking around the room at each of us laid out. You could see the worry in her eyes as she scanned us. When her eyes landed on Ranger who was on his knees sitting on his feet she ran to him and dropped before him.

I started to protest but my body wasn't having it. I wasn't sure the mindset he was in he had just tore through us like we were fucking nothing. He could kill her with a single blow not even realizing he had struck let alone what he had struck.

When she touched him he shifted towards her and I was already in motion ready to try my best to protect her. Nothing was broken and all I needed was little rest but I did hurt like a son of a bitch and tomorrow was going to be the worst.

He immediately calmed when she touched him. I should have known that even when the beast was lose he would know Stephanie's touch, her smell, her presence near him and she is safe as he calms down showing her the protective and gentler side.

My advancing on him actually causes him to shift and leer at me; protecting her. I hold my arms up letting him know I mean no harm and once again he calms. Slowly the other men begin picking their asses up off the floor and heading out of the gym.

My Little Girl while she looked at us she didn't leave his side she knew right this moment he needed her more than we needed her. Hell we needed her to stay with him so we could walk out of here while we could still walk.

He may have been pissed because they didn't file any charges against the cop but that wasn't why he was fighting. It was the beast in him fighting to release the energy from her scaring him when she put herself in danger to save his life. He needed to come to terms with the idea that she would try to protect him as much as he would try to protect her.

That had been a messed up week on those fronts but my Little Girl had made us proud. She had taken on a large client and had sold them security system and services they needed. They had agreed to her very first proposal didn't negotiate one point which is practically unheard of around here.

She had put a system together that made sense for their business and she had landed Rangeman a rather large client. We were all proud of her. Her week with Ranger she did nothing but excel like she had done with Bobby, Lester, and myself.

Morelli had thrown a wrench in the week with his confrontation, then him not being charged and trying to bring her up on charges. But her first weeks here she shined and she fit in just as if she had always been here.

On Friday she had made the decision that Slyder was going to be her partner. Some of the guys took it a little harder than I think they tried to let on that she had picked him but her reasoning was sound. She didn't want to break up any of the already formed teams and in some cases partnerships that had been in place for years.

Slyder was new as well and had done extremely well during his evaluation period and him and my Little Girl already got along and we all knew he would die protecting her so even though it broke some of the guys heart that she didn't pick them they all signed off on her selecting Slyder for her partner. Not that we told her we had asked them. She would have been pissed if she found out but we wanted their input not so much for approval as it was just their thoughts.

Today was Monday and we would see just how well the new partnership would work. If Morelli had in fact succeeded in getting a message through to Ranger's enemies we were going to have problems and Slyder better be ready for what is coming his way. His failing to protect my little Girl is unacceptable.

I rubbed my hand over my eyes and head and picked up the phone I couldn't put it off any longer. Rangeman needed to know what I had just found out. I cursed under my breath as I picked the phone up to ask him to come to my office.

"I got the info." I told him and hung up. He knew what I was talking about I didn't need to say anything else.

It wasn't a minute later Rangeman was walking through my door pulling the door shut behind him.

"Man, we don't know is the bottom line. We know it was Morelli we traced it back to him. We know he got in touch with a contact down there. What we don't know is if the contact made it to any of your enemies before our informant reached him. Unfortunately he was killed before giving up any info." I told him.

Ranger just looked at me and I could see the beast come alive in his darkened eyes. I saw his jaw tense as his teeth clinched together his hand automatically forming fists.

"We are going to assume he got the information to my enemies, we are going to have to keep watch and see if we see any activity and we are going to have up the security around here and on Stephanie." He said. I raised my eyebrow at him questioning what he was saying.

"Man you know what my enemies will do to her if they get her; that can't happen. They won't hesitate they won't negotiate. I can't live without her but we both know they won't just kill her and there are things far worse than death out there." He told me, I nodded understanding what he was telling me without going into any further details. He didn't need to go into further details. We had all seen the hell this world contained and we wanted none of that to touch Stephanie.

I nodded again letting him know I would fix the schedule. "Are you going to tell her?" I asked him and he looked at me. I could tell he didn't want to but didn't know how he was going to increase her security without telling her why. She deserved to know why.

"Man she needs to know why." I told him and he nodded sighing something I haven't seen him do often and never before Stephanie came into his life.

"I wanted to keep her protected from this side of my, our, lives." He said and I knew that was true but I also knew it was far better to have her here than someplace else.

"Man she is safer here. We all want her protected but she is here instead of her apartment, she is trained better than she ever was before, so if your enemies were to come she is better prepared to defend herself than ever before." I told him. He nodded but I could see it was a hard sell.

"Man sometimes I wonder if she wouldn't have been better if I had stirred her away from bounty hunting and moved back to Florida and forgot she existed. Sometimes I wonder how much of what has happened to her and what will happen to her has happened because of me, my inability to stay away from her." He said like I was some fucking doctor Phil that had all the answers who the fuck knew the answer to that fucking question? I bet Dr. Phil couldn't even answer that fucking fucked up question.

"Man I am not fucking Dr. Phil but I think this is a long lonely road that you are looking down and I would say turn around now and forget you ever asked that question. You two are meant to be together and she has proved it. Time has proved it without you she would have been long dead." I told him.

He nodded agreeing with me. "Yeah that is what I meant every time I saved her it was because of me she was in that place. My encouragement because she is good, Tank she is one of the best. Fuck I think with time she would be better than me, you, the whole of all of us put together but I fear what it will cost her in the end." He said.

"Rangeman like I said we can't answer those questions. People live and people die for all kind of reasons the questions you are asking we don't have the answers to. Love her while she is here, appreciate her while she is with you, and cherish every fucking minute man because there isn't a swinging dick out there that wouldn't fight, kill, or willing to be killed to be in your shoes." I told him.

What I didn't say was including myself. I loved Lula but we didn't share what him and Stephanie shared; no one did.

He looked at me for a minute and then nodded, seeing the truth in what I told him, turning to head out of the office. Before he opened the door he said "Thanks man". I just nodded knowing he hadn't looked back but he knew the thanks weren't needed. There was never a price for what we did for each other none of us.

If I had to be doctor fucking Phil then so be it but I would walk through hell before I let him throw the best thing in his life out because he was too fucking coward to chance losing it.

I had been sitting at my desk maybe ten minutes after Rangeman walked out of my office when I heard a knock at my door. "Enter!" I grumbled out frustrated from the paper work in front of me that I wasn't able to focus on because my mind was still on the conversation that had taken place with Rangeman.

The door opened and in walked my little girl smiling. I couldn't help the smile I blame on my focus being off.

"Hey big guy got a minute?" She asked me and I nodded. For her I had a minute fuck I would have a whole day if she needed it. She walked over and sat down on the edge of the chair on the other side of my desk. Fuck just from the way she was sitting I knew more advice was needed.

At this rate I may have to change my damn name and definitely my profession I wanted to know who the fuck named me the doctor Phil of Rangeman. I am going to have to work on my bad ass image some more if this shit kept happening.

I was drawing the line at Rangeman and Stephanie anyone else fucking want self help from me and they were going to get their asses handed to them without the instructions for how to reattach it.

"What's up little girl?" I asked her because I could see she was hesitant.

She handed me an envelope. I took it from her and looked at it waiting for her to tell me the significance. I knew she had been working with some of the guys with the pictures that we had captured of her mother and that stupid fucking cop but I wasn't sure exactly what they were doing as I sort of just left them to their own devices.

She motioned to the envelope "open it….just be…prepared." She said sort of pausing trying to find the right words. I nodded and opened the package.

Holy shit! When I pulled the contents out pictures dropped onto my desk and I was wondering if I wouldn't have to burn the fucker to get them out of my head and off of my desk.

There were pictures of her mother on her knees with Joes dick in her mouth varying degrees of depths all done in a series. There were pictures of them fucking every which way possible. There were captures of their faces as they were both obviously feeling pretty good at that moment. Pictures showing everything they both had to offer. Bile rose in my throat looking at them.

I mean her mom wasn't a bad looking woman for her age but damn who wanted that shit in their mouth, and hands at our age. Maybe when we were that old it would be okay but now? I was unable to contain the shiver that went up my back. Bad asses don't shiver at anything and fuck if I didn't shiver at that shit.

I felt like I needed a shower my skin crawling and my skin never crawled; never. In fact soon as she left my office I was going to take a shower and then look at replacing a perfectly good desk that had been fucking contaminated.

When I looked at her she smiled. "That was the reaction I was looking for." She simply stated. I know my eyes widened at her statement.

"Tank I am done with the burg I want their asses nailed. They both thought they could lie to my face, tell the burg what they wanted the burg to hear so that I was the liar so that I was the one making up shit and telling lies while they remain untouchable. Well it ends and it ends with these." She motioned to the pictures.

I looked at the last piece of paper and it had a web address. I turned it around and showed it to her "Do I even want to know what is on there?" She blushed and smiled. I swear I never want to be on her bad side. Not only would she probably kick my ass and deflate my balls; she would tear me to pieces.

Fuck I had finally figured out how to end wars. Just get a pissed off Stephanie after your ass.

"Well you could go and look but I am pretty sure Rangeman has a policy against viewing porn on the internet so you might get in trouble with the boss." She joked. Holy fuck, fuck all that is holy she is out for more than blood she wants the pound of flesh.

"Let me guess you put the video up on the internet?" I asked and she nodded

"Along with the pictures, it's all there you know what they say once it hits the internet it is always there. It never goes away." She said and I nodded. Holy shit there was going to be some fallout from this. I wasn't sure Trenton would survive.

"Little girl have you sent these out yet?" I asked her and she shook her head no.

"You do realize if you send these out it is going to send shockwaves through the burg? They are going to be gunning for you." I told her and she nodded.

"I am ready after what Joe did in Pinos, I am ready. I say bring it." She said and I just shook my head.

I nodded back handing her the packet. Personally I was proud of her but I only hoped it didn't end up blowing up in our faces. There was a lot of shit coming down and if word had gotten through to Ranger's enemies I wasn't sure we really wanted to pack on more by infuriating the burg. But I wasn't about to hold her back from her plans. I just wanted to make sure she fully understood what she was about to unleash.

I decided to add "you know there is more at stake here than just Joe, right? It's also your family, your mother." I told her and her eyes flashed with anger I wasn't sure if it was directed at me or her mother. I was only hoping it wasn't me. I had learned enough to know I never wanted her mad at me; ever.

"Tank I think we both know enough of my past, present and probably my future to know that shipped sailed long time ago. She hasn't been a mother to me, well forever, I don't see that changing. Maybe this" she shook the envelope in her hand "will be enough to make her never come near me again. I warned her she wouldn't like what would happen if she chose this path but she just had to try to humiliate me in front of Burg. I am no longer their fucking door mat, Tank, and I am never going to be again."

Her voice rising with every word, her eyes turning to ice daggers as the anger washed through her I held up my hands in the universal signal of surrender something I had only done in front of Ranger to date. But I wasn't a stupid man I knew I had pushed her a little too far and hit a raw nerve so I would gladly back down from this fight and surrender to her.

She calmed. "Little Girl I am actually proud of you for doing this for taking a stand and not being a door mat as you say I never want you to ever be someone's door mat you deserve so much better than that. I just wanted you to be aware of all repercussions because once this" I pointed to the envelope in her hand "is done it can't be undone." I warned her.

She nodded her head. "That's how I want it. All of it out there forever and for everyone to see." She said and I nodded once again sending up a small prayer that I never do anything to piss her off at me. I am not sure I would survive it and I have survived a lot of shit.

Ranger was worried about her because of his enemies I was beginning to wonder if we shouldn't be more worried about what she could do to his enemies.

Once she left my office I walked into my bathroom to take a much needed shower. I briefly wondered if she had thought about her dad or grandma but knowing them her dad probably wouldn't care and her grandma well she would probably think it was funny and the best thing that ever happened in the Burg in the last hundred years.

**SPOV**

Today was my official start day at Rangeman on my own with my new partner. I would be getting my partner, Slyder, officially and we would begin working together. I would be lying if I didn't say I was very excited.

I had worked hard I had tried hard and I felt like I had excided and it felt great. To date I hadn't felt better about myself. I got up extra early this morning I know but the excitement wouldn't let me sleep. I had completed my workout; I had gone and shown Tank the contents of the envelope that the guys and I have been working on after hours.

It was ready and I needed someone's opinion that hadn't seen the pictures. Tank was the hardest to shake around Rangeman so if they caused him issues then I would have the results I was looking for.

He had not disappointed. He had however questioned if I understood the full effect this was going to have. I didn't really, there was no way to really know in total but I did know that Joe and Helen would be gunning for me. I did know that my family would turn their back on me meaning Frank and Valerie and I felt like my Grandma would probably think it was funny and ask for more pictures of the Italian stud, I shudder even thinking it.

I walked into the Monday morning meeting Slyder right behind me. I take my seat next to Carlos' chair and Slyder takes his seat next to me. It wasn't a few minutes later that Carlos walked through the door. Taking his seat he looked out over the sea of his men and me and barked "Report". I wanted to smile but I repressed it. At least I hope I did.

The meeting began the same as every day each person reporting on how their skip tracing, installations, security details were going. Since I didn't have any skips to report on because Slyder and I hadn't been given any I didn't have anything to add.

Just before the meeting broke up Carlos spoke up. "Men it has been brought to our attention that our location may have been given to one or some of my enemies in Colombia." There were explicative's heard around the room but everyone quieted quickly. I wasn't sure what any of this meant.

"It seems that information was given to a contact down there our informant has taken care of the contact. But they are uncertain if any information got through. So we are going to assume it did and take Rangeman to a level orange defense." Level orange defense, what the hell does that mean? It sounds like something from the pentagon.

Men and their god damn in code talking why couldn't they just say lock down the hatches or something along those lines how fucking hard would that be? No, they got to go saying level orange defense like we all knew what that fucking meant. Well they probably did but that wasn't the point.

I didn't dare say anything just listening.

"Men some of you know what will happen if my enemies find us, some of you have been there with me and know what these people are capable of first hand. So we are going to be checking of increased activity in Colombia and we will be checking every flight from the region destined for anywhere near us." He said. I was starting to get worried just hearing what he was saying.

"I want extra protection for Stephanie." He said and I wanted to stand up in my chair and scream but I refrained I only looked at him like he had lost his mind. I didn't see him ordering extra protection for himself after all it was his enemies not mine.

I didn't see him ordering extra protection for Tank or Lester and I was sure as fuck they were there in Colombia with him and had the same enemies as he did why the fuck was he going to assign body guards to me?

I did my best not to say anything in the meeting around the other men and I was officially a Rangeman now so Carlos was my boss. I would save this conversation for later, behind closed doors.

"Men you need to be vigilant you need to be aware of your surroundings at all times and you need to have the security of Stephanie, Rangeman, and yourself in your thoughts at all time." He said once again singling me out like I was some helpless, defenseless person that needed protecting.

It also wasn't lost on me in the way he had ordered everything.

I bit my lip to keep from saying something but if he didn't break this meeting up fast I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to hold back any longer.

"Okay men" he said and stood as a cue the meeting was over, thank fuck. I got up out of my chair and stormed my way to his office. I left Slyder in the dust I had been happy I had been excited I had been looking forward to the day but now I was pissed, I was fucking furious. It's nothing like someone saying something and completely fucking up your good mood and good day.

I walked into his office and waited for him I knew he would only be minutes behind me when he walked through the door I immediately slammed it making my presence known. Carlos turned around looking at me with that one eyebrow raised and at that moment I had the desire to shave the fucker off after all no matter how hard I tried both of mine went up and it wasn't fair.

"Carlos what the hell?" I asked him curving what I really wanted to say to him. I may be mad but I am also aware he is my boss so I didn't want to pull out the big one.

" Babe?" He has the nerve to say and I just shook my head that isn't going to be good enough.

"Not good enough I demand an answer. Why the hell are you putting extra security on me and telling the guys to keep my safety in mind when you didn't say anyone else? I have worked hard, I am as good as some of those guys out there and you didn't assign security to them." I all but practically screamed out well maybe an octave lower than a scream but I did somewhat feel like a banshee at the moment so it may have been scream.

"Babe calm down." He said holding his hands up to me. Calm down he wants me to calm down I am not sure calm is in my list of things I am capable of at the moment. I know on some level I am making a mountain out of a mole hill but it is the principle I thought we would talk about things like this and not just be blindsided in a meeting. He knew I hated security details and body guards.

"Babe you have no idea what these enemies are capable of. In all the things you have seen or imagined I promise you these people are capable of far worse. If they ever got their hands on you I can't even voice the words of the things they would do to you to get back to me. Babe, listen to me and understand why I said what I did. It isn't that I don't trust you are capable of taking care of yourself, you can defend yourself, you are trained but you don't know these men, these enemies. You have no idea what they are capable of and I do. I have seen it first hand and Babe I couldn't survive something like that happening to you. Death would be a blessing to what they would do to you and you already know I can't lose you." He said and I calmed a little seeing the sincerity in his eyes and hearing the desperation in his voice and I wanted to soothe him.

I wanted to tell him it was okay that I would do whatever he needed I would keep security on me and that I would listen to his every word but there was that stupid part of me that didn't want to give in to it. That independent streak that ran deep within me that resented people thinking I was incapable of taking care of myself.

That piece of me that was born to rebel.

"Babe please calm down." He said gathering me in his arms and I wanted to protest but his body felt too good. What I am mad not fucking dead. "Babe this is my worst nightmare come true if they make it to Trenton. Babe if one of my enemies knows where I am then you can be sure more will follow." He said as he ran his hand through my hair.

I wasn't quite sure what I was hearing in his voice but it sounded almost as if he was afraid. I pulled back and looked into his eyes and I was almost brought to my knees. I saw fear; true fear not for him but for me. He was afraid for me. It was clearly etched across his face and I could no longer hold my anger at him.

I put my hands on each side of his face "Carlos it will be okay. I will be okay." I assured him and he nodded half way as if he wanted to believe me but I could see he wasn't really buying it.

"Carlos I have training now, I know how to use my gun, I now carry a gun that is loaded and I have never been more aware of my surroundings than I am now. If you want additional people on me fine I will allow one in addition to my partner." I told him. Giving a little but hoping that it would satisfy his need to protect me.

"What can I do to help with tracking these enemies?" I asked and he just shook his head.

"Babe you allowing someone with you other than your partner is enough. Until we see any activity in Colombia we really can't do much more than that." He said and I nodded.

I brought my lips to his and the kiss between us deepened quickly. God how I loved this man pressed into me. I was backed up to the door in seconds him pressed into my front but I knew our day was too busy for what we both wanted.

When we came up for air Carlos stepped back letting my leg that had at some point in time wrapped around his waist fall to the floor. I saw him adjust his pants as he made is way over to his desk putting some distance between us for us to gather our thoughts.

"Well Carlos I am going to the bonds office to see if there are any skips for us." I told him and he nodded. "I love you." I told him.

His eyes caught mine and I saw the twinkle in them "I love you too, Querida" he said and I couldn't help the smile that beamed across my face. Before I opened the door I turned to him.

"Does that count as our first fight?" I asked him and he looked at me and nodded not looking all too happy about the label I just gave it. I just smiled back at him. "Good cause tonight we get to have hot makeup sex." I told him and he smiled his wolf grin at me.

"You can count on that Babe." He told me and I strolled out of his office once again happy and looking forward to tonight as I went in search of Slyder.

Finding Slyder hanging out in the break room I took a moment to see what goodies were there but there was nothing I really wanted.

I did fix a cup of coffee to go. The bonds office would have coffee but theirs didn't compare to Rangeman's coffee.

"You ready to roll?" I asked Slyder and he nodded grabbing a cup filling it with coffee. We made our way to the garage got in a SUV and it wasn't moments later we were on our way. I needed some sugar my fight with Carlos had depleted my reserves and while we made up and I was looking forward to tonight I still needed a little sugar to make it through my morning.

So I steered the vehicle by the way of the Tasty Pastry and picked up a dozen donuts not just any donut but my favorite donuts Boston Crèmes I mean who didn't love Boston Crèmes.

I briefly wondered how different it would be standing in line once I had mailed the envelopes and I even wondered if I would be able to walk in the Tasty Pastry again and order a box of my favorite donuts without getting daggers shot at me for what I was about to do. But I decided I didn't care it was worth it.

Getting back in the car I couldn't help myself I had to have one on the way to the office so I stole one out of the box and ate it before reaching the bonds office.

We reach the Bonds office and I grab the donuts and my envelope and made my way into the office with Slyder on my six.

We walk through the door and I announced "donuts" and I was met with a shriek I am not sure if it was Lula or Connie or both but I didn't care. I had missed them as much as they seemed to miss me.

"White Girl where you been? I never get to see you anymore unless you are picking up files. We need to plan girl's night out." Lula said and I nodded completely agreeing with her.

"I agree we should plan a night to get together and go out but you may want to reconsider especially after I send this out." I told her and handed her the envelope. She looked at me curiously and opened the packet and when her eyes had taken in the images before her you could have heard her two blocks away.

"Holy Shit, White Girl what the fuck is this?" She asked me motioning to the pictures in her hands.

"This is some fucked up shit that is what this is holy shit and I thought being a former Ho I had seen it all but this is some fucked up shit." She said unable to stop talking long enough for me to answer her question while she quickly scanning picture after picture only to go back through them. Connie had gotten up from her desk and circled over to see what Lula was talking about.

"Oh my god Stephanie where did you get these?" Connie asked me looking at the pictures.

I just shook my head I wasn't telling how I got them. "It isn't important how I got the pictures." I told them.

They looked at me eyes widened, mouths slightly open I would say they were in slight shock their eyes locked with mine staring at me instead of the pictures for the moment. Connie breaking the silence "Well then if that isn't important what do you plan on doing with them?" she asked me.

"Well I plan on sending an envelope like this one to everyone in the burg." I stated and they both looked at me their eyes getting larger, their mouths opening more I began to wonder if they were going to be picking their chins up off of the floor before this conversation is over.

"Holy shit white girl" said Lula springing out of her shocked state enough to talk. Connie nodded agreeing to Lula's statement.

Connie then added "You do realize what this will do to the burg once they see this." She said holding up pictures and shaking them for emphasis. I nodded slightly smiling. Connie shook her head.

"Girl you are going to be bringing down the burg with these here pictures." Lula stated and I could hear a level of excitement in her voice. I once again nodded but was unable to control the smile that came over me at the thought.

Lula looked down at some of the pictures "White girl I thought he was called the Italian Stallion for a reason. I mean maybe I am just biased and have forgotten what a regular man's dick size is because of all the time I have been spending with my Tankie. You know he takes dicks size to a whole other level." She tells us; I really didn't need that imagine of the big man.

God how was I going to look at him and call him that again without thinking about the size of his dick and blushing? Didn't she know when it was TMI and that was definitely Too Much Information.

I remained quiet although part of me was laughing my ass off on the inside after I got the image of Tank out of my mind. Lula shoved the picture towards Connie "Connie does his dick look small or is it just one of those illusion thingys that's making his dick look small." I blushed looking at Slyder who had a definite smirk on his face. Somehow I doubted anyone would ever say small dick and Slyder's in the same sentence but I had no proof it was only a hunch.

Connie studied the pictures "Lula I don't know but you would have thought it would be bigger than it looks here. I mean all the rumors that have been going around the burg about him all those years, and still are, one would think he would have something a little bigger to back it up. But hey what do I know? Maybe it is one of those motions of the oceans versus size of the beast things."

Their eyes fixed on me, oh shit. "Well White girl you tell me was it the size of the beast or the motion of the ocean that did it for you?" Oh shit a question I wasn't about to answer. The answer would be neither. I mean I guess for a while we had sex and I thought it was pretty good but what did I have to compare him to other than the Dick?

Then my eyes were opened by Carlos and our one night together and that told me about a whole new level that I didn't even know existed as to what it could be like and what it should feel like and how great it really could be. Trust me when I say it was definitely nothing about Joe's anything that did anything like that for me ocean motion included.

I shrugged not knowing what to say. Lula looked at me "Well no wonder he never wanted you around Ranger." Huh? She must have seen the confusion to her statement in my expression because she turned the picture around to me. "You tell me if you were a man and this is what you were sporting" she pointed to his dick "would you want your girlfriend hanging around a man that was….well….. let's just say Ranger and you be happy about it?" She asked. Looking at his dick I hadn't really noticed before it wasn't like I had ever sized them up.

I mean I knew Ranger was considerably larger when we made love the first time it was clear but I never really thought about it like that before so I did what any good girl would do and deflected the question. I didn't think if Slyder went back to Rangeman repeating this conversation that Ranger would be too pleased that we were discussing his dick size. Besides the size of his Dick was confidential, it was on a need to know basis and they didn't need to know.

"Connie I am surprised you didn't already know you grew up in the Burg. I thought you would have been one of his many conquests over the years." I said hardly believing the words that were coming out of my mouth as I was saying them because that wasn't something that I would normally say but to keep from answering other questions that I didn't want to share with them the answers I guess I would say just about anything; and did.

Connie shook her head smiling "Naw the Rizzoli men handled the Morrelli men a long time ago." She said. "My uncle Tito always said that Morelli men were scum and Morelli boys were trouble. I don' t know exactly what happened between our families as it happened so many years ago but the Morelli men don't come anywhere near the Rizzoli women. When Joe became a cop my uncle made it a point to tell every woman in the family that getting into bed with a cop was bad for business."

Wow why didn't my family do something like that? I can only imagine how that went down with her family being literally Family with the big capital F I can only imagine what they did to leave a lasting impression on the Morelli men to keep them away from the Rizzoli women after all Connie looked like Betty Boop and I am certain Joe would have loved to have had a chance with her.

To think he was too fucking scared to make a move on her was sort of funny.

Lula spoke up snapping me from my daydreaming of the Rizzoli men scaring the crap out the Morelli men causing me have to sit down and put my head in my hands covering my face from my embarrassment in front of Slyder, my partner, who I am not even certain they knew was even in the office.

"Connie I don't see where you missed anything hell if that is what the Italian's consider Stallion worthy then I don't ever want any Stallion from Italy. I will take my Stallions from Africa, or maybe Cuba I mean I haven't seen Ranger's dick but I would be willing to bet you it's better than any Italian one and well I am certain my Tankie has the biggest dick anyway. No wonder all you Italian women area always wound up so tight you don't know what a real Stallion should be packing." Oh my gawd. Now my mouth would have been on the floor had it not been for it was buried in my hands.

I am not even sure Lula even realized that she had just talked about my fiancee's dick and basically told Connie that all Italian women are wound tight because Italian men have small dicks. Holy shit Connie is going to kill her right here and that was if Ranger didn't have the office bug and get to Lula first for talking about his dick. But she had to once again bring up Tank's dick size again as well. Shoot me now.

Connie made a sound almost as if she was chocking and I did look up to see that she was actually still breathing not sure who I was checking on first Lula or Connie but both were still breathing and Connie was shaking her head.

"Lula let me tell you most Italian men aren't like that." She pointed to the pictures "Most Italian men are well equipped to take care of their Italian women we are wound tight because we are high spirited women it has nothing about our men not being able to fully fulfill our needs in the bedroom, trust me." Lula just nodded thinking for a moment and I briefly thought this is going to be a good one.

Lula speaking up "So this is sort of like Chinese food in America isn't really the same as the Chinese food they serve in China. I mean it is sort of like their fancy meals and dressed all up so that we will eat them. but it isn't really what Chinese people eat in China daily. Or sort of like Pizza. Pizza here isn't the same as Pizza you order when you are in Italy; it is different. Only the American version when it comes to dicks might not be as good as the others." She said and Connie nodded somehow able to follow whatever logic Lula was following.

Lula continued "So Morelli's small dick is because he has evolved to the American version of the Italian and in so doing he got a smaller dick. Huh! What a shame." She said shaking her head. I didn't know to be more surprised at her rationalizing it all out or the fact that she sounded like she felt sorry for Joe.

"Shame Lula? You feeling sorry for Joe?" I asked her a little pissed if she was going to take his side. She shook her head.

"White Girl, there ain't no side here. I am always on your side but the man has a small dick now some of you white girls that haven't had the opportunity to be with a real man like my Tankie or your Ranger might not know the difference and be happy with his….well…uhm small dick…but for women like you me and Connie we know the difference; and that man is sporting a small dick. I don't care what he has as far as the motion of the ocean as Connie was saying we all know size matters and bigger is always better. Just look at me I am bigger and I am better than all you skinny ass white girls. So on some level you just have to feel sorry for the poor boy sporting the small dick. Is all I am saying." She said and I really couldn't argue with that logic so I just shrugged my shoulders I guess she had a point.

"Well you better hide them" Connie said motioning to the pictures "before the sick weirdo sees them, he may want them for his own private viewing collection." She said and we all shuddered knowing she was talking about my sick weirdo of a cousin Vinnie; sick freak.

"Well I just wanted to see your reaction to seeing the pictures. Vinnie will actually get a copy as he lives in the burg." I told them.

"I wonder what not so much so anymore Super Cop will have to say when he sees these?" Lula said and I just shrugged. I didn't think telling her that he would probably try to kill me would be too good of a conversation to have about right now.

I finally added "Who cares? I don't. He needs to understand that he doesn't control me. He doesn't tell me what to do. And when he attacks me I attack back only bigger and better." I told them my anger rising in me thinking about what happened at Pinos but even with the anger I couldn't keep the devious smile off of my face. He was going to shit when he saw these and I was only hoping I was going to be there smiling the whole time.

"Girl you are really going to do it. You gonna send these pictures of him and his small dick along with your mother in these positions to everyone in the burg." Lula stated rather than asking but I answered her anyway.

"Yes, Lula, I am going to really do it. I already have them all ready to go." I told her steeling myself to doing it steeling myself to actually going through with my plan and mailing the envelopes to the entire burg.

She shook her head. "Girl this is either genius or insane but I am not sure which." Lula added looking at the pictures one more time and I just nodded my head I would think about which of the two later. I really didn't think I was insane although I wouldn't really rule it out completely at this point in time; considering.

"Stephanie it isn't just Joe in these pictures, what is your mother, your father, your grandmother going to say?" Connie asked me. I shrugged. My mother would probably disown me forever and pretend I was dead. My father well I wasn't sure what he would do more than likely nothing why be any different than he had been my whole life. My grandmother well she would probably laugh her ass off and ask for an extra set to frame.

I didn't say any of those things out loud I just shrugged my shoulders. Connie shook her head "Stephanie you need to consider this your mother, she is going to disown you. Some of these pictures show her entire body; naked. Are you really sure you want to send those out?" She questioned and I nodded I had picked those pictures specifically because of how much of her body they showed others I had picked because of the positions I made sure I got every possible position from all angles so there was no doubt where his dick was. But this wasn't a conversation I really wanted to have right now.

I really didn't want to talk about why I had picked the pictures I had picked. I hadn't even told my brothers why I had picked the pictures I did. I am certain they only needed to look at them to see why but I hadn't voiced it and I didn't want to voice it. Instead I found a different way to answer her.

"Connie my mother has been pushing me to Joe for years now. Why? So she could fuck him behind my back?" I questioned but then not giving her a chance to respond I continued my anger rising. "She has been trying to tell me what to do, what not to do, she has been trying to control me for years and I have resisted. I have put up with her calling me a disappointment, a failure, and even saying that I have been nothing of an embarrassment to her but when she attacked my brothers, and Carlos well that is where it stops. I am going to show the burg exactly who the burg whore is. Exactly who it is that has been lying and exactly who it is that is a disappointment and embarrassment to her family" I told her my anger boiling over and causing me to say more than I had ever intended but it didn't really matter I wasn't saying anything that wasn't true.

Needing to escape before my anger had a chance to completely boil over; I needed a punching bag. I quickly told them "Well we got to get back; you got any files for us?" I asked them. Connie nodded picking up a few files and handing them to me.

"Thanks guys. Oh and don't mention the pictures I want them to be a surprise." I told them as I reached for the envelope. They both nodded. Normally I would be concerned about them keeping a secret but this one I knew they wouldn't tell after all I knew they wouldn't know how to tell it.

I mean saying Stephanie is mailing a packet of pictures of her mother screwing Morelli in some hotel room to everyone in the burg isn't really something you say to someone in casual conversation. I also knew that they wouldn't want the fall out to land on them so they would keep my secret at least long enough for me to wrap up the details and get the envelopes sent out.

I quickly exited the bonds office with Slyder on my six. Climbing into the SUV I was crawling with anger and I wanted nothing more than to track one of these fucking skips down and drag his reluctant ass back to prison. I just needed to find out which one of these four was going to be my Bitch.

**SlyderPOV**

I was excited when I found out that Stephanie was going to be my partner. I was hoping she would pick me. I hadn't felt like this since like ninth grade when I wanted Elizabeth Harley to pick me for her boyfriend because I thought she was the prettiest girl in school. She ended up picking Tommy over me I often wondered if she could see me now would she be sorry for that stupid ass decision.

I had ridden with Incendia to the Bond's office. Stopping at the Tasty Pastry so she could get some donuts and then at the bonds office I just sat back and watched her as she showed Lula and Connie the envelope of pictures she had put together.

I couldn't help but smile at their reactions. Their discussion about his dick size had me practically ready to fall out of my chair of course I didn't break down and let it show. I just sat there watching and filing away how women really talk about men. Apparently they have gotten so use to one of us being with Stephanie that they just said whatever they wanted to because my presence didn't seem to affect anyone other than Stephanie who would look at me and blush because of some of the comments her friends had made.

I could care less because the conversation was funny as hell as they were making fun of that prick cop's dick. No wonder he always had to over compensate it all made sense now. He had a small dick.

Stephanie had no idea what these pictures were going to do and I couldn't even begin to imagine what they were going to do. I was still shocked that she had decided to go through with it.

I had seen the pictures and they infuriated me and I was only marginally satisfied that I had beat that fucker's ass in basic only wished now I had fucking killed him but at the time that seemed a little rash. Had I known then what I knew know I think I would have opted for killing him.

When Joe had confronted her at Pino's and she had taken him down she was proud of herself, and we all were proud of her. When she realized they weren't going to press charges against Joe and that he had tried to charge her with assaulting a police officer she snapped.

Ranger got pissed and that fucker went through every man at Rangeman taking them out on the mat one at a time. Turns out he was the easy one.

She, well Stephanie she didn't go off like that she didn't rant against him. She threw herself into the pictures and video with revived diligence until she had assembled the envelope she was holding. We all worried about her because every second she had her head buried in pictures and videos.

Up until that date the pictures would make her sick to her stomach and she wouldn't watch the video at all. Hell the first time she saw the pictures she threw up on Binkie and Lester which was funny as hell neither of them took it well and ended up throwing up on her which pissed me the fuck off. I mean they could have fucking held it until she was out of the way. But I refrained from kicking their asses and instead just decided to laugh at their dumb asses for being such fucking sissies.

She never got sick after that date and I don't think there was a video or picture that she didn't see at least once some were multiple times as she selected pictures and paired pictures together to come up with the collection she assembled. We all knew she picked the pictures specifically and she had a reason for each one I hadn't asked her why I figured if she wanted me to know she would tell me her reasoning behind her selections.

It had taken her almost a week but she had done it and I had to admit the pictures she selected were the best picture for seeing exactly what was happening. I won't say they were nice to look at because they weren't but for what she wanted to do they were the best pictures to chose. At least they were the pictures I would have picked if I had been tasked with selecting the pictures.

She had created the webpage uploaded the video, and all of the pictures including the ones in the envelope. Everything would be available on the web. She put counters on each page so she could see which pages were visited the most.

She even had the webpage logging IP addresses so she could track down, with the help of our resident hacker, who was looking at the webpage. She had thought of everything. She had made sure the website was protected and duplicated over multiple servers so no matter how hard someone tried to take it down they would be unsuccessful in doing so.

I quickly made up my mind to never give her a reason to be pissed at me.

We got in the truck and she quickly pulled open the files that Connie had given her. She quickly would scan one and grab another one. She had a total of four files. When she got to the fourth file I heard her say "that one will do" I briefly wondered what she was talking about until she spoke again.

"Go to the corner of Sycamore and Trite." She told me I gave her a questioning look raising my eyebrow at the location she had given me. She sighed and punched it in the GPS so the annoying bitch could tell me to turn left after three miles so I take it the truck was pointing in the right direction at least.

I didn't make a move just staring at her. She sighed again I could see the level of agitation as well as frustration increasing in her with every second. I am half amused by it but I quickly remember that I don't want her pissed at me.

"incendia why do you want to go there?" I finally asked her thinking we needed to work on our ESP if we were going to work as partners. She looked at the file and I could tell she was debating on telling me her plan. She finally rolled her eyes and sighed for the third time.

"Slyder if you must know I feel the need to kick someone's ass so I picked the skip that I thought I would have the most chance at kicking his ass and picked a location close to his house where we could stake out his place for a few minutes before doing the take down."

She had targeted a skip to take her frustrations out on; holy shit wait till I told Ranger about this. I knew some of the questions the girls at the bonds office had bothered her and I knew I heard anger in her voice when she answered some of the questions I just didn't realize quite how much until now.

"Incendia you know we should run searches and look into these people before just going after them." I told her after all that is what we did at Rangeman we knew who we were going after before we ever went after them I didn't give a fuck about her kicking the skip ass I just cared that she was safe.

When Rangeman went after a skip we made it a point to know all we could that was how we were able to capture them without injury well severe injuries I will say. Every now and then a skip gets the best of the guys but it hadn't happened to me and it hadn't happened to Stephanie well at least not since the dumbass with the pipe bomb that blew himself up the week she was working with Lester.

That was a case where the skip got the drop on us but then again it is hard to see that someone is insane enough to hold one of those things and then proceed to run with it. I mean how fucking stupid can you actually be? At some point the background checks, the searches just don't turn up crazy shit like that.

She growled in frustration to my comment and wiggled in her seat frustrated and unable to release the energy she had flowing within her. I wanted to smile but I didn't I knew that feeling and for someone that wasn't use to it; it was a bitch.

When the guys or I feel that way we usually settle it on the mats but she was knew to feelings like this and hadn't worked out the best way to deal with them. I am certain some of the guys had taken their frustrations out on skips as well. I wouldn't say I would be above it but I would like to think I wouldn't necessarily seek them out.

Instead I pulled the vehicle out heading to the corner of Sycamore and Trite listening all awhile to that annoying as fuck voice telling me to take a left turn in two point five miles ahead; stupid annoying bitch. I was beginning to wonder if I was so annoyed with the voice because I was trying to ignore the voice in my head telling me this wasn't the smartest idea we had ever had.

We pull up to the corner and I look over at Stephanie. "Let me see the file." I asked and held my hand out and she looked at me from the corner of her eye as if trying to assess me up but she finally agreed and gave me the folder laying into my open hand.

I quickly skimmed the file Ronny Kravitz missed his court date. He had been arrested for assault. Why was I surprised? I continued to read. He had beaten his girlfriend to the point that she had to be hospitalized. Again I wasn't surprised. He seemed to have a long stem of problems and he also appeared to like drinking as he was well above the level of intoxicated when he was arrested. Once again I wasn't surprised; it fit the profile.

It was pretty clear why she had picked Ronny as the skip to go after the one she wanted to kick the ass of and looking at his file I couldn't deny that the fucker didn't deserve a good ass kicking and I had no doubt Stephanie couldn't deliver it but I worried that this was too personal for her. That she was letting her personal feelings control her.

I was concerned if she was working off of emotions versus her capabilities then she could get hurt, she could get dead. I wasn't worried about me but I was worried about her. This wasn't how we were supposed to go after skips and I was certain Ranger wouldn't be happy if we did this. However I was just as unsure as how to call Stephanie down from her objective.

I just hoped the stupid son of a bitch would have a moment of clarity and decide to come with us without putting up any resistance.

I knew this was going to be a bad idea.

"Incendia are you sure you don't want to go back to Rangeman and run a search so we know what we are walking into?" I said to her hoping that would have her thinking about her safety. She shook her head no; fuck.

I nodded my understanding looking out over the lawn at the house that was Ronny Kravitz's. Everything seemed calm for the moment I briefly thought maybe he won't be home and then the door had to open and I saw him stick his head out checking his mail. Fuck. So we now knew he was there; great.

She sat there fidgeting and I could tell she was trying to talk herself into what she said she wanted to do but I could see the more we sat here the more she was unable to justify it. The more she was finding that she couldn't go through with her plans but I was going to let her work it out and I wasn't going to judge her because fuck knows there wasn't a single man at Rangeman that hadn't done the same for the same reasons and some for less.

I hadn't worked at Rangeman any longer than Stephanie but I still wasn't above doing what she was doing and had done it in the past when I needed a fight I went looking for it. It was no different than what she was doing only she had selected a skip that probably fucking deserved the ass beating she so wanted to give.

Who the fuck was I to judge her?

Sitting there watching the house she finally let out a scream it was loud and considerably long and I just smiled because I knew that was all it would take.

"Slyder let's go back to Rangeman" She finally said after she let out the scream of frustration. I nodded not being able to school my face from the smile.

"Incendia when we get there we can go to the gym and work out on the mats. You can try to kick my ass." I told her putting out a little hint of a challenge.

She looked over at me smiling "I can try to kick your ass?" She questioned and I nodded smiling but not taking my eyes off of the road to look at her.

"That's what I said try" I said emphasizing the word try this time.

I could tell her smile got even wider by her voice "Oh I am so going to kick your ass." She said. I had to laugh at her level of confidence in her ability to successfully kick my ass, but the whole time I couldn't help but think that she was in fact going to kick my ass.

Of course being the badass I was could only say one thing "bring it."

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	61. Chapter 60:First Week wa New Partner Pt2

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

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Chapter 60: First Week with a New Partner Pt 2

**SlyderPOV**

We reached Rangeman without anything further being said between us. I could see Incendia was on edge, she was restless, and she was like a caged animal pacing back and forth. She had pent up energy she had been laughing, embarrassed, mad, happy her emotions had run the gamete and it wasn't even noon.

She had first decided to take her frustrations and anger out on a skip but then had changed her mind and we were heading to the gym so she could work her issues out on me. I am not certain this was one of my most brilliant ideas. I should have offered up Lester after all he probably wouldn't mind being the sacrificial lamb so long as she was doing it. But I hadn't thought about that until just now so dumbass me had offered up myself.

I brought the car to a stop in the parking spot and killed the engine the car and had barely had a chance to turn it off before she was out of the car and heading to the stairs. The stairs oh shit. I was in for it.

I did what any badass would do I got out of the car caught up with her and proceeded to walk with her to the gym where I was quite certain she was going to hand me my ass. The only question was how long it was going to take. How long was I going to have to endure the ass beating.

We walked into the gym she slipped out of her shoes, took her weapons off of her and proceeded to stretch. Thankfully no one else was in the gym to witness this but I am certain the boys in the control room have caught on and are probably recording this as I stand here removing my shoes and weapons.

She steps onto the mat and begins to warm up I follow. Our time for fighting will come but right now we will warm our bodies up so we don't injure ourselves or each other.

The eerie part is that she isn't speaking. She hasn't said a word since the challenge was thrown down and accepted. That has me a little worried. I mean the Stephanie I know likes to talk and she likes to talk a lot this Stephanie, is a little scary.

Don't tell her I said that, I would never live it down with her or any of these dumbasses around here if I said I thought she a little scary.

Once the warm up was over the ass beaten began and it wasn't long before I realized whose ass it was that was going to be beaten. Fuck she was good. When it came to fighting she was better trained than me that was a given.

I don't know who had spent the extra time with her but she was fast as lightening and she struck hard. There was no middle ground. She was prepared for my attacks with blocks but her strikes back were fucking deadly. I had my suspicions as to who had worked with her with some of these moves and I knew enough about him that I wanted him on my side. He was one that most Rangeman feared and he was protector and made no bones about it to all of us.

I did the best I could and defended myself the best I could but had this been a serious fight where punches weren't pulled, I would be seriously hurting right now. Fuck I wouldn't even be standing.

She would strike where I least expected even expecting the unexpected and she never left an opening. It was a mixed of street, martial arts I wasn't even sure what it was she was doing all I know was that she was handing me ass and I was really hoping the control room wasn't taping it on one hand but on the other I was hoping they were because I really wanted to watch it.

Finally she took me down to the mats; hard. Before she followed me down delivering a blow that I know would have had the potential to knock me out. "You give or you ready for more?" She asked me giving me the opportunity to get out while the getting out was good.

"Well that depends do you feel better?" I asked her and waited for her answer I wasn't winded but I did enjoy the break I was getting. I could tell she wanted more that she hadn't depleted that extra energy.

I would let her beat my ass some more if she needed it. It was no doubt she was going to beat my ass as there was no way I would beat her even if I used brute strength I doubt I would come out a winner and I would never risk hurting her; to beat her.

This wasn't about hurting each other this was about working through the stresses of her day.

"One more round" she voiced and I nodded standing up to let her once again beat my ass while I struggled to defend myself the best I could and try to get a strike in where I could. I would hope continuing to fight with her would make me better. I would either get better or she was going to fucking kill me one or the other I just wasn't sure which one would come first.

**TPOV**

My little girl and Slyder came back to Rangeman from the Bonds office and immediately went to the gym. I wouldn't have known about it had I not stepped out of my office going to the break room and saw the men crowding around the control room.

I stepped closer to see what was going on and I heard Lester exclaim "holy shit Beautiful" I could hear the pride in his voice. I heard some of the guys making some noise in agreement I walked up behind them none of them heard me or saw me; this was going to be fun.

"Holy shit, did you see that?" I heard Cal say and I briefly wondered if any of our client properties were currently being monitored. I knew whatever they were watching involved Stephanie but I had no idea exactly what it was.

Ram spoke up next "who the fuck taught her that?" I could almost hear amazement in his voice spiking my curiosity even more.

Vince was next "holy hell he is getting his ass handed to him." He said you could hear the humor in his voice.

"What the fuck is going on in here?" I asked my voice louder than normal the annoyance ringing through. All the men in the control room jumped which made me smile on the inside; fuckers.

"You fuckers better have a really fucking good excuse for all you being in here and none of our customers feeds being monitored. I am seeing extra monitor duty for you all so you can fully understand what is important in this room." I said as I made my way further into the room to see the feed they were centered around.

Lester spoke up first "man we are here watching Beautiful. She is beating Slyder's ass on the mats. I don't know what he did but from the way she is going at him and taking him on he pissed her off." What? Lester continued "We don't know what he did as they just got back from picking up files but they went straight to the gym stretched and she has been handing him his ass since. I don't think he has gotten one hit on her." He said and you could just hear the pride in his voice.

I looked at the monitors and sure enough she was ripping him a new ass.

"What the fuck happened?" I asked more so talking out loud but just in case one these dumb asses happened to know I wanted to know. We needed to figure out what the fuck was going on before Ranger found out and fucking killed someone.

The thought no more crossed my mind that I heard him "Tank what the fuck?" Oh shit. Slyder was fucking dead.

"Bomber is on the mats with Slyder." I said trying to sound blasé like it was an everyday occurrence. I knew he wasn't going to buy it but I was trying to save Slyder's ass.

"Stephanie worked out…" he trailed off making his way up to the monitors the other guys had gotten really quite hell if it wasn't for their presence in the room you wouldn't have known they were standing there, they were so quite. Shut up now assholes by all means.

He turned and looked at me raising his eyebrow at me; questioning me I just shrugged my shoulders. Before I could say anything he was out of the control room in a flash. I knew he was heading to the gym.

"How long has this been going on?" I asked them Lester looked at his watch about forty-five minutes he told me and I just shook my head. I knew it was no point to try to stop Ranger he wasn't going to be stopped.

I just watched over the feed to make sure Ranger didn't in fact kill Slyder. If it was Slyder's fault they had been in the ring for forty-five minutes I would fully support him going forty-five with Ranger; he wouldn't last.

"Anyone know anything?" I asked

"We know she can seriously kick some ass. That's about it." Cal spoke up and I nodded. She had been a good student and we had been teaching her some of secrets. She was quickly become the best of all of us. It was right down scary how good she was getting and I couldn't be more proud.

"Well someone find out now. Pull the GPS, pull the video the audio feed. Someone find out what the fuck is going on instead of standing around with your thumbs up your ass." I told them and stormed out of the room heading to the gym to see if I could find out anything.

Walking into the gym Ranger was just standing there watching her. If I didn't happened to know for a fact badass don't do mesmerized and I didn't happen to also know Ranger was as badass as you got I would say he was mesmerized by her. I had to admit watching her it was beautiful.

She was graceful, yet powerful, strikingly fast yet with control and exact precision.

She finally took him down and I heard her ask him "You going to get up or are you staying down, this time?" He shook his head, he had had enough he wasn't getting up. Smart man now if we didn't beat his ass for pissing her off to the point she had to call him to the mats then he would be able to actually quit.

Ranger started moving when she stepped away from him. He reached Stephanie in matter of seconds and had her in his arms her weight leaning into him. You could tell she had pushed herself.

I walked up to Slyder who was still laid out on his back on the mat hadn't bothered to move. I briefly wondered if he could but I threw that thought out when questions started flooding my brain.

"Care to tell me what was going on?" I asked annoyed

Slyder looked up at me "two partners sparing it out on the mats" he said simply like it happened all the time. I mean with the guys it happens a lot but with Stephanie this was something new. She had never called anyone to the mats.

Stephanie turned in Ranger's arms looked at me and started blushing. What the hell now she was embarrassed? What the fuck did she have to be embarrassed about? She had kicked his ass she had nothing to be embarrassed about if anyone should be embarrassed it should be Slyder but I could tell he wasn't. If anything he was proud of her.

"Little girl are you okay?" I asked and she nodded slightly smiling and turning redder by the second. What the hell was my fly open, did I have something stuck between my teeth, or marks on my forehead. What the fuck?

She looked up at Ranger "Ranger I am sweaty, I am going to get you all messed up. I am going to go get a shower she said." He nodded and let her go giving her a kiss and she practically ran out of the gym. She didn't even give me a second glance. What the hell?

I looked at Slyder "Man you better get your sissy fuck of an ass up off of that mat and start explaining exactly what the fuck is going on or you are going to have bigger problems on your hands than Bomber beating your ass on the mats." I told him. Ranger stepped closer to me letting him know that he completely agreed with me.

Slyder saw we meant business and nodded slowly picking himself up off of the floor.

"She was embarrassed when she looked at me what the hell happened when you went to the bonds office? She acted like she couldn't even fucking look at me. What did you do to her to make her want to kick your ass?" I asked him only a few of the question I had going through my mind not necessarily in any order.

His ass was so going to be mine the longer he kept me waiting the madder I was getting and like the hulk, people really didn't like me when I got mad.

**SlyderPOV**

Fuck. Not only did she kick my ass but now she left me to face both a pissed off Tank and Ranger. They think I did something to piss her off and make her want to take me down on the mats. Fuck how am I going to explain this.

I was about to say something when Lester walked through the doors followed closely by Bobby. Fuck. I was so going to get my ass kicked. Hopefully Bobby was here to put me back together instead of join in.

"Man this wasn't my doing." I told them but that didn't seem to suffice they just stood in front of me not fazed and not moving arms crossed over their chests with their backs straights and their heads held high; shit.

"We went to the bonds office. She brought along the envelope of pictures. She showed them to Connie and Lula." I told them and they nodded.

Tank looked as though he was looking through me and said "go on" great I was going to have to tell all. Great, just fucking great leave it for me to do by all means. I really didn't want to have the conversation about Tank's dick size but I knew I would have to tell it he wasn't going to get the answer to why she looked embarrassed at him without me telling it. He was going to make me tell it.

"Well the reason she looked embarrassed is because of Lula's observations when she looked at the pictures in the envelope." I said hoping that would be good enough maybe he could connect the dots.

"Slyder don't hand me no bull shit. I sat in my office this morning and looked at the envelope of pictures and never once did my Little Girl get embarrassed to the point that she couldn't look at me. Tell me what I want to know or I will kick your ass until you do tell me; your choice." He said.

I sighed, shit I think she is wearing off on me and it's only our first day as partners I even felt an urge to roll my eyes at how dramatic Tank was being at the moment. No one else had said anything they were just standing starring waiting.

"Well like I said it was something Lula said that caused it. She saw the pictures and started making comments about the size of Morelli's dick. She asked Connie if she thought it was small because she thought it was but since you have such a large one she thought maybe her judgment was off." I told him.

Well Lester lost it and started howling in laughter, along with Bobby. Tank and Ranger just stood there looking at me.

"Bring that by me again." Tank said. Fuck wasn't it awkward and difficult enough the first time? He wants to hear it again.

"Well according to her your dick is rather large and she thought maybe she just was unable to correctly judge the size of Morelli's dick so she asked Connie for her opinion." Again Lester was howling in laughter.

"Lula was talking about the size of my dick." I nodded

"Yeah and well I guess that is why Stephanie was embarrassed when she looked at you." He smiled and started laughing.

"They had quite the conversation about dicks. Well Lula and Connie did mostly Incendia held her head in her hands or was just quite but they asked her some questions about sending the pictures and the reactions the burg and her family were going to have an that angered her and agitated her to the point she wanted to leave. We left the bonds office sort of abruptly. I could see she was agitated, frustrated but before I could head back here she wanted to go stake out one of the skips we had picked up from Connie."

They sobered looking at me. "She what?" Ranger asked.

"She went through the files and selected one of the guys he is an asshole that's a drunk and an abuser, I don't need to tell you why she picked him, to go after. She wanted to kick the shit out of him, her words." I told them.

I saw Ranger shift he wasn't liking where this was going.

"I talked her down while we were staking out his place. I offered to come back here and spar with her on the mats to help her let go of the stress she was feeling from all the emotions and adrenaline running through her." I told them.

Lester shook his head "man that wasn't sparring that was you having your ass handed to you three ways from Sunday and it was brilliant. I got it on video." He said. Shit somehow I knew that was going to happen no doubt every Rangeman would have it in their inbox before the hour was up.

Well at least they would see what a worthy opponent she would be if any of the guys at any of the other offices questioned her being a Rangeman. They would see the video and be awed by her and even fear her like some of us were beginning to do around here.

Ranger turned and walked out of the gym without saying anything further. No doubt he was in search of my Incendia. I hope she wouldn't mind I told but honestly she left me here with them what did she think was going to happen we were going to join hands in a circle and sing fucking Kumbaya? I am lucky they gave me a chance to explain instead of just kicking my sorry ass some more.

I looked at Tank "man just give her some time she just needs to forget about the conversation and then she won't blush around you and she will be able to look at you. Just go with it and don't bring attention to it if she blushes." I told him. He nodded and then walked out of the room.

Lester was laughing shaking his head. "What I wouldn't have given to have been a fly on the wall during that conversation. Why do I miss all the good ones?" He said.

I just shook my head so typical Lester.

"Man, trust me you didn't want to be anywhere near that conversation." I told him and then we all turned heading out of the gym. Lester still laughing we got to the stairway and he looked at me halting the laughter.

"So Morelli's got a small dick?" I smiled nodded.

"According to the girls he has a small dick. But the funniest part of the conversation had to have been when Lula was talking about Tank's and Ranger's dicks." I stated and once again laughter echoed through the stairwell.

"Man, see what I wouldn't have given to heard that shit." Lester said laughing.

I had to admit it was pretty funny so I joined in the laughter.

**RPOV**

I heard Slyder say my Babe had targeted a skip to take her frustration out on. We had all done it but it wasn't something I wanted her to do. It could get dangerous and deadly fast depending on who you targeted and how your emotional level was running so I was glad Slyder had talked her into coming back here and working it out in the gym.

That is what most of us did as several of us had learned the hard way that it wasn't always smart just to go after someone without researching what the person was capable of. When you let your emotions control you like that shit happens and it can go real bad real fast.

I went in search of her and found her in her office. My intentions were to talk to her about how dangerous what she was going to do was but when our eyes locked on each other I saw something that my body responded to and the thoughts of talking went out of the window.

I stepped into her office and shut the door locking it. It took me three steps to have her in my arms and three to have her backed into the wall. My lips crashed down on hers and that was all my conscious brain remembers.

We went at each other like wild animals. Our beasts connecting I know I heard fabric being ripped and I didn't give a shit mine or hers. Our bodies demanding contact skin to skin. I know I heard moans, and groans, and howls of ecstasy hers mine I didn't know; I didn't care.

The need inside me was so strong to have this woman, to possess this woman, to be inside this woman that all I wanted to do was climb inside and take up residency. I heard stuff hitting the floor and I couldn't even focus on what it was. I didn't care whatever it was I would replace.

My need was so strong her need was so strong the two coming together was all either of us could hold on to.

When I woke up we were on the floor I was still inside her I shook my head to get my bearings to take stock of where we were. Feeling my dick harden the second I moved within her she moaned and started to stir.

I looked around shit. She was going to be pissed when she saw this.

Pictures were on the floor, the two action figures on her desk on the floor. Her monitor on the floor I feared broken at least it wasn't her new laptop not that I gave a shit I would buy her another one. The chair to her desk over turned lying on the floor along with the phone and her name plate.

The pictures on the one wall all crooked one looked like it was barely holding on. Shit there would be glass everywhere if it fell.

She moaned opening her eyes looking at me. "We did it again" she said smiling and I nodded yeah we had done it again both passed out during the throws of our passion and primal need for each other.

"Yeah Babe we have done it again in more than one way, we did it again." I told her. I saw the confusion in her eyes and I motioned for her take a look around.

I saw her eyes widen when she took in the destruction around her desk. "Holy shit" she said and I nodded I couldn't agree more; holy shit what this woman does to me.

"Yeah, holy shit." I said as I began to push myself further into her moving against her body. I needed a little more and I was unwilling to stop right now after all the desk was still standing.

**SlyderPOV**

I got upstairs and incendia's and Ranger's doors were closed. I didn't bother to test them I figured they would come out when they were done doing whatever it was they were doing.

I made my way to the break room not really sure what to do until I had the files from earlier to research so I grabbed a snack some water and made it to my desk.

I booted up the computer and began some busy work just to look like I was working more so than actually doing any productive work while I waited on my Incendia.

I logged into my email and sure enough Lester had sent the fucking email with the video. I had several emails from the guys. Making comments about how I had my ass kicked. I would like to see those fuckers who thought they knew so much meet her on the mats because I was quite certain they would have a different take on it if they bothered. She would no doubt kick their ass as well.

I replied to some of them telling them to take her on if they felt like they were so much fucking better than me. I challenged them, but I doubt that any of them would have the fucking balls to actually take me up on the challenge. Not to mention most of the guys were from the Miami office and what weren't from Miami were from Atlanta.

I thought it was funny how none of the guys from Trenton or Boston who had more exposure to her than the other offices made a comment. Maybe it was them being afraid of Ranger, Maybe it was their respect for her but I also was wondering how much of it was fear keeping them from making a comment. She was quickly becoming someone who could make you fear her.

She was becoming quite capable of protecting herself and it made me swell with pride that she was my partner. I would go to the wall with her daily and never fear that she wouldn't have my back just as much as I would have hers. We were partners.

Lester had sent me email because he knew I would want to see it. I started it and watched some of it. Not all of it. I didn't need to relive every second I just wanted to see the good ones. The moves that had taken me down and had given her the advantage I wanted to see them.

Watching the video she looked amazing. I don't blame Lester for videoing it because I would have done the same thing if I had been in the control room.

**SPOV**

I was looking for my clothes trying to keep from laughing. Today my emotions had been all over the place but right now I was nothing but fully satisfied, fully relaxed.

I picked up my clothing most of them ripped to pieces. I held them up "I think I found them all which is the good news but I don't think any of them are wearable most of them are in shreds." I said looking at Ranger who had been doing the same thing as me; looking for his clothing.

He held up his pants "Babe I don't know what you did but you managed to tear the zipper in the half." He held up the pants showing me the zipper as well as the other tears. I held up my pants and shirt and showed him and they were no different. He held up his shirt and it looked like I had daggers for claws the way his shirt was shredded. I gasped looking at it. Was I capable of that?

I looked at him grabbing him spun him around and he was unmarked. Whew. I hadn't hurt him. He did the same with me as though we both had the same thought at the same moment and I heard him expel a held breath so I knew he knew I was fine.

"Oh my god how did we manage to do this damage without hurting each other?" I asked. Looking around my office it was in shambles. How was I going to explain this shit? It looked like wild animals had been turned lose in my new office.

"We have got to clean this up. What are they going …." I paused I felt my eyes getting large my mouth opening the panic raising in me oh my god "oh..oh..oh my god…Carlos…oh my god….oh…ohh…" I was in his arms in seconds.

"What's wrong Babe, what's wrong?" He asked me he was clearly trying to figure out what was going on with me. I could feel tension pouring off of him.

"What if they heard us? If we did this damage to my office to our clothes we weren't exactly quite they are only a few feet away they had to have heard us. How in the hell am I going to walk out and face them with them knowing what we were doing in here?" My voice going up with every word as the panic was rising up in me.

"Babe it's okay they didn't hear a thing." He said. Yeah right I rolled my eyes. There is no way in hell they didn't hear that and I bet sex for a year that they heard it.

"Babe" Shit I said that out loud.

I looked at him and narrowed my eyes at him while I was trying to figure out how to clean up the mess. After all it was his fault in the first place he came into my office and started it.

"Babe the room is sound proof. Your office, my office, Tank's office are all sound proof. No cameras no audio. So trust me they didn't hear anything. Now we can't do anything about what they will be able to see Babe." Huh?

He must have seen the confusion on my face because his lip twitched "Babe you are glowing brighter than a light bulb and well the office is a mess not to mention your broken monitor. They are going to know something was happening in here." Fuck my panic was coming back.

"Babe it is okay they won't say anything to you, me or anyone else. If they do I will let you take them down on the mats. Hell you kicked Slyder's ass so good today I think I will just have them met you on the mats. I think they will fear you more than me after today." He said and I blushed. I had gone after Slyder when we reached the mats. I almost felt bad.

"I didn't mean to hurt him. I just needed to get it out of my system." I told him and he nodded letting me know he understood.

"Babe I am glad you came back here and took it out on your partner instead of the skip. I made Slyder tell us, well Tank made Slyder tell us. Babe if ever you feel that way again, its normal at times, just come back here and work it out on the mats or with me Babe not with a skip. That shit can go bad Babe and you could get hurt; dead." He told me.

I nodded my understanding.

"Carlos , I wanted to beat that skips ass. I still do." I confessed and he just looked at me. "The longer I sat there the more something felt off and I couldn't figure out what it was. I knew going to that house and fighting him would get my partner hurt. Slyder would have been hurt, bad, so when he offered to come back here I said yes. But I want to kick the skip's ass and I now want to know why it was dangerous for Slyder." I told him.

He stared at me shaking his head.

"Babe your senses are amazing. You sensed your partner was going to get hurt if you went into that house and you didn't go to save your partner?" He said as if he was trying to wrap his head around what I had told him.

I nodded "Babe you are amazing." He said and I couldn't help the smile at hearing his words but I wanted him to know I was serious about the skip.

"Carlos I mean it I am going to figure out what the danger was there and then I am going to kick his ass and drag his sorry ass back to jail." I told him feeling my anger raise back up in me. He was a scumbag who beat on helpless women and I was taking him down.

"Babe I have no doubt." Carlos said putting his arms around me. I couldn't help the smile. Our relationship had come a long way it wasn't but several weeks ago he would have fought me on this, he would have prohibited it and threaten to have one of his men lock me up to keep me away from a skip like that.

Some would say he loved me less because he wasn't fighting me now and allowing me to go after a dangerous skip but I saw it differently I saw it as he loved me more now. He trusted me and he supported me and he would let me decide what I was going to do and just be there to support and help me do what I wanted.

I couldn't have loved him more than I did right this second and I threw myself in his arms. My office wasn't really that messed up and if we were going to have to clean it up anyway might as well make it worth all the effort.

**TPOV**

Stephanie and Ranger had been in the office for a long time. Some of the guys confirmed he went in Stephanie's office and shut the door. I knew he had a way to his office but I also knew he wasn't in his office. His door was partially open and his office was empty.

Not that anyone would have stepped through the door with him in the building without permission from him. The only one allowed to do that was Stephanie and myself and I wasn't about to go in there being nosy. It wasn't my business.

When it was close to a meeting time I called the client and rescheduled letting them know that an emergency had come up that needed our leader's attention. I wasn't sure if I should cancel all of his appointments or not but I wasn't going to interrupt them to ask.

If he didn't come out of the office I would reschedule the others just as I had the first one.

I still couldn't believe that Lula and Connie were discussing my dick size but it didn't really matter. It wasn't like I had anything to worry about. I am just sorry they made my Little Girl uneasy with their conversation.

I wouldn't say anything to Lula even though part of me wanted to it really wasn't my place. I am sure Slyder being there was what made Stephanie more uncomfortable and embarrassed that he heard them more so than anything.

I would do like Slyder suggested just give her time and not draw any attention to her being uncomfortable or embarrassed but I really didn't like the idea of my little girl not being comfortable around me.

I briefly wondered how many more of Ranger's appointments I was going to have to reschedule for him. He needed a fucking secretary to do this shit.

**SPOV**

It had taken us a little time to get the office back into shape. Thank god for my closet here or I wouldn't have any clothes to put on. I pulled the bag out of one of the trashcans and put our clothes in it. There was no saving those clothes.

Carlos dressed back in his cargos and I dressed in mine we departed with a heated kiss of promise that there would be more to come tonight and personally I was looking forward to it.

I opened my office door peaking out into the hallway almost like a teenager who was certain she had just gotten caught making out with her boyfriend by her parents but no one was even looking towards my office.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I was already embarrassed today to be around Tank I didn't need to add to that list. I was going to have to figure out how I can look Tank in the eye today without blushing.

I booted up my computer and the first thing I was going to do was run a search on the skip Ronny Kravitz. I kicked off the search and then opened my email. Shit. Lester had sent everyone at Rangeman a video. I opened the video and like I feared it was of me and Slyder going at it on the mats.

Great now I was going to have to apologize even more to my partner. We hadn't been partners for twenty-four hours yet and I was almost certain he was ready to return me. I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't already standing in Ranger's or Tank's office asking to return me.

I groaned and got up to go in search of something to eat. I needed something. Wasn't exactly sure what I wanted but I needed some food. I preferred it to be something sweet but I knew that was impossible here.

I walked into the break room and Lester along with Cal, Hal, and Ram were hanging out talking. I walk in and Lester walks over and puts his arm around me pulling me towards them. I start to protest I wanted some food but I go anyway.

"Beautiful I heard you had an interesting morning, anything you care to share with us?" He asks me and I quickly shake my head no.

"Oh come on you aren't going to fill us in with the conversation at the bonds office?" He asks me and I quickly think hell to the no I am not filling you in on a conversation about Tank's and Carlos' dick size.

Hal turns bright red, Cal chokes on his water, and Ram well Ram has water running out of his nose. Shit I said that out loud. Lester is just howling in laughter laugh it up funny man is all I could think and that caused him to laugh even harder.

I pushed Lester on the chest to move him away from me I swear sometimes. I loved him on one hand and wanted to ring his neck with the other.

I walked over to the refrigerator grabbed a turkey sandwich, not my favorite, but it would do and started to head back to my office. When I went to step out of the break room I walked straight into a wall, a huge wall, of muscle and had it not been for him grabbing me I would have been on my ass with my sandwich.

"Bomber you okay" I heard Tank say and I quickly looked away I nodded that I was fine. I wanted to get out of here before I said something to further embarrass myself. I could feel my face heating up as thoughts about what Lula had said kept flashing through my head. Damn it I knew this was going to be a problem.

"Yeah bi…uhhh…yeah Tank I am fine" I couldn't say it I couldn't call him big guy because all I could think about was his dick. Fuck what is wrong with me at times. I hurried around him and fled back to the safety of my office. It wasn't that I wasn't safe, I was, but at least there I wouldn't embarrass myself.

Lester followed me because I no more sat down that Lester was whistling. I looked up questioning him.

"What happened, Beautiful?" He asked me and I looked at him what was it with these guys being so damn cryptic today a lot has happened which part did he want to know about.

"Lester what are you talking about?" I asked him getting frustrated with him.

"Beautiful your monitor is broken what happened?" He said pointing to the monitor on the floor beside the wall. Oh yeah. I forgot all about that.

"I accidentally knocked it off of my desk." I told him trying to focus on getting to work. Lester just laughed. I looked at him.

"Accident huh?" I nodded. He shook his head laughing I knew he knew it wasn't an accident and he knew I knew he knew but he didn't say anything further. "Beautiful I just wanted to let you know that I will be the one going with you and Slyder when you go out until we know something more about Ranger's enemies." I nodded annoyed but I had agreed to it so I wouldn't complain now or go back on my word.

"Okay we will be going out a little later. I need to mail something." I told him looking at him.

"You need to mail something? I would say you need to mail a shit load remember I helped you with the envelopes." He didn't need to remind me I nodded my head.

"Yeah well I want to mail them today." I told him agitated. He looked at me.

"Beautiful you going to mail them all today?" he asked me taking a seat across from my desk.

"Yeah I am going to mail all of them." I told him what is with these people just let me fucking mail the fuckers already I don't give a shit what anyone is going to say or do. Just let me do it without the commentary of what's going to happen bullshit.

"Hear me out Beautiful why don't you hold back some and mail them tomorrow. Like the one to your mother, to Morelli's mother, his grandmother, Joe, your family, etc. Mail the ones today to the burg they will get them tomorrow then mail the others tomorrow that will give the burg a full twenty-four hours to talk the pictures up without the others knowing what is going on." He said and I smiled at him.

I know my smile was sinister because I felt it, I sort of felt like I was smiling like the Grinch when he decided to steal all the Christmas presents, but it was clear why Lester and I were such good friends. We were so much alike because he had the same smile on his face as I had on mine.

"Lester it is time like these that there is no doubt why you are my best friend." I told him and he smiled that bad boy smile at me. "Now let me get something done before we go out." I told him and he nodded and stepped out of my office.

I pulled up the search results for Ronnie Kravitz. Typical numerous arrests for domestic abuse but none of them stuck because the women ended up dropping the charges. I am sure under duress or fear they dropped the charges. I was surprised at the number of women it wasn't like he was that great looking.

He had a low paying blue color job typical job for someone who had no desire to better themselves. It didn't look like he made more than ten dollars an hour and some of the jobs he had wouldn't have been easy jobs labor wise but required virtually no brains which I thought was fitting as I doubted he had too much going on upstairs.

He had a DUI on his record again not surprised looking at his expenses he spends what little money he makes at the liquor store. I imagine he is a Jack man if I had to guess and I would guess he likes it straight and without the rocks. When in public he was definitely a paper bag kind of guy.

I wasn't really impressed with the search results so I decided to dig a little deeper.

I wasn't finding anything that was adding up to the danger that I felt this morning. Why had I felt like Slyder would get hurt if we went up to the door? I didn't feel like I would get hurt. Would he get hurt protecting me or was it more to it? I couldn't seem to shake it but I knew I didn't want to go up to that house without the answer to that question.

I dug into his past, he had lived with his mother until he was twenty-seven and I wasn't sure if she had died then or if he had moved to this house just prior to her death. I couldn't really answer that question. Both homes were originally in his mother's name. The house he was currently living had been his mother's house but his mother had been living in the home that his deceased grandmother lived in prior to her death.

His father seemed to be out of the picture I wasn't sure if he was ever part of the picture. His mother had several partners throughout his child hood. I found some evidence that she had been a victim of abuse from some of those partners. It didn't appear that she had ever been married. So he had learned how to treat women from the men his mother spent time with. I had no doubt at this point he also was a victim of abuse in his younger years.

Still nothing to raise the alarms of my spidey senses.

The more I dug into this man's life the more I felt sorry for him. That boy never had a chance I guess it was saying something that he was just the man he was and not something worse.

His mother had been a low achiever drop out in high school but back in those times it wasn't the end of the world many women did it they met men, married, and started their family life. In this case she hadn't gotten married but she had gotten pregnant. It would have been a huge scandal during that time and I wondered what happened.

There were no siblings listed for Ronnie and this was before he was born. I wasn't surprised depending on the parents during that time they would have shipped her away possibly to family members or someone else for her to have the baby and then the baby would have been given up for adoption and there would have been no report or link to her and the baby other than this original medical records.

They could have shipped her away for a doctor to perform certain experimental procedures on the young mother. Again none of it would have been documented.

I decided to search a little further into the Grandparents as the mother wasn't giving me anything.

It didn't seem like anytime and Lester was walking back in my office bothering me. "Beautiful, are you going to mail those envelopes today or did you change your mind?" He asked.

"Lester didn't I tell you I was going to mail them?" I said sort of snarky as he was interrupting my thoughts and concentration on figuring out what was going on with Ronnie Kravitz.

"Well if you are planning on mailing them today then we better get going or the post office is going to close." He said. I looked at the time and sure enough several hours had passed it was almost five.

I closed my laptop and grabbed my purse and went to pick up the box of envelopes but Lester had them in his arms and Slyder was standing right behind him.

"Okay guys lets go. While we are out I want to go by the Kravitz's place and stake it out. Don't worry Slyder we aren't going to approach him or the house I just want to stake it out for a little while." I said they nodded and we headed to the garage on the elevator.

We got to the post office and Lester and Slyder both hopped out of the vehicle behind me. I looked at them. "What?" Lester asked me.

"I can go alone." I told them and they nodded agreeing with me but why where they following me anyway.

"We just wanted to see you mail them." Lester said to me and I shrugged and kept making my way into the building. I walked up to the window handed them my box postage was already paid it was just a matter of dropping them off. I had already taken the ones out at the office to be mailed tomorrow.

I heard the click of a camera and I looked around and Lester was snapping a picture of me handing the box over to the postman I just smiled and he quickly snapped another one.

I had no doubt that every phone at Rangeman wouldn't have a copy in less than two seconds just as fast as he could click the buttons to send it. I heard my phone beep and I knew it was the picture I didn't need to look.

I knew how fast Lester was when it came to sending email or texts on his phone hell he took texting to a whole other level the only problem was you needed a texting dictionary to figure out what the hell he was saying. You would get texts from him that looked like gibberish but if you knew how to read it you knew exactly what he was saying. He had a way of condensing sentences in to a single line. It was impressive.

Then again my best friend was impressive in a lot of ways. I didn't thank God enough for all my brothers, my best friend, and my to be husband.

I made my way back over to them swiping my hands together it was out my hands; they had been mailed now it was just sit back and watch the fall out.

"Well it's done." I said to them and they nodded their heads. I could tell they weren't sure what to say and I wasn't really sure what to say. I sort of felt like I would feel something different but I didn't. It was in a way anticlimactic as to how I was feeling. Maybe it would be different once I knew people were looking at the pictures.

Once they had a chance to see the real people who were liars the real ones that had something to hide maybe I would feel differently. Maybe I would feel like this was the right thing. That I was right in sending them I was right in showing the burg who the liars were and who was telling the truth for once and for all.

"You okay Beautiful?" Lester asked me. I know he was picking up on my thoughts. Today was definitely a day of extremes. I nodded to him smiling once again. I was okay.

He didn't respond but looked at me as we made our way out of the post office to the SUV. When we got in the SUV I told them once again to go to the corner of Sycamore and Trite to stake out the home of Ronnie Kravitz. Something was off with this skip and I needed to figure out what it was.

We pull up and I settle in I let the guys ride up front so I moved to the center of the seat and scooted up so I was hovering over the console in the middle of the front. Looking at the house it didn't look like a whole lot but it was okay.

The outside could use some work but it wasn't completely desolate looking either. I would say the owner cuts the grass before it gets too tall but doesn't bother to do anything like landscaping or planting flowers. Sort of like his life as it appeared in the searches he does just enough to get by.

You can't say it is neglected but you really can't say it is cared for either. Somehow I thought that would be a trend we would see repeating in this man life.

As we were watching the house Lester spoke up again. "Okay Beautiful I let you slide at the post office. Tell me what has you worried or upset." He told me.

I just looked at him. "Nothing, I am fine." I told him. He didn't believe me I could see it in his eyes; I ignored it.

"Beautiful you are not tricking me, I know it is something and I know you aren't fine as you could be because something is bothering you. Remember this is me you are talking to." He told me warning me that he wasn't going to let me tell him bullshit and not be honest with him.

Times like these I both loved and hated my best friend.

"Lester I am really fine. It is just that I thought I would feel different mailing those envelopes. I thought I would feel a sense of I don't know accomplishment, or happy, or I don't know but just different but I really didn't feel that way. I don't know how I feel it is sort of anticlimactic not really what I was expecting." I told him.

"Beautiful revenge is a tricky bitch." He said and it sort of confused me. Did I do this solely out of revenge or did I do this because the truth needed to be told, I needed to stand on my own two feet and not allow people to walk over me. Why had I done this?

"You and everyone else are always telling me to stand up for myself to not allow others to walk over me." I said trying to wrap my head around the reasons I had mailed the pictures.

"Beautiful my moral compass doesn't always point due north. While I love the pictures being sent because it is you doing something and not just allowing the people in your life to push you around or walk over you and you do nothing. I think we all know the pictures aren't just about that. The pictures were about your getting revenge and that is okay if anyone deserved it, it is you. But the reason you are feeling the way you do is that your subconscious is trying to deal with the revenge part while the conscious part is trying to tell it something else." He said.

Had I done this out of revenge? I did this to set the burg straight I did this to show them that I wasn't lying I did this to make them pay. And there it was. I had done this out of revenge. While some of the other points were valid I had sent them out of revenge to seek revenge for all the years of shit they had given me and put me through.

Lester must have seen my thoughts as I could tell he was following them. "Lester I honestly didn't see this until now." I told him.

"Beautiful I think you saw it before now you just didn't allow yourself to acknowledge the reasoning behind it until now. You didn't just clear your name or prove you were telling the truth. Sending those pictures you released all the years of repression. Unfortunately now you are struggling with was it the right or wrong thing to do and if it was the right thing to do you would feel better right now than you do." He said and I knew he was telling me the truth.

I felt a sinking in my stomach had I done the right thing? If it wasn't the right thing then why did my brother's let me go through with it and do it? Why didn't they stop me and tell me this wasn't the right thing to do? That what I was doing wasn't going to make me feel the way I wanted.

"Lester, why didn't you try to stop me or tell me this before I sent the pictures?" I asked him feeling a little frustrated at him for allowing me to do this.

"Beautiful this was your decision, this was your doings and none of us were going to stand in your way, or stop you from doing it. Personally I think it is brilliant but then again you know your mother or the cop aren't my favorite people and I personally would like to see them burn in hell. I would be glad to send them there so they could get on with their journey sooner. So I wasn't about to stop you but I understand the feelings you are feeling. You have a pure soul a good soul and sending or not sending the pictures doesn't change that one way or the other but what does change is that you need to come to terms with why you actually sent them so you will feel better about it." He told me.

I nodded my head letting him know I heard him and was following what he was saying.

"Beautiful there is no judgment here you know that none of us would ever do that to you. You never have to worry about that from us. You have our love, unconditionally, you have our acceptance, unconditionally, and you have our support a hundred percent all the time it doesn't matter what you do. The only one that you need to come to terms with is yourself." He told me and I wanted to throw myself in his arms and hug him to me. He always knew what I needed to hear.

I couldn't help the tears that pooled in my eyes but they didn't fall.

"Happy tears?" he questioned and I just nodded unable to speak because if I did I knew I would lose it.

Today had definitely been a day of extremes when it came to my emotions. But what it had also been was a day of awakening. I had sent those pictures out of revenge. While it is true that it would prove I wasn't lying that wasn't the reason I sent them.

Did I really care to prove to the burg that I wasn't lying? No. Did I care to prove to the burg that what I accused them both of is actually true? No.

What I wanted was revenge my pound of flesh for how they had treated me all those years. I wanted to tear them down from their pedestals in the burg to show them that they don't step on me without repercussions. That their day of reckoning was upon them and I was airing their dirty laundry in front of the entire burg. It was vengeful, it was spiteful, it was vindictive and even petty to some degree but deep down inside I was actually okay with it.

Maybe that is why I had been feeling the way I was feeling it wasn't that I felt bad for doing it as much as the fact that I felt bad for not feeling bad for doing it.

I looked at Lester "I think one reason I feel the way I do is because I don't feel bad for doing it. In some ways I feel justified for having mailed them. For having gotten my revenge because you are right I mailed them out of revenge regardless of what I have been trying to tell myself all along and I think one of the reasons I feel this way is because I am totally okay with it and I shouldn't be but I am." I told him.

Lester bent around and kissed my forehead. "Beautiful there is nothing wrong with seeking a little revenge and I couldn't think of two people in your life more deserving. It's just you need to see it for what it is and not try to trick your mind into something it isn't." He told me and I completely understood. I felt better already. I felt a sense of liberation not from mailing the pictures as much as coming to terms with the feelings that were running through me.

I felt a sense of peace wash over me that I hadn't felt since the idea popped into my head and I knew he was right. I also knew that I had the most awesome best friend and partner ever.

Slyder hadn't said anything, he added nothing to the conversation but I think he was smart enough to realize I needed my best friend. That I needed to talk to my best friend on a best friend level and just stayed out of our conversation. Proving what a wonderful partner he was.

I realized then that my day of emotional extremes was more because of me trying to ignore, or not acknowledge the fact that I was seeking revenge more so than all the other reasons I was trying to make myself accept because I had felt like it was wrong to seek revenge but it was okay to prove that I wasn't lying that I was telling the truth. It was coming to terms with the reason of revenge and being okay with it that caused my feelings to ease. It had released the tension I had been feeling all day.

I looked up at Kravitz's house and I knew there was no reason to stay here. This wasn't telling me anything I didn't already know and I also knew I didn't want to be sitting in the back with him while we dropped him off at the station. "Come on boys lets go home." I told them. Slyder nodded and started the truck and turned it back to Rangeman.

"I thought you wanted to figure out something about this skip." Lester said I nodded.

"I figured it out." I told him. They both turned and looked at me raising their eyebrows. Must they do that in front of me? I can't fucking do it no matter how hard I try and they made it look like it is fucking second nature like they were born doing and I didn't think that was the case.

I mean I have yet to see a baby raise one eyebrow at their mother but if anyone would be able to do it, it would be my bad ass brothers I just wish they would fucking get off of the secret and show me how to do it.

"Slyder I didn't tell you this but this morning when we were here I didn't go to the house because I had a sense if we did then you would be hurt. I didn't understand then and didn't want to risk you getting hurt so I agreed when you said to go back to Rangeman and work it out on the mat instead of the skip." I confessed to him.

I saw a look come over him but I wasn't sure what it meant. I continued.

"Anyway when I was in my office I ran searches on the skip to try to figure out why you were endanger why I sensed you would be hurt but I didn't find anything out of the ordinary actually what I found sort of made me feel bad for the guy even though he is scum that preys on women and I still want to kick the shit out of him for that, but his life hasn't been easy and one has to question if his life growing up had been different if he would be different. But that is neither here or there with what we are talking about." I told them. Allowing my story of the skip to prolong the enviable of me confessing the danger to my partner was me.

I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. Slyder would probably request to replace me after I confessed this. If he felt the need to replace me I would understand and I wouldn't hold it against him after all it was me that could have gotten him hurt.

Pulling my big girl panties up I continued. "Slyder you may want to ask to replace me as your partner when I tell you this. Just know if you do it is okay I don't blame you. I will never blame you." I confessed to him and I saw something flash across his face before he slammed down his blank face cutting off his expressions from me; I understood that as well.

"I just realized the danger to you wasn't the house it wasn't Kravitz it was me. I was caught up in emotions I was caught up in my desire to fight because my emotions were all over the place and they needed an escape. I wasn't being honest with myself with why I was sending the pictures to everyone and because of that I was searching and looking for a reason that I could be okay with instead of just saying I wanted revenge. Because of this, my focus wasn't where it should have been. When I wanted to go after the skip only because I wanted to kick his ass for what he had done. I had been that girl, I had been that woman and I wanted to kick his ass for every time I had been that girl and that woman that let a man walk over me. I wanted to kick his ass for every woman he had beaten and walked over. I wanted to justify sending those pictures and I wanted to do it without admitting the truth that I wanted revenge. I never really saw myself as a vengeful person someone who sought out revenge but I guess you push hard enough as they have done over the years and anything is possible." I tried to explain

"I sensed you being in danger but I didn't realize it was me putting you in danger because of where my head was at. I am sorry Slyder." I told him as tears welled up in my eyes at the thought of something happening to him because of my stupidity.

He shook his head. "Incendia you kept me safe even from you. You sensed the danger and you didn't allow yourself to do what you wanted you thought about me first; my safety. It doesn't matter the why, you had my back and there is nothing better a partner can do than have their partner's back so I wouldn't trade you or have you replaced for anything in the world." He told me and I couldn't help the smile that over came in as I flung myself in his arms hugging him to me.

I pulled back sitting in my seat. "Okay boys lets head it home. I need to talk to Carlos." I told them clicking the seat belt around me. I needed to confess to him I only hoped he would be as understanding as my partner and best friend.

Both Lester and Slyder smiled I think they both heard the change in my voice and knew that I was going to be okay. It was definitely past time to call it a day as I was worn out.

**MPPOV**

I got up early this morning ready to tackle another day of being a burg worthy wife. I fixed breakfast for my husband, Frank, I cleaned our kitchen. I put a load of laundry in the washing machine, made the beds, cleaned the bathroom, and even straightened Frank's closet for him.

I had sat down and planned out our meals for the week making a grocery list of things we needed.

All the things the perfect wife does for her husband, family, and house. It was my typical every day and Tuesday routine after all towels got washed on Tuesday along with grocery shopping and dusting.

People wondered how I did everything I did it was because I had a schedule that on certain days I do certain things and I don't veer from that schedule that way everything gets done. It is why the burg women aspire to be me.

I am not certain why I wasn't able to train that into my bitch of a daughter, Stephanie, but Valerie seemed to catch on quick enough and she was following right along in my footsteps like any grateful self respecting daughter would do.

Even if I couldn't be proud of Stephanie I could be proud of Valerie.

I always shop in the afternoons right after lunch it is when the store is the least busy of the day and they are busy stocking the meat case with the freshest cuts of meats for the after work crowd. In the mornings it was a known fact you got yesterdays leftovers and I always wanted our meats to be the freshest available another reason why I was the perfect burg woman.

Today I walk in to the grocery store and I feel all the eyes on me. I feel the women in the check stand staring at me. As I am going up and down the isle of the store making my selections I feel eyes on me. I hear whispered conversations but I am unable to hear what they are saying I only feel it is about me.

I look around and I see the women in the store quickly advert their eyes so I wouldn't catch them looking at me but I saw them. I had caught them. Where they also whispering about me? Where they talking about me?

I couldn't think of any reasons for them to be talking about me after all my windows are washed, my lawn was perfectly manicured; the outside of my house is clean. Why are they talking about me? Why are they staring at me?

I had donated the baked goods to the charity fundraisers like all the other burg women. I knew it was good because I sampled a piece of the brownies and cookies when I put them on the plate just to be sure they were the best. I wasn't able to sample the cakes but I knew they looked perfect and smelled perfect so I had no doubt they didn't taste perfect. Maybe they were whispering about how much I donated I went above and beyond in my donation.

I even donated some items to be sold in addition to my baked goods. Maybe that is why they are looking and whispering about me but it didn't feel like that was the reason. After all it isn't like all the other women of the burg didn't do the same thing. It was always a one up kind of thing every woman wanted to be the one that baked the most, donated the most.

These looks seemed different but I couldn't understand why or how so. With each isle I went down more heads turned starring and looking at me. I was beginning to get subconscious and when I thought no one was looking I quickly felt my face, and nose to make sure I didn't have something embarrassing on my face. I felt nothing. I pushed my fingers through my hair to make sure it wasn't standing up strangely. I scanned the front of my clothing to make sure I had nothing on the front me and felt the back to make sure there was nothing embarrassing going on there. I even scanned my shoes to make sure there was nothing attached on the sole.

I had dressed up to come to the store. I didn't leave the house to come to the store, any store, but especially the grocery store without looking my best I knew how women talked about other women especially women of the burg and we didn't leave our houses without looking our best.

So I knew when I left home I was looking my best I just wasn't sure what happened between then and now that had everyone looking at me starring and whispering. I couldn't wait to get everything I needed and be able to leave. I would have just left but if I had to come to the store in the middle of the week it meant that I hadn't planned well and well that just wasn't going to happen.

No one would be able to say that I didn't plan my meals the right way and had to come to the grocery store mid week to get additional things. It was fine to come to the store mid week but only if you were picking up milk. Anything else and it meant you hadn't planned properly. It was disgraceful and something that I never did.

Because of that I was stuck in the store. I heard laughter, snickers, saw looks that ranged from people smiling to looks of disgust and I had no idea why. Why were they all looking at me? Had Frank done something? Had my mother done something? She was a constant trouble maker but since she had moved out of my house the women of the burg no longer saw her as someone I had control over.

So that was a blessing because getting that woman to do anything right was like pulling eye teeth and get her around a stud as she called them and all bets were off.

I wondered if Valerie had done anything but I couldn't think of anything and then my thoughts went to Stephanie. It must be her. She must have done something that has them talking and looking at me. I hadn't heard of anything but she probably did something to further embarrass the family.

Blow up another car; roll in garbage, who knows something that wasn't appropriate for a girl of the burg to be involved in. That had to be why they were looking at me laughing. It had to be Stephanie that caused it after all anytime in the past when this happened it was always her doing.

This had happened when she had laid down and allowed Joseph to take her virginity. They all looked at me and laughed because my daughter had lost her virginity before she got married and not only that it was public knowledge because Joseph decided to brag about the experience; typical teenage boy.

I ran my hand through my hair again raising my head proud of who I was and proud of the fact that I was the perfect wife. I made my way through the store successfully ignoring the looks, the snickering, and the whispers because it wasn't me they were talking about it was Stephanie.

It wasn't the first time and it wouldn't be the last time and while they were talking they were probably saying how they were sorry for me for having to deal with a daughter like her. I mean it was my cross to bear the daughter that didn't want to learn anything her mother had to offer and only wanted to run wild, with killers, thieves, and thugs.

**Please take a moment and leave a review. Let me know your thoughts…I love every review it does wonder for my soul and wonders for my fingers! Don't forget to check out the accommodating website and my writer's journal…I put sneak peeks into the chapters in them! **

**You can find it all at www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com There are playlists there for the party and songs that are mentioned through the different chapters, pictures of the characters along with their bio as I see them in my head, as they are in my story. There are pictures of some of the clothing, and places that have been in my chapter, as well as pictures of cars, trucks, motorcycles from the Rangeman compound. I hope you enjoy it Leave a comment there as well if you wish!**


	62. Burg Reaction 1: Mary Lou

**A/N: DO NOT READ THIS UNTIL YOU HAVE READ CHAPTER 61 (Chapter 60: First week wa Partner PT2) POSTED 3/22/12 !**

**This is a short sort of vignette with the reactions of the burg. My plan if I am able to do it, is do one of these a day leading up to the final chapter posting on Thursday 3/29/12 the one year anniversary to What does it mean to trust!**

**I hope you enjoy these…my little surprise for all my much loved fans of the story! **

**Burg Reaction 1: Mary Lou POV**

Today has been the day. I have one boy who is sick, and the other two are determined to drive me crazy.

I have been cooking and cleaning all morning and trying to take care of my children. I know I signed on for this life, and I love my family and children very much but there are days when I think what my life would be like if I had chosen a different path.

It isn't like I would have taken a different path I wanted the burg life ever since I was a little girl. Have the husband that loves me and works taking care of me, and his family while I take care of the house, and our children.

I truly had my dream life, and I had the dream husband and even on days when it was more than difficult I knew I was a lucky woman who had had her dreams come true.

I went out to get the mail pulling out the mail I notice a larger white envelope. I take the mail inside and put it on the counter. The larger envelope has my interest spiked. The odd thing about it is that the return address is the same as my mailing address it is almost as if I had sent the envelope to myself.

I sat down the mail and got the kids down for their nap before lunch. That was the good thing about having children under the age of five you could put them down for a nap and get an hour or so of time to call your own. I set the coffee maker to make a fresh pot while I got the kids settled.

Once the kids were asleep I fixed my cup of coffee grabbed a muffin that I had fixed earlier and sat down for a moment to relax enjoy my coffee, muffin and check out the envelope that had arrived in the mail today.

I had taken a bite of my muffin when I picked up the envelope opened it and when the pictures fell out I couldn't believe my eyes. My mouth opened and the bite I had taken of my muffin rolled out and down to the floor. I couldn't even move to pick it up.

Oh my god, there was no denying who was in the pictures or what they were doing. There was no doubt who sent these pictures. I didn't even have to second guess who it was. I briefly wondered if she knew what she had gotten herself into.

I flipped through the pictures unable to believe my eyes. Stephanie's mother Helen Plum, one of the pillars of the burg, was having sex with none other than the Italian Stallion of the burg, Joseph Anthony Morelli.

From what I could see there wasn't anything they weren't doing to each other. It was highly disgusting and something that was going to rock the burg community for many years to come.

The burg rarely forgot anything miss doing your windows and it was talked about for weeks. This was definitely something they weren't going to forget; ever.

I went over to call my good friend and fellow burg woman, Cynthia Cromer. Dialing the number I wondered if she had gotten the same envelope. The phone rang twice and she answered it. "Hello, you have reached the Cromer residence." She said.

"Hey Cynthia this is Mary Lou how are you today?" I asked her. I didn't want to dive right into the envelope, it would have been rude.

"Oh Hi Mary Lou I am well, how are you?" She asked.

"I am well." I said. One thing a good burg never did was let others know she was having a bad day or something was too much. We were from the burg we could handle anything life threw our way and we never complained or said it was too much to do.

"I am calling to see if you received a large white envelope in the mail today." I asked knowing it sounded weird.

"Yeah I did, I sat it down with the other mail, I haven't taken the time to look at it yet. I was just getting ready to look at it now that I got the kids down for their nap."

That was another thing if you had young kids they all went down for naps at the same time every day. It was a burg thing. A mother needed to prove she had her kids on a schedule.

"Ok.." Okay I started to say when I heard her gasp through the phone.

"Holy Mary Mother of God." She exclaimed, she had opened the envelope. I heard something that sounded like paper shuffling and I knew she was looking through the different pictures.

"Mary Lou this is…" she stopped and I could feel myself nodding as she was completing that thought to herself.

"You got one of the packages in the mail?" She asked me.

"Yes Cynthia I got one in the mail. I am assuming the pictures are the same. I was calling just to ask if you had gotten one as well." I told her.

"Can you believe these? I wonder what she is going to say when she hears about these or god forbid sees them." She says and you can hear the excitement in her voice.

"I don't know. Who knows if she even got the envelope. I wonder what Joseph is going to say." I said that was who I was the most curious about. These pictures weren't all that flattering to him and he was with a woman old enough to be his mother. I wonder what would happen to his playboy status and reputation of the burg now.

I was a little excited and a little scared for my best friend Stephanie but I didn't voice anything of that with Cynthia.

"Well I guess we all know who has been telling the truth around the burg and who hasn't. I don't think they can just explain away these pictures." Cynthia said and I couldn't agree more.

"No I don't think one could just explain these pictures away." I added agreeing with her. This was going to be bad. I briefly wondered how Helen would be able to show her face in this town. How would she be able to go to the grocery store, go to stores, to the mall, or to church?

She prided herself on being in church every Sunday ready to criticize every other member of the burg that didn't make it to church that morning or wasn't dressed in their finest.

"I wonder how she is going to show her face in the burg? I mean there are some things that can't be unseen and I have seen far more of her than I ever wanted. Not to mention what she is doing with Joseph in those pictures. Is some of that even legal?" Cynthia questioned me.

"I have no idea. All I know is that I won't be inclined to listen to her anymore or follow in her footsteps anymore as she is no longer someone to look up to in the burg." I told Cynthia and I hoped she would agree with me.

"I couldn't agree more. I am going to take it one step further and ask that she step down as a Sunday school teacher. I don't want her teaching my children what is morally right and morally wrong in church when she doesn't know herself." Cynthia said.

"I agree." I told her.

"Mary Lou I am going to call Francis with the church and find out if she got an envelope and if she did I am going to voice my concerns. Even if she didn't I am going to tell her about these, the best I can, and demand the she be relieved of all of her duties within the church." She told me and I couldn't help the smile that came across my face.

Stephanie would be so happy when she heard this.

"Cynthia I will talk to you later. You take care oh and let me know about Francis and what she says." I told her.

"Mary Lou you take care, I will talk to you later and let you know everything." She said and we hung up.

I immediately dialed a number I had known by heart for a while now. I doubted anyone would answer but I knew the voice mail would pickup and I knew it would be listened to.

Hearing the voice mail message come on I couldn't help but smile. "Girlfriend it's me Mary Lou, I got the package you sent and yes, I know it was you so don't deny it. I just wanted to let you know I spoke with Cynthia and she is calling Francis at the church to see about relieving Helen of all of her responsibilities at the church. I hope you know what you started with these pictures. Just know I love you." I told her and then hung up the phone.

I put the pictures back into the envelope and picked up the almost forgotten piece of muffin on the floor before sitting down finishing my cup of now lukewarm coffee and the rest of my muffin. Today had just gotten much better.

**Cynthia Cromer POV**

I hung up the phone with Mary Lou and immediately dialed Francis Marshall at the church. The phone rang two times before she answered "Hello this is Chambersburg Catholic Church Francis Marshall Speaking." She said.

"HI Francis this is Cynthia Cromer how are you today?" I asked her

"Oh hi Cynthia I am well how about you?" She asked.

"I am doing well." I told her

"And the family how are those precious children of yours?" She asked and I smiled at her calling my kids precious; they are.

"They are doing well. They are down for their naps right this moment." I told her letting her know that I held a routine with my children.

"Good, I am glad to hear it." She said.

"Francis the reason I am calling you is that because I got some rather disturbing pictures in the mail today." I said not really elaborating on them.

"Oh I know I got them as well I thought Mr. Marshall was going to have a heart attack seeing them. I think everyone in the church got them. The phone has been ringing off of the hook this morning. People are very upset." She said. I nodded my head.

"Well we have a right to be upset. These are very upsetting pictures. I am actually calling you to ask that you relieve Mrs. Plum of her duties at the church. I don't want her teaching my kids Sunday school if she doesn't know how to behave as a God fearing burg woman." I said.

"Cynthia, I agree. I have already spoken to Father Thomas about it. He actually called her and scheduled a time to go by her house. I am not sure if it is tonight or tomorrow to discuss the envelope with her and talk to her about her duties at the church. I believe he thinks it is in his best interest to remove her of her duties until she has gotten church counseling with him." She told me.

"Well I think that is a good idea. Well you have answered my questions thank you Francis. I will see you on Sunday. You have a good week." I told her getting ready to end the call and hang up.

"Okay dear, if you have any further concerns about this, please don't hesitate to call us and voice them. These are very disturbing pictures and to think it was Mrs. Plum in them a pillar of the community and model member of the church it is very upsetting." She added.

"I agree. It is very upsetting and disturbing. Thank you I will let you know if I have any other concerns. You have a good day Francis." I told her before hanging up.

I hung the phone up long enough to disconnect the call before picking it up and dialing Mary Lou back. It rang one time.

"Hello, this is the Stankovic's residence." She said.

"Mary Lou, this is Cynthia I just wanted to let you know that I spoke with Francis Marshall at the church." I told her.

"Oh hi Cynthia. What did she have to say did she get an envelope in the mail as well?" She asked me.

"Apparently she did and apparently so did a whole lot of other people. She said they have been getting calls all morning from concerned members of the church about the upsetting and disturbing pictures. Father Thomas is going to schedule a time to go by the Plum's house and talk to Mrs. Plum about the pictures and her duties at the church." I told Mary Lou.

"Cynthia thank you for calling and telling me what's happening. If I hear more I will let you know. If you hear anything please let me know as well. My oldest just got up from his nap so I am going to have to go but I will talk to you later. You have a good day." Mary Lou said.

"Okay Mary Lou I will talk to you later." I told her and hung up.

I had no doubt that we wouldn't be calling each other frequently in the next few days. If everyone in the burg got an envelope this was something that was going to be talked about a lot and for a very long time. I am not certain how Mrs. Plum or Joseph Morelli were going to continue to show their faces in the burg after everyone saw these pictures.


	63. Burg Reaction 2: Angela & Bella Morelli

**A/N: DO NOT READ THIS UNTIL YOU HAVE READ CHAPTER 61 (Chapter 60: First week wa New Partner PT2) POSTED 3/22/12 ! **

**This is a short sort of vignette with the reactions of the burg regarding the pictures. My plan if I am able to do it, is do one of these a day leading up to the final chapter posting on Thursday 3/29/12 the one year anniversary to What does it mean to trust!**

**I hope you enjoy these…my little surprise for all my much loved fans of the story! **

**Burg Reaction 2: Angela Morelli POV**

I had just hung up from a very disturbing phone call. Apparently an envelope was mailed to everyone in the burg that contained some very disturbing pictures.

My good friend Mary Elizabeth had called me telling me about the envelope she had received. She said others had gotten the envelope and it contained pictures. She didn't elaborate on the pictures only that I needed to see them and asked if I had gotten a package this morning.

I went out and checked the mail and I hadn't received a package.

The way she was going on and on about it I knew it was important but when I offered to go over to her house and see them she said she was actually heading out to run some errands and wouldn't be home this afternoon.

I knew she was lying but being a good burg woman I didn't call her on it. I figured she probably hadn't vacuumed or dusted and didn't want me in her house. Or maybe she didn't have anything to offer visitors so she didn't want me to come over.

A burg woman should always be prepared for someone to just stop by. She knew that, so I hoped that she would take the time to get herself caught up because it wouldn't be good for her to lose her credibility with the burg by having a dirty home or by not being hospitable to her guests. It just wasn't heard of in the burg.

I called for Bella she was up in her room "Bella, you didn't happen to get an envelope out of the mail this morning did you?" I asked her.

She came to the top of the stairs "No Angela I haven't been out, I didn't get anything from the mail. Why?" She asked.

"I just got a call from Mary Elizabeth she was telling me about an envelope that was sent to what she thought was everyone in the burg but we didn't get one. She said I needed to see what was in the envelope. I don't know anything beyond that." I told her.

She nodded and turned around going about her old women things which I knew nothing of and didn't want to know. I went about my normal day of getting my things done around the house.

The phone rang a few more times throughout the day people excited to the point of flabbergasted but when I would tell them I hadn't received the envelope they would suddenly get quiet and want to end the call. Whenever I offered to come over to see the photos I was met with the same resistance as Mary Elizabeth.

It was like they wanted to talk to me about them but they didn't want to tell me about them or let me see them in their presence it was weird. I was starting to get a strange feeling about this envelope.

I picked up the phone and called my good friend Helen "Hello this is the Plum residence" Helen answered.

"Hi Helen, this is Angie how are you?" I asked her.

"I am good Angela how are you?" She asked me.

"I am good I am calling to ask you if you received an envelope in the mail today." I asked her.

"No I didn't but I have heard but I know about it. Well to the point that some people have called and asked me if received it. They told me I needed to see it." She told me.

"I have gotten the same phone calls today but I didn't get the envelope either." I explained unsure why we would both need to see the envelope and yet neither of us had received the envelope. Odd.

"Angela I am not certain what is going on. I thought today in the grocery store that it was odd but I figured Stephanie had done something I hadn't heard about yet. You know that girl is always getting herself into trouble and everyone is always talking about her. I mean what can you expect when you run with the people she has chosen to run with. I mean they are nothing but murders, thugs, and thieves." She said and I nodded. I couldn't agree more. She was always involved in something bringing shame to her poor family.

"Helen I am sorry, I know it has been difficult for you in the past years but at some point when your children don't listen to your advice you just have to write it off." I told her. I mean I was lucky Joey was a good boy that did the right thing, and listened to his mother.

"Angela I guess you are right. I just wish she would come to her senses and become the burg woman she should be and marry your son; where she belongs." Well I didn't know about all that but I didn't disagree with her at least not verbally.

"Well Helen I need to go, I will let you know if I hear more or if I get the envelope. You have a good night. Oh and if you don't mind please tell Frank I need him to do something for me. My kitchen sink drain is clogging up and if he could come and take a look at it for me I would really appreciate that." I said to her. My sink drain was just fine but I really wanted a little time alone with Frank. I was missing him.

"Okay Angela I will tell him. I am sure he will come over as soon as he can. You have a good day. Bye."

"Bye" we hung up.

The phone rang once again, this was getting old even for me and I lived on the phone. "Hello this is the Morelli residence" I answered.

"Mom, how are you?" My Joey asked me and I smiled at the sound of his voice. He was my pride and joy the one that had broken free of the Morelli curse. The other Morelli men including his fathers had been nothing but alcoholics that were womanizers and abusers. My Joey hadn't followed in the footsteps of his father and I was proud of him for it.

I loved my husband dearly while he was living and did everything I could for him to love me and I believe somewhere somehow he loved me he just couldn't control his drinking and when he drank he got abusive. Like all men he could never keep his dick in his pants but this was just something expected out of almost of all men.

"Hi Son how are you?' I said to him and waited for him to answer.

"Mom I am fine. I am calling to see if you got an envelope in the mail today." He said odd that he would be asking me that.

"No Joe I did not. I have heard about it as several people have called but I am not sure what they are talking about we didn't get anything. Did you get an envelope? Or have you had time to check your mail yet?" I asked him.

"Yeah I checked it a little bit ago when I was out on patrol I went by there but there was nothing. Some of the guys at the station have been hearing about an envelope being delivered to their house. I was just wondering if you got one since I didn't." He said.

"No Joe I didn't get one either. I don't know what all of this is about but I will see if I can find out anything." I told him.

"Mom I am sure it is nothing." I couldn't agree more.

"I agree if it was anything to it they would have sent one to us. When are you coming by for dinner? You know your mother and grandmother miss you." I told him.

"Mom I don't know work has been busy I will see what I can do and let you know." He said. My son worked hard, my son was a dedicated cop; a detective. He worked very long hours and long weeks some weeks he wouldn't even get a day off.

"Okay Joe just remember your mother and grandmother love you and we don't see you enough." I told him.

"Okay Mom; I love you and Grandma too."

"Okay ,Son, have a good day; oh and Joe be careful. You know we worry about you." I told him.

"You too" he said and he hung up. I was really hoping he would come over for dinner soon. I loved cooking for my Joey. When I knew he was coming I always fixed his favorites including getting cannoli from Tasty Pastry.

I woke up early the next morning like every day of my life. Just because I no longer had a husband I had a reputation and appearances to up hold being a member of the burg.

Today was Wednesday the day I did my windows. So I had a busy day. I got up and fixed breakfast for Bella and myself. We ate and then it was get busy time. Making beds, cleaning the rooms, and washing the windows. After all these years I have it down to a science.

I hear the younger generation say how do they do it? I hear them say how they struggle to get everything done and how did we do all that we did when things are supposedly easier now than they were for us. I hold my head high when I hear them say that. We had done a lot. We still do a lot and the way we do it is we stick to a strict schedule.

Some people would say women of these days and times don't live like this and maybe that is true for areas outside of the burg but in the burg we are steeped in deep traditional values, values that we don't take lightly.

We are conservative, we are traditional, and I guess you can say we are old fashion in our traditions but it was a belief that this is how homes should be run. They should be run by the woman. The woman was the caregiver of the husband, and children while the husband was the bread maker and head of the household. This was the tradition to live differently is disgraceful especially if you are member of the burg.

I wanted my Joey to find a good burg girl and settle down but he has yet to do that. He is so busy chasing Stephanie that he can't see the forest because of the trees. She was never going to be a burg worthy woman I tried to tell him this but he just says he loves her and he is going to find a way to get her back and make an upstanding member of the burg out of her.

I was glad the past several weeks he hasn't really mentioned her but he hasn't mentioned anyone else either. We all knew his reputation around the burg. He was a man after all and men had expectations and needs. No one looked down at him or me because of it.

I had heard of his label the Italian Stallion and I had heard how he was as a teenager but he had changed, he had grown up and now he was doing the right thing looking for a wife so he could settle down and have a beautiful burg family.

I knew just knew my Joey would give me beautiful grandchildren if I could just get him off of his Stephanie Plum kick that girl was bad news. She would do nothing but bring shame to my Joey. She would never be the burg housewife he deserved. It was a well known fact that she couldn't cook, she didn't clean, and she didn't want to have children; all the things that a burg worthy woman was.

I was washing the windows on the front of the house in the living room when he mailman pulled up delivering the mail. I saw him place a larger white envelope in the mailbox and I briefly wondered if that was the envelope that everyone was calling me about yesterday.

I finished the windows in the living room and noticed it was almost lunch time. We had gotten all the windows on the front and sides of the house down. We only needed to do the windows on the backside of the house so now was as good as any time to stop for lunch.

I made my way into the kitchen cleaning up the kitchen. I let out the vinegar water for the windows, picking up the towel on the counter for drying the blinds that had been washed, and putting the chairs back around the table that held the storm windows.

The windows in my house had storm windows and screens they weren't like these new windows that folded in and didn't require storm windows.

I had just begun making lunch when I heard the door open. I knew it had been locked so it had to be my Joey coming home for lunch. I smiled when I saw the kitchen door open and my Joey walk through the door.

"Hi son. I am so glad you could drop by." I told him. He smiled and walked over giving me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. He was the perfect son. No mother could ask for a better son.

"Hi mom" he said.

"Are you joining us for lunch?" I asked him and he nodded.

"I was in the neighborhood this morning and thought I would stop by for lunch. Hope that is okay, you have enough." I nodded. Of course it was okay and of course I have enough. I was a burg woman after all we were always prepared.

"Of course there is enough. You never need to ask that you are always welcomed here in your home you know that. We love having you." I told him and he smiled. He loved to be spoiled and I loved spoiling him I had loved spoiling him his whole life to date and I would continue to spoil him until the day I died.

I was just glad that he chose to stay in the burg and not move away like some of the children had done. For some this life was the life they wanted to lead and they stayed for others it seemed that they couldn't get far enough away.

My Joey didn't go anywhere he is living in the burg in his aunt's house. She left it to him knowing that he would appreciate it the most. She loved the burg and living in the burg.

"It will just be a few minutes and lunch will be ready. Why don't you go get cleaned up." I told him as I went about heating up our lunch and fixing our plates.

I was just about ready to sit down when I remembered the envelope having been placed in the mailbox. I made a note to go get the mail right after I ate and that way I could open it while Joe was here since he didn't get one yesterday either.

I had finished my lunch and got up and walked out and gotten the mail. Walking back in I placed the rest of the mail in the mail bin on the desk in the kitchen to be gone over later. I walked back to the table with the envelope.

"Joe I think this is the envelope that everyone was calling me about yesterday. It looks like I got one today." I told him while breaking the seal on it.

"Did you get an envelope today?" I asked him he shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know I haven't been by the house yet, I was going by there when I left here. I will check the mail then." He told me and I nodded as I opened the envelope and pulled out the pictures. There were pictures?

"OH MY…OH MY GOD!" I screamed as my brain started to register the images before me. I dropped them to the table. As I felt my legs give out from under me and I fell back into the chair behind me.

Bella reached over and picked them up looking at them I briefly registered her screaming as she was clutching her chest.

"Momma, Grandma what's wrong." I registered Joe's voice the worry evident on them until he too had looked at the pictures and his mouth opened as he ran his hand through his hair.

I couldn't move, I could speak, all I could do was sit there. I knew somewhere in the back of my mind that I was in shock but all my conscious brain was doing was screaming no, not my Joey. Not my Joey in those pictures. What had he done? What was he thinking? Why would he do this? Not my Joey.

I heard a crash and that sort of snapped me out of my shocked state as I looked to the floor Bella clutching her chest writhing in pain it was evident by the look on her face. I heard Joe on the phone dialing 911 getting emergency help to the house.

Bella was having a heart attack. The pictures had given her a heart attack. I couldn't focus I found it difficult but I was doing what I could to help her. I remembered aspirin and I went to the cabinet and got an aspirin to give to her to let it dissolve on her tongue.

The whole time my brain was screaming all the questions and protests as to what my eyes had just seen. If this was real, if these pictures were real I don't' know what we were going to do. What Joey was going to do because this would mean the end of his life as he knew it.

Helen had been one of my good friends how could she sleep with my son? I mean I knew I had slept with her husband but as far as I knew that was the best kept secret in the burg and I didn't think she knew about that. But even if she had found out I couldn't imagine her seeking her revenge by having sex with my son.

I couldn't imagine my son wanting to have sex with a woman as old as his mother. That was sick on so many levels. I was going to have to call Helen later and give her a piece of my mind for ruining this family.

Her family was already in shambles and had been since she gave birth to that little bitch Stephanie. I mean Stephanie had done nothing but cause this family turmoil as she brought disgrace and shame to her own family.

Now Helen, Stephanie's mother, is having sex with my son. If that wasn't bad enough there were pictures of it and everyone in the burg had received the picture no wonder people were calling me and didn't want me coming to look at the pictures when I offered.

I could feel myself hyperventilating and I couldn't stop it as the panic rose at what everyone in the burg was saying about my Joey, about us. I briefly heard someone screaming Momma when the world around me went black and there was bursting pains in my chest.


	64. Burg Reaction 3: Grandma Mazur

**A/N: DO NOT READ THIS UNTIL YOU HAVE READ CHAPTER 61 (Chapter 60: First week wa New Partner PT2) POSTED 3/22/12 ! **

**This is a short sort of vignette with the reactions of the burg regarding the pictures. My plan if I am able to do it, is do one of these a day leading up to the final chapter posting on Thursday 3/29/12 the one year anniversary to What does it mean to trust!**

**I hope you enjoy these…my little surprise for all my much loved fans of the story! **

**Burg Reaction 3: Grandma Mazur POV**

I have been living in my baby granddaughter's apartment. I didn't realize how fun it would be to live on my own. Had I, I would have moved out of my daughter's home a long time ago.

The seniors in Stephanie's building were fun. We would hang out at the local VFW, and senior center during the day and even some evenings. We danced, we partied, and we searched and found hotties.

I had made good friends with many of the residents in the building and they all loved my granddaughter.

I had just gotten back to my apartment after a morning of shopping with Betty. We walked into the entry way of the building and I went to the mailbox opening it to get my mail. I noticed a large white envelope.

I grabbed it along with the other mail and we made our way up to our apartments. Betty lived in the apartment beside mine she had just moved in a week or so after me. But we were BFFS. That is Best friend forever for those of you that may not know.

There was a dance tonight at the VFW and we wanted to look our hottest so we had been shopping to get our dresses for tonight. We were on a mission, our mission to get the hottest two hotties the VFW had to offer and bring them back home with us for some fun under the covers.

I walked into my apartment and sat my purchases down in the entry foyer as I made it to the kitchen with the envelope. I grabbed a bottle of water and sat down at the table. Grabbing the envelope I opened it up.

I was sorry I had just taken that big gulp of water as it flew out of my mouth spewing everything in front of me when my brain registered what my eyes were seeing.

My Baby Granddaughter had done it. To say I was proud of her was beyond words! I screamed as I started running with the packet in my hand to Betty's apartment.

"Betty you gotta see these. Betty answer the damn door, will ya. Move your ass you gotta see these. Come on what is taking you so long." I screamed at her door. She must have gone straight to the bathroom when she went home that was the only reason she wasn't opening her door.

My screaming got the attention of other's on the floor and doors started opening with people looking into the hallway. "Thomas come here look at these." I exclaimed when Thomas Cruminski stuck his head out of his apartment. He was one of the hotties I was hoping to dance with tonight and possibly bring home if I couldn't find better.

He flipped through the pictures. "These are pictures my granddaughter sent me it is of her mother and her ex boyfriend who was going to be her fiancé if her mother had anything to do about it. Joe Morelli he is a detective for the Trenton police department." I told them.

Emily looked out I motioned for her to come over my excitement radiating from me. I was practically bouncing in place. She stepped forward hesitantly. Emily was more like my daughter well maybe not so much like my daughter after seeing these pictures but she was prudish the way my daughter obviously pretends to be.

I smiled wondering what her thoughts and reactions would be when she looked at the pictures. I saw her eyes widen and her mouth opened in shock. She looked up at me gasping for air and I was quickly becoming concerned that maybe it was too much for her heart. I mean she was old like me and you know old people have to be careful with their hearts.

She covered her heart and her mouth and stepped back. I stepped forward watching her making sure she was going to be okay. "You alright Emily do I need to call anyone?" I asked her and she shook her head walking backwards into her apartment and closing the door.

"Okay but let me know if you have a heart attack or something oh and take some aspirin I hear that is supposed to help." I yelled to her through the door. Some people I swear.

I went back to Thomas where he was flipping through the pictures and I wondered how many times did he want to look at them? Maybe they were helping prime him for later; that might work for me later.

Betty finally opened her door. "What in the hell took you so long?" I asked her and she shrugged. Yep she had been in the bathroom. Sometimes it takes us older people longer to go.

"Betty my baby Granddaughter sent me some pictures and I need your help. I need to go to photoshop and get them blown up. I want to blow them up and then put them up at the VFW tonight. I think Thomas is enjoying looking at them. So maybe we can prime the pumps tonight with these pictures and then later we will have some real fun." I told her and she smiled at my plan.

"We also have an appointment at the clip and curl to get our hair done. I think I might even get a bikini wax maybe one of those Brazilian ones after all we are going to get some action tonight armed with these pictures." I pointed to the pictures in Thomas' hand he had yet to give them back to me.

"I need those pictures back." I told Thomas and he handed them to me reluctantly. Maybe he was enjoying them a little more than I would have wanted but if it makes him hotter for me tonight then so be it. Maybe it would give him more staying power for tonight and I was always for that.

Men once they got my age had issues with staying power and for a woman like me it was a little beyond frustrating. My daughter never understood it I guess I know why she didn't understand it she was doing a man young enough to be her son.

I looked at the pictures again taking in his package and I couldn't help but be a little disappointed. I knew that the Morelli boy had nothing on Ranger's package but I did expect for him to have a little more than what it appeared like he had.

I couldn't believe my daughter had done this she was constantly pushing him on Stephanie and I was never so happy when Stephanie stood up for herself and said no and then moved in with Ranger. She had gotten the man I wanted for her.

I briefly wondered if anyone else in the burg had seen these pictures how fun would that be? I hadn't heard from my daughter. I would make it a point to call her later and ask her if she had seen the pictures. I was going to enjoy this.

"Come on Betty I need to get to the one hour photo place. Then we have to get to the clip and curl." I told her and she nodded locking her door. I ran in grabbed my pocketbook and locked my door.

I walked into the one hour photo and walked up to the counter. I picked out five of the pictures and asked that they blow them up to eight by ten. The kid behind the counter gapped at the pictures but nodded.

I just smiled I figured the kid had seen more in the pictures than he had ever seen in real life. The thought just made me laugh.

The kid must have went to work right away because it didn't seem like it was anytime before he was calling me to counter his face red as a beet. I couldn't help but giggle at him being embarrassed. He slid two envelopes across the counter one containing the originals and the other containing the blown up pictures I had requested.

I paid the young man winked at him and we made our way out of the shop heading to the clip and curl. I couldn't wait to tell the girls there. To see if any of them knew anything about the pictures. Some of the women that went there were from the burg. This should be fun.

On our way to Clip and Curl we stopped by the dollar store where I purchased some cheep frames for the pictures I had enlarged. I would put them in the frames and then we could hang them on the walls at the VFW for the dance tonight.

I walked in the Clip and Curl with the envelope of pictures in my hand. The smile on my face was huge. When I got in a heard the girls talking everything was a buzz. They were passing papers between them and I had a feeling I knew exactly what was on those papers. It was the pictures.

"Oh my" I heard one of the women say and then "did you see this one, did you see what they are doing, who would have sent these pictures, and more oh mys" I couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up inside me. If Helen could see and hear this now she would have to move out of the burg.

I walked up to my friends "whatcha doing?" I asked and they looked up mouths opened and a few of them tried to hide the pictures and I almost laughed at their wasted efforts. There was a round of "nothings, oh you know, and a few said getting their hair done for lack of anything better to say."

I just jumped right in I didn't need to beat around the bush. "So I see you all got the pictures too." I said smiling. A few of them looked shocked that I knew what they were talking about. They should know better by now no grass growing here.

A few of them nodded "yeah I got an envelope today and I think they are great. My daughter is finally going to get what is coming to her." I stated and I could see those around me shocked I would say a thing about my daughter.

"My daughter has pressured my granddaughter from the time she was a little girl. She has called her an embarrassment, a disappointment and I have held back because it was my daughter and I thought they would eventually work out their differences. My granddaughter shouldn't even speak to me but my daughter always acts like she is better, acts like she is above everyone. Well those that judge shouldn't live such wild lives. What is that about those that live in glass houses. This is one rock my daughter won't soon forget and I love it that my Granddaughter has finally decided stand up for herself and throw it, its long time overdue." I told them.

I was so happy for my Granddaughter I had heard how she had been accused of lying when she had confronted both Helen and the Morelli boy. I guess the whole burg now knew who the real liars were. Such dirty little liars they were.

"Girls what do you think about the Italian Stallion?" I asked them. Some of them just shook their head.

"I don't know how he is going to show his face in this town again." One of the women said.

"I wonder what his mother and grandmother will say; if they see these pictures it's liable to kill them. He should have thought about his family before he did something like this." Another woman said.

"Forget about his mother or him showing his face what did you think about his package?" I asked them.

A couple of the ladies turned red, a few gasped at my question, and two of them laughed.

"Personally I thought it should have been a little larger. I mean I guess it isn't all that bad but being labeled an Italian Stallion that might be considered false advertisement." I said a couple of the girls laughing.

I briefly wondered if anyone who had experienced his package wanted to sue him for misleading illustrations or deception after all he wasn't exactly measuring up to what I was expecting of an Italian Stallion.

"I agree Edna it does look like it falls a little short. My Henry was about that size and while it wasn't bad I wouldn't have labeled him a stallion either." Martha said.

A few of the other women were agreeing with what she said while looking at the picture of him with Helen showing him in all his shortened glory.

I sat back down in the chair to have the stylist finish my hair so I could look my best tonight I had a lot of plans for tonight and I needed to look my best.

"Well girls I will see you later at the VFW for the dance." I told them as I was leaving the shop with Betty. We were looking good.

We went back our apartments and started getting ready for tonight. I wanted to get there a little early so I could hang the photos that I was going to frame for the dance.

When we walked out of our apartments to go to the VFW I knew we would find some fine hotties tonight we were looking our finest. The last dance there we got two of the hottest men and brought them back with us.

Mine turned out to be a dud. I was never so disappointed. He was such a cutie but the plumbing wasn't working so I had to send him home early. Looks are one thing but if it doesn't rise to the occasion and perform well I am afraid I have to return it to sender.

"Betty you are looking hot tonight you ready to go land us a couple of hotties hopefully with everything still working." I asked and she smiled and nodded her head.

"I am more than ready Edna. I see you got the pictures in the frames. Do you think that is such a good idea?" She asked me and I shrugged my shoulders

"Thomas seemed to enjoy looking at them here in the hallway. If it helps those hotties get it up then I don't see what the problem is. We will know before we bring them home if everything works that way we won't have any more disappointments." I explained to her. It seemed reasonable to me I wasn't sure why she wasn't seeing the benefits here. It seemed like a win win a no brainer.

She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders "whatever you think" she finally said and we made our way out of the building.

Walking in the hall I knew I had made the right decision. I quickly removed some pictures they had hanging on the wall for the past hundred years. I had no idea who was in the picture something about some leaders of the VFW I could have cared less. If you asked me they just took away from the place. I hung my pictures up in their place and stashed the pictures that had been hanging there in the closet.

There were a few people already here putting out the punch which I had a little bottle stashed in my pocketbook to help the punch along. It wasn't that the punch was bad it was just that they never spiced it up and I had just the spirits to give it the spice it needed.

Last time they had caught me pouring it in and poured out all of the punch so I would have to be a little more careful this time around. They could be such party poopers at this dance at times.

I don't think anyone noticed me hanging the pictures I tried to do it when no one was in the room I was hoping they wouldn't notice. It was only a matter of a few minutes before the lights would go down and the disco ball would turn on so I felt like if they could make it until then we would be golden.

I went back over and sat beside Betty. "Okay I got them all hung up and stashed the pictures that were in their place. So far no one has noticed and I hope they don't or they will probably take them down. You know what downers they can be at times. I mean they wouldn't allow me to strip, and then they poured out the punch when I spiked it." She nodded her head.

"Yeah and when I decided I wanted to see a little more of Harry Warzinski and pulled his pants down they got upset and asked both of us to leave. Of course that worked out to my benefit as we necked in the parking lot the rest of the dance but still you would have thought they would have let me have my fun." Betty said and I just nodded. People didn't understand the needs of old people.

We were old we weren't dead. They should be glad we were active and not sitting in a nursing home not knowing our first or last names like so many people of our age. Instead they were trying to make us sit in rocking chairs and rock all day. We weren't having anything of the sorts. We were living large and we were living loud or however that saying went.

The lights lowered and the ball started and I just smiled I had done it. No one had noticed. Now we just needed to get the right ones to notice.

People started to fill in the hall and I found our group of friends. Even in our age there were clicks. There had always been clicks and there would always be clicks no matter how young you were or how old you got there were always clicks when you got a large number of people together.

I wasn't sure which click I was I was hoping I was in the bad girls click because no matter what click you were in you were pretty certain that the bad girls click was having the most fun and getting the most action.

I took my little bottle out of my purse it was a water bottle I had refilled and dumped the contents into the punch. Now that should get this party thumping I thought to myself. The music was filling the room and people were mulling around but no one had started dancing yet. Sometimes it took one brave soul to get the people on their feet on the dance floor.

I was just the brave soul. So I got out on the floor showing off my moves. I had some serious moves that my baby granddaughter had shown me and trust me this grandma could hang with the best of them; the hips were all good.

I knew how to shake it like I was going to break it but hopefully without the actual breaking it part.

Once I had hit the dance floor others joined me and we were well under way of getting this party started. It wasn't too much longer that I noticed people crowding around the pictures going around the room looking at them.

Just what I wanted, Betty and I will be able to see which of these hotties has the ability to rise to the occasion then it would be a matter of staying power but that is something we were just going to have to take our chances on.

Some of the women could be heard exclaiming at what they were seeing across the room even with the music on. I tell you some women are just to prim and proper they act like they have never seen a dick before. I mean really. Most of the women were married or had been married and most had kids so it wasn't like they didn't know what sex was or had had sex they had bound to have seen a dick before but when they look at the pictures they wanted to get all flush and act all prim and shy like they had never.

I just rolled my eyes at their stupidity. It wasn't like I was just doing this for me. Well I sort of was but after Betty and I got our picks it wasn't like they couldn't use it to their benefit as well.

I had been dancing and drinking some of the punch when the lights went of full blast and the music stopped. I looked up and damn someone had called the police. I looked around the room trying to spot the traitor among us I mean who calls the police because of naked pictures?

"Ladies and Gentlemen" the policeman called out to get our attention.

"It has been brought to our attention that someone has hung lewd pornographic pictures on the walls. We need to speak to the person who did this." I didn't step forward. I would never confess to something. They would have to prove it was me. Of course they could do finger prints and since I have been arrested they had my fingerprints on file but still they were going to have to prove it was me that hung them. I wasn't going to tell them. I was offering nothing.

I may have just touched them once they were hung you never know.

"Would the person who hung these pictures up please step forward?" The police officer asked. I didn't recognize the police officer so I remained standing on the floor with my dance partner beside me.

I saw Melinda Welsby walk up and say something to the cop. I briefly wondered if she was going to say she hung them but I should have known better she was definitely in the I am better than you click. That's when the cop called out

"Is Edna Mazur in the room, if so can you please step forward." Melinda was going to get a nice little surprise the next time I had her alone; traitor. Doesn't she know anything of the bonds of sisterhood that you don't go telling on sister; bitch. She hasn't liked me since she accused me of taking her boyfriend from her. She should be happy he couldn't get it up anyway so I did her a favor but she didn't see it that way.

Oh the purple hair dye incident wasn't my fault. She tried to blame me but it wasn't my fault did she think I wanted grey hair? They got our trays mixed up I didn't do it but I don't think she forgave me for that either.

I stepped forward his eyes were already on me as well.

"I am sorry to have to do this but you can't put up pornographic pictures in a public place Mrs. Mazur. I am going to have to arrest you and take you in." He said. I turned around and proudly pulled my shoulders back and held my head high. I had done no wrong. I wasn't going to show them weakness and I wasn't going to admit to anything.

I held my arms behind me so he could put the cuffs on me. A little old lady he was going to cuff with her hands behind her back and trot her off to jail like I had just killed a hundred people when all I had done was hang a few pictures just to help with the rest of the evening.

"Mrs. Mazur that won't be necessary, if you can just come with me…" He started to say and I reached out and grabbed his package it was a little limp. But the next second I felt the cold steel and the click of the handcuffs. He was taking an old lady out in handcuffs. How could he be that cold and hard on a little frail old lady? He better be gentle with my wrists who knew how fragile my bones were. Hadn't he ever heard of brittle bone disease old people got that pretty often.

We walk out into the parking lot the people in the VFW following us. We get to his car and he opens the back seat door. He puts his hand on the top of my head as if guiding me in "Mrs. Mazur watch your head.." he goes to say when my head collides with the top of the car.

"Oh…Ouch" I cry out as my head bounces off of the top of the car. I would have probably fallen down and broken my hip had he not had me by my shoulder with the other hand. I was going to have a nice goose egg on my head. Police brutality if you ask me.

I was going I wasn't putting up any resistance he didn't need to slam my head into the top of the car.

He finally gets me in the car without further incident and we pull out of the VFW lot heading towards the police station. It isn't my first time in the back of a police car. I know to keep my mouth shut.

We get there and he goes to help me out and once again he manages to hit my head on the top of the car. This time it was the other side of my head and another goose egg my how brutal this officer was to a little old woman.

"Ouch.." I say as my head bounces off the top of the door. Once again my fall is broken and another hip is saved. At this rate I will be lucky if I am in one piece by the time they get me into the building.

Walking into the building I am sure to be in the shot of the camera when I trip launching forward as he if was dragging me I fall but he manages to catch me before I do a face plant; for which I am grateful. Saved the face I wouldn't want to mess up this hot face just to get off on the arrest bit.

He gets me up right and we proceed into the station. All eyes on me Robin, Carl, Eddie all friends of my baby granddaughter are staring at me eyes widen mouths partial hanging out.

I am in my new sexy dress and like I thought I looked fine. Well minus the handcuffs and the two large goose eggs on each side of my head. He takes me into a room and a few minutes later the pictures are brought into the room. I recognize this tactic from watching TV. I knew watching all those episodes of NCIS and Law and Order SUV would pay off. I know all about their questioning tactics. They thought they were going to break me. Good luck sonny boy I got your number.

"Mrs. Mazur I need to know if you hung these pictures on the wall." The young naïve officer asked me. Boy did he think I was born yesterday? Did he think this was my first rodeo? Did he think I was just going to confess? Boy did he not know me. I had only one thing to say well make that two.

"I want to use my phone call, and I want my lawyer." Now that ended that. I was going to call my baby granddaughter and then I was going to get out of this because they could arrest me for the pictures if they wanted brutality charges brought up against them. After all he had just bounced my head off of the top of his door twice and tried to drag me causing me to trip.

After all I am just a little old harmless defenseless grandma who was trying to dance without breaking a hip tonight.


	65. Burg Reaction 4: Frank Plum

**A/N: DO NOT READ THIS UNTIL YOU HAVE READ CHAPTER 61 (Chapter 60: First week wa New Partner PT2) POSTED 3/22/12 ! **

**This is a short sort of vignette with the reactions of the burg regarding the pictures. My plan if I am able to do it, is do one of these a day leading up to the final chapter posting on Thursday 3/29/12 the one year anniversary to What does it mean to trust!**

**I hope you enjoy these…my little surprise for all my much loved fans of the story! **

**Burg Reaction 4: Frank Plum POV**

I had moved out of Helen's and my bedroom the night I found the marks on her body after her crazy of a mother had come by accusing Helen of having an affair.

I know it was a little selfish of me after all it wasn't like I had been faithful but that was during a time in our marriage when I was being ignored by my wife in the bed. Once she had started taking care of me in the bedroom I had called it quits with Angela.

Part of me wanted to call her up on the phone and invite myself over and tell her I was sorry for ever calling it quits but I guess the guilty part of me wasn't able to do it.

It was Wednesday and on Wednesday mornings I usually drove the cab for a little in the morning and then met the boys at the dispatch where we would hang for a little bit and then head to the lodge.

When I pulled into the dispatch that afternoon I noticed a few of the guys gathered around in a group. They were passing something around. When they saw me they sort of broke apart and started hiding the things in their hands like I hadn't seen it or wouldn't notice they were hiding anything.

I walked up to them "Hey guys what's up?" I asked and I could have sworn a few of them chocked a couple of them managed to get out a "nothing" and a few of them just shrugged their shoulders but they all had he weirdest look on their faces.

"Okay guys I know something is up you all are looking at me weird, and you all were trying to hide something when I came in." I told them getting slightly pissed off at their actions. Like they thought they could keep something from me. From me; boy they needed to think again.

"Frank if we show you this you can't get mad at us." One of the guys that I had rode with a long time said. I nodded my head. I was getting mad that they weren't telling me.

"Frank you have a nice looking wife, I wish my wife looked half as good as she does. But I feel sorry for you man." Another one of the men said. I just looked at him not sure I was following what he was saying or why he was bringing her into this. If they knew the truth about my wife they would no doubt feel sorry for me as she can't seem to be happy at home.

But I knew they didn't know that hell I wouldn't have even known it had her mother not said something and I saw the marks he left on her body; marks from another man.

I was just about to ask what he was talking about when another man the group handed me an envelope saying "We all received an envelope like this one in the mail yesterday. We think everyone in the burg was sent an envelope like this one yesterday." I took the envelope opening it and pulled out the pictures.

I couldn't believe my eyes. The pictures were of Helen, my wife, and detective Morelli the Morelli boy that she was trying to hook Stephanie up with every chance she had gotten. I flipped through the pictures one picture worse than the other and couldn't believe my eyes, the things I was seeing. The things that I thought we only shared in our bedroom I was seeing her do to another man.

Knowing your wife is sleeping with another man and then seeing pictures of her sleeping with another man and the things they were doing to each other is something completely different.

I was flabbergasted to say the least. Who had sent these pictures? I looked at the return address and saw it was the same as the mailing address as it was sent to so that hadn't help any in trying to figure out who had sent them.

I had a funny feeling I knew but I really hoped it wasn't her that sent them. I know she doesn't have any respect for my wife but I had hoped she would have had some for the rest of her family. What was she thinking sending these pictures to everyone in the burg? Didn't she know it would ruin our lives?

"When did you get these pictures?" I questioned them.

"We got them yesterday. You haven't seen them yet?" One of the men said and I shook my head no while I continued to look at them.

I could tell by the looks on the guys faces they felt sorry for me. Of course they felt sorry for me I was holding pictures of my wife in every sexual position possible with none of other than the Morelli boy. A boy young enough to be her son and she is ramming his dick down her throat.

Bile rose up in my mouth burning my throat. I quickly handed the pictures to one of the guys as I turned trying to make it to the bathroom in time to throw up.

I came out of the bathroom after having rinsed my mouth out and walked back over to the group of men all looking my direction.

"Frank we are sorry. We shouldn't have told you. We shouldn't have shown you these." One of them said I just shook my head no.

"No you did the right thing I needed to know about these, I needed to see them. I needed to know about this." Anger finally rising up in me replacing the sick feeling that had washed over me that caused me to lose the contents of my stomach.

I felt like I had been sucker punched and I wanted to blame my daughter for starting all of this but I knew it wasn't her that I should be mad at. It was my wife that I should be mad at. It was my wife after all who was fucking the Morelli boy every way possible and you could just see the expressions of joy on her face that she loved every second of it. He didn't look like he hated it either. Then again you have someone willing to let you take them like she was willing I don't guess it would be a bad experience either.

"I need to go home and talk to her about this." I told them. I wasn't really sure what I was going to say to her or how I was going to say it. It wasn't like we had gotten an envelope in the mail like the rest of the burg but I had to come up with something to say to her because I wasn't going to just let this go and brush it under the rug like I had done everything else. I could no longer turn a blind eye to it and pretend that this wasn't happening. I had now seen the pictures and so had the entire burg it wasn't like I couldn't continue denying this was happening.

This was going to force me to do more than just move out of our bedroom. I was going to have to move out of our home. To save any face within the burg I was going to have to leave Helen. Something I hadn't intended on doing in this life time. But she had caused it and my daughter had brought it everyone's attention I really had no other course of action to take.

I hope my daughter would be happy, and I hope my wife would own up to what was her fault. I hope that both of them will be happy with the chaos they have caused in my life. I wondered if my daughter actually cared about my life. I wondered if she had actually thought about what these pictures would do to me. I had a suspicion that she had never thought about me. Never thought about what this would do to me.

I didn't want to blame her but it was hard not to blame her for these pictures. She didn't have to do that she didn't have to send everyone pictures of my wife, her mother doing the things she was doing. If she wanted me to see them she could have just sent them to me. She didn't have to send them to everyone in the whole burg.

I know my wife had said that Stephanie had brought embarrassment and disappointment to our family for years now but I was never disappointed or embarrassed by her until this very moment. Maybe I should have told her that taken the time to have told her I wasn't embarrassed or disappointed in her but I hadn't.

Her sending these pictures to everyone in the burg, our family, our friends, and now we were going to have to face them. I was going to have to face them.

I would be willing to bet my life that my daughter never thought about that. Never thought about me having to face my friends, my coworkers, hell even my customers. What were they all going to think about me for having a wife that would do those things with someone young enough to be her son?

What would they think about me for having dealt with my wife infidelity I was going to have to divorce her and be on my own for the first time in almost forty years. How was I going to do that? How was I going to take care of myself? I relied on Helen for my dinners, for my clean clothes, for my home.

Now I was going to have to do all of that plus find a place to live. I would leave Helen the house. Even though it was her doing I couldn't throw her out of her home for forty years. That didn't feel right but living in the burg I would never be able to stay there with her and show my face among the men of the burg. There isn't another man that would allow his wife to do this and stay with her. If I did then they would lose respect for me. I would be considered less of a man for it.

I pull up in front of our house, the home I had known for forty years and part of me doesn't even want to go inside. I don't want to confront her; I don't want to do this. I want to be able to go back to my life before I ever walked into the dispatch but I know that life is now and forever over.

I can't go back, I can forget I saw those pictures, no one else will forget those pictures. So I had to deal with this and I had to deal with it now. I opened the car door and got out of the car. Standing to my full height I look around the neighborhood I wonder how many of our neighbors are hiding behind their curtains looking at us right now. Knowing this neighborhood every one of them that are home and at this time of day it would be the majority of all of the women; the burg wives.

I wanted to kick something, I wanted to throw something, I wanted to scream but in the end I knew it wasn't their fault. Oh I could blame their nosy and gossiping ways, I could blame their judgmental attitudes, and the bitches they were beneath all of that pound of nice and proper they wanted to shove down everyone's throat but the pictures weren't their faults, the acts the pictures portrayed weren't their faults.

My anger and my frustration were misguided and not focused on the people who were to be blamed; my wife and daughter.

I took a big breath as I stepped away from the car closing the door. Part of me wanted to slam the door to the point that it fell off of the hinges. Part of me wanted to scream until the point that I shattered the windows on the front of the house but I held it back. That would have been wasted engery.

Stepping forward I noticed a white envelope sticking out of the mailbox. Seeing that white caused red to wash over me we had gotten our envelope today. Well how mighty nice of our dear daughter to include us; a day late.

Let us be blissfully unaware while everyone in the burg gets theirs a day ahead. I walk to the mailbox with new purpose. I snatched the envelope out of the mailbox and stormed inside. Hitting the door to the point that it slammed open and then I made sure it slammed behind me; making my presence known.

Normally I am a quite man with very little to say and I have had a problem in the past of not saying something when I should. I have allowed things to happen and things be done when I should have put a stop to it but didn't. I could no longer be that man not with this and my anger was too high to just walk in nicely and close the door as if everything was right in the world; it wasn't. I wasn't. nothing was right.

Helen came running into the room "Frank, what in the world. What is wrong? Why are you slamming the door? Why are you home, don't you normally go to the lodge with the guys after your taxi shift?" She asked her face looking confused as if she couldn't possibly fathom why I might have changed my plans for the day. Well she was about to understand; fully.

I held up the envelope "look familiar" I asked her and I could see confusion but some acknowledgement on the other hand.

"Well it's an envelope, I wonder if it is the same envelope others were calling me about yesterday asking if I received." She said and I couldn't help the look of disgust and nodding. Oh it was the envelope alright.

"Oh it's the same envelope. Let's us go in the dining room and sit at the table and take a peak shall we?" I asked her and I could hear the changes in my voice her eyes widened slightly and I wasn't sure if it was what I was saying or if it was the change in my voice she was responding to. Regardless the bitch turned and walked into the dining room.

Part of me wanted to take advantage when she turned her back to me and choke the shit out of her for turning my life upside down but the other part of me; the man within me, wouldn't allow me to harm a woman.

She takes a seat at the table I stand towering over her and I open the envelope. I pull out the pictures not letting her see them right away. I leaf through them and I pull out the best ones and put them down in front of her. Her eyes widen when she sees them, her mouth opens. She grabs the first one I put on the table and she is shaking her head no her eyes filling with tears and nothing is coming out of her mouth.

I have placed about three on the table when a shrieking scream finally burst through. Then a series of nos could be heard mixed with the scream with every picture I placed on the table. Her sucking his dick, him fucking her in every hole she had, the different positions, her naked body on display, his naked body on display, and all the looks of pleasure both of them seemed to be giving each other. The bile rose in my throat again but this time I just swallowed it down enjoying the burn it left.

At least with my throat burning I knew I was still alive consumed with anger and hatred it gave it something to feed on for the moment.

She looked up at me and I just stared down looking down over her. The woman that when I left here today I loved but now I could barely stand to look at.

"Frank please let me explain. I did this for Stephanie." She pleaded. I shook my head no. She hadn't done this for Stephanie. Stephanie was the excuse for her to do what she wanted she wasn't the reason.

"Helen don't hand me that shit. You didn't do this" I said pointing to the pictures "for Stephanie, you did this because you wanted to do this. You wanted to suck his dick" I picked up the picture with his dick buried full hilt in her mouth "you wanted him to fuck you in the ass" I picked up the picture with his dick buried in her ass "and in your pussy" I picked up the picture of his dick buried in her pussy "don't give me any shit that it was for our daughter. It was for you because you are a whore, Helen." I exclaimed my anger taking over as I threw the pictures back down to the table in front of her. Helen's head moving back and forth in a no motion but she knew I was right. I could see it in her defeated eyes.

I glared at her. "This was your doing; this wasn't because of our daughter this wasn't for our daughter this is all on you. I hope you are happy because everyone in the burg received a packet just like this yesterday. Our daughter mailed them to everyone in the burg." Her mouth gapped open again and fresh tears sprung forward in her eyes as dawning of how truly big this was came over her. Her shrieking of a scream started again but I didn't give a shit.

"Helen, I am leaving you. I hope he" pointing to the pictures "was worth it because not only were you unsuccessful at getting Stephanie to go back to him you just cost yourself our marriage. With everyone seeing these pictures I can't continue to live here and stay here and pretend that you are my wife. You aren't my wife not the woman I thought I married and I am moving out. I will be gone by nightfall." Once again fresh tears fell from her lips.

"Frank oh please no, you can't leave me over this. I was doing what I thought was right, what I could do to keep Joe from walking away from Stephanie from giving up on Stephanie and not wanting her as his wife." She exclaimed.

"Oh Helen that makes it all better I am glad you set it all straight for me. Because Stephanie would have really wanted him after she found out about this." I said pointing to the pictures. "She would really want him and she would still want you in her life. You think she wouldn't have found out, she would have. The worst part is he is a womanizer, and I am sure he is abusive he doesn't look as if he was so gentle with you but then again you weren't really complaining either." I screamed at her how screwed up could her logic be? Did she honestly think this was for Stephanie? Something Stephanie would have been okay with? Even I know the answer to that one.

How could she be that stupid? She wasn't she wanted this as much as the pictures depicted she wanted it she just wasn't going to admit it not to my face.

"Helen own it, this is what you wanted, this is what you did, not because of Stephanie, not for Stephanie you wanted to fuck him and you did and you enjoyed it the proof is in the pictures. You know they say a picture is worth a thousand words in this case I would say a hundred thousand words as everyone we know are talking about them. How could you have been this dumb to have wanted that and risked everything we had. All I can say is I hope it was worth it." I asked her but there was no answer. I wasn't surprised.

I quietly got up from the table my anger had dissipated. Leaving Helen sitting at the table in a shocked state; I didn't give a shit. I made my way up to my room and began packing my stuff. I couldn't stay here. I wouldn't stay here and it was only a matter of hours before I would be gone and never look back.

I wasn't sure where I was going but it wasn't going to be anywhere near the burg. I was done with the talking and finger pointing. I was done with the bullshit. Stephanie had made sure I would never be able to show my face in the burg again. All I can say is that I hope both of them are happy for ruining my life.


	66. Burg Reaction 5: Momma Plum

**A/N: DO NOT READ THIS UNTIL YOU HAVE READ CHAPTER 61 (Chapter 60: First week wa New Partner PT2) POSTED 3/22/12 ! **

**This is a short sort of vignette with the reactions of the burg regarding the pictures. My plan if I am able to do it, is do one of these a day leading up to the final chapter posting on Thursday 3/29/12 the one year anniversary to What does it mean to trust!**

**I hope you enjoy these…my little surprise for all my much loved fans of the story! **

**Burg Reaction 5: Momma Plum POV**

I got back from the grocery store expecting to see our answering machine blown up with messages about what Stephanie had been up to. What she had blown up now. How she had embarrassed us, and disappointed us again. I was so use to this.

When I walked into the kitchen with the groceries I saw the blinking light and I rolled my eyes. Here we go again. I put away the groceries away and then walked over to the machine and pressed the button.

I was surprised when I heard Betsy asking if I had gotten an envelope in the mail. I had gotten the mail before I went to the grocery store and there was no white envelope in it. I filed it away and hit delete. When the next phone mail played it was Father Thomas requesting I call him back with a time he could come over and talk to Frank and I.

I thought that was a little old but then decided he probably wanted Frank and me to do something for the church they were always looking for volunteers and I wouldn't turn down anything they asked of us. He knew that. We were devoted church members. We made sure to make it every Sunday. I only wish Stephanie would attempt to go to church every now and then. But she hasn't stepped foot in the church in years. Probably afraid it would fall down around her if she did. I know I would be worried about it happening if she walked through the doors.

If she would go to church she would feel better. It would hopefully help her see what is important in life and get her back on the proper path in her life; a life of good burg living.

I pushed delete making a note to call father Thomas back when I was done. The final message was Martha once again asking if I had seen the envelope that she received; Odd. What is up with that envelope? I briefly wondered if it was something involving Stephanie.

I click the delete button picking up the phone and called Father Thomas. Frances Marshall answered the phone "Hello, you have reached Chambersburg Catholic Church, this is Frances Marshall." She said.

"Hi Frances this is Helen Plum. I am calling to speak to Father Thomas. He called while I was at the store so I am returning his phone call." I told her.

"Oh, Helen. Hold on a second I will see if he is available." She practically choked out as if she didn't know how to talk to me. I have known Frances for thirty plus years and now she was acting like she couldn't speak to me.

I waited a few minutes and Father Thomas came on the phone. "Mrs. Plum, how are you?" He asked me.

"I am doing good Father. I just got your voice mail and am returning your call." I told him.

"Mrs. Plum I wanted to setup a time to come by and talk to both you and Frank." He asked me.

"Father Thomas how about tomorrow night? I will fix dinner it will be ready right at six p.m. sharp." I told him already having the perfect meal in mind. Whenever the priest came to your house it was always the appropriate thing to feed him. It would be considered pour class to not feed the priest when he came calling.

"Mrs. Plum you need not go through that trouble." He told me; nonsense of course I did it was etiquette after all.

"Father Thomas you know you love my cooking. Just be here at six sharp and bring your appetite." I told him. I wonder if I could get Stephanie here. Maybe he could talk some sense into her and if that failed maybe he could perform an exorcism because there was no way she was living the life she was living without her being possessed by a demon maybe multiple demons.

"Okay Mrs. Plum. I know when I am out of my league and when arguing isn't going to work." he joked and I laughed.

"I will see you tomorrow night Father Thomas. We are looking forward to seeing you." I told him.

"Okay bye." He said and I hung up the phone.

I was going to have to get busy. I need to bake something for him, and plan our dinner in addition to making sure that this house was ready for his visit. I walked in the kitchen with new found purpose. I needed to get started for our special guest tomorrow night.

I picked up the phone I knew this was a mute point but on the off chance it would work I called the only number I knew to reach my daughter.

"Rangeman Security Company" A male voice answered.

"Hello, this is Helen Plum, Stephanie's mother. I need to talk to my daughter it is of an urgent matter." I told the man who answered the phone.

"Mrs. Plum I am sorry but Stephanie doesn't take phone calls." I was told. That was insane I am her mother of course she takes my phone calls.

"Young man, I am her mother of course she takes my phone calls." I told him annoyed that he would even think for a moment that she wouldn't take my phone call. I wasn't sure where he was getting that crap from. I am sure it was something that thug she is dating told his men to say this crap to just keep her away from me. He had instructed them to say this so he could keep driving the wedge between us making it bigger because he wanted to control her.

"Mrs. Plum Stephanie made it real clear that your calls are not to be forwarded to her. I would be glad to take a message and give it to her. If she wants to call you back I am sure she will call you when she can." The man said. I could feel myself going insane at how calm his voice was.

"Young man I don't think you understand I told you it was urgent I don't have time for her to call me back. I need to speak to her now. I am not going to hang up this phone until you put her on the phone." I threatened him my anger rising in me.

"Mrs. Plum you need to calm down, you can hold the phone all day but I am going to hang up and then I am going to give your daughter your message so I would suggest you hang up the phone so if she is inclined to call you back she will be able to get through." The man said in his calm voice that I wanted to strangle.

The calmer he remained the more enraged I became. He was driving me insane and pushing me and yet his voice was calm he sounded as if he was laid back and his voice never rose.

"Young man I am tired of this conversation I don't care what you say or what you are going to do I want my daughter on the phone this minute." I demanded virtually screaming in the phone.

"Mrs. Plum I am hanging up now have a good day." And I heard a click of the phone. I screamed in rage. How dare him hang up on me. I put the phone down and immediately picked it back up dialing the number again. The same annoying voice answered the phone the same way.

"Rangeman Security Corporation" and I wanted to scream at the man.

"What is your name young man" I demanded my voice taunt with anger I could feel my body radiating with it. This man was driving me insane.

"Who wants to know" the annoying voice asked me like he didn't know who I was or he hadn't just talked to me not more than a second before.

"You know who I am, my name is Helen Plum I am Stephanie's mother." I told the dumb man on the phone.

"According to her she no longer has a mother so I am going to need further proof of who you are. Do you have a Rangeman account number? Are you a customer of Rangeman? If not, then I am not going to be able to assist you further. The only calls she is currently taking are Rangeman Customer accounts she manages." He told me and I know this time my anger caused me to scream into the phone.

"No I am not a customer of Rangeman, I wouldn't hire your company if you were the last company on the planet I would risk someone stealing everything I had before I would hire your company to secure anything of mine. Knowing you people you probably only secure the properties so you have access and then you can steal what you want." I screamed at the top of my lungs into the phone.

"I want to speak to my daughter, I demand you put he on the phone or I am going to consider she is being held without her permission and I am going to file a complaint with the police department do you understand me young man. They will storm your precious building and take my daughter from you after I make my complaint to the police department. No one would believe you, nor would anyone believer her. Everyone knows your reputation and everyone knows that Stephanie is nothing but a liar." I screamed into the phone. Breathing heavy my eyes widen my body shaking.

"Calm down Mrs. Plum. I don't think Stephanie has anything to worry about. You do what you have to do as far as the police are concerned but if you call back here I will consider it harassment and I will have to make a phone call of my own. I can't promise you exactly who I will call but I can promise you won't be so happy about it. After all like you said we are nothing but a bunch of murderers, thieves, and thugs. So I wouldn't want for us to let you down or make a liar out of you. Sleep well Mrs. Plum." He said before he hung up.

My mouth was gapping open my heart was beating wildly he had threatened me. He had threatened me, Stephanie's mother. I briefly wondered what he would do I started to call him back but fear gripped me would he make that call, what would happen? Would they come in here in the middle of the night and kill Frank and me?

I laid the phone back on the hook and walked to the refrigerator where I opened the freezer and pulled out a chilled bottle of vodka. I didn't bother with a glass I needed something and I needed it now. So I took a swig swallowing it quickly to get that slight burn over with. I needed something to help calm my nerves down. Hearing that man's voice had enraged me and his threat had scared me I needed some comfort.

I didn't know what it was about his voice but maybe it was he was so calm I don't know but he had enraged me to the point I wanted to scrape out his eyeballs with my fingernails.

I took a nice long swig and sat down at the table. I hadn't bothered to close the freezer door it stood open cold air filtering down on the floor. I didn't care. I lifted my face up to the sky closed my eyes and let the slow warming of my belly wash over me allowing me to relax and focus back on the task at hand; getting ready for Father Thomas.

I woke up Wednesday morning with renewed energy. I had let that young man get the best of me yesterday with Stephanie not taking my calls at Rangeman but we were having Father Thomas over tonight and I needed to make sure we put our best foot forward. So I couldn't think about Stephanie today.

Not only was he a guest he was the priest at our church and I didn't want him going to another house in the burg and having a better meal, better dessert, or their house be cleaner than mine. That wasn't going to happen. I had baked my personal specialty cake last night. Today I was going to make my famous gravy with pasta.

My gravy was fixed early in the morning and allowed to simmer all day long then right before dinner I would fix the pasta al dente and then combine them. I would finish it with homemade garlic bread and a nice salad with homemade Italian dressing. I had parmesan cheese ready to grate.

The cake was a lemon cake with lemon chiffon filling and a wonderful lemon butter crème icing the cake will melt in your mouth and it is the perfect light bodied sweet to sour combination with the heavier bodied meal I had planned. I had picked out a nice red wine to pair with everything.

Often times when you had pasta you had white wine but the heavy bodied red sauced gravy it called for the heavier bodied red wine.

I had gone about blanching the tomatoes so I could peel them easier and then started smashing them to start the base of the gravy. Once they were smashed and warming I would take a pan and sauté onions, green peppers in olive oil until they were soft. I would then take that and combine it with the tomatoes allowing it to condense and thicken. I would add the seasonings just before turning down the heat to simmer. Garlic, basil, oregano all perfect combinations to taste. I knew exactly the taste I was looking for when I had the perfect combination and then I would lower to a simmer.

In the pan I sautéed the onions and peppers I would then brown the ground meat chopping it finely as it browned. I would then drain it well so I wasn't adding additional grease to my gravy and then combine it mixing it in so that everything could combine and hang out for the day getting all happy together.

Once I had the sauce simmering it was time to start the bread. After all it had to rise two times. I mixed up the ingredients for the bread kneading it. The key to great bread is kneading it no one ever kneaded it enough. Bread loves to be kneaded. Pie crusts not so much they like more just being combined or they got tough but bread was different the more you kneaded it the more air you worked into the bread and the softer and lighter it became.

So my rule was to knead it until I thought I couldn't knead it anymore and then continue to knead it. Once I had it kneaded I put it in a greased bowl to rise covering the bowl with saran wrap and then my bread cloth I put it close to the warm stove but not close enough to cook the dough.

I had mixed up the Italian dressing last night while the cake was baking so now it was time to get the house ready for our guest. I noticed it was still morning a couple of hours before noon and I was glad that Frank would be with the guys because that gave me more time to get everything done for tonight.

I had been working hard getting the house clean when I heard the front door slam open and I jumped my heart jumped in my throat. My first thought was they had sent someone after me that the annoying man on the phone yesterday had made that call and they were coming for me.

I stepped forward hesitant stretching my neck to see into the entry foyer right across from he living room. I still couldn't see and didn't hear anything until the door slammed again making me jump in my place.

I ran forward and I saw frank; what in the world is he doing slamming doors. I took a deep calming breathe.

"Frank, what in the world. What is wrong? Why are you slamming the door? Why are you home, don't you normally go to the lodge with the guys after your taxi shift?" I asked him not able to understand what had him home during the morning hours on a Wednesday. Even close to lunch he didn't typically come home as he spent it with the guys at the lodge.

He held up an envelope "look familiar" he asked me at first I was confused then it dawned on me that this was the envelope that everyone had been calling me about yesterday.

"Well it's an envelope; I wonder if it is the same envelope others were calling me about yesterday asking if I received." I told him and I was a little confused at the look of disgust on his face and his head nodding that I was right. He wasn't making any sense the way he was acting. I just stood there watching him.

"Oh it's the same envelope. Let's us go in the dining room and sit at the table and take a peak shall we?" He asked me and I could hear a change in his voice. I had never heard his voice so cold towards me but I responded to his request and walked into the dining room. My stomach was fluttering with butterflies something wasn't right.

I sat down at the table but Frank remained standing towering over me but I tried not to focus on that waiting on him. He opens the envelope and pulls out what appears to be some pictures and starts putting them down in front of me. My eyes graze over them and when it registers what I am seeing I grab the picture my mouth opened wide my eyes widen. I briefly register my head is moving back and forth shaking no this was a bad dream, this wasn't happening, this isn't what I think it is it's all a dream. I am screaming on the inside even though nothing has broken through I am frozen other than my head moving back and forth right now I don't know if I could stop it if I wanted.

My eyes filled up with the tears the more pictures they took in and finally my voice broke free as the scream broke loose. I could hear myself saying no and screaming but it felt like a dream, it all felt like a bad dream a really bad dream that I couldn't wake up from.

I looked up at Frank my fear rising in me he had seen these pictures. Frank had seen the pictures of me with another man. My world was crumbling around down around me. Frank had seen the pictures and I could see the looks of disgust on his face how he could barely stand to look at me. Frank had loved me, he loved me and provided for me and I had thrown it all away for what? For my daughter I had done this for my daughter, for Stephanie.

"Frank please let me explain. I did this for Stephanie." I pleaded for him to understand why. He shook his head no. My eyes filled up with more tears until they started to spill down he didn't believe me; he didn't believe me.

He spoke his words hard and icy "Helen don't hand me that shit. You didn't do this" he said pointing to the pictures "for Stephanie, you did this because you wanted to do this. You wanted to suck his dick" he picked up the picture of Joe's privates in my mouth "you wanted him to fuck you in the ass" he picked up the picture of him in my backside "and in your pussy" he picked up the picture of him pushing into me "don't give me any shit that it was for our daughter. It was for you because you are a whore, Helen." he screamed in anger and threw the pictures back on the table I had never heard words come out of Frank directed to me like that.

I had never seen him like this before and I was frozen only my head moving back and forth me singling no he was wrong I had done this for my daughter, our daughter; hadn't I?

He glared at me his eyes narrowed as he started to speak. "This was your doing; this wasn't because of our daughter this wasn't for our daughter this is all on you. I hope you are happy because everyone in the burg received a packet just like this yesterday. Our daughter mailed them to everyone in the burg." He said and my mouth gapped open again and tears sprung forward in my eyes as they once again continued to spill down my face as a new scream broke free. This couldn't be happening to me.

Frank spoke up again "Helen, I am leaving you. I hope he" he pointed to the pictures "was worth it because not only were you unsuccessful at getting Stephanie to go back to him you just cost yourself our marriage. With everyone seeing these pictures I can't continue to live here and stay here and pretend that you are my wife. You aren't my wife not the woman I thought I married and I am moving out. I will be gone by nightfall." He said and more tears fell. Not able to comprehend what Frank was saying. My brain had shut down.

"Frank oh please no, you can't leave me over this. I was doing what I thought was right, what I could do to keep Joe from walking away from Stephanie from giving up on Stephanie and not wanting her as his wife." I exclaimed begging pleading for Frank to see reason for him to understand and believe me.

"Oh Helen that makes it all better I am glad you set it all straight for me. Because Stephanie would have really wanted him after she found out about this." He said once again pointing to the pictures. "She would really want him and she would still want you in her life. You think she wouldn't have found out, she would have. The worst part is he is a womanizer, and I am sure he is abusive he doesn't look as if he was so gentle with you but then again you weren't really complaining either." He screamed at me, that wasn't true. I would never admit he was right about that. That wasn't the case.

"Helen own it, this is what you wanted, this is what you did, not because of Stephanie, not for Stephanie you wanted to fuck him and you did and you enjoyed it the proof is in the pictures. You know they say a picture is worth a thousand words in this case I would say a hundred thousand words as everyone we know are talking about them. How could you have been this dumb to have wanted that and risked everything we had. All I can say is I hope it was worth it." He said but I couldn't answer him. His words ringing in my head was he right? No I had done this for our daughter it was for her not for me. Frank was wrong; he was wrong.

Frank got up from the table and started walking away going up the stairs. I heard him but I couldn't do anything but just listen to his footsteps because I was frozen in place. He was right everyone had seen these pictures. This is why I was getting the calls asking if I had seen the envelope. This is why people in the grocery store were looking at me and snickering this is why they were laughing at me; at me, they were laughing at me, not Stephanie.

Oh my god I had been use to them laughing at Stephanie but never me. They never laughed at me they laughed at her she was the embarrassment and the disappointment of our family not me. I had done this for her, I had done this so she could become an upstanding citizen of the burg and this is how I was being repaid pictures sent to everyone. Everyone whispering behind my back, Frank leaving me, oh god and Father Thomas coming to visit now I had no doubt what his visit was about.

How was I going to survive this? How was I going to fix this? How was I going to convince Frank to stay with me? Oh my god Father Thomas would be here in a matter of a few hours and Frank was going to leave me how would that look for him not to be here when Father Thomas got here? How was I going to face Father Thomas? It wasn't like I had confessed any of this during any of my confessions and church.

Suddenly my feet were moving, I was racing to find Frank I had to make him stay with me. I had to make him see that I loved him. That I only did this so our strayed daughter could have a life that would make her happy he had to believe that.

"Frank" I screamed as I made my way up the stairs.

"Frank please listen to me." I begged as I got closer to our bedroom. Walking into our bedroom I could see Frank busy loading clothes into a suitcase.

"Frank I love you; I did this for our daughter so she could have the live that she could be happy. So that she could be a member of the burg and fulfill her life." I pleaded with him to see my reasoning.

"Helen what makes you think our daughter is unhappy now?" He asked me and I sucked in air.

I wasn't sure I knew the answer to that question but I wasn't going to admit it here and now. "Because how could she be happy? She lives in a building with a bunch of questionable men who are killers, thugs, and thieves who just earlier today threatened me because I called and asked to speak to my daughter. How could she be happy? I think they are holding her against her will actually after all why would she refuse to take a call from her mother?" I asked him and he just looked at me.

"Helen I am not sure you are hearing yourself right now. I could give you ten reasons and they are all down there inside that envelope why she wouldn't take a call from you. There are no indications whatsoever that she is being held against her will. She went with Ranger because like she told you she is in love with him, she is going to marry him, why couldn't you just accept that and move on? Why did you even try to push her to Joe and exactly why did you think you fucking him was going to get her to go back to him?" He screamed at me his face turning redder by the second.

"I...I..." I started but I wasn't sure how to answer the questions. When I heard him scream at me the questions they sounded off in my head and I wasn't sure I knew the answer to them either at this very second.

"Frank how could she be happy she won't have children, she lives with a bunch of men a building she doesn't have a home to care for how can she be happy?" I screamed back at him. My anger rising in me because deep down I am not certain of the answer was Stephanie or because of Stephanie? Those were questions I couldn't afford myself to answer right now; I didn't want to know.

"Helen maybe it isn't your vision or your idea of what makes a woman happy, but maybe it is Stephanie's vision and idea of what makes her happy and in the end isn't that what should be most important?" He threw at me like now he all of a sudden knew what made her happy.

"Frank for the past thirty plus years, since I gave birth to Stephanie you have never once said anything other than agreeing with me when it came to what would make Stephanie happy so don't go giving your opinions now you just need to listen to me. I am a woman, I am her mother, I know her, I raised her, I know what makes her happy. I know what women what, I know what makes women happy, and I know what will make our daughter happy. If she thinks she is happy then maybe in this moment she is happy I am not certain but I am certain that she won't be happy when she is older, when she is looking back on her life she won't be happy. She will be miserable and she will be sorry she made the choices she made but she will be too old then to change them and make a difference. I don't want that life for her I don't want her to look back and regret the stupid choices she is making today because she thinks it is making her happy." I screamed at him. How dare him question what I know will make our daughter happy.

"Helen even if everything you said is true, which I don't think it is, but if it were true you doing what you did, fucking the Morelli boy, wasn't going to get her back if anything it was just going to push her further away further into the life that you are so destined to believe that she is unhappy with." He screamed back at me.

"Well maybe I made a poor decision but you leaving me walking out tonight is a poor decision as well. You need to think about it and stay at least for the night. If tomorrow you feel the same then I won't fight you but you at least need to stay the night. Besides you have no place to go." I tried to reason with him. I tried to push the emphasis that he had no where to stay so he had to spend the night here. He had to be here when Father Thomas came I couldn't face Father Thomas alone.

"Helen I don't need a place to stay there are hotels I can stay at until I figure out where I am going. I am not the one that wants to leave. Did you think this morning when I got up that I wanted to leave my home for good today? No, it is you that's reason I need to leave. How would I look as a man if I stayed with you? After what everyone received in the mail if I did nothing and remained with you what would I be telling everyone of the burg as to the man I am? A man whose wife can fuck someone three ways to Sunday be shamed in front of all the burg when her dirty laundry is aired to everyone we know and I do nothing. I stay with you, stand beside you, and tell everyone what exactly that you did this for Stephanie and allow them to laugh at the insanity of it all right in our faces?" He screamed questioning me.

"Well I don't know what it would say. Maybe it would say that you love your wife enough to forgive her." I shot back radiating with anger. I was mad but I knew my anger was misguided but right now I didn't have the right person to take my anger out on so Frank was filling in. My daughter is who I should be screaming at after all none of this would be happening right now if she hadn't sent those pictures.

"It is Stephanie who you should be mad and at not defending none of this would be happening right now if she hadn't sent those pictures." I yelled at him.

"No none of this would be happening if you hadn't done what you did. I knew you were sleeping with someone I had seen the marks left on your body but I didn't know who and I was able to pretend that it wasn't happening and continuing to live the life we have. I don't want to give it up. But blaming Stephanie isn't fair you did those things, it is you in those pictures it isn't like I can un-see that. I have no desire to touch you ever after seeing those pictures." He said to me the anger had dissipated a little and his voice was coming down to a more normal level. But it wasn't making me happy, it was scarring me more; he was serious.

"Besides Helen, I have a little confession of my own while all of our dirty little secrets seem to be coming out today. I have been having an affair on you. Just so you know I have, for the past several years, been fucking Angela Morelli, your best friend, whenever I can get a chance. Every time she calls me over to her house or whenever I can sneak over there. So you aren't the only unfaithful one in this marriage."

I couldn't get enough air, the room spun around before, my eyes unable to focus as I sucked for air I felt myself falling and darkness taking over as his words echoed through my head. My husband had been screwing another woman, my best friend, for years. Oh my god Frank had been with another woman besides me. How could he? Were all the thoughts flowing through my head until the darkness claimed me. I briefly felt myself falling but I never felt myself hit the floor; the darkness had claimed me.

I woke up alone in the bedroom; on the floor. I had no idea how long I had been there. I had no idea how long I had been lying on the floor. Why exactly was I lying on the floor? How had I come to be lying on the floor? I slowly sat up holding my head that was throbbing.

I was confused and unable to focus for the moment as I tried to figure out what had happened. All of sudden memories started to fill my head of Frank and I arguing, him packing, he was going to leave me, the pictures, and the anger in both of our voices. Ten the calm icy demeanor he took when he told me that he had been having an affair for years with Angela Morelli. Tears sprung forward and I was livid.

I wanted to rip her face off for sleeping with my husband. Just because her husband was dead she didn't need to go after my husband. I was nice and sent him over there to help her because I felt sorry she didn't have a husband to do things that a husband should I didn't send him over there to have sex with her. How dare him, her, them.

I stood up easy trying to make sure I had my legs under me before I attempted to walk. I looked around the room no suitcase no clothing on the bed. Frank had left. He had left me on the floor and he had walked out. He hates me wants nothing to do with me. He can be mad at me for sleeping with Joseph but I am not supposed to be mad at him for sleeping with Angela my best friend? If I could forgive him for that he could forgive me for Joseph right? Maybe there was some hope to save our marriage after all. I just needed to get to Frank to explain that; he would understand right?

I went down the stairs and I knew he was gone the house was quite. I looked out and his car was gone. I wouldn't go after him tonight I would let him cool. But tomorrow I would think about that tomorrow. Maybe Father Thomas would have some suggestions. I had a feeling our talk was going to be one of confessions tonight.

I walked back into my kitchen, in my domain and I felt better. This was one area of my life that I had control over, the kitchen. I looked over at the bread and realized it was past the time to punch it down and got busy punching the bread down I formed the dough into three balls from the dough, rolling them out until they were long logs. I combined the long logs at one end and proceeded to braid the bread. I then set it aside to rise. I got out the butter to allow it to come to room temperature and soften while I got out the clove of garlic that I cut the top off of and proceeded to put in the oven to roast.

The kitchen was my domain it was where I ruled. Even in all the mess of my life right now I could control something. I could still focus and accomplish tasks at hand effortlessly; I ruled this domain.

I finished up dinner and sat the table. I almost broke down in tears when I only set it for two and Frank's place sat empty in front of his chair. I wasn't going to fill his seat with anyone until he came back to me. He would come back I would be sure of it. That was tomorrows focus not today I couldn't think about that anymore today.

It was almost six so I sat out the wine, I pulled the bread out of the oven and then sliced a few slices layering on the garlic butter I had prepared with the roasted garlic and placed it back in the hot oven to toast with the garlic butter and freshly grated parmesan cheese to melt for a few minutes while I put the finishing touches on the gravy and cooked the pasta in the boiling salted water.

I felt powerful in my kitchen, I felt like I had purpose in my kitchen, I felt like my life was normal when I was in my kitchen. I didn't need to think about Frank, Stephanie, the Burg, or god forbid those horrid pictures. I had just finished plating the second plate when I heard a knock at the door. Father Thomas was here. I took a calming breath and proceeded to let our guest in.

"Father Thomas please come on in and make yourself at home. Dinner is ready I just need to put it on the table." I informed him and he nodded.

"Mrs. Plum thank you for having me over, and thank you for fixing dinner for me I hope it wasn't any trouble." He said and I just smiled shaking my head.

"It's never any trouble I am just glad you called. You don't come over enough." I told him as we made our way into the dining room. I motioned for him to have a seat as preceded into the kitchen to get our plates. I served him first the salad and then I went to retrieve our dinner plates. Coming back to the table I sat the plate in front of him and then I took my seat across the table from him.

My stomach wasn't feeling the greatest but I forced myself to be polite and eat with him after we had taken several initial bites Father Thomas spoke.

"Helen this is incredible." I smiled of course it was incredible I had no doubt.

"Where is Frank tonight, why is he missing this wonderful dinner?" He asked me and I forced a smile on my face even though I didn't want to. I didn't want him to know that Frank had left me because I had every intention of getting him back without anyone, including Father Thomas, knowing he had left.

"Father he is going to be out this evening. He should be home later. We are going through something right now that has him a little upset and he needs to work through his thoughts." I told him. I wasn't sure how much he knew or had seen I really hoped he hadn't seen because how would I continue to seat across from him knowing he knew what I did and had seen the pictures.

"About the problems you are going through that is why I am here." He started and I felt my stomach jump in my throat. I put my fork down trying to decide if I could swallow back what was edging up my throat or if I should just excuse myself and head toward the bathroom. My mouth filling with saliva this wasn't good.

"You know I am here to listen, you know I will help you in whatever way I can. I can offer forgiveness if you ask, I can offer counseling if you feel you need it. Please allow me to help you through this difficult time you and your family are going through." He said and I knew I needed to excuse myself.

I nodded standing up "excuse me for a second I will be right back" I walked calmly out of the room but once I was out of sight I was flying to the bathroom with my hand covering my mouth to keep from making a mess. I made it in time to spill the contents of my stomach.

Father Thomas knew. He already knew. I thought as panic continuing to rise in me. He must have seen the pictures. Tears sprang forward in my eyes. This was a nightmare; my life was over.

I composed myself, I had guests in my house it wouldn't do any good for me to hide in the bathroom what kind of host would I be. I cleaned my face and I straightened my back and then my clothing as I made my way out of the bathroom and back to join my guest setting at the table.

"I am sorry about that Father Thomas. Where were we?" I asked fully well knowing where we were but not wanting to admit it.

"I come to offer you my services if you need it. I feel you are a troubled lamb in my flock and I wanted to reach out to you. Just so you know I saw the contents of the envelope. A packet was delivered to the church." He told me and I saw red why would she mail the church those pictures? Was she insane, did she want God to strike her dead for such a heinous act? I briefly thought about asking him about exorcisms again as that just further proved she was possessed.

I didn't know what to do, what to say tears filled my eyes and I said the only thing I could think of. "Please forgive me Father for I have sinned." I practically wailed at him.

"My child forgiveness is granted. You will need to rebuild the trust within your community and within the church and ask others for forgiveness but the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit forgive you." He said and I instantly felt better.

"I came to talk to you about one other thing as well. Some of the members of the church have expressed their concern with you leading the children and teaching the children in Sunday school. I have been asked to inform you that you no longer need to provide those services. The church thanks you for your years of services to date but from this point on we no longer require your service to the church in that manner. If you want for me to find other areas where you can volunteer your service I would be happy to." He told me and I felt another area of my life falling apart.

I had prided myself on the work I have done with the church and teaching Sunday school was a statement all its own as to your position within not only the church but the burg. New tears sprung forward spilling down my face once again as I realized my life was in shambles. No Husband, No Church, No friends in the burg, I was the laughing stock of the burg along and the most talked about embarrassment of all.

I had Stephanie my no good daughter who had to send those pictures; pictures that ruined my life to thank for all of it.

My life was falling to pieces and I didn't even know which piece to pick up first. It was shattered. I could only think of one thing while the tears poured down my cheeks how did you pick up a shattered life?

I wasn't even sure that Father Thomas could help me with that one as he had shattered another area of my life with his announcement.


	67. Burg Reaction 6: Joe Morelli

**A/N: DO NOT READ THIS UNTIL YOU HAVE READ CHAPTER 61 (Chapter 60: First week wa New Partner PT2) POSTED 3/22/12 ! **

**This is a short sort of vignette with the reactions of the burg regarding the pictures. My plan if I am able to do it, is do one of these a day leading up to the final chapter posting on Thursday 3/29/12 the one year anniversary to What does it mean to trust!**

**I hope you enjoy these…my little surprise for all my much loved fans of the story! **

**So this is the last vignette looking into the reactions of the burg. Tomorrow will be the final chapter posting of the story. I wanted to say thank you to all my loyal and new followers. I can't tell you all what it has meant to me you enjoying and following this story! I hope you enjoy the final burg reaction!**

**Burg Reaction 6: Joe Morelli POV**

I had been out all of Tuesday morning dealing with another gang bangers death, like anyone really gave a shit. In my opinion it was better for everyone. Someone did the world a fucking favor. But it was my job to investigate of course how much I decided to investigate well now that was up to me.

I had gotten back to the office mid afternoon I was hungry, I was grumpy, and I was ready to call it a day but my shift wasn't up. Our shifts were long and crime was high. Being a detective I had better things to do than investigate a gang banger's death. I had real crimes to solve. But my boss and his boss didn't see it that way so I would do what I had to do to keep them off of my back on this one.

I sat down at my desk ready to file the report and Carl knocks on the door. "Carl, what's up?" I asked him a little annoyed and grumpy.

He held up his hands "nothing man, nothing at all. I was just wondering if you have been by your home today." Why was he asking me this shit? What the hell did it matter to him? I am too hungry too tired for this fucking shit.

"Carl? I went by there earlier why?" I said just hoping he would leave my office and leave me peace.

"I just wanted to ask if you got a white envelope in the mail today." He said and I looked up wondering where he was going with this.

I motioned for him to spit it out. "Well several people in the burg are talking about getting a white envelope today and I was wondering if you got it." He said. Why the fuck would I care?

"Carl I didn't I don't know what you are talking about and I am too tired to really give a shit." I told him. He partially smiled at me I continued "Carl you live in the burg did you get one?" I asked him and he nodded.

"I haven't seen it, but my wife called me and told me about it." He told me I nodded well good for him. Go tell someone else about the fucking thing. I didn't have the time, energy, or the desire to continuing this shit with him.

"Carl unless there is something else I am buried here I need to get these reports out." I told him and he nodded stepping back out into the hallway closing the door behind him. Well at least he closed the door behind him.

I ran my hand over my face. I felt my five o'clock shadow on my face and made a note to shave in the next day or so.

I briefly wondered if I shouldn't take a drive down Stark Street and pick up a woman. I could really use a little release of pent up emotions. I could pick up one of those whores on Stark and treat her the way I wanted and be able to release these feelings. I could be as rough as I wanted to be and it would be okay; they could take it after all they were use to it.

I focused back on the reports I had to do only to be interrupted by a knock at the door. "Come in" I said feeling my level of annoyance go up. Eddie walked through the door.

"Morelli" he said and I could see that he wasn't really happy but I had news for him I wasn't the happiest either.

"Eddie, what's up?" I asked him. He shrugged his shoulders. What the hell did he want? He came knocking on my fucking door.

"Eddie I am really busy here with these reports is this important?" I asked him and he shook his head no. Then why did he feel the need to worry the shit out of me if it wasn't important. I wanted to scream but I refrained.

"I was just wondering if you seen the envelope." He said. I narrowed my eyes at him. What is it with this fucking envelope? Everyone was obsessed with it.

I shook my head no. "No Eddie I haven't seen it. I apparently am the only one in the entire burg that didn't get the envelope." I told him my frustration growing. He nodded and smiled slightly at me almost as if this was something that he was enjoying. I just didn't understand why he wanted to mess with me.

"Eddie, Carl said something about this but I have no idea what you or he are talking about. I have real work to do so if you don't mind." I said making a motion to the door letting him know I had no more patience for this bull shit.

Eddie nodded and walked out before he got all the way out he turned back "Morelli if you should receive an envelope in the mail let me know what you think of the contents." He said and that sparked my interest a little bit but I really didn't have time to dwell on it much.

I was writing my report and thoughts of the envelope keep seeping into my thoughts. Before I knew it I had picked up the phone and called the only person I knew who would know what is going on when it came to the burg; my mother.

The phone rang once before she answered. "Hello this is the Morelli residence" she said.

"Mom, how are you?" I asked her

"Hi Son how are you?' She said and I could hear the excitement in her voice. She loved when I called her. She loved it even more when I went by there.

"Mom I am fine. I am calling to see if you got an envelope in the mail today." I asked her wondering if she had gotten it. Everyone else seemed to.

"No Joe I did not. I have heard about it as several people have called but I am not sure what they are talking about we didn't get anything. Did you get an envelope? Or have you had time to check your mail yet?" She asked me and I was surprised she hadn't received one.

"Yeah I checked it a little bit ago when I was out on patrol I went by there but there was nothing. Some of the guys at the station have been hearing about an envelope being delivered to their house. I was just wondering if you got one since I didn't." I said.

"No Joe I didn't get one either. I don't know what all of this is about but I will see if I can find out anything." She told me and I knew she would find out something and let me know as soon as she did.

"Mom I am sure it is nothing." I told her.

"I agree if it was anything to it they would have sent one to us. When are you coming by for dinner? You know your mother and grandmother miss you." She said and I held back my desire to sigh. I needed to get by there or I would never hear the end of it but I didn't want to obligate myself for anything. You never knew when something would come up and need taken care of that was more important.

"Mom I don't know work has been busy I will see what I can do and let you know." I said. I knew I could always use my job as an excuse. She would never question me if I told her I was working she only was more proud of me for working so hard, and she was that much happier when I did take it upon myself to take time and go by there.

"Okay Joe just remember your mother and grandmother love you and we don't see you enough." She said and I nodded at her little stab at trying to guilt me into coming. At least she hadn't played the dying or the dead card. I hated that shit when parents and grandparents quilted their kids by saying you will be sorry when I am dead you didn't spend more time with me.

"Okay Mom; I love you and Grandma too." I told her hoping she would just drop it without having to go deeper into the guilt trip she was throwing my way.

"Okay, Son, have a good day; oh and Joe be careful. You know we worry about you." She said I nodded this was another form of guilt. I was on to her she just didn't know it.

"You too" I said and then hung up while I could get off of the phone without any further guilt being thrown at me for not having gone by to spend time with my mother and grandmother.

I had gotten back to work after I spoke to my mom the thoughts of the envelope didn't interrupt my thoughts again. If it was anything to it my mom would have gotten an envelope. My mom was nothing if not the burg.

I closed my laptop and stood up stretching. My shift was up and I was well beyond ready to get the hell out of the office. I grabbed my jacket hooked my gun on my side, grabbed my keys sitting on the desk and headed out locking my office behind me.

I got in my car and decided that tonight would definitely call for a visit to Stark before heading home.

Like every work day the next morning came way too quickly and way too early. I groaned as I got up making my way into the bathroom to get ready for my day.

I had no idea what the day was going to bring but I was ready to just go back to bed cover my head and call it a day.

I reluctantly got ready for work. Walking out of the house to my car I knew today was going to be a shit of a day. I had no more sat down in my car before my pager went off. I checked it and sure enough I needed to respond to a murder; another murder, it never ends. Sometimes I wondered if the fuckers could just manage to kill everyone and be done with it already.

I sighed turning my car heading in the direction I was summoned.

When I got there I saw some of the cops looking at me smiling and a few of them whispering amongst themselves looking at me. I ignored them they were nothing but beat cop cops they weren't a detective like me, they didn't have seniority, they were newbies; not worth my time.

I made my way into the house looking around. I wasn't surprised the house was trashed. Garbage lying around it smelled nasty and that was before the dead body that had been laying there for how many days had added to the smell. This was the part of my job I hated.

The victim had a single shot to the head the gun laying beside him. If I lived in this house in this filth I would have shot myself too. I looked around the room I didn't see any signs of foul play. There were no signs of forced entry no signs of a struggle though with the mess it was probably hard to tell. There was no current indication that this was anything more than a suicide. Pictures were being taken and with every click of the camera I was getting more annoyed for having to remain here; waiting.

I heard more of the guys snickering and I looked over at them narrowing my eyes at them. What the fuck where they looking at and laughing at did I leave my fly open? I felt my zipper but it was closed. I decided to once again ignore them.

When the coroner came in to retrieve the body I noticed they way they were looking at me and it didn't make sense. Maybe they were sensing my annoyance at them taking so long to get here from the time they were called.

By the time I pulled out from the scene I was worn out. I felt nasty, and I was starving I hadn't had time to get my morning coffee or breakfast and by now all the restaurants were serving lunch. I made a last minute decision to go by moms.

It would make her happy one, and two it would be my best chance at getting good food today. Maybe it would change my mood for three. I turned the car towards the burg heading to my mothers.

I got to my mother's and the house was locked as it should be so I let myself in. My mom must have known it was me as she yelled out "Hi son. I am so glad you could drop by." I smiled walked over and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Hi mom" I said.

"Are you joining us for lunch?" She asked me and I nodded.

"I was in the neighborhood this morning and thought I would stop by for lunch. Hope that is okay, you have enough." She nodded. I was glad I knew she wouldn't turn me away. She never has and never will. I am her pride and joy after all.

"Of course there is enough. You never need to ask that you are always welcomed here in your home you know that. We love having you." She told me and I smiled I knew she loved spoiling me.

"It will just be a few minutes and lunch will be ready. Why don't you go get cleaned up." I nodded and headed upstairs to the bathroom so I could get cleaned up for lunch.

I had just sat down at the table when my mother walked into the dining room. Grandma Belle was already sitting at the table and I had given her a quick hug and kiss before I took my seat.

Mom walked into the dining room and I noticed a white envelope in her hand. That must have been the envelope I heard so much about yesterday. I wonder how she got it but nothing surprised me my mom was a burg woman capable of anything.

"Joe I think this is the envelope that everyone was calling me about yesterday. It looks like I got one today." She told me while breaking the seal on it.

"Did you get an envelope today?" She asked me and I shrugged my shoulders. I had no idea I hadn't been back to my house since I left this morning.

"I don't know I haven't been by the house yet, I was going by there when I left here. I will check the mail then." I told her and she nodded as she opened the envelope and pulled out what looked to be pictures. There were pictures?

"OH MY…OH MY GOD!" She screamed and I was on my feet rounding the table. She fell back into the chair about the time I reached her but thankfully the chair was there and caught her.

I saw my Grandma reach across and pick one of them up. It was like watching a car wreck everything was happening in slow motion and I knew it was going to be bad but I was completely defenseless to keep it from happening.

"Momma, Grandma what's wrong." I yelled worried at the looks on their faces.

My eyes landed on the pictures and I knew, I sucked air in. No fucking away. I put my hand over my mouth but nothing came out for which I was glad. I ran my hand through my hair it was more out of habit than anything. How the fuck had someone gotten these, and why they fuck would they send them to everyone in the burg? Someone was out to destroy me and right now it felt like they were succeeding in the quest.

It then hit me that both Carl and Eddie knew about them yesterday and this morning the guys at the crime scene all knew about them that is why they were acting the way they were acting anger boiled up in me but now is not the time. I had some major damage control to do with my Mom and Grandma what the hell were they going to think?

Someone was going to pay for this fucking shit. I had a feeling I knew exactly who had done this and that little bitch would most definitely pay with her life because of this.

My mother sat there not moving not speaking I think she was going into shock and honestly I had no idea what the fuck to do.

Grandma had picked the picture up and looked at it and like my mom I could see the look of shock on her face. She went to stand up and then crashed to the floor clutching her chest as if she was having a heart attack. I ripped the phone off of my side and called to get a bus to my mom's house panic and anger rising in me; both equally.

I immediately went to my grandmother my mother ran to the kitchen and came back with an aspirin which we placed in her mouth hoping it would melt on her tongue and help her. She was unconscious laying there limp and part of me wanted to cry out; but I maintain control. I would cry out when I was seeking my revenge for this.

I was busy doing compressions and breathing for my grandmother my thoughts of my mom were running in the back of my head along with the images of the pictures but I couldn't focus on them right now I had to focus on my grandmother she was the one that needed me.

I was lost in trying to save my grandmother when I heard my mother scream and fall to the floor. She was now clutching her chest. I looked up at the clock on the wall and was wondering when the bus would be here to offer some assistance. I couldn't lose both my Grandma and my mom.

Fear and panic rose in me seeing my mom on the floor I went over to her and felt her neck at least she had a pulse and was breathing so I breathed a sigh of relief and went back to my Grandma who was not breathing on her own. Like it or not she was the higher priority case right now.

If I left my Grandma to go help my mom who was breathing then my grandma would surly die I wasn't so sure she hadn't already and that fueled my anger even more but right now wasn't the time nor place to let that get to me; I had to focus and concentrate on saving my Grandma.

I heard the sirens so I knew it wouldn't be long before they arrived. I quickly got up to get the door and then ran back to the two most important women in my life lying on the floor both unconscious it was only a matter of minutes before the paramedics were in the dining room.

I wasn't paying attention because the offending pictures possibly murdering pictures at this point were laid out on the dining room table for all to see. Somewhere in the back of my mind I heard my mother saying that wasn't right but I couldn't focus on that I couldn't think about that right now all I could think about were them lying on the floor needing the help the medics were here to give.

I stepped back letting them do what they needed. It wasn't long before they had both of them strapped to gurneys and were wheeling them out to the waiting bus. Because it was two of them there was no room for me in the back so I had to resort to following them.

I put the light on the dash turned on the siren and decided I would lead them instead of follow them maybe it would encourage the great drivers on the streets of Trenton to get the fuck out of our way as that wasn't always the case. Most got out of the way but some didn't some thought they didn't have to.

I hope I didn't run into any of those today because I liable to shoot them to get them the fuck out of my way.

We made it to the hospital without incident and I ran around to where they were unloading them at the emergency bay entrance. Because I was a cop I was allowed back there; most people weren't.

They wheeled them into the emergency room into an area side by side only separated by a curtain which I was able to pull back so I could see both of them lying there. People were working on my Grandma still breathing for her with one of those pump things over her nose and mouth. Someone was doing compressions but I had a bad feeling that wasn't helping her. It didn't look good.

Others were working on my mom thankfully they weren't performing CPR on her but they were checking her out and hooking her up to machines; and I hated seeing it.

I sat there almost in shock as I watched the busy nurses work around them.

"Mr. Morelli, you will need to fill out some paper work for both of these women." A woman said to me and I wanted to scream at the stupid bitch. I needed to take my time right now, when I wasn't sure the status of either my Grandma or my Mother, to fill out fucking paper work. What the fuck was wrong with this place? I looked her not moving. I didn't say anything but the stupid bitch must have gotten my message as she turned and walked out of the room.

I wasn't taking my time right now to do shit. I was going to sit here and watch and wait until I heard the news of how my mom and grandma were. Fuck what is wrong with people. I wanted to pound something, I wanted to scream, I wanted to tear something to fucking shreds but there was only one person to blame for this. Stephanie.

She would get hers. Her day would come I had no doubt no fear her day of reckoning was upon her she just didn't know it. I had made contact and found an enemy of Ranger's. I hadn't heard from my contact in a day or so but the last I heard he had found what I was looking for and was going to make contact with them to give them the information I had passed to him.

I wasn't going to have kill Stephanie I had Ranger's enemies coming to do that. I smiled knowing that even though I am sitting here with both my Mother and Grandmother's lives on the line. It was nice to know the bitch responsible for this was going to pay and she was going to pay dearly.

I felt like the enemy that was coming wouldn't just kill her. They would want their pound of flesh in revenge on Ranger. Stephanie would scream, she would cry, they would break her, control her, take from her all she had, and when she had nothing, when she was nothing, when she was broken beyond repair then and only then would they put her out of her pain, out of misery and take her fucking worthless life. I was only saddened by the fact that I wouldn't be able to be there to witness it.

After today I wanted to be the one that took the bitch's life. After today I wanted to see her soul drain from her eyes and I wanted to hear the pain of Ranger echoed on the streets of Trenton as he cried for her. I wanted him to know that I had done it.

I guess in a way if his enemies did it, it was still me. I mean I had gotten them here. It was me that brought them her so in a way it was me that had effectively taken her away from him for good and caused his agony forcing him to live with the fact that he and his past had cost his "Babe" her life. That would be righteous.

I was torn from my daydream when I heard the doctor call out "Time of death". What time of what? Who was dead? Looking I knew it was my grandmother as they were unhooking everything removing the pump from her face. They were done trying to start her heart.

I understood it lord knows I had seen it enough being a cop but this was my Grandmother I wanted them to try more, to continue longer give her a little more time. But I knew it was useless. I knew the brain activity at this point was gone so there was no point to continue. I wanted her alive but I didn't want her to be a vegetable or be on life support for months or years either.

I would seek her revenge I would revenge her death.

I looked over at my mom and they were still working away on her they had hooked her up to machines that I wasn't sure what they all were doing. I knew the heart monitor, the oxygen reader, the blood pressure cuff but they had other things hooked to her that I had no idea what they were.

Machines were spitting out read outs that I was unable to read so I just focused on what I could look at and understand the blood pressure, heart rate monitor and oxygen levels. All looked good from what I was seeing so I was confused as to why she wasn't waking up.

Once the doctor was finished unhooking my grandmother they covered her with a sheet and then walked over to me "I am sorry for your loss." They said. They were sorry for my loss? What the fuck did they know about loss? What the fuck did they know about being sorry for anything? What the fuck? Don't look at me and tell me you are sorry for my loss when you don't fucking know me from fucking Adam.

You aren't sorry, you don't give a shit, you are so use to seeing this, and living this that it means nothing to you and you are going to hand me some fucking line of bull shit like you are sorry for my loss. I wanted to scream at them. But I managed to refrain; sitting stoic in my chiar.

I knew my anger wasn't centered on the person it should be centered on. But I also couldn't help it. My anger and my rage were quickly consuming me. I knew it was to the point of ready to boil over and I knew the doctors and nurses of this ER didn't deserve it and I knew my thoughts weren't correct but at the moment I couldn't help it they were here they were conscious they were breathing and living and I had no one else in front of me to focus my rage on.

I knew that would come later but right now was when I needed to find someone. I got up to pace I needed to move. I thought about going and filling out those fucking forms just to have something to focus my mind on but I knew I wouldn't I didn't fucking feel like filling out forms.

Stepping out of the curtained area I found who I could direct my anger on. Standing in the hallway in front of one of the other rooms, a private ER room none the less, was none other than a Rangeman. I didn't know who, he was a nameless, fucking thug. A fucking no name killer. A fucking not worthy of a name fucking thief was who he was.

But most importantly he was her fucking brother or so she claimed. She claimed they were all her brothers. He was looking into the room through the glass when I approached him. He must have sensed me because he turned in time to block my right hook.

That was okay it just gave me the opportunity to throw my left which he blocked. He hadn't stricken back and that worked for me he was only blocking my attack. I heard people running our way but I didn't give a fuck. I continued my assault on him.

He continued to block finally I grew tired of trying to get a punch in and thought I would just give it up and shoot the fucker stepping back I drew my gun. My eyes were seeing red and unfocused I just wanted to kill the fucker.

But before I could pull the trigger I was on the ground my gun missing from my hands and my hands bound behind me. What the fuck? I screamed out "Uncuff me you fucking son of a bitch. Do you know who I am? Do you know what I am capable of? Uncuff me or you will fucking live to regret it every fucking day of your miserable existence of a fucking life you fucking thug." I yelled out.

"Morelli I know who you are. I also know you attacked me and I will be filing charges, you drew your gun on me without provocation, without warrant, you would have pulled the trigger had I not disarmed and subdued you. You are out of control." The nameless dumb fucking thug said calmly. So calmly in fact I wanted to fucking punch him again.

He continued "I have an ER full of witnesses and I have called the police to come and take care of you." He said before he walked back over to the window looking through it.

"This is all Stephanie's fault. I am blaming her she will fucking pay for this every second of it. You can also tell her that she is the reason my grandmother is dead she fucking killed her. When she looked at those pictures she had a fucking heart attack. You tell Stephanie that. She had a heart attack and died because of Stephanie and what she did." I screamed at the fucker.

He turned looking at me and in a calm voice said "I am sorry for your loss" before he turned back looking in the window.

I roared at his comment screaming like a starving lion at the cage doors wanting to be free and feed upon its prey.

No one came near me no one bothered to help me up but it was only a couple of minutes before Carl walked through the ER doors coming over to me.

"Carl get me up." I demanded but he ignored me and walked over to the fucking thug. Since when the fuck did Carl ignored me? D

id he not know his fucking place? I was a detective. I was his senior he was to fucking do as I say and when I say it; no questions.

"Carl uncuff me, my mother is in the other room and my grandmother just died. I need to be by their sides." I exclaimed my annoyance growing stronger with every passing second at being ignored.

He said and did nothing but talked to the fucking thug that put me here; fucking asshole. I couldn't hear what they were saying but I saw Carl nod and he broke away walking over to me.

"Joe what were you thinking attacking a Rangeman?" He asked me and I just looked at him what fucking made them so special? Just because he was too fucking of a chicken shit to take on one of them I wasn't.

I made no comment. "Get me the fuck up Carl, I need to go see my mother and let the doctors tell me about what happened to her. I need to be here when she wakes up so I can tell her about Grandma" I said holding on tightly to the last bit of control I had.

"Man I am sorry but you can't do that. I am going to have to take you down to the station." He said.

"What do you mean you are going to have to take me down to the station? You and what fucking army do you plan on using to doing this?" I asked him my anger rising up further in me I wasn't leaving this hospital until I knew about my mom. It would be over my fucking dead body.

"Man don't do this you have done enough to make things bad enough for you don't make them worse." He warned me but I didn't care at this point my anger was too strong for me to give a shit.

"Carl I don't know what planet you fucking fell from and bumped your fucking head but if you think I am leaving here and going with you to the station when my mother is unconscious and my grandmother is lying dead in that room." I motioned to the room they were "you have lost your fucking mind." I practically screamed at him.

"Man you need to calm down this isn't helping you or your case. You took you staying here off of the table when you took on a Rangeman. You attacked him and you drew your service weapon on him. He is unarmed; he was standing in front of an ER door watching his partner. You came out of that room and attacked." Carl said. I knew it was true but I also knew that I had reasons.

"Rangeman are never unarmed search him and you will find a weapon." I yelled at him. I knew that for a fact. No Rangeman ever went without weapons; ever. I remember Stephanie complaining about how she was always pushed by them to carry her weapon and to keep it loaded. I knew none of them ever went without a weapon.

"Joe I checked him. The man is unarmed. Joe I am going to have to take you in. There is nothing else I can do. My hands are tied on this one the Captain wants to talk to you." He said and I wanted to scream. I held it in but on the inside I was roaring. I locked eyes with the Rangeman and the fucker smiled at me.

I would have my day, I would get my revenge and the fucker wouldn't be smiling then. I bet when Stephanie takes her last fucking breath he won't be smiling then. When her eyes go cold and cloud over as they become fixed in place I bet he won't be fucking smiling then. When they are in the hospital waiting to hear how she is if she is alive or dead I would be only too happy to fucking arrest them and take them to jail before they know anything.

When she is cold, rigid, and lying there I will be sure to tell them that I am fucking sorry for their loss all the while crossing my fingers behind my back because I sure as fuck wouldn't be sorry I would be jumping for joy I will be singing from roof tops and I will be laughing my fucking head off at the dumb fucking thugs who are left crying and screaming for their loss.

They were going to fucking pay, all of them. They were going to fucking pay with something that I knew meant more because I seen those men protect her. They wouldn't be able to protect her against what is coming. They won't be able to protect her against what is going to happen. I would be sure of it. I will have my revenge on the whole fucking body that is Rangeman every single fucker in the building but first and foremost their leader; fucking Ranger and his cunt of a woman as he calls her Stephanie.

Carl picked me up off of the floor and I protested being moved away from the hallway my mother was on but when he motioned for that fucking thug to help him I quit protesting I wasn't going to give that thug the satisfaction. His day was coming it was only a matter of time. I had the plan, I now had the resources and I had no doubt they wouldn't bring enough force to take care of the whole fucking building that was Rangeman.

I rode to the station with the thoughts of what would happen to their precious Stephanie running through my head.

We reached the station and we walked in. Carl walked me in like a common criminal my hands still cuffed behind my back. He at least didn't stop a booking nor did he stop at interrogation but he took me all the way up to the Captain's office. Fuck.

He knocked on the door the door opened and the Captain motioned us in. He walked me in and sat me down in the chair never bothering to remove the cuffs on me as he left the office; fucker.

My captain looked at me. "Morelli you have done it this time. Not only have you gone and made a fool of yourself but then you take on Rangeman. Have you lost your mind? Do you know how much this department depends on Rangeman's services? Have you forgotten the service they perform for this town? Why would you do this?" He asks me and I didn't have an answer that I could give him.

I sat there quiet "You did this because of Stephanie. Because you refused to let her go you brought all of this down on you. What were you thinking? What made you think you were going to win? Did you think she was going to come back to you after you did this?" He asked me and I wanted to roar at him it was my fucking business but I remained quiet and stoic in the chair.

"Morelli I am giving you a chance to speak for yourself if you aren't going to take the chance fine but you are being relieved of your duties as detective. I don't feel you can handle the added pressure to do your job and do it right. You will remain on the force I am not sure if you will be giving a beat to walk in the future but for now you are benched. You work eight to five you sit at a desk and push papers until I see you're fit to give you something else." I started to protest opening my mouth but he cut me off.

"Your time for speaking is over Morelli. I gave you the chance and you decided to remain quiet so now you will listen and you will do or you can turn in your gun and badge and walk out and never look back. Those are your options. You did this regardless of who you want to blame this is your doings because you couldn't let go. Let this be a lesson when a woman says she no longer wants you and she wants you to let her go; let her go." He warned me like he knew what he was fucking talking about. How did he know so much about my personal fucking life?

"Joe what's it going to be desk job or jobless. That's your options. We aren't losing Rangeman's cooperation with this department and city because you can't play nice with the big boys." He said and I locked eyes with him. Finally relenting that he meant business; I conceded.

"Desk job it is." I wasn't going to lose my job even though at this minute I was pissed as hell and really didn't give a shit I knew tomorrow I would. So I did the only thing I could like it or not.

I had lost my grandmother today, my mom was in the hospital, I was being arrested and charged with assault, and now I had lost my job. It was a shitty day just as I had predicted this morning when I wanted to go back to bed and cover my head. Why hadn't I just gone with my instincts just this once?

My thoughts shifted back to Stephanie and how I would feel when she was gone, dead and long buried and I found a little happiness in those thoughts. Revenge was good, Revenge was renewing my sense of purpose, and ultimately revenge was going to me mine; all mine.


	68. Chapter 61: Second week at Rangeman

**These characters belong to Janet I am just borrowing them for my amusement. Although I would love to keep Ranger and the merry men for myself! **

**This story does contain violence, and touches on dark subject matters. This story is not friendly to Morelli or Helen Plum so for Cupcake fans you have been warned.**

**I want to thank everyone who writes a review for my story. I enjoy reading them and I love ideas they give me so keep them coming! You do my soul good! **

**It still amazes me the number of new readers I have to my story. I am so thrilled that it is enjoyed as much as it is by all. It is humbling to read your reviews. I am so glad you found my story and that you are enjoying my story as much as the avid readers that have been with this story from the beginning. I am thrilled that you have found a connection to the characters within my story and I hope you continue to enjoy it. **

**This is the final chapter. This story is now complete. There will be a sequel but there will be a break between this story and the sequel. The final chapter posting is the exact one year anniversary from the start of the story! What a great Anniversary present huh?**

**I have a website that I have created to give you all something to explore to dig deeper into the story "What does it mean to trust". Please go and check it out! **

**www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com Click on what does it mean tab. I hope you enjoy it.**

**I am issuing a Tissue warning for this chapter! You have been warned.**

Chapter 61: Second Week at Rangeman

**SPOV**

We had gotten back to Rangeman I was never so glad to make it to the seventh floor. I walked in and I knew Carlos was home but he wasn't where I expected him. He wasn't in the living room or the dining room.

I could smell dinner and I knew Ella had been there with dinner. The smell alone made my stomach growl loudly with want.

I heard laughter from the bedroom and I knew he had heard my stomach how was that possible. How could have heard it all the way in there. Bionic bat hearing further proving he was Batman.

I made my way into the bedroom and what I saw had me no longer feeling tired. We had gone at each other like wild animals today you would have thought that would have been more than enough to satisfy both of us but it was never enough. We always craved each other.

Laid out on the bed was Carlos with a tray containing our dinner. He had on his black silk boxer shorts and nothing else. He reached his hand out and I moved forward towards him without any effort it seemed like my feet moved without instructions.

I reached out and grab hold of his hand as I climb up on the bed. His hand rubbing down my cheek down my jaw to my chin and I felt my eyes close at the feeling of his touch.

"Ella brought dinner but I thought we would eat it in bed tonight. Tonight is all about you. Everything I do tonight is all about you." He told me and I think I moaned at the thought of what a promising night this was going to be. He was always about me even when he didn't know it.

He uncovered the food. Picking up the fork he forked some of the chicken with rice and held it up to my lips and I took a bite. While I was chewing my bite he took advantage and took a bite of his. He continued this pattern until I had eaten all of my food.

He then uncovered the chilled strawberries and the whipped crème which I knew was freshly whipped crème. He dunked one of the luscious bright red plump berries in the crème and then held it up to my lips where he ran the berry around my lips before offering it to me to bite. Once I had bitten it he ran his tongue around my lips lapping up the remnants of the juice and crème.

My body was humming with every berry he fed me. All too soon the plate was empty and I had to hold back the desire to pout at the loss of berries.

In one smooth motion he had the tray and was up off of the bed carrying into the kitchen I just sat there watching his backside walk out of the room. I think I may have moaned again but I wasn't sure. I was too caught up in the moment to pay much attention to what I was doing.

When he walked back into the bedroom he walked over to the bed and removed my boots, socks, he pulled my shirt over my head and then undid the button and zipper of my cargos.

I rose up off of the bed so he could pull them down my hips when he tapped my hip. I was sitting there in my bra and panties when he ran his fingers through my hair effectively taking the pony tail down as his fingers fished through my hair. I fought the urge to toss my hair from side to side and just let him take control.

He rubbed his fingers through my hair a few more times and I felt myself relaxing. I felt feather kiss on my shoulder and he stepped away from me heading to the bathroom. I heard the water cut on and heard him doing something but I wasn't sure what I was hearing.

It was only minutes later that he walked back into the room taking me in his arms carrying me to the bathroom. I at first wanted to protest but a look in his eyes and the echo of what he had said when I walked into the room kept my protest to myself.

When we got into the bathroom I saw he had drawn a bath even added bubbles and I was seriously hoping I wasn't going to have to ask him to join me. I had my answer when he removed his black boxers and started to relieve me of my bra and panties. He put me over in the tub and quickly joined me. Sitting down he grabbed my hips and guiding me down.

My ass nestled up against him had me humming for a lot more than bubbles and warm water. But I was just allowing him to do what he had planned. I knew there was no need to rush, there was no need to hurry it was just enjoy the moment and go with it.

I closed my eyes leaning heavily against him as I felt his hands working their way over my body. I felt the tension, the emotions, and the worry of the day leave me as his hands worked over me releasing it.

I finally decided to talk. I needed to confess something to Carlos.

"Carlos, you know today when I said I sensed that Slyder was going to get hurt if we went in that house after the skip?" I asked him.

"Shhhh….Babe we don't need to talk about this right now. Just relax." He told me but I shook my head no.

"I am relaxing but I want to get this off of my chest." I confessed to him. His hands pausing hearing my words so I continued.

"I figured out the danger to him." I paused for a moment willing myself to continue. "I figured out the danger to him was me." I told him. I felt him nod behind me.

"Proud of you Babe." He said and I couldn't help but wonder if he hadn't known that the whole time and just allowed me to figure it all out on my own. Had he told me that earlier today it isn't that I thought he would have lied to me I just wouldn't have realized I was a danger to my partner I wouldn't have seen it not in the way that allowing me to figure it out on my own would have done.

"You knew all along didn't you?" I couldn't keep the words from tumbling out of my mouth.

"Yeah Babe I knew, well at least suspected." He stated. "I knew because we have all been there we have all done it. I recognized the look and I knew the dangers of what could happen." He told me without me having to pull the information from him.

"I guess I should be surprised but I am not. I am glad however you let me figure it on my own." I told him. His only response was a kiss to where my neck met my shoulder.

**RPOV**

I wanted to tell her, when she told me earlier, that I thought it was her but I knew it would be better to let her figure it out. I also knew Slyder was a big boy he could take it. If she led him into danger he would face it and take it and protect her with his life. In the end that is all I can ask of my men, of me, of anyone with her.

I know it was lame to expect my men to protect my women with their lives it was a lot to ask, demand, of someone that you paid a salary to. It wasn't like that was their jobs. They all had their own jobs but they all were fiercely loyal to her and they were all fiercely protective of her and I couldn't be more humbled or more proud of them for it.

I loved her more than life. I needed her more than I needed my life. That had scared the shit out of me but I finally pulled my head out of my ass and owned up to it.

I spent the night taking care of her every need as much as she needed. I knew the day had been difficult on her. I knew her emotions had been all over the place and I knew that most of it was her coming to terms with mailing the envelopes with the pictures.

She didn't need to tell me I saw it I had seen it. I had thought she had talked herself out of doing it until her confrontation with Morelli, which scared the fuck out of me. I also knew she wasn't fully invested in doing it even though I knew at that point she would go through with it. If for no other reason than he pissed her off.

She had done it. I got an email from Lester with a picture of her handing the box to the postmaster and then another one of her smiling about it but I could see the look behind the smile that said all wasn't truly happy in the world of my Babe.

I knew most of the guys would miss it I knew Slyder probably missed it but I knew Lester wouldn't. I knew Lester would see it and I knew he would get her talking about it. Sometimes I was grateful they were so close. He understood her in a way that I wondered if I ever would if I was ever capable of understanding her.

Normally I would have called his dumbass gay for it but I knew better. It wasn't like I would give a shit even if he was gay but their level of connection it ascended boy and girl, woman and man, badass and angle. It was another level and I knew there was love at that level but I was comfortable and secure in what my Babe and I shared that it didn't bother me.

Our love was just as different, it was something that was above all others. I knew we held it between us we both felt it and we both needed it. There was never a doubt what we had or what we shared.

**SlyderPOV**

Tuesday morning I woke up sore as fuck. Going those rounds with my Incendia in the ring had me sore as shit. She pulled her punches but there were a few that were a little harder and each time she took my ass down on the matt it hit and it hit hard.

I had been beaten worse and I had worse injuries as technically nothing was injured only some really light bruising but with my darkened skin you would more than likely never know it without looking for it.

I make my way into the gym because if I didn't show up the guys would call me a pussy for not being man enough to man it up and work out even in my sore state. Sometimes it was ridiculous what guys would do just to keep from getting teased or just so they could teas someone else.

I know we were adults and we should be over that teenage bull shit of teasing but what can I say we are bunch of over testosterone men who have nothing better to do than work out, live our lives on the edge of danger, fuck lots of women, and make fun of each other. When you boiled everything down that was about the nuts and bolts of what we did.

Walking into the gym I saw Incendia, Ranger, Lester, Bobby, Cal all working out. So I went over to join them.

I couldn't help but notice how she fit right in with them. Each of them doing their work out not really paying much of attention to one another until there was a need for a spotter on the weights. Whoever was resting out a set would spot her.

She had come a long way in her weight training and she was starting to lift weights that while light for us were heavy for her and I felt like she needed a spotter I was glad to find that the others felt the same way as me.

She was my partner and while I knew we didn't share what she and Ranger shared, or what she and Lester shared we were partners and I would do anything to protect my partner; even in the gym.

I began my workout for the day working the kinks out of my body. Somehow I knew today was going to be tough on us all. The pictures would be delivered today to the burg and while I was glad she had mailed them I was also worried about the fall out. I was worried what Morelli would do, what her mother would do, what others may do.

I knew that her family and Morelli's family wouldn't get theirs today as she had held them back and was going to send them today but still it didn't mean that they would never see them or someone wouldn't show them to him early.

Lost in my thoughts I continued to work out the more I worked out the better I felt. The soreness sometimes just needs to be worked out. If you don't work it out you are just more sore and sorer for longer. I was glad that the soreness was leaving me because I would need to be able to move if my partner needed me to and I didn't want sore muscles hindering me.

I finished my morning routine and like most of the other guys I headed to the shower area. Walking into the locker room I went to get my things out of my designated locker. Ella is good to us she always has it stocked for us. The exact same products we use in our individual apartments are in a case that we can just carry to the shower area. A fresh uniform is in everyone's locker every morning. She spoils us.

She even knows which of the guys wears underwear and what type and has them ready for them. Personally I don't and in my locker she doesn't put them. Somehow that should be disturbing she knows that but I don't worry about it. Ella is like a mother to us all for some it was the only mother we knew. I walked into the shower area and several of the guys were in a shower. The showers were separate showers with curtains so we had our privacy. Not that most of us gave a shit but for those that did they could have it.

Most of us had been use to military living where you didn't always have the luxury of modesty or privacy you learned to deal with it and move on without a second thought.

"So you guys got the Ipod ready for Stephanie?" I questioned when I walked into the shower area. I talked loud enough so I knew that all the guys in the area could hear me. Incendia had broken her ipod several weeks ago and hadn't replaced it.

We had gotten her one as a gift but hadn't given it to her as of yet. We were busy buying songs or moving songs to download to the device that we already had purchased. Yeah that might not be legal but fucking sue us.

I heard a serious of I am done and yeas meaning that most had downloaded the initial songs they wanted. "When are we going to give it to her?" I asked hoping they would say in the next day or so I knew the coming days were going to difficult on her."

Incendia wasn't one for revenge she didn't have the heart and while I admired her for doing this for stepping forward and saying you're not going to walk over me and I take it I still understood that it was going to take its toll on her as well. There was a price she was going to pay for this and I felt like the Ipod would make her day not to mention be a reminder that she had a large support system. Every man in this building supported her, loved her, and needed her; including me the newest member.

There was a series of I don't knows "well can I suggest we do it either today or tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow would be the better of the two days? Can we have it ready to give to her then? I think she is going to need something. These next couple of days is going to be rough on her." I reminded them. We all knew about the pictures.

Some had directly helped her others had just heard about them and seen the envelopes but we all knew about them and we all understood on some level the effect they were going to have.

I heard a round of everyone agreeing with me. I got cleaned up, dressed, and then went in search of breakfast.

**RamPOV**

I hated days like today. I was stuck at the fucking front desk answering phones and should anyone come in direct them to where they needed to go. Looking at the schedule it looked fairly light. I think Woody had one meeting onsite today. Other than that there would be walk-ins. We didn't really get any walk-ins.

I was going to be stuck at the desk most the afternoon twiddling my thumbs being bored out of my mind. My sniper training would see me through after all I could sit for days if I had to without moving more than a few inches in slow motion if necessary. I didn't necessarily like it but I could do it and had done it more times than I could count.

My kill book kept the record of each and every one of my kills and while I could tell you dates, times, names, places, and even faces I never bothered to add them up. It wasn't like it was a video game and points were given. It was real life and even if the target deserved what they got they were still a person with a family. So I kept them in my kill book marking their life existence even if noted in death.

It was my way of staying sane in the world of my job. Keeping focus that while they are my targets they are still people, they are still human beings no matter good, bad, or indifferent deserving or not deserving those weren't my call I followed orders; period.

When you took on judging or second guessing that is when you needed to get out. That's when you would get sloppy, lose focus, and lose your grasp of reality.

Some may say that was the easy way out or that it was a copout but it wasn't it was a sniper's life.

The phone rang "Rangeman Security Company" I said answering the phone.

"Hello, this is Helen Plum, Stephanie's mother. I need to talk to my daughter it is of an urgent matter." An annoyingly high pitched voice sounded into my ear. It sent shivers down my back like fingernails being drawn across a chalk board.

"Mrs. Plum I am sorry but Stephanie doesn't take phone calls." I told her. There was no way in fuck was I going to forward her through to Stephanie. I wanted to live to see tomorrow and if I forward her through to Stephanie if Stephanie didn't kill me Ranger would.

"Young man, I am her mother of course she takes my phone calls." She said her voice rising even higher I could hear her level of frustration rising with it and I smiled. The bitch deserved to be annoyed having the fucking nerve to call here and ask for Stephanie claiming to be her mother when we all knew she wasn't her mother. She was like a snake that laid its eggs and slivered away. Hell that would be better than what she did. She stuck around and did nothing but put Stephanie down and ridiculed her and made her the punching bag of the family and the burg. I let my years of sniper training control me.

I could have easily lost my cool but a sniper doesn't lose their cool a sniper controls it a sniper waits patiently a sniper is calm cool and extremely deadly; at least I was. It was time the predator played with its prey.

"Mrs. Plum Stephanie made it real clear that your calls are not to be forwarded to her. I would be glad to take a message and give it to her. If she wants to call you back I am sure she will call you when she can." I told her keeping my voice calm. I could feel her getting madder over the phone and she hadn't said a word. I couldn't help the smile.

"Young man I don't think you understand I told you it was urgent I don't have time for her to call me back. I need to speak to her now. I am not going to hang up this phone until you put her on the phone." I didn't give a fuck if the bitch stood there and held the phone all fucking day I wasn't going to be on the other end.

"Mrs. Plum you need to calm down, you can hold the phone all day but I am going to hang up and then I am going to give your daughter your message so I would suggest you hang up the phone so if she is inclined to call you back she will be able to get through." Once again speaking calmly into the phone not letting my temper through my voice, this was pissing her off more than me raising my voice or yelling back at her.

"Young man I am tired of this conversation I don't care what you say or what you are going to do I want my daughter on the phone this minute." She screamed the phone demanding I do what she said boy did she have it wrong.

"Mrs. Plum I am hanging up now have a good day." I told her as I put the phone down.

The phone rang immediately I knew she was calling back sometimes people just needed to listen the first fucking time. "Rangeman Security Corporation" I said even toned.

"What is your name young man" she demanded like I was fucking going to tell her my name. I would tell her my name when hell froze over and fucking cracked. Besides not telling her would piss her off even more and why not she was worrying the fuck out of me; it was the least I could do.

"Who wants to know" I asked.

"You know who I am, my name is Helen Plum I am Stephanie's mother." She screeched in the phone and I had to bite my lip to keep from saying no fucking shit to her I didn't think fucking snakes have talked since Adam and Eve lived in the garden of Eden and even then the snake was a dirty fucking son of a bitch just like this bitch I was talking to on the phone.

"According to her she no longer has a mother so I am going to need further proof of who you are. Do you have a Rangeman account number? Are you a customer of Rangeman? If not, then I am not going to be able to assist you further. The only calls she is currently taking are Rangeman Customer accounts she manages." I told her preparing for the scream that was going to come from her.

"No I am not a customer of Rangeman, I wouldn't hire your company if you were the last company on the planet I would risk someone stealing everything I had before I would hire your company to secure anything of mine. Knowing you people you probably only secure the properties so you have access and then you can steal what you want." She screamed at the top of her lungs. I am sure her voice could be heard across the room at this point as I held the phone away from my ear after all I needed my fine tune hearing.

"I want to speak to my daughter, I demand you put he on the phone or I am going to consider she is being held without her permission and I am going to file a complaint with the police department do you understand me young man. They will storm your precious building and take my daughter from you after I make my complaint to the police department. No one would believe you, nor would anyone believe her. Everyone knows your reputation and everyone knows that Stephanie is nothing but a liar." She said and I felt my anger rising at her accusations she was about to piss me the fuck off.

I have been trained to be calm, I have been trained to stay cool in not so cool situations but I have a temper. It just takes me longer to lose it than most of the guys of Rangeman did but if you start fucking with Stephanie you just tapped it and she was more than tapping it she was beating it at this point. I took a calming breath invoking more of my training focusing on my prey for the moment.

"Calm down Mrs. Plum. I don't think Stephanie has anything to worry about. You do what you have to do as far as the police are concerned but if you call back here I will consider it harassment and I will have to make a phone call of my own. I can't promise you exactly who I will call but I can promise you won't be so happy about it. After all like you said we are nothing but a bunch of murderers, thieves, and thugs. So I wouldn't want for us to let you down or make a liar out of you. Sleep well Mrs. Plum." I let my voice sound threatening just as I intended and left the threat hanging in the air for her to mull over as I hung up the phone.

Fucking bitch! I picked up the closest thing on the counter and threw it across the room. When I heard a crash I looked up and realized I had just thrown a stapler through one of the pictures hanging on the wall breaking the glass and sending the picture to the floor. Fuck Ranger was going to kick my ass for that. I only hoped it hadn't damaged the art work because that shit wasn't replicas and I didn't want to be paying for that shit the rest of my life.

Picking up the phone I called Luis to come and fix it. I briefly considered if I should call Ranger it wasn't like he wasn't going to find out I sighed and picked up the phone and called Ranger to report my dumbass doings to him.

**SPOV**

I had been sitting in Carlos' office going over some reports with him on a new customer account he had given me when his phone rang.

"Yo" he said and I just watched him. I loved watching him especially when he was distracted. He was beautiful to watch. The air he had about him that spoke of danger, desire, business man, grace, power. It was all there. He was in his element no matter the situation.

I smiled my thoughts taking over looking at his hard, long, body as he moved about. It was about the hottest thing a woman would ever see, well besides him with no clothing.

"Babe" he whispered to me as he was listening to whoever it was that called him. I blushed knowing that I had said that out loud. There was really nothing to blush about as it was all true all fact and I could prove it.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Which one?" He questioned and I could hear the anger in his voice. I looked up thinking he was talking about one of my Brothers. His eyes were slightly hardened.

"Why?" He asked and I wished he would say more so I could get some idea of what is going on.

"Okay I will come down. I will see if Stephanie wants to join me but she is busy with something so I am not sure she will." He said and now my interest was sparked even more I was definitely going wherever he was going. He wasn't going to leave me behind now that he said my name.

This had to do with one of my brothers and he said my name he should know I wasn't going to be left behind. "Babe" I heard him say and I grinned even bigger. I couldn't help it sometimes I was broken when I was around him after all it only took me looking at him.

I stood up closing the report and sitting on the table in front of me. "Looks like she will be joining me" he said and hung the phone up. I nodded he was right. We stepped out of his office with his hand on the small of my back as he took us to the elevator for which I was grateful.

We got on and he pushed one for the lobby. When we got down there and the elevator door opened I saw the reason for the phone call. One of the pictures was on the floor the glass shattered and a stapler lying next to it so this was no freak accident where the picture just suddenly jumps off of the wall only to learn it didn't have wings or feet to rely on.

"What happened?" I looked over to Ram and just looking at him I could see the anger around his eyes. I noticed the tension around his mouth and how he was holding his body rigid. It occurred to me in the relatively short time I have been here with my brothers how much I was able to read and know just looking at them I knew what they were feeling. I would say right now Ram was pissed.

That acknowledgement made me happy made me smile.

"What's that look for bombshell?" Ram asked me as I walked over and sat down in his lap.

"I was just thinking how I could look at you and see that you were pissed. How I was able to read the signs in your face that several weeks ago I would have never noticed." He raised his eyebrow fuck even he could do that.

I reached up rubbed my fingers around his eyes "I can see the anger around your eyes" I then rubbed my fingers around the sides of his mouth "I can see the tension around your mouth." I then ran my hands over his shoulders and neck "I can see how you're holding your body rigid. I would say you are pissed. Not to mention the whole throwing a stapler through a pictures. What did the picture do to you anyway?" I half jokingly said to him to get a smile out of him; it worked he smiled.

"Your mom called" he said looking a little apprehensive. I looked at him I know both of my eyebrows went up as I was fighting for only one to go up but it didn't work.

"She wanted to talk to you and I wouldn't put her through she got a little upset. Threatened to call the police and report that you were being held against your will." He told me and I wanted to ring her neck. Now it was me that was getting rigid and getting pissed.

"It's okay Bombshell I handled it she probably won't ever call here again looking for you. After all I threatened that if she called back that I would make some phone calls. I just wasn't going to tell her who I was going to call after all as she put it we were a bunch of murdering, thugs, and thieves and I wouldn't want to make a liar out of her. When I hung up the phone I picked up the closest thing to me and threw it. It happened to be the stapler and it happened to hit the picture." He told me and I couldn't help cracking up. I laughed until I wouldn't have been able to sit up on my own. Had I not been in his lap I would have been on the floor.

I knew Carlos was looking at me because I could feel his eyes on me. He must have questioned Ram why I was laughing because I felt Ram shrug his shoulders.

I looked up with tears in my eyes from laughter at Carlos standing beside us looking down at me "Babe" he said and I couldn't help but laugh at the situation.

"Ram the picture frame is toast but the art work wasn't damaged you were fucking lucky. That picture would have cost you three point five." Carlos said and I was a little confused. Three point five what the fuck does that mean?

"Carlos you must mean like thirty five hundred not three point five that doesn't make sense." I said to him. He shook his head smiling.

"No babe not thirty five hundred. Three point five million." My mouth dropped open. I knew they looked like museum quality but I had no idea they were that level of museum quality. I mean this was like lock that shit up and put it under sensors museum quality and it was in the lobby like any other picture. What the hell?

"Carlos you are telling me that one picture is worth three point five million dollars?" I asked him hardly able to get the words out of my mouth.

"Rangeman purchase Babe, consider it an investment next month I will be worth four." He said and I just shook my head pretending I wasn't hearing this. I got up out of Ram's lap gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Sorry my mother is such a bitch Ram. I am also sorry you had to deal with her hopefully she won't call back anymore but thank you , thank you for not forwarding it through I didn't want to talk to her." I told him and he nodded I knew he was saying anytime in that nod.

Carlos and I made our way up to the fifth floor to get back to work. It could have been a whole lot worse.

When I got back to my office I checked my old cell phone. I hadn't cut the service as I left the voice mail on. I clicked it on and listened to the voice mail. Mary Lou left me voice mail about the envelopes she received. I smiled and when she told me that she loved me my eyes watered up. I hung up the phone and turned it back off I didn't want to hear it ringing all afternoon.

I spent the rest of the day in my office when the mailman came by delivering the mail I handed him the handful of envelopes that had been held back. I couldn't help but think bon voyage. This was going to be a surprise of their lifetime. As far as they knew I was the one that allowed them and the burg walk all over me. That had ended and these pictures were a good way to prove it.

I packed up my desk and headed up to seven for dinner with Carlos.

**RamPOV**

What a fucking morning. Hal and I had been out all morning staking out a skip. He was suppose to just fucking be sleeping off a night of drunken stupor so it should have been a relatively easy pickup. A no brainer even for the violent skip he was.

We had gone in the house once we thought he was well passed out but we were surprised. He hadn't passed out. He grabbed a knife throwing it at us and it stuck in Hal's thigh.

It gave Hal the permission he needed to beat the fuck out of him and he beat him. The skip went to the Trenton PD with broken ribs, broken hand, and a face that looked like it had been hit by a fucking MAC truck.

Once we dropped the skip off I stirred us toward the ER. Hal wasn't looking so great. He was looking pretty pale. The knife was still sticking out of his leg as we didn't want to pull it out. Bobby had told us enough that we could do more damage if we pulled objects out in the field. I knew it had to hurt like a mother fucker. I hit the com button to link the vehicle with control room. "Yo" I heard "Let Bobby know that Hal took a blade to the leg. We are heading to ER." I told them and pushed the button to disconnect. I didn't need to say anything more.

I pulled up to the ER and Hal got out. Rangeman had a deal with the ER and the hospital that we didn't wait, we had a private room, and we were able to have guards at the door because we never knew the circumstances for which we would be brought to the ER or the hospital.

"Go ahead man I will park and catch up to you once I have parked." I told him. He nodded and headed into the ER. I parked the vehicle in our designated parking spots and made my way into the ER.

I had been standing there for a little over and hour when Morelli came in with two women on gurneys nurses were frantically working on both of them and they went into one of the rooms down the hall from us. He never saw me standing there.

I would look in the room through the window every little while to see what they were doing with Hal I knew Bobby was making sure Hal was stitched up correctly and cared for to his specifications which were a hell of a lot higher than what the average person here got.

Bobby took his job seriously and he would stop at nothing to ensure we had all the care we needed. There was expense spared whatever was the most successful, the best recourse of action for recovery, the best rehabilitation to be had that was what he ensured was done for all of us. There was never a question. If the doctor didn't agree with Bobby, Bobby made sure the doctor agreed before they walked out of the door or the doctor never walked back in the room again.

Hell I had even seen him go to the point of the doctor not being allowed to walk back into the hospital.

I wasn't sure how long I had been standing there when I sensed someone approaching I turned in time to block a right hook. I continued to block his attacks was this all the fuck he had? Fuck this was like fighting my mother. I didn't strike back because it would be like kicking a fucking starving puppy.

Even though he was a son of a bitch and I fucking hated him for what he had done with Stephanie if I struck back it would be a slaughter. He wouldn't survive the first strike. Besides he was gaining quite the audience and I could use this to my advantage.

I remained calm. He reared back and pulled his gun and before he even had time to register what the fuck happened I had him on the ground on his stomach with both hands cuffed behind his back. When he realized his position he roared. But I didn't give a fuck. I wasn't going to help his dumb fuck of an ass up if he wanted up bad enough he would figure it out.

"Uncuff me you fucking son of a bitch. Do you know who I am? Do you know what I am capable of? Uncuff me or you will fucking live to regret it every fucking day of your miserable existence of a fucking life you fucking thug." He yelled out I just looked at him.

"Morelli I know who you are. I also know you attacked me and I will be filing charges, you drew your gun on me without provocation, without warrant, you would have pulled the trigger had I not disarmed and subdued you. You are out of control." I told him calmly once again reverting back to my sniper training to control my emotions, my heart rate, my breathing.

"I have an ER full of witnesses and I have called the police to come and take care of you." I told him before I walked back over to the window looking through it to check on my partner.

Being a partner was something few people completely understood. When one of us was injured the other was immediately put on edge. We looked out after each other and we depended on our partner to look after us so it was important that we knew we were there for each other.

"This is all Stephanie's fault. I am blaming her she will fucking pay for this every second of it. You can also tell her that she is the reason my grandmother is dead she fucking killed her. When she looked at those pictures she had a fucking heart attack. You tell Stephanie that. She had a heart attack and died because of Stephanie and what she did." He screamed at me across the hallway. That would one message that I would not be giving her; I wasn't pretty sure.

I turned looking at him lying on the floor hands cuffed behind his back thinking it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy I calmly told him "I am sorry for your loss" before I turned back looking in the window to check on my partner and calm myself.

I heard him roar at my comment and I couldn't help the smile that came over my face. He got i, I really didn't give a fuck about his loss.

It wasn't long before Carl walked into the ER I heard Morelli complaining like a fucking pussy but I ignored him. When Carl walked up to me he asked me what had happened and I gave him a rundown of the events, and the attack on me.

I had hidden my gun in a pile of laundry on the tray just outside Hal's door. I knew Carl would check and I wanted to be unarmed. Once he checked me I hid the gun on me he would never be the wiser. As far as Carl was concerned Morelli attacked an unarmed man.

Not that my hands weren't just as lethal as my gun but I couldn't do anything about them. He went back over and exchanged words with Morelli but I had already tuned them out. I didn't give a fuck what happened to him long as his fucking sorry ass went to jail. I wanted this attack on his record, he couldn't say it was provoked, he couldn't say I had done a fucking thing to warrant it and I had a whole ER of witnesses in addition to the cameras.

I sent a text to Rangeman to have them pull the footage from the cameras before they were fucked with. I didn't trust Morelli and while I didn't think some of the cops would tamper with the video there were certainly some cops that I wouldn't put past doing some shit like that.

I got text 10-4 meaning they were on it and I just smiled; minutes later Bobby and Hal came walking out of the room ready to head back to Rangeman. Now there was only one question I needed to answer on my way to Rangeman; to tell Bombshell what happened or not.

**SPOV**

I had been in the office working on a proposal and doing some paperwork that had been shifted my way when Ram knocked on my door and walked into my office. He went straight to the couch and sit down. I sensed something was up with him and I knew it wasn't business; at least not directly.

I locked my machine and got up and walked over to him. I had heard about Hal but they had let me know he was okay and only needed to get stitched up. He would just have some recovery time while the muscles healed.

I reached him and sat down in his lap turning sideways so I could look at him, his arm lying across the arm of the couch supporting my back.

"Bombshell I have something to tell you, I am just not sure how to tell you." He confessed and I was confused.

"Ram just tell me." I told him not sure what he was going to say and I was a little anxious as to what he was going to say. I could tell he was hesitant to continue.

"Stephanie" he started and I couldn't help but feel that oh shit moment wash over me. He was using my full name. My anxiety ratcheted up notches waiting for him to continue. "Today I was standing in the ER and Joe came in." He told me.

I had the urge to ask him why he was telling me this because I am sure Joe was in the ER a lot with his job. Why did I give a shit? But I held back.

This was Ram and he wouldn't be in here wasting words and talking to me if it wasn't important and if he felt it was important then it was important he wasn't an alarmist and he never believed in wasting good words on shit talking.

"Stephanie he came in with his Mother and Grand Mother." He said looking at me. I hadn't moved my eyes still locked on his. He ran his hands through his short hair he pierced his lips together as if trying to think of the best way to tell me something so I just waited him out.

"His mother and Grandmother were both on gurney's I am not sure what happened with them but his Grandmother died I don't know about his mother." He said and I sat there unable to move listening to his words.

"He attacked me came at me swinging then pulled his gun" when I heard that I started to jump to my feet I would fucking kill him with my bare hands. Ram grabbed me stopping me. He pulled me back to him. "Stephanie he said they had had seen the pictures." He told me.

I just looked at him. "What?" I asked him feeling as if the air had been knocked out of me. "I wasn't sure if I should tell you but it didn't feel right keeping this from you. I couldn't keep this from you so I had to tell you." He said.

I sat back on his lap. "Thank you, Ram thank you for telling me. Keeping this from me even if for my own good wouldn't have been good. What happened when Joe pulled his gun on you?" I asked him. He smiled. He knew his safety and he came first above my thoughts about Joe's mother or grandmother.

"I disarmed him, cuffed him and let the police pick him up. I am pressing charges. The charges are good he attacked me; he pulled his gun on me. Furthermore he pulled his gun on an unarmed man." He told me and my eyes caught him narrowing.

"You, unarmed? " I questioned him not believing it. If I knew Ram I wouldn't be surprised if he slept with his gun. He was never unarmed. He smiled at me and I knew there was a catch.

"Well I was unarmed when questioned by Carl who came to pick him up and haul his sorry ass to jail." He told me and a smile broke through.

"You could have gotten killed today because of me." I said the reality of what could have happened sitting in and tears sprang forward in my eyes as I grabbed him hugging him to me. I could have lost my brother today.

"Bombshell its okay I am fine. I was never in any danger." He said and I shook my head no against him.

I felt hands on me and I knew who they belonged to as they lifted me and held me to him I buried my head in his neck and took a deep breath in his smell washing over me, calming me. How did he know I needed him?

"I always know." He whispered in my ear and I knew it was true he was always there when I needed him even when I didn't realize it; he did.

"Grandma Bella, Joe's Grandmother died today. She died after she saw the pictures. Joe went after Ram and pulled his gun on him after he attacked him. Ram disarmed him and cuffed him and is filing charges but hearing it scared me. I could have lost him." I told him spilling it all out.

"Babe he's fine. It's okay." He told me and I knew that was true but my fear laid in what could have happened not what did happen and I hadn't even focused on the death of Joe's Grandmother. I knew the pictures would cause a scene.

I knew the pictures would ignite the burg but I didn't expect them to kill someone. I never intended them to kill someone. I mean everyone knew we never got a long. She hated me and threatened to put the eye on me anytime she saw me but I didn't want to kill her.

"Babe its okay you don't know if that is true, she was an old woman she could have died today even if you didn't send those pictures." He said. I saw the logic in his theory and it was true she could have but I knew better; we all knew better.

I knew that was something that I was going to have to live with and deal with. I didn't like it, I wouldn't have wished it, I felt slightly guilty but I wasn't sorry I had mailed them. My fears still was with what could have happened to my brother. Now had that happened and had he been taken from me I would have never forgiven myself.

That was the bitter pill about revenge. When you sought revenge there was consequences there was fall out and sometimes it spread in ways you never anticipated in ways you never fathomed or meant but once you unleashed revenge you set the ball in motion and you can't prevent or stop the fallout you just ride the wave and pray those you love don't get in the way. Today Ram and Grandma Belle had gotten in the way. Ram made it out safe, Grandma Belle didn't.

I looked up at Carlos "are you mad at me? Are you disappointed in me? For having caused this?" I asked him and he shook his head no.

"Babe, never would I be mad, or disappointed in you." He said and I could see the truth ringing through his words and his eyes. All was right in my world. That was all that matter at the moment. Well maybe not all but it was the most important.

**JMPOV**

I did not believe they were arresting me, when the captain was through stripping me of my detective title and putting me on desk duty until who the fuck knew when he excused me from his office. Carl came collecting me and walked me to booking.

They were going to fucking put me behind bars over this. It figures the liberal fucking no backbone fuckers of this department to side with Rangeman; the enemy.

I wasn't surprised why should I be they had been siding with the wrong side for a long time. I had seen it how their interests in crimes that involved anyone other than middle class white American's held the highest priority to resolve. We wouldn't want to have anyone notice that we were paying more attention to the middle class white American's than anyone else; stupid fuckers.

Here was further proof they would side with those fucking thugs over me a detective on the force for all these years. I worked long hours, I put in my service and this was the fucking gratitude I got arrested for confronting a fucking thug. What was this department coming to? What was this world coming to?

They were too fucking stupid to get out of their own god damn fucking way in my opinion and this was just further proof I was right. There was never a mention of having my back, but oh anger Rangeman and it was like the world was going to come to a fucking halt and everything was going to fucking fall off.

I didn't say a word through the whole booking process. I just sat there fuming and relishing in the thoughts of when the day would come that Stephanie would pay for this, for my grandmother, for me, for everything she caused.

I heard the click of the metal and I went over and took a seat. I knew I would be arraigned soon and I would be able to get out on bail. Maybe I could skip out and then when Rangeman came after me I would be ready for them. That was something to further contemplate.

I had been sitting in there for several hours. I hadn't heard about my mother but I was sort of hoping no news was good news but I would be lying if I didn't say it was on my mind and I was getting worried. I wondered why they hadn't taken before the judge.

I called out and one of the cops walked over. I didn't know his name. "Can you tell me why I haven't been taken to court yet for my arraignment hearing? I want to get the fuck out of here." I told him he turned and walked away.

He came back in a few minutes "You hearing is tomorrow the judge's docket was full and he refused to stay over time to hear your case." He said. Since when would the judge refuse to stay over to hear a case especially if it was a cop's case. We should be given some leniency after all it was never good for a cop to be in jail. They fucking knew that. At least they threw me in a cell by myself. I guess it could have been worse.

I sat down on the cot really wishing I had a drink. It would be nice to wash this day away with a slow burn trailing down my throat. Feeling the warmth wash over me burning the day away but no I wasn't able to feel that or do that I was fucking stuck here.

They had brought our dinner in at some point and the food was nasty. I had heard people say people in prison should be happy they weren't living on the streets. They had a roof over their heads, three squares a day, warmth in the winter, and air conditioning in the summer; better than some hard working honest American had. If this was the fucking shit they were eating I would bet they could find better in the dumpsters behind restaurants.

It had gotten dark I wasn't sure the time as there are no clocks. When I heard the door open I stood up thinking they were going to release me to my surprise they walked Edna Mazur through the door. I briefly hoped they put her in my cell but they passed me and put her in the cell at the far end. I could see her but there was no way I could touch her; damn.

I briefly wondered why she was being arrested but knowing that crazy old bat it could be for anything. The last time she was arrested her and her friends decided it would be fun to sit on the back of a convertible and strip their clothes off because it was too hot outside.

They had seen some movie something about Ya Yays or something like that because they keep yelling it and laughing from the time they were arrested until they were booked.

Who knows what she had done tonight.

The officer had no more shut the door when she started.

"Joe what brings you here?" She said but I ignored her it wasn't any of her fucking business. I went and sat back down.

"They arrested me because they are trying to say I hung up pictures at the VFW." My eyes locked with hers, pictures? She smiled. She knew she had me she knew she had peaked my interest with the word pictures. These pictures were going to be the death of me.

"Someone hung pictures of you and Helen in the VFW tonight for the dance." She said. Yeah I couldn't imagine who that someone was; Edna. I wanted to scream but I realized this is what she wanted so I was going to try hard not to give it to her, but she was pushing all of the right buttons.

"Yeah they blew them up and framed them. Framed them in those nice frames from the dollar store you know they are nice frames for a dollar." She said like I gave a fuck about the frames at the dollar store. I am sure they were nice after all you usually got what you paid for. They were probably fake metal, fake wood, hell probably fake glass.

I sat back down trying to ignore the old crazy ass woman. Somehow I knew this was going to be a long night and it was just going to be longer with her in the room with me. Shame she wasn't in my same cell if she was I could choke the shit out of her as is all I could do was trying to ignore her.

**SPOV**

Carlos and I had finished dinner and we were sitting on the couch. Him holding me as I was contemplating my day and trying to come to grips with the fact that I had effectively meaning to or not been responsible for someone dying today.

The phone rang and I jumped. It wasn't normal the house line rang. Typically the calls went to our cell phones.

Carlos picked up the phone and his eyes cut to me causing me to straighten my posture. His lips quirked so something he found amusing but he didn't want to laugh in front of whoever it was on the phone. He shook his head and handed me the phone.

"Babe its BInkie he wants to speak to you." He said and I hesitantly took the phone.

"Hello" I said bringing the phone to my ear.

"Bombshell your grandmother has been arrested. She called here to ask if you could come to the station and get her." Oh my god my grandmother had been arrested.

"What happened?" I asked not sure if he even knew.

He cleared his throat. "Well according to the report that went out someone had taken pictures, the pictures you sent out, blew them up framed them and then hung them up at the VFW for a dance they had tonight." He told me and I couldn't help the laughter that sprung forward.

This sounded completely crazy, completely asinine, and completely something my Grandmother would do. Joe's Grandma dies from looking at the pictures she gets so upset from them my Grandmother blows them up, frames them, and hangs them up at a dance. I am sure her reasons were no doubt all in an effort to get her a hottie. That sounds exactly like something she would do.

Even though it had landed her jail which I didn't want to happen I couldn't help but laugh leave it up to my grandma.

"Okay thanks Binkie I will take care of it." I told him handing the phone back to Carlos as I stood to get ready to head down to the police station. It was getting late.

"Carlos I have got to go get Grandma out of jail. She apparently blew up the pictures I sent her framed them and then hung them up in the VFW for a dance. They arrested her. I need to go get her." I told him. I wasn't certain he was going to like the next piece of my plan but for some reason I felt it necessary.

"I think when I pick her up and we are able to leave I am going to go and stay with her for the night at my old apartment." I told him. For some reason I felt like it was something I should do.

He wrapped his arms around me holding me to him. "Babe I will miss you not being our bed but if you feel you need to then go stay with her." He said.

I looked up at him. "I will miss being in our bed too." I told him walking into the bedroom to pack a small overnight bag. I would be back for the morning meeting maybe even my work out. He followed me into the bedroom.

"Babe I am going with you to the station and I will drop you and your grandmother off at your apartment. I want to make sure the apartment is secure before you go in. A lot has happened today and with other things possible I think it is important." He said and I nodded.

"You can have Slyder pick me up tomorrow in my new vehicle." I told him smiling. I had just a few days ago purchased my own personal vehicle. I was excited about it but I was also careful when I drove it.

He smiled and nodded as we made our way out of the apartment to the police station.

"Babe you think I should have our lawyer meet us at the station?" He asked me and I shook my head no.

"We will see how much trouble she is in, what happened exactly, what she has told them first. Then we can call him if we need him." I told him and he nodded. I was hoping tonight was going to be a simple pick up we could use the lawyer later if there was a trial.

**RPOV**

I knew Stephanie's grandmother was one crazy woman but I didn't realize how crazy she was. After tonight I knew never underestimate her. Never assume you know what that woman is doing or why. She was crazy; crazy like a fox.

We walked into the police station Babe, Santos, Hector, and me. Santos and Hector insisted on coming. They were both waiting on us in the garage when we got down there. I didn't put up a fuss the more men protecting my Babe the happier I was. However, the four of us definitely were causing a scene in the station.

We all had on our weapons, including my Babe. We were all dressed in our cargos. We looked ready for battle. I wasn't certain if the police thought we were here to get Edna one way or the other.

My Babe walked up to window "I am here to pick up Edna Mazur" she said to the cop behind the glass. He nodded and called out to another cop who walked out of the door and came up to us.

"Maam I am sorry but Edna can't leave tonight her arraignment isn't scheduled until tomorrow." The dumbass cop started to say and I went to reach for my phone to call our attorney.

"Officer can I see my Grandmother? As you can see I am member of Rangeman and I would like to see her, talk to her, and ask her what happened." My Babe said sounding confident in her voice. She was getting her Grandmother tonight you could hear that in her voice.

He looked over at us and I gave him a look that said he better be moving his ass giving my woman what she wanted and he paled slightly I think it was more Hector's fault than mine as he nodded asking us to follow him. Well he asked her but we weren't going to let her go alone. Not in enemy territory.

He led us to a room where he asked us to wait. I knew he was going to get Mrs. Mazur so I sat down and pulled Stephanie into my lap. Santos and Hector leaned against the wall. I knew we were in an interrogation room. "Babe be careful of what you say we are in an interrogation room and I am sure we will be recorded. She has been read her rights anything she says can be used against her." I whispered in her ear pretending to have a little make out session with my woman.

She nodded her head in a way that would appear she was nuzzling my neck letting me know she understood what I was implying. My lawyer was good but it was hard to recant a confession and if her grandmother admitted to it in this room with us they would use it against her.

It wasn't impossible and if any Trenton lawyer could get her off with a confession it would be mine, as he was the best, but I just didn't want to have that level of complexity added if she hadn't already confessed.

A few minutes later in walked Mrs. Mazur her hands cuffed behind her and I was pissed. She was an old lady and they felt the need to cuff her to walk her from the holding tank to the interrogation room. I knew that the only reason they were letting us meet her was because I was the head of Rangeman and Stephanie was a Rangeman employee. Anyone else would have been denied access until after the arraignment hearing.

He walked her in and sat her down in the chair across from us and proceeded to hook her hands to the bar on the table. "Is that necessary" my Babe asked the cop and I could tell the tone of her voice she wasn't happy either. The cop nodded.

"Grandma how are you?" she asked

"I am okay my head hurts a little but I am fine. When the officer put me in the car he hit my head on the top of the car and then when he jerked me out of the car he hit the other side of my head. He then walked so fast into the station that he made me trip. Thank fully he caught me before I hit the ground I could have broken a hip. You know when people my age break a hip it is just all downhill from there. I mean they go have surgery and they are never right, and that is provided they survive the surgery." She went on.

My lip quivered I couldn't stop it from happening. She had set these poor dumb fuckers up and they didn't even know it.

"Grandma you need someone to look at your injuries?" Stephanie asked then she looked at me "I want you to call Bobby I want him here and I want him looking at her for injuries she could have a concussion if he hit her hard enough." She told me. Your wish is my command I thought as I pulled my phone from my hip.

"Yo" he answered

"Brown, grab your gear Police Station, now. Stephanie needs you to look at her Grandmother." I told him. I could feel him pale over the phone none of us wanted to get that close, within reach, but this was necessary. "Oh and Brown bring a camera we need some documentation done." I told him and hung up.

I didn't wait for a response I just hung up.

"Yeah I tried to tell them that I have been dizzy and sick feeling sincee but they wouldn't listen to me they just took me and put me in a room like this. They wanted to ask me a bunch of questions and even brought in the pictures they believed I hung up on the walls but I told them I wanted my phone call and my lawyer." She said and once again my lip quivered. Never let it be said this old woman wasn't on top of her game.

"I saw the pictures, I touched the pictures looking at them, but I don't know who hung them up." She said. She knew they were recording this I could see it in her eyes. I was enjoying this.

"Once I made my phone call I was put in a cell in the back and you will never guess who my cell mate is." She said her eyes sparkling. "Well he isn't in the same cell he is across the room from me but none other than Trenton's own Italian Stallion; Joseph Morelli. However, after seeing those pictures I can attest that he isn't really so much a Stallion as everyone says; such a disappointment." She said shaking her head and it was only my years of training my years of service my years of keeping my emotions in check that I didn't fucking loose it and laugh in that room.

"He's been going on and on about how you ruined his life. How you killed his grandma, personally I say good riddance to the psycho crazy bitch of a witch, because she had a heart attack when he saw the pictures. I told him that was nonsense I was an old woman and I didn't have a heart attack when I saw them. I told him she was just old she had a bad heart, she obviously didn't have our good genes, and she just died pictures or no pictures she would have had that heart attack and died. The woman was old as dirt she had seen dicks and pussies before in her life and has had sex after all she had those worthless kids it wasn't like she didn't know how to get down under the covers. The pictures they didn't kill her she would have had that heart attack anyway and died." She said and even I wouldn't have known how to respond to that logic and reasoning she was defending.

She continued. "I don't think he wanted to believe me as he kept screaming how he was going to get even. So watch your back baby girl." She said and I gave a Hector a look. He nodded and slipped out of the room. I had no doubt to pay a particular officer a visit and remind him exactly who and what he was threatening.

"Grandma we are going to get you out of here." My Babe said and I nodded. She stood up "I need to go talk to someone I will be right back. I stood following her giving Lester a look that said stay put and keep an eye on her. He nodded he got it.

I followed my Babe to the police chief's office where she knocked on the door. An officer opened the door.

"How can we help you?" She asked.

"My name is Stephanie and I am with Rangeman I need to speak to the chief it's a matter of urgent nature that I speak to him now." She said.

"I am sorry Stephanie but he isn't here he is at home during this hour." She said. My Babe rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I figured he would be but I need to speak to him and I need to speak to him now so if you don't mind, please call him for me or I can ask someone else to do it if it is too much trouble for you." She said and I could sense anger rising in her but her forcefulness and take no prisoners attitude had the blood flowing south.

The officer nodded and walked back in the office with us following. She picked up the phone and dialed the number after she got he chief on the phone she went to hand my Babe the receiver but she shook her head no "put him on speaker phone." She said and by her tone she left no other possibilities so the officer pressed the button then sat the receiver down on the desk.

"Chief this is Stephanie with Rangeman Security. I am here with Ranger the owner of Rangeman Security and I wanted to bring something to your attention. My Grandmother, Mrs. Mazur, was arrested this afternoon because someone believed she hung pictures up in the VFW." She said pausing briefly, just long enough for the chief to begin speaking.

"Stephanie while that is disturbing I don't see why you are calling me. You know there will be an investigation and she will either have to go to court or charges will be dropped. I am certain you will be able to bail her out in the mean time." He said. Oh shit even I knew enough to know that wasn't the correct answer.

"Chief you didn't let me finish. The arresting officer manhandled my elderly grandmother to the point that she may have a concussion he hit her head two times on the car, he then caused her trip in the parking lot. She is an old woman she could have been seriously injured. Is this conduct that you condone?" She asked him her voice ice cold.

"Stephanie I am sorry that happened. I will have to speak to the officer who brought her in. If he was out of line then he will be dealt with." He said. Wrong answer was all I could think.

"Chief that is fine but what are you going to do about my Grandmother. They don't even have proof it was her that hung the pictures in the first place. I demand she is released and I further demand that this little investigation get forgotten about. You have no idea how close I am to filing brutality charges. You also have no idea how close I am to calling the mayor and pulling Rangeman service to this department. It isn't as if you pay us enough to make it worth our while. We have only been doing it for the residents of this town so they can have a safe community but you know when the police don't act with a certain conduct to its citizens then that is less motivating to continue our services." She said and my dick was so hard I could drill holes in the cinderblock walls hearing her controlling the chief and knowing just how much pressure to apply to get what she want.

"Stephanie I am sure we can work something out where those things won't be necessary." He said back peddling. She had him; hook, line and sinker.

"Yes chief we can." She said smiling she knew she had him. "You can release my Grandmother and drop the investigation. Anything less is unacceptable terms; your call. Either you make the necessary phone call or I make the call the choice is yours." She said. I was cussing that she was going to spending the night with her grandmother instead of coming back to Rangeman with me. Shit this was going to be a long night.

"Alright Stephanie have it your way. I will make the call." He said conceding to her wishes. I just shook my head. My Babe was fucking amazing.

"Thank you chief I knew we would see eye to eye. Have a good night." She said allowing the sweetness that is normal for her voice back in from the hardened icy tones that were there prior. There was no doubt who my Babe took after in her family. That was both a beautiful and an extremely scary thought.

We made our way out of the office and back to the room where her Grandmother and Lester were waiting for us. Lester hadn't moved from his spot against the wall. We had barely walked in the room before the officer was in the room releasing her.

I pulled my Babe into my arms "You are amazing. I am going to miss you tonight." I told her and I heard her groan.

"I love you" she said to me and I couldn't prevent the smile. Hector joined us a few seconds later and we walked out of the station. I smiled when Hector and Lester realized that they had to ride in the back with Grandma. I laughed even harder when she called out she had filling.

Meaning she was the filling between Lester and Hector. I didn't think anything scared Hector but at this moment he was scared. I could see it. A little old burg woman had scared Hector. Lester just shrugged and went with it. I think he was so use to having his ass pinched and his package felt up by Babe's grandma that nothing fazed him anymore.

Luckily it wasn't too far from the station to the apartment.

Once we got there we swept the apartment all was safe. I hugged my Babe gave her a kiss and we left. I hadn't even cleared the building before I had setup surveillance I wasn't going to leave her unprotected. Her building was about as secure as a card board box under the freeway. Even the cardboard was harder to access than this apartment.

**SPOV**

I was never so grateful for my partner picking me up at my Grandmother's apartment. It had been a long night. She said that her partying had been interrupted and she wasn't done and she didn't want to stay in the apartment. She wanted to hang out in Thomas' apartment because she had already primed him for their evening of fun.

She confessed to me once we were behind closed doors that she had been the one to blow the pictures up and hang them up but the only person who knew it was Betty her best friend next door and according to their code she would never say a word.

After all Best friends were the ones that helped you hide the bodies not rat you out. I had to laugh. Only my Grandmother would do something like this. Everyone knew it but I guess it wasn't a case of what you knew but what you could prove. She also confessed to hitting her head both times on purpose and tripping on purpose. Where she learned this crap I had no idea but I had to give her credit it wasn't a bad plan it had gotten her a free get out of jail card.

My partner had picked me up at seven this morning and I think I was still up at four this morning trying to wrestle my Grandmother back in her apartment. I had decided to stay just in case there was any fallout from the pictures.

I was a little happier knowing that Joe was in jail at least we didn't have to worry about him but I worried about others. I had my gun with me but I learned quickly that I had to hide it as my Grandmother wanted to see if she could shoot it again as good as she did the first time when she shot the chicken in rump at the dining room table.

Other than my Grandmother running wild, and neither of us getting any sleep all was quite all was well and I was happy to see my grandma fitting in so well in my building. I had no doubt she wouldn't make friends I just wasn't certain what they would think of her. She can be a little out there at time.

I left Grandma snoring away when Slyder sent me a text that he was outside. I slipped out and smiled. Carlos had told him to bring my new to me vehicle. A 2006 red Ford Explorer. Lester had helped me pick it out. Red was his favorite color so he convinced me it was also my favorite color and made me buy it.

Well he didn't make me buy it but the vehicle was in excellent shape and the price was right and now that I have safe parking and other vehicles to use when I am on official business maybe this one will last me a long time; at least that is the hope.

Heading to Rangeman I couldn't help but wonder why every day had to start so butt ass early. I mean who really was up and moving at seven in the morning?

As I drive I can't help but reminisce how my life has changed. I have been working for Rangeman for almost two weeks now on my own with my own partner. This was the second week. I really didn't count the prior time as I was paired with a core team member and was on probation.

In my mind my time started when I was officially a Rangeman or I guess you could technically say Rangewoman.

In some perverse sort of way I had Joe to thank for this. Had he not done what he had done I would have probably been in the same holding pattern running back and forth to Joe while being madly in love with Carlos.

Even calling him Carlos was different. In some ways it seemed unreal all the changes I had gone through in this relatively short time and then on the other hand looking back I couldn't believe that was my life and I thought I was happy. I had no idea what happy was then.

We made it back to Haywood the whole time me reminiscing over my life, my friends, my brothers, my best friend, Carlos and even to some degree Joe, though those thoughts weren't the best.

When I pulled into the lot we got out just as Lester walked out of the stairways. "Beautiful I have been looking for you. We got to roll we got a live one." He said. I knew he was referencing a skip. I was hoping to be able to wrap my arms around Carlos and give him a kiss before having to pull out again.

I held up my hand to tell him to wait a moment when the stairwell door opened again and Carlos came striding out like a vision. It had only been one night but it was a night of hell and no sleep and I missed him.

I launched myself towards him, him catching me effortlessly as though I weighed nothing and I knew that wasn't the case. But it was a good feeling to feel that weightless. My lips landed on his as he pulled me in tight. Feeling his arms band around me mad me feel at home.

"Come on guys damn" Lester gritted out as my legs wrapped around Carlos' waist. I wasn't ready to come up for air. I was just getting started. I let go of Carlos long enough to give Lester the finger which caused Slyder to burst out in laughter.

I finally came up for air. Looking at Carlos I told him "I missed you." I told him and he smiled. "Babe" I knew that meant he missed me too but wasn't going to allow Lester or Slyder the privilege of hearing him say it. He had his bad ass image to uphold after all.

"Lester says we have a live one." I told him and he nodded. "So I will be heading back out with them. Hopefully we will be back by lunch want to eat with me?" I asked him hoping he caught on to the fact I had no intention of actually eating anything that was designated as food. My thoughts were more I along the lines that I would nibble on him.

"Babe" he choked out as Lester and Slyder started howling in laughter. Fuck I had said that out loud. Damn what's wrong with me? I decided nothing that being held in his arms with my legs wrapped around him gave me a free pass for my thoughts to pass my brain as he practically fried my brains when he was this close to me.

He just shook his head. I knew I had said that out loud but the two dumbasses were still laughing and probably not paying any further attention to me.

I finally release my legs from him and lower myself down his body giving him a final kiss I break free and make my way over the SUV where Slyder and Lester were standing by. I give Carlos a finger wave and hop in the front. Lester is driving and Slyder is in the back.

"So who is the live fish?" I asked? Lester smiled.

"Your friend Ronnie Kravitz." He said and I moaned. Fuck. He wasn't my friend. I did have a different feeling towards him since I ran the searches and realized he wasn't really a danger to us only himself. He hated his life and himself too much to be a danger to others. He was his own worst enemy.

"Great. Oh well guess we better get this over with." I said as he pulled out the lot.

We made our way to Sycamore and Trite. I was so tired I wanted to just sit there for a while and nap while they watched but I felt like I couldn't really do that.

"So, Beautiful, you can't even be a night away from boss man without throwing yourself into his arms like a wanton woman." He teased me I could hear the amusement in his voice.

"Whatever, Lester," I said to him not letting him rib me about it.

"Lester if you were a dog you would probably be permanently glued to my leg. The only reason you aren't now is because one you aren't a dog and two if you tried you know Carlos would kill you." I told him.

Slyder started laughing in the back but through his laughter added "man she has your number, only she doesn't know what a dog you can actually be at times." He said laughing even harder. I just shook my head.

"Beautiful I am hurt. You stab deep." He said feigning as though I stabbed him in his heart. I just laughed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an ipod. He stretched his hand out to me.

"For you beautiful. We dogs that want to hump your leg got you something." He told me and I couldn't help the emotions that washed over me. They had gotten me an ipod. I had broken my weeks ago when me and the treadmill had a somewhat of a misunderstanding.

"We knew you broke yours so we got you another one. We even put some songs on it for you. When you connect it to your computer you will be able to link to your account and synch up the songs you already had on your other device." He said I picked it up going through the playlist seeing what songs had been placed on it for me as I tried to control my emotions to keep the tears that were threatening to fall from actually falling down my face.

I reached over and hugged him to me.

I knew all the guys had gotten it for me, and I would thank them all but it was nice hugging my best friend.

"Beautiful you ready to jump in my arms and throw your legs around me?" He asked joking with me and I shook my head he was incorrigible.

"Well if you aren't up for that how about just letting me hump your leg then? After all you brought that up." He said laughing. Jesus where did he come up with this crap? I just shook my head.

"Thank you" Lester nodded and I looked back and hugged Slyder

"You're my partner, so you can hump my leg." I said laughing him joining in. Lester sighed loudly and mumbled something about never winning.

"I am going to hold you to that Incendia" he teased and I shook my head.

"Thank you" I told him and he nodded.

I continued to browse through the songs and I saw some really great ones. Some I had never heard before some were old favorites. I was beaming. I was just getting ready to hook it up to the stereo system when we saw the skip enter his house.

Giving him a few minutes we got out and got dressed putting on our Kevlar it was protocol. I strapped mine on while the guys got dressed in theirs. I was still holding my ipod so I tucked it in at the top of the vest. Up near my shoulder where the strap goes over my shoulder. I wanted to make sure it wouldn't fall out should I have to run. Which I was hoping wasn't going to be the case.

"Ready" I asked looking at them both and they nodded. I nodded back and we stepped out from around the vehicle heading to the house just a little ways down the side walk.

Walking up to the house I felt eyes on me. I scanned the area and saw nothing. There were several homes up and down both sides of the street so I wrote it off to neighbors starring out the window at us. I mean it wasn't often someone like us, dressed the way we were would be paying someone a visit this early in the morning.

It wasn't a visit for pleasure and everyone in the neighborhood knew it.

Picking up the skip went easier than even I expected. I knocked on the door Lester had made his way around back in case he decided to run. When he opened the door and I told him who we were and explained the situation he agreed to come with us without a problem.

Slyder still cuffed him because you never knew his hands behind his back. He was searched for weapons. I locked up his house even made my way to the back door to ensure it was locked. His house was a complete and total mess but after running the searches on him I wasn't surprised.

I walked back out of the house just a little ahead of Lester as we made our way down the sidewalk back to the SUV. Slyder was at the SUV with the skip getting him in the car when I felt a sick sense come over me.

The feeling made bile rise in the throat and I knew we were in danger. We weren't just being watched we were in trouble. I saw Lester's face flash before me and I almost dropped to my knees the fear grabbing me.

Reactively I spun around looking for Lester behind me when my eyes settled on him I noticed several feet beyond him someone else standing on the sidewalk. I screamed for Lester to watch out and I watched as Lester spun around.

I saw him dropping to the ground as I heard a gunshot and I knew it wasn't from Lester's gun. I had been moving towards Lester and I jumped in the air as he was falling backwards clearing him pulling my gun.

I fired my gun as I heard another shot and saw the man fire the gun. It wasn't seconds later I dropped on top of Lester. I briefly registered where my head landed in his crotch as the fire spread throughout my shoulder and pain clouded my vision.

I briefly heard Lester say "damn beautiful I know you wanted me but we could have waited until we got home." I then felt the sticky wet blood pooling between us and the difficulty I was having catching my breath increased with every second until I couldn't focus my eyes. It felt like slow motion but I knew it was only second and I knew this wasn't good.

I saw images of Carlos and I, Lester and I, My partner, my brothers. Cal singing to me, Sitting in Ram's lap, dancing with Lester and Slyder, Hector smiling at me because I had learned a new cuss word in Spanish, Tank smiling at me and calling me little girl, pulling on Bobby braids making him smile, Hal finally letting me hug him, Woody telling me if it had hair he could ride it and wheels he could drive it, riding the zip lines with Zip screaming at the feeling I was flying.

Zero him working with me and telling about this name. I remember thinking I finally remember what pissed me off so bad about that but that I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Vince him sitting the car and the worried expression he had for me when Joe held a gun to my head threatening me. Junior, me tracking him in the woods and finding him, Ram flashed again at him laying on top of me after I jumped on his back. These were all images of my family flashing before me. Manny smiling at me calling me his wifey flashed before me. I wanted to cry.

Images and memories that I wasn't sure if I could take with me but my soul was allowing me one last look at all of those I held so close to my heart that I loved more than my life.

I felt as if I was floating and somewhere in my mind it registered that wasn't something I wanted to do but my body couldn't seem to prevent it.

More images flashed of Carlos and I kissing, making love for the first time, holding each other and I wanted to be in his arms. I wanted to smell him the most wonderful smell in the world. I wanted to feel him hold me again.

The images were coming to an end it was sort of like in the movies when it fades to black in the end. I knew the end was close the more vague and lighter the images and memories got. Part of me wanted to fight and hold on for Carlos but no matter how hard I tried I didn't feel like I could. I looked down and saw my partner running to us me still lying on top of Lester. The blood pooled all around us; my blood.

My last thoughts were that I was sorry Carlos that I never intended to you leave. I never meant to leave you but that I had saved Lester. I had had his back when he needed me and I couldn't be sorry for that. I would give my life to save his; gladly. The world around me went dark my final thought was for Carlos not to hate me or Lester for this was my choice and my gift.

The world needed Lester far more than it needed me. I was at peace I could let go.

**The End**

**Before you hang me there will be a Sequel…I don't know when it will start but it won't be extremely long. I have another story (a much shorter story) that I plan on writing between this story and the Sequel.**

**I want to Thank you all for reading my story, for supporting this story. It has been a true passion of love with every word written. A year ago when I started this I had no idea it would be what it turned out to be but I am very proud of this story. My first Fanfiction. I would have never believed prior to doing this that I was capable of doing it so it really caused me to step out of my comfort zone and I am so thankful I did.**

**The friends that it brought me I will forever be grateful. Margaret a very special thank you for every encouraging word and all of the support you provided when I was unsure. Barbara I can't tell you how having your support as helped as well. Our funny little emails back and forth playing with the characters in our dreams it is these friendships that I am most grateful for. Thank you both for being there. There are many others that I have shared emails with and real life stories with and I treasure them all. Thank you!**

**This was the unexpected side of the story and one I will always be grateful for. I am glad you have enjoyed the story and even though this chapter ended a little different that probably some of you were expecting I hope you enjoyed it in spite of it.**

**Help me celebrate my one year anniversary write a review let me know your thoughts and feelings.**

**Please take a moment and leave a review. Let me know your thoughts…I love every review it does wonder for my soul and wonders for my fingers! Don't forget to check out the accommodating website and my writer's journal…I put sneak peeks into the chapters in them! **

**You can find it all at www(dot)fanfictionstoryinfo(dot)webnode(dot)com There are playlists there for the party and songs that are mentioned through the different chapters, pictures of the characters along with their bio as I see them in my head, as they are in my story. There are pictures of some of the clothing, and places that have been in my chapter, as well as pictures of cars, trucks, motorcycles from the Rangeman compound. I hope you enjoy it Leave a comment there as well if you wish!**


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